If you read my first two blogs, they are both about the business of inventing . Now I am going to tell you, that if your product is not well conceived and doesn’t solve a real problem that exists or truly makes life easier in some way, forget about everything else, you have the problem.
Its all about the invention itself. If it doesn’t do what you say it does, or if the problem that it solves is not a pervasive one or your target market is too small or the value is not perceived or the quality of the product is subpar than any of these things can throw a wrench into any business plan.
In my case, I identified a problem that existed for over 20 years . In fact the problem existed well before I realized it. The problem was simply messy disorganized cookware cabinets. Base kitchen cabinets were used to store cookware and other larger and heavier kitchen items. Most kitchens have a limited amount of lower cabinet space to house what most people own. Ok , so what do people do when they have too much stuff in a cabinet. They stack and push and jam it until it fits and then quickly shut the door. Aha ha, big problem.
My company Vertical Storage Solutions Inc. was named after the solution to this generational problem. The floors of cabinets and/or shelves are linear and are not made to store and organize an abundance of varying shapes and sizes of cookware for example. Both the cabinet and housewares industries never figured out that the only way create organization in a confined cabinet is by going up, Vertical, hence Vertical Storage Solutions Inc.
PANTREE is my brand which conotes a vertical organizing solution. The closet industry figured it out in the 1980s when they realized that designing closets by just using shelves was inefficient. Space was the commodity and utilizing the wall space in a closet to organize and store clothes and accessories changed the entire industry . Closet manufacturers began making vertical product organizers that were designed specifically for the product that they were organizing such as shoes, sweaters, belts , ties etc. etc…
I believe that the PANTREE cookware and matching lid organizer is well conceived in that it took a successful formula from another industry and applied it to the base kitchen cabinet. The problem has been enormous considering that both the cabinet and housewares industries have addressed based cabinet storage with non solution type fixes such as deep drawers and sliding shelves. Same problem just more convenient to access. How may pieces of cookware can you really store on a sliding shelf. And tell me that the deep drawers that are now built in most newer kitchens don’t cause the same headache of having to pick up and shuffle and find what you are looking for. I am telling you, its all about the invention.
I am Elliot Anker, the owner of Vertical Storage Solutions Inc. the Organizer Inventor. Please visit my website
