Calder Guitar Case Story Ch 12 Hard Case Prototype in LA
Jan 05
After the panic of getting the prototype to Heathrow on time I took the next 9 hours to unwind...drinking red wine and listening to consultant Brendan Murray talking passionately about Led Zep.
Arrived LA midnight UK time. Zonked but wanting to press on we took the vast box containing the prototype to the motel where we were going to have our meetings. I opened the box to show Brendan what we had...bad move we were tired and the protoype looked to me...well crappy...didn't close properly...bits falling off. Went into deep depression.
[LEARNING POINT - IF POSSIBLE TAKE A BREAK AFTER THE FLIGHT - YOUR MIND IS SHOT].
Woke up still depressed and feeling unable to talk with enthusiasm about this lump of plastic I'd spend god knows how much money on...
First meeting...hey they liked it...they loved it...they said it was cool...really showed what we could do. And that was the way it went on. Everyone else 'cept me knew that prototypes always look rough - what's important is they demonstrate that the thing you're making actually works.
[LEARNING POINT - UNDERSTAND WHAT A PROTOTYPE IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE]
Here's a big John from one of the guitar making companies playing with the case. Like everyone else he picked it up and looked round for the mirror to see how he and it looked together...like the man said '...guitarist buy with their eyes...'
Each meeting ended with me asking that people get back to me with some sales numbers - I'd invested over $150,000 and I was wanting to see some sign of money coming in. "Oh sure Nick" they all said "...we'll get back to you in a couple of weeks..."
Brendan and headed back to the UK feeling we'd done a pretty good job....we were truly rolling.
category: early development
Calder blog homepage
Calder website homepage
After the panic of getting the prototype to Heathrow on time I took the next 9 hours to unwind...drinking red wine and listening to consultant Brendan Murray talking passionately about Led Zep.
Arrived LA midnight UK time. Zonked but wanting to press on we took the vast box containing the prototype to the motel where we were going to have our meetings. I opened the box to show Brendan what we had...bad move we were tired and the protoype looked to me...well crappy...didn't close properly...bits falling off. Went into deep depression.
[LEARNING POINT - IF POSSIBLE TAKE A BREAK AFTER THE FLIGHT - YOUR MIND IS SHOT].
Woke up still depressed and feeling unable to talk with enthusiasm about this lump of plastic I'd spend god knows how much money on...
First meeting...hey they liked it...they loved it...they said it was cool...really showed what we could do. And that was the way it went on. Everyone else 'cept me knew that prototypes always look rough - what's important is they demonstrate that the thing you're making actually works.
[LEARNING POINT - UNDERSTAND WHAT A PROTOTYPE IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE]
Here's a big John from one of the guitar making companies playing with the case. Like everyone else he picked it up and looked round for the mirror to see how he and it looked together...like the man said '...guitarist buy with their eyes...'
Each meeting ended with me asking that people get back to me with some sales numbers - I'd invested over $150,000 and I was wanting to see some sign of money coming in. "Oh sure Nick" they all said "...we'll get back to you in a couple of weeks..."
Brendan and headed back to the UK feeling we'd done a pretty good job....we were truly rolling.
category: early development
Calder blog homepage
Calder website homepage
posted by Nick CC at
2:41 PM
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