visiting the Spork factory

Steve and I appeared in an article in the Vastervik, Sweden newspaper during our attendance at the first Light My Fire distributor conference.

Happy Ultraclamp customer

This pilot is using the Ultraclamp to shoot himself doing stunt flying, up to 4.5g!

IR PR

IR appeared in a nice spot on TV last night.

Glow-in-the-dark Ice Cream Ball

First video I've seen of a glowing ice cream ball. Enjoy!

Backpack Gear Test

There's a website doing reviews of a number of our products, including the Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker and, more recently, the Ultrapod Digital.

And the winner is...

Industrial Revolution is #11 on the list of 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Washington State. Phil took a little video of me as I went up to collect our plaque.

Resources for LFM Alumni

Hi all,
If you found this post it's because you're looking for information on buying a business. Here are a few resources I recommend.

First, if you want to know about our products, check out the following sites, all of which are owned by the company:
http://industrialrev.com/
http://icecreamrevolution.com/
http://candlelantern.com/
http://lightmyfireusa.com/
Follow the links on these sites to see other products we sell, like Pedco tripods and the Swiss Spice Salt + Pepper shaker.

If you want to read about the first year in business, this blog is the way to go. It starts on April 1, 2005, the day we closed the purchase.

John Martinka was a tremendous help to me in both finding and buying UCO Corporation. He is a consultant specializing in helping people buy businesses. I'm about to hire him again for a new project.

Here's my business wanted handout. This was an excellent tool for me as I attended networking events. I eventually became confident that there was at least a 50% chance I could come out of a networking event (a business talk, meeting, social, etc.) with at least one good lead on a potential target company.

Here are the instructions for writing a Perceived Injurious Experience letter. I pulled it from the syllabus of the Negotiation and Conflict Management class at Sloan. I don't want to post the letter I wrote on the web, but I'm willing to share it if you're interested. Please just send me an email.

My purchase of Industrial Revolution was primarily funded by funds from my 401(k) account. This had the advantage of keeping the tax man from taking a big chunk of money as the funds exited the 401(k), but it left me seriously constrained in a number of ways (having to do with compliance with the ERISA laws). While I'm not sure if I'd do it again, I'm also unable to see another way that would have worked at the time. If you want to investigate this avenue, the company that helped me through the process is Guidant Financial Group. I also had some struggles with the company itself, but they were much newer when I did my deal. I would hope they've streamlined some of their operations.

The government provides some helpful resources. Go see the people at your local Small Business Administration office. The Service Corp Of Retired Executives (SCORE) is another good group.

I get a lot of magazines in the mail. The ones I've foundmost useful are the Puget Sound Business Review (they have about 60 local versions, so there's likely one for your metropolitan area), Fortune Small Business, and the New York Times Small Business section (which I look at online). I've been particularly happy with Fortune Small Business. It has lots of articles that relate closely to the challenges we face.

Here's the Indiana Jones clip that hits home for me. Leaving the security of Boeing felt just like stepping out from that cliff. I hope I'm throwing a bit of sand back across the bridge to help anyone who might want to follow.

Along those lines, I think of risk management as framing many of my decisions. Here's an interesting article about some risks MIT grads took (and the results).

If you want to contact me, email is the way to go. It's keith@industrialrev.com. I enjoy talking about my experiences and hearing about other's experiences. Please feel free to get in touch.

Tapering off

Hi everyone,
Although I've definitely enjoyed keeping this blog up to date, it's becoming more of a burden than I'd like. Other priorities are taking precedence. So, this note will give a quick status update, and then I don't plan to update it in the future. You'll just have to give me a call if you want to hear the latest!

Since before I closed on the purchase of the business, I've known that the accounting system would need to be replaced. The old one is small and insufficient for our needs in numerous ways. After more than a year of effort to choose and implement a new system, we threw the switch last weekend on Navision. We are now operating in our new system. Lots of little challenges have sprung up, but no show-stoppers. The change opens up enormous opportunities for us in the future.

