| Entreprenuer Spotlight: The Super-Duper Pooper-Scooper |
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Entreprenuer Spotlight: Randy Kidd and his Sani-Bag'r Pooper-Scooper
This month’s Entrepreneur Spotlight features engineer and inventor Mr. Randy Kidd
and his paradigm shifting Sani-Bag’r.
What IS a Sani-Bag’r? The easiest description is: “It’s a pooper-scooper.”
About now you’re probably thinking something close to what Randy’s Dad said: “
Aren’t there already a lot of Pooper-Scoopers out there?” (More on this later.)
Well, have you ever seen one that was clean AFTER you used it?
One that you didn’t have to clean up after you cleaned up? How is that possible?
What would it look like?
Randy is a husband, father, devoted dog owner and nationally recognized breeder
of high quality Golden Retrievers. He typically has 10-12 dogs at any given time.
The Sani-Bag’r™ is the second generation of a tool he was almost forced to invent
just to keep peace in the family. One late fall day in 1998, Randy asked two of his sons
to go clean up the dog runs. This was not the most fun chore, but if one would operate the shovel and the other
would hold a grocery bag while it was being filled, it usually went faster. As might be imagined, on this day,
within minutes both were complaining and questioning the intelligence of the other’s ability to get the poop
into the bag without making a mess. While trying to calm things down, the younger son pleaded with him:
“Dad, you’re an engineer, can’t you come up with something better than this?” This seemed like a reasonable
request and he accepted the challenge. The result was the predecessor to the Sani-Bag’r™, the Doo-Bag’r™.
It was a cleverly engineered device that utilized a simple straight strip of aluminum sheet. With some fancy
bending the structure was very strong and could be made with almost no waste, AND it worked beautifully.
The design centered on using a standard grocery bag that you could get at any store.
The bag wraps around most of the “working” surface
and the aluminum surfaces never get dirty. This was an original idea and design that earned him two patents.
Randy hand built a few hundred in his fully equipped garage. He used them, gave them to friends and family
to tryout, used some as demo units and sold most of the rest. He even gave one to his Dad; despite the
fact his Dad doesn’t own a dog and his less then enthusiastic first comment. A few weeks later Randy’s Mom
called to let him know that “Hardly a day goes by when your Dad doesn’t use that thing. He uses it around
the yard and the garage to clean up all sorts of things!” Over the following ten years, using these units,
Randy invested countless hours into the development and refining of the Doo-Bag’r™, getting real world
feedback on its viability as a product and getting customer input as to how to make it better. He was able
to get some human interest news coverage on TV and even an article in the paper for being in the
Monument 4th of July Parade – following and cleaning up after the horses. He got some pet stores to carry
a few of them and made numerous individual sales. But it turned out that Randy’s sales and marketing skills
were not as finely honed as his engineering expertise, and he was never able to get sustained sales off the ground.
Finally, about a year ago, at the point where he was about to give up, he met Richard Porter. With Richard’s
background in product development and entrepreneurship Randy found a kindred spirit and someone with the
sales and marketing expertise to clear the hurdles that had been impeding his progress. As a result of their coalition,
Sani-Bag’r, LLC came to into being the second generation design was finalized and the Sani-Bag’r™ was born.
The Sani-Bag’r was unveiled at this year’s Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida and was enthusiastically received.
No one had ever seen a demonstration of a pooper-scooper picking up pudding
(see the link below to our two, 60 second TV commercials) or cottage cheese (see photos here), AND,
no kidding, it did not need to be cleaned afterwards.
Orders were taken and momentum was building, the TV commercials were poised to begin running nationally.
Then the funding that had been secured for the final tooling and marketing never materialized.
Undeterred, Randy and Richard have continued to move forward looking for a Qualified Investor willing to provide
some short term funding to get them over this hurdle. The final story is not yet written and it is far from over.
Think of this as a classic “cliff-hanger” ending for this installment. We will keep you updated as the saga continues
to unfold. For more information on the San-Bag’r or to contact Richard Porter, see the links below:
Two – 60 Second Sani-Bag’r TV Commercials:
Contact Information:
Richard Porter
Direct Number: (719) 495-6238
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If the only prayer you said your whole life was "Thank You" that would suffice. -Meister Eckhart
