From: Mark Ross (markr13_at_comcast.net)
Date: Mon Sep 20 2004 - 19:09:53 PDT
I have been thinking of how to say this for some time, and I'm now
making the attempt. I was laid off from my position at Elementis
Specialties at the end of June and now am running NuShield full time.
While I had been preparing to do this for several years, the layoff
precipitated my decision a bit sooner than I anticipated.
I have this list to thank for the ability to do this.
For those of you who are new, NuShield formed from the desire to have a
better screen protector than what was available from Concept Kitchen's
(now Fellowes) WrightRights. I had just purchased a Newton and joined
this list back when Shawn was list Dad. I wanted to get support for the
device that we purchased to help manage my son's type 1 diabetes. A
screen protector seemed like a good idea since I was uncertain how long
Apple would continue repair and support.
The available WrightRights at the time were (and are) awful. Monitoring
chatter on this list mentioned the existence of the Barrier, a
different kind of screen protector. Unfortunately, the company went out
of business when Apple discontinued the Newton and from a threatened
patent lawsuit surfaced over IP rights to screen protectors. Someone on
this list asked if there was anyone who could figure out what the
Barrier was made from and then maybe we could duplicate it. Since I am
a polymer-organic chemist, I spoke up.
After receiving samples from around the world (the reach of this list
still astonishes me) I was able to use our analytical department's
equipment to quickly narrow down the polymer used. A search of US film
suppliers turned up a company that made exactly what we needed. For all
I know, this could have been the original supplier for the Barrier.
The next surprise was the pent up demand on the list. To start up, I
needed to purchase an $800 box of film, tooling to make the correct
shape and other supplies. In total, the startup costs were
approximately $1300. I did not want to lose money on this and got back
on the list to announce that if I could get 65 orders at the original
price of $20 for four films, I would go ahead. Over 100 list members
responded. I did not expect after that original demand was met that
there would be much continuing interest, but new members joining the
Newton community kept the order rate going to about 6-10 per week.
I then realized that if I could double the order rate, I could pay for
my sons' college tuition. To make that work, NuShield started
supporting Palms and Visor PDA's. A new film was required to prevent
Newton rings which do not occur on the 2X00 models. I have filed a
patent on this development (and, BTW, the other patent never applied to
this type of non-adhesive film protector).
I had told this story to many where I worked and always referred to it
as my "silly little business". I met a marketing person there who was a
temp filling in for someone and told him this story. He, being an
ex-dot com person said, "You know, if you want to, you can turn this
into a real business". He has since become my partner.
NuShield Inc. has grown where we now get twice the number of orders per
day that I used to get in a week. We of course support many other
devices, both industrial and consumer that have touch screens or LCD's
that are compatible with our system. We are also developing a network
of resellers, both online and brick and mortor. After I got laid off,
went home and turned on my phone, I started receiving calls from many
major consumer and industrial concerns wanting to protect their PDA's
and touch screens in environments such as delivery vehicles, police
cars, warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution centers. We
grown dramatically and NuShield can now support us financially. But no
matter how big we get, we will always support this community.
And remember........ it all started with a Newton, and this list.
Mark
-- Mark Ross markr13_at_comcast.net ------------------------------ NuShields: Your best defense against screen damage http://www.NuShield.com Phone: (215) 500-6426 Fax/Voicemail: (530) 678-5513 -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Sep 30 2004 - 14:00:05 PDT