Sales are exceeding all expectations. We should hit about $6M this year. That's about 5 times the sales of UCO in 2004. October will be the 8th time in the last 18 months when we've set a new record for monthly sales.

The shop is hopping. We've got a couple of new people helping out with huge new candle lantern orders. We've been working 9-hour days and Saturday to keep up.

It's all good! I hope you've enjoyed reading the blog. I've enjoyed sharing my adventure with you.

Keith

Does It Work? Yes!

Another winner of a video about the ball!

Ball video

Nice video about the ball.

Little grilliput going BIG!

Pick up this week's Time Magazine (July 10th issue) to see the Grilliput on page 71. Or check it out online.

Also, the grilliput will be shown on Home and Garden TV's I Want That! show several times over the next week. You can find the schedule here.

SciFi

Check out the ball on SciFi.com!

Amazon!!!

Amazon.com has placed the regular ball on the front page of their site! We are getting a burst of orders as a result. It's also in the upper right corner of the Sports and Outdoors page.

Candle lantern comparison

The folks at Go Fast and Light (gofastandlight.com) carry both the UCO Mini and Coughlans Candle Lantern, two direct competitors. They've provided a short comparison on their lighting page.

The Couglan is lighter and cheaper.

The UCO is better made (thicker metal, glass, hooked hanger). The UCO has a larger glass surface area to let out more light. The UCO is more stable on a table top (weighted base with candle lock). We trust the locking mechanism on the UCO better (does not self open). The UCO can be handled by the base during use (Coughlan gets too hot). The UCO has a catch basin to prevent wax spills. The UCO locks the candle in place, Coghlan's moves freely inside the case. UCO has more options (reflectors, cases). The UCO has a better guarantee.

So ... it depends what you are looking for - light and sufficient, or a longer lasting, better designed, more livable alternative in the UCO. Both have their place.

Feedback Follies

Check out these two feedback emails we received via our website. They were sent three minutes apart. I've removed the incriminating contact information.

City: Manassas
State: VA

Comments/Questions: The ice cream ball sucks! This has to be the worse designed product ever. First, you say to clean the rock/salt container off after 10 minutes.. but a wooden spoon, etc. certainly doe not do the trick. Second, there is no way to actually get the ice cream out because of the poor design. I ended up, after 40 minutes of shaking, telling my 5 year old daughter that she was going to have to settle for a milkshake. What a shame that I wasted $19.99 on this stupid thing to take camping. There is no way in hell I taking this anywhere but back to the store I bought it at.

This message was sent from the Ice Cream Revolution contact us page

And then the second message, sent moments later:

City: Manassas
State: VA

Comments/Questions: If you would please disregard my other email. I am a boob! After reading over the outside of the box I realized that I had put the ingredients in the ball ass backwards. Very sorry. Please accept my apologies for my stupidity.

This message was sent from the Ice Cream Revolution contact us page

Ouch!

Funny spork review

Survival geek reviews the spork.

USA Today today

Check out the left side of the front page of section D (Life) but not section E (Life) of USA Today today. There's a picture of the grilliput and a flattering blurb including a quote from yours truly!

Spork review

We're starting to see more reviews of the Light My Fire line. Here's a look at the spork.

Raleigh Mega review

We're starting to get regular coverage of the MEGA ball. Here's one from the News and Observer in Raleigh, NC.

Mega Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker

The scoop: The brand-new "mega" version of Industrial Revolution's novelty ice cream maker makes double the dessert. Fill one end with ice and rock salt, and the other end with your ice cream mix (we used hot cocoa powder, whipping cream, vanilla extract and sugar) -- and shake it, baby. After 30 minutes of moving and grooving, you've got a frozen treat (think Wendy's Frosty).

Chill factor: After adding the ingredients, this thing is heavy. Rolling it back and forth was about all our weak arms could handle.

Tip: Originally designed for campers, this maker's ice cream is meant to be finished in one sitting. Refreezing is not a good option.

Details: $29-$39.95, online at www.amazon.com. In orange, blue, purple, pink