Kickstarter

The concept for the PropUp came to me gradually just days after I received my iPad last April. I loved the iPad but was frustrated by the awkwardness of holding it for long periods of time and trying to situate the iPad for comfortable use in different settings.

While watching my son's soccer practice I sketched the initial design on a piece of scrap paper pulled from my glovebox. In the following days I was completely consumed with the idea and was was carving pieces of NERF footballs and then switched to rigid green floral foam with better results. After actually using the prototype and sharing the idea with several people I decided to try and turn the hand-carved prototype, that worked quite well, into an actual product.

Over the last several months I've invested hundreds of hours researching product engineers and manufacturers - including a few that lead me down the wrong path and spent precious time. Three frustrating vendors, a handful of dead-ends, A LOT of learning and several months later I have my final design in limited production with temporary tooling. I've personally branded, designed a website and produced product images for the fledgling PropUp. Finally I've developed a business model and pricing to begin talking to distributors about retail placement.

Now what? I need your help. I need Kickstarters to help take me to the next level. I've invested several thousand dollars in professional engineering services, prototyping, etc. to date. The money raised from Kickstarter supporters will be used to create final tooling, do a full production run of product and maybe fund a small amount of marketing although we hope to completely leverage viral as a marketing tactic. I also need funds make minor changes to the tooling design to support the iPad2.  I also have some supporting needs for packaging and legal fees.

This is just the beginning for PropUp. It has broad application for any tablet device, including e-readers. Unfortunately, the different sizes of these devices require new tooling for each product line so I'll re-invest funds to create new tooling for new tablets and e-readers so that we can bring the power of the PropUp to everyone. Please join in my dream! Note: Shipping is covered for eligible PropUp Kickstarters in the US, Canada and Mexico Others please add $10 to your pledge amounts for shipping.