David Mayer, a product line manager at a Silicon Valley company and creator of The Clean Bottle, just listened to the audiobook version of REWORK and wrote us the following note.
37signals Team – I just listened to your audio book – twice! It was affirming to me because a lot of your recommendations are things I am already doing or have done…
I am a product line manager in Silicon Valley. I’m also an avid cyclist and I’ve always had problems cleaning out my water bottles. If I’d leave them with a bit of energy drink for a day or two, when I’d come back they’d look like a petri dish and I’d have to chuck them. So, three years ago I started working on a sports bottle that unscrews at both ends so I could actually clean and dry the dang thing. So – it was great to hear your advice about ‘scratching your own itch’.
I kept my day job the whole way through, going part time instead of quitting, so it was definitely cool to hear that that footed with your advice as well. I didn’t take any outside money – another piece of your advice – since I wanted total control of the company.
It took me three years, but in May I finally launched my company, Clean Bottle.
I didn’t have the budget for a big PR launch. So, I had to get creative – just like you guys suggested. One of the things I did was that I made a costume that looked like a giant Clean Bottle and went to France. I ran up the tops of the climbs alongside the riders at the Tour de France and got some SERIOUS air time and props. So much so that in the 3 weeks during the tour we sold close to $200K in product, most of it from our website, which is extremely high margin. Check out some of the footage here.
I really like your advice about using your byproduct. I am active on Facebook and Twitter and in my blogging. And we are making 5 Clean Bottle costumes and then giving them out to people who want to dress up as the costume…It definitely makes us the “anti-camelbak / specialized / nalgene” (another piece of your advice) since we are highlighting that we are the little guy and that we like to have fun instead of being serious all the time…
Anyways, thanks again for the book and the tips. We are doing well – in about 500 stores including all the REIs – and hope to keep growing, but only if we can do it without raising money and in a sustainable fashion.
Neat idea — thanks for the note David.
If you have a similar story about being influenced by REWORK, let us know by emailing rework [at] 37signals [dot] com.
Peter
on 12 Oct 10Why didn’t I think of it moment….I just bought 3!
Keith
on 12 Oct 10Thanks for endangering all of the professionals who were doing their day job whilst you sought some air time. I will not be buying.
Q
on 12 Oct 10Great Idea for a product. Should make a thermos like this too.
@Keith I am sure what ever he was doing was with the safety of the riders in mind. If he would have caused an incident not only would people have gotten hurt but his brand probably would have taken a hit as well. Don’t be so harsh and judgmental.
Scott
on 12 Oct 10I love Bottle Boy. Great idea.
Nathan
on 12 Oct 10@Keith Are you being serious?
Richard
on 12 Oct 10I think Keith is referring to having someone developing a side business when they should have been standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their peers, but I’m not sure. [Ed. note: Truncated this comment since parts of the original post relating to it were removed per David’s request.]
dale
on 12 Oct 10new halloween costume here i come!
Jethro Wilkins
on 12 Oct 10Seems like a complex solution… I’d buy a better brush to clean my existing bottles instead of wastefully replacing them.
ET
on 12 Oct 10Traveling to France was an awesome idea, along with the bottle of course!
Mark Andreasen
on 13 Oct 10Great idea about the Tour de France – I saw you 2-3 times during the Tour, and it was actually quite funny to see the “bottle” running up the mountains – the danish commentators had a laugh!
Usually the Devil is in focus, but this year you actually attracted more attention than he did. I just wondered what the h*ck that bottle was doing on a mountain during the Tour de France – quite funny to figure that out at 37signals :-)
Awesome work – and credit to Rework, i just finished the book and cant wait to try out the things i learned.
The Partner
on 13 Oct 10David, good for you! This ‘scratching your itch’ concept is mentioned in Getting Real too – which gives you a blueprint for developing your own application using 37 Signals’ great cut-the-crap mentality.
We’ve been using their methods to build our own app, and we are revealing what we’ve built today over on the Watch Us Getting Real site.
Keep at it David, and keep letting us know how those sales are doing – once you’ve scratched your itch, selling it is the next challenge for us all.
CycleGude
on 13 Oct 10Great idea! A bit of a premium price, but I think it’s well worth it. Can we expect to see a Clean Bottle with an insulating layer soon?
Michael
on 13 Oct 10Haha, good for you, man. I love marketing stories like that.
This discussion is closed.