Darren Herman

From time to time, I pursue what I call pet projects which keep me fresh.  These projects range from digital thru non-digital and I mostly invest my own capital into them.  Most of the time, the projects fade into oblivion, but the end point is not what I’m seeking, it’s the journey – as I do these projects to learn and prove some very specific things.  By working on early stage products, it keeps you humble, honest, and amazingly resourceful.  I’ve spent some time with Kevin, Cristi, Lee and others over the past decade or so exploring these.

Back in 2007, I blogged (here) about a business idea around Mobile Phone Wipes.  I seriously looked into it, but couldn’t make the numbers work.  I had sourced the wipes, packaging and logistics from Asia and at the end of the day, we could make a little money, but without scale, we couldn’t make enough money to bear the risk and my wife didn’t want a carton load of mobile phone wipes in our basement.  I don’t blame her.

I continued to talk about mobile phone wipes every once in a while and when certain people visited me at my home, I pitched them on the idea of it.  It was a no brainer for them – they got it.  But again, I couldn’t make the financials work.

Until now.

So, with that said, I’m pursuing a pet project around keeping your smart phones and tablets cleaner.  I’m writing about it on here even though it’s the early days (i.e. sourcing the right fabric) but I’ve got a great partner who knows the space and he’s doing much of the logistics.  I’m going to be taking care of the overall product and marketing.

Our test market will be NYC and expect to have product in market in/by February 2012.

Why do we think we can make this “wipe” idea work now?  Because we were thinking about the product all wrong.  Totally wrong.  No one wants to buy wipes – they are a commodity. You don’t yearn to buy wipes.  They are unsexy.  They are ugly.  They are a utility.

We’re taking this from utility to something else.  Get excited.  I know I am.  And we’re not calling them “wipes.”