Shelved

Back to the start.

So, if you’ve read our About page, you will have seen that our invention originated from a comment. I stated previously in the introduction that this blog will give some experiential insight into the process that ultimately generated our product. That comment was the ignition source for EnduraMark Renewable Dry Erase.

I can remember leaving my Calculus II class that day (Sometime in 2014) and just having some sixth sense that this marker idea was something. I went on to my next class, I think it was Physics, and I decided to just start drawing what my product would look like. How exactly it would function and why it would be better was still up in the air. The objective in my mind was fairly simple, to make a marker that lasts longer. If you ever start heading down the path of inventing something, the question of How? Will begin to pop up in your life incredibly often. I drew my picture and jotted down a couple paragraphs stating what I was trying to do. Next, I brought this back to my professor who I remember telling me that he didn’t even recall the comment that he had made but was impressed by my initiative. I asked him “What do I do next?” He advised me to try and contact a patent attorney. 

I did not know anyone in the patent field at the time, but I had an Uncle that was an attorney and asked him if he knew anybody that could help. That didn’t get me far because his literal advice was for me to grab the phonebook. So I did, I flipped to the attorney portion of the yellow pages and made a call. Some advice for dealing with attorneys and how far a free consultation will get you, well your 30 minutes you get for free is essentially your sales pitch and somebody saying that they would love to help, but it would require some fee to do anything actionable. I believe I was quoted $1200 to dive into the subject further. Now remember, at this point in my life, I am a broke college student who does not have $1200 to fork over for something that I do not entirely understand what that money is getting me. So… I took my drawing and product summary and set it on the shelf.