Hope all is going well. Over the past several weeks, I have spoken with several different people who let me know that they enjoy reading the blog and learning about the company. They also mentioned that they appreciate that I try to be honest about different aspects of the business. I want to say thank you to them and to you for providing either comments directly to us, made a comment on a post or are willing to share our story with other people. There are times during the year that so many things are going on, it is sometimes hard to get “inspired” to write the blog. Sometimes it is a lack of time issue, sometimes it’s a stressful period in the company (let’s face it, this is likely the clear winner for many different reasons) and sometimes it is hard to think about what you want to relay to you without sounding too negative (some people have accused me of this), too preachy, or too “sunshine and rainbows.” I personally enjoy reading about other companies and individuals who give you all sides of their day, from the good to the not so good. It makes it more reality than reading an article were nothing goes wrong and that every decision was perfect. This is what Tina and I refer to, on the personal side of social media, as the Facebook (Meta) Fake World. So many things that are posted are meant to give you the impression that all is good in the world when in fact you know that it is not the case. I have always enjoyed honesty and I hope you get this from this blog. Please keep your comments coming as I enjoy hearing them, even if they are not flattering or give a perspective that I might not agree with. Nothing better than an honest dialogue.
One thing that I used to enjoy as a child is playing with Legos. Heck, who am I fooling, I would still likely enjoy playing with them today. For those not familiar with Legos, they are a plastic building block that can be used to make many different things. I have always loved that you can build anything you want, from something simple to something very complex. The only limitations were your imagination and did you have enough Legos to build your concept. I feel like developing new products at the company is something that is like this. You start with a basic concept, devise a plan to achieve the vision, gather the pieces you need to assemble your idea, change the design when things are not the way you planned for them in your head, create a revised version and if all goes well, produce the final product to share with people around you.
Our IVRT product line (www.biosurfaces.us/ivrt) has followed this approach. The concept of this product was brought to us by an investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) back in January of 2016. This person reached out through our website and asked if we could produce an electrospun scaffold for their ongoing studies. At that point, we were solely focused on medical devices. The idea of producing an electrospun scaffold for his benchtop studies was not on our radar at all. After successfully making the scaffold he was looking for, which took many iterations to get to his liking, he then asked if we had experience adhering it onto existing plastic housing as he was spending a lot of time doing this and less time conducting his studies. We were able to receive a contract to develop this process for him. This also took time, patience and persistence, but with hard work and a little luck, we were able to adhere our scaffold onto different plastic housing. The IVRT product concept was born.
We focused initially on expanding our business relationship with the NIH to see how this product would be used, how much of the product would initially be ordered and would we see the product volume expand. The product sales slowly began to grow without much marketing behind it. This led us to believe that there could be something here. We conducted some simple outreach to cosmetic companies, academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies. Again, no large marketing budget (which Cameron reading this is saying to himself “tell me about it”) but several customers were showing some interest in looking to make tissue models such as skin, retina and airway and wanted to learn more and try the Bio-Spun™ scaffold. This continued interest even led us to submitting for a Trademark for Bio-Spun™ in planning for future brand name recognition. We have continued to add new products for our customers. The bricks were beginning to be assembled.
We then looked to see how we could really begin to make this a business. More blocks to piece together. We started and are still in discussions with different potential partners in which our scaffold could be used with their plastic housing. As I mentioned, we are not married (yet) to a specific plastic as the Bio-Spun™ scaffold is the key to making human-like tissue. Some have approached us to see if we would like to work with them to build a specific product line, combining the technologies. We have also had discussions with companies that want to co-market their cell culture products with our IVRT products. These discussions can take FOREVER if the partner is large. Like glaciers lumbering through the ocean. Being a small company, this is a painful process, that hopefully one day it will come to fruition.
We are still in the process of building our vision. There have been changes to the design, some pieces removed, others changed around. I cannot tell you yet what the final design looks like. I have that vision in my head but it continues to morph. I look forward to seeing where it goes and what the final structure looks like. Will keep you informed as things progress. Looking forward to seeing what October brings in the process.
Matt
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