IPod accessory earns invention of the year award: iStik generates sales, national attention as founders blaze new trail

San Diego Business Journal, Oct 6, 2008 by Richard Gincel

For Apple iPod nano enthusiasts and music lovers on the go, the iStik looks like a case of instant attraction.

On the market for only seven months, the music player caddy--picture magnets adhered to a dual-sided plastic coating--has already garnered $50,000 in sales, lured the attention and funding of an angel investor to the tune of $100,000, and won the $1,000 first prize in last month's San Diego Inventors Forum's "2008 Invention of the Year" contest.

Leading the charge down the path of sales, marketing and distribution is Alissa Huber, who credits her husband, Jeremy Huber, with designing the iStik in 2007. The couple formed the company--iStik Inc.--based on the product earlier this year.

When Alissa Huber says, "There's nothing out there like it," it's not part of a rehearsed pitch. The couple did their homework through both a patent attorney and an exhaustive product search. "Our competitors make bulky armbands and clumsy belt clips," she says.

But for all of her confidence in the iStik's uniqueness, she's equally sure that someone will come along and copy it.

"We're really hustling now because we want to establish ourselves as the trailblazer," she explains, days after returning from two trade shows in Las Vegas: the Interbike Expo and Olympia Weekend. "We're prepared to go after anyone who infringes, but the hope is that if and when someone does copy us, we'll already be known as the company who started this and the company that cares about quality. Hopefully, it'll lead the consumer right back to us."

Encouraging Signs

The couple's first product outing was a hit. They rented a booth in March at a Los Angeles marathon and sold all 400 units they had brought with them for $20 apiece. Two models now retail for $24.95 and $26.95. "It was a kick-yourself-moment," recalls Alissa Huber, because there were more in storage back in San Diego.

Encouragement along the way did a lot to keep the ball rolling. "Everyone who saw the original product said, 'You're sitting on a gold mine. You've got to do this.'"

That reassurance came in handy during the couple's biggest letdown: A failed attempt to heat-fuse the magnets, which clip the music device to a garment and fasten it to the plastic case that covers the iPod nano.

"It hadn't been done and we were thinking outside the box," recalls Alissa Huber. But once they learned that magnets lose much of their strength when heated to high temperatures, they defaulted to Plan A. "We crawled back inside the box and went with an adhesive, which was our original idea.

"Manufacturing was the biggest headache. It almost sank us before we swam."

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Persistence paid off. Alissa Huber has managed to attract plenty of attention to the iStik. CNBC even flew her to New York City this year to chat up the product on "The Big Idea" TV show with Donny Deutsch.

Ambitious Agenda

And more big ideas are in the works, including one that the inventors hope will move the iStik from primarily online sales (goistik.com) into the big-box stores. The couple plan to synchronize the launch of their next iStik design with Apple's next-generation nano, anticipated later this year. After which, you'll be able to find her promoting the iStik at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, both scheduled for January.

Meanwhile, Alissa Huber is courting distributors from Japan to Australia, and networking with local entrepreneurs.

Adrian Pelkus, president of the San Diego Inventors Forum, says, "Alissa had the best presentation and product path" during the 2008 Invention of the Year event.

"We had eight participants, and each had about 10 minutes to make their pitch," Pelkus said.

The winner was chosen by audience ballot--75 in all. Much of the decision-making, Pelkus says, came down to two basic questions: Do they think it would sell and would they buy one?

"Can they explain the market and how they're going to make it? She did. She gave a good presentation on a wonderful product," he says.