People ask me all the time, why did I start a business selling guitar picks?
That’s a great question because I don’t even play guitar.
It was purely by accident, is the truth. A local gentleman in my hometown was selling tens of thousands of guitar picks that looked like an alien’s face. My office manager James Shehan knew this person quite well.
One day, a childhood friend of mine named Rob Stefani stopped by my office. He had a music store that was selling these alien-faced guitar picks.
He asked me, could I design guitar picks? If this guy could sell this many guitar picks with an alien’s face on them, he reasoned, there must be an opportunity here.
I was intrigued by how the alien face changed the pick itself. It transformed it into something else entirely. It felt more like a novelty gift than something you needed to play music.
When I started to study the marketplace for guitar picks, I noticed that they were all shaped fairly similarly. The packaging wasn’t very exciting, either.
From a creative standpoint, I thought, why not have fun with this?
So, we started a business together called “Big Idea Guys LLC”
Unfortunately, my first designs were a little rough. I thought sex plus rock ‘n’ roll was a good combo. Why not call them Hot Picks?
But stores were hesitant to carry them because of their young audience.
We had to change direction, I learned very quickly.
When I visited the store Hot Topic in the mall, I noticed skulls were everywhere.
As I stared at the images of skulls on backpacks and stickers and all sorts of items around me, the shape reminded me of a guitar pick.
That experience inspired me to design a line of monster-themed guitar picks. But, this time around, I would find out what the kids actually liked by running a small test first.
Sure enough, the skull we named “Grave Picker” was a hit!
I started designing alternatively shaped guitar picks and creating fun packaging to house them in that featured colorful graphics.
This experience was priceless. I thought I knew what was best, but I was wrong.
When I let the market guide me, I landed on a winner.
- Do your homework. It’s important to study the marketplace. Don’t assume you know what you’re doing.
- A simple change can make all the difference in the world. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks for reading,
Stephen Key
inventRight CoFounder
