Ideas are just ideas until someone puts them into action.
Brandon Goodwin, co-owner of Blend video production and animation studio in Springfield, is launching Blipcast LLC as a way to bring his modern product idea to life. But he needs help.
In 18 months, he’s spent around $30,000 out of his own pockets and invested countless hours learning what’s involved in designing and manufacturing a piece of hardware that can take audio from a TV and transmit it wirelessly to a smartphone.
He has a working prototype; eight to 10 have been developed, so far. And he’s identified the potential markets. He’s got a bead on pricing at around $75 a pop, and he’s researched manufacturing options in Missouri and overseas.
Goodwin just needs about a half million dollars.
He’s already made some attempts at funding, but traditional loans are not an option.
Goodwin says technical knowledge and industry connections from an investor are crucial components.
“Money is the biggest part of this, but it’s also kind of not,” he says, pointing to the multilayered relational aspects. “What kind of person is this? How much are they going to be breathing down our necks? How connected are they in the tech world? We don’t just need money.”
Goodwin, who launched Goodwin Films – the forerunner to Blend – in 2004 with $5,000 borrowed from his father, says this startup experience is covering new ground for him.
His journey started with earnest as a nagging solution to trying to quietly watch a late-night Cardinals’ playoff game while his wife was falling asleep.
“It had always been in the back of my mind: ‘Why didn’t this exist?’ And it wasn’t until then that I thought, ‘This could be really useful,’” Goodwin says, adding with the sound going to his phone, he could use his own headphones.
“I had always wondered why I couldn’t send sound from my Apple TV to my phone. They are already wirelessly connected over Wi-Fi. And I can send videos from my phone to my Apple TV. I can play music from my phone on my TV, why can’t I send it the other way?”
Going through a television’s output was the answer. His vision was bigger than Apple TV or Roku. It’s about movies, Netflix, Hulu, video games.
So, where to start?
“I had no idea. My background is in film production,” he says.
The key, so far, has been in finding the right people. That’s taken research, queries of friends and associates – and determination.
After successes and failures connecting with electrical engineers needed for his venture – one who worked on the product for three months and wasn’t making progress – Goodwin and crew launched a 28-day Kickstarter campaign in early January. The Blipcast team, which includes co-owner and software developer Wes Billman in San Diego, Calif., as well as a designer from Blend, asked for $100,000.
The campaign failed, generating just under $38,000.
Looking back, he thinks a shorter than normal campaign and a lack of promotion on the front end likely doomed the effort. And he’s learned $100,000 was unrealistic to begin with. To do the hardware right, work out all the kinks, begin manufacturing and be ready for market, he needs about $500,000.
Now, Goodwin is in talks with unnamed interested venture capitalists and angel investors, including one he met recently in London while on assignment for Blend. This month, he has a business plan in place. The debt-averse Goodwin has discarded the notion the company could realize positive cash flow in the first year of production. That’s written into year three.
The search continues.
“I feel like I don’t have anything to lose,” Goodwin says.
