Michael Van Horst was working in real estate when he noticed that no one ever actually hung up their pictures on their walls; instead, they were always left on the floor. Why? He decided to come up with a solution to this all-too-common problem and started building prototypes of his idea from his home until he came up with a product that worked. Then he needed to figure out how to get it out into the world.
Like many inventors, he was trying to figure things out on his own. He started by taking his prototype to trade shows and setting it up to be displayed in a booth, where he thought a lot of buyers would walk by, but that did not happen. Then he competed in a pitch competition and his invention was actually picked up by a DRTV company for licensing. At the time although he didn’t know what licensing was, he agreed to move forward with them. However, the product did not move forward due to price point.
After spending a lot of time and money doing more trade shows, more pitch competitions, trying to venture through kickstarting, he signed up for the inventRight coaching program and began learning the process of licensing. After following the inventRight 10-steps process and getting a lot of NO’s, he received a Yes from one company and licensed his product.
The Push-n-Hang is now selling at Ace Hardware, The Grommet, and on Amazon!
And for his next product idea? He now knows how to save a lot of time and money by learning the process, getting help, and not giving up.
