Have you ever been curious about how inventors think? The work, passion and process behind bringing a product to the market? Or, maybe, just about how to get started?
If the answer is yes, a great place to start is to spend a few minutes with Grand Rapids' Rebecca Tyke, a longtime entrepreneur and inventor who has just launched
a Kickstarter Campaign for her newest business and product,
the iSleepFit System and the iSleepFit Posture Belt.
RG: Is this your first invention?
RT: As marketing director at 2/90 Sign Systems, I’ve been involved heavily in product ideation and design. My father, Charlie Tyke, revolutionized the sign industry in 1978 when he designed the first sustainable sign system; instead of throwing the sign away when the message changed, it allowed the user to replace the graphics instead. My father also designed one of the first garage door openers with an integral lighter fixture while working for Stanley Tools, but he is best known as the creator of
Little Tikes. As you can see, I’ve been raised in a solution-driven environment, so this venture is in my blood.
In 1999, I co-founded Olympia 2000, where we took a basic name sign and branded it with licensed logos, called Persona. Licenses were cost prohibitive, and we found were not necessary for alumni fundraising and university department usage so 2/90 absorbed the product line and we still actively market it today. In 2011, my father, Charlie Tyke, looked at some of our sign equipment not being utilized and created a product called 3StepArt, a line of dimensional artwork custom created in three steps: design, color and size. Again, we took advantage of the existing distribution of 2/90 Sign Systems and offer it as a product to facilities for branding.
RG. What was the inspiration for your newest invention and business?
RT: My son, Chase, woke up with a kink in his neck and his chiropractor attributed the problem to sleeping on his stomach. When the doctor said he didn't know of any products that could help him change his sleep position, he jumped on the internet and found a recommendation to put a ball in the front pocket of a T-shirt. The idea was good, but it didn’t account for his stubbornness, so Chase moved the T-shirt over and continued his bad habit. Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, he asked me to help him design a solution that would keep him from rolling onto his stomach while he slept. I set out to design a product that could not only help him, but adapt to address all kinds of ailments caused by sleep positions, and the iSleepFit Posture Belt was born.
RG: How long was this product in development?
RT: Once I realized the product helped Chase, I wondered if the pain I suffered from since a bout from cancer could be sleep related. I took an extra prototype and changed it to promote back sleeping. I was amazed how much better I felt the next morning. I began telling our story, and soon learned we were not alone; poor sleeping habits wreak havoc on our bodies and impact the way we feel all day. So I joined the Grand Rapids Inventors Network in April of 2014 and did a product review to get input from professionals. I was told by a lot of people to plan on twice the cost and time. And they were right, but it was worth it!
RG. What were your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome them?
RT: Even though I was raised in a manufacturing-driven company – marketing and sales are my passion – my biggest obstacle was finding someone to take my design requirements and bring my vision to life. I went through a couple of product designers, but the journey lead me to Cesar Santana and World Resource Partners in Byron Center. Cesar took my product design and tweaked it for mold production. WRP then handled the sourcing of mold production and manufacturing. They are the perfect fit for me; they handle the manufacturing and fulfillment, which allows me to concentrate on my strengths of marketing and sales.
RG: What are your long-term goals for this product?
RT: Our vision is to create a fitness movement to make sleep a conscious part of healthy living. Our company name, iSleepFit System, expresses our goal to provide a “system” approach to sleeping fit. Good sleep is the foundation of good health. The iSleepFit Posture Belt is our first product designed to improve health through better sleep. Our mission is to educate and equip so people get more out of the time they sleep. When you do something for eight hours, it’s going to make an impact – we want to help make it a positive one.
RG: How is the Kickstarter campaign going to help?
RT: Our campaign is a little different than others in that we have already invested a lot of time and money into research, patent and registration fees, product design and tooling. We are all set to place our order and are using this platform as a pre-sale tool to gauge product demand based on the campaign’s success.
Kickstarter offers a unique platform to launch a product. The marketing opportunities are priceless verses just opening an e-commerce site. The exposure and support verify the need for a product like our Sleep Posture Belt and a fitness movement like iSleepFit System.
To learn more about the iSleepFit System, you can
go here.
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and News Editor
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