Chord Buddy - Impulse Product Development€¦ · neck of your guitar; with easytoplay colored...
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Chord Buddy Strumming To The Tune of Product Development Case Study Summary Travis Perry is known for his guitar invention, The Chord Buddy. It is a new and innovative way to learn how to play guitar. At first glance, his device could look like a controller for the video game, Guitar Hero or Rock Band. In reality, you can play it on a real guitar, instead of a fake looking plastic controller. It's a clever device that attaches to the neck of your guitar; with easytoplay colored tabs, that will have you playing rock chords you always dreamed about, in minutes. Challenges Travis’s Chord Buddy started as an idea, but he didn’t know the correct steps to take after the profound thought. The product that he wanted to create never existed. Travis knew there were correct steps to take in order to turn his idea into a reality, but he couldn’t do it on his own. The hurdle was to find the perfect partner to journey alongside Travis and his Chord Buddy. Over the next few months, Travis picked up the phone and started to make phone calls and set up meetings with product development engineers. He was struggling with engineers that wanted to change the concept of the design. Travis’s idea of the chord buddy would be to mold to the ability of the learner, but a couple of companies wanted to produce a mold that could not adjust. Other engineers he contacted were way too expensive to work with. Travis found that they wanted to charge way too much, plus, demanded a retainer relationshipstatus. Others thought that his idea was not designable. [email protected] 8442325559
Transcript of Chord Buddy - Impulse Product Development€¦ · neck of your guitar; with easytoplay colored...
Chord Buddy Strumming To The Tune of Product Development Case Study Summary Travis Perry is known for his guitar invention, The Chord Buddy. It is a new and innovative way to learn how to play guitar. At first glance, his device could look like a controller for the video game, Guitar Hero or Rock Band. In reality, you can play it on a real guitar, instead of a fake looking plastic controller. It's a clever device that attaches to the neck of your guitar; with easytoplay colored tabs, that will have you playing rock chords you always dreamed about, in minutes. Challenges Travis’s Chord Buddy started as an idea, but he didn’t know the correct steps to take after the profound thought. The product that he wanted to create never existed. Travis knew there were correct steps to take in order to turn his idea into a reality, but he couldn’t do it on his own. The hurdle was to find the perfect partner to journey alongside Travis and his Chord Buddy. Over the next few months, Travis picked up the phone and started to make phone calls and set up meetings with product development engineers. He was struggling with engineers that wanted to change the concept of the design. Travis’s idea of the chord buddy would be to mold to the ability of the learner, but a couple of companies wanted to produce a mold that could not adjust. Other engineers he contacted were way too expensive to work with. Travis found that they wanted to charge way too much, plus, demanded a retainer relationshipstatus. Others thought that his idea was not designable.
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Solution After turning down 5 product engineers, Travis ran into Impulse Product Development. A fresh, viable company that energized Travis and his Chord Buddy dream. When talking to Impulse, he felt like they wanted to create his product exactly how he imagined. Impulse listened to Travis and worked with him to develop a product that could do exactly what his expectations were, in a costeffective way. Impulse had the expertise to take Travis’s idea from a concept, to engineering, to prototyping the first Chord Buddy. Impulse was even able to help design a product that controlled the finger adjustments, which could be configured to the student’s playing ability. After 70 hours, 4 designs, refined rubber buttons and a clamp that was strategically placed on the neck, Travis had his chord buddy ready to go to a tool maker. Results
By a years time, The Chord Buddy will have an estimated value of 1.5 million dollars in revenue. Travis has also appeared on multiple infomercials and the hit television show: Shark Tank, to advertise his incredible invention. Travis and Impulse were able to create a great business relationship. Travis has had many development questions outside the chord buddy project and he continues to lean on Impulse for the answers.
Travis explained, “Inventing is very intimidating the first time and they (Impulse Product Design) get that. And they help you in a way that doesn’t make you feel ignorant.” From engineering side
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to the finished product, every step of the way, Impulse helped the Chord Buddy get into the market. Since the invention of the Chord Buddy, Travis has worked with other engineers on other projects, but still turns to Impulse for the best results: “I’ve worked with three mold builders now, and they didn’t hit deadlines and they just couldn’t do the work. Impulse has been able to hit deadlines each and every time.” For more information on the Impulse and Chord Buddy relationship or how Impulse might be able to help with your product idea. Contact Impulse today at 8442325559 or [email protected]
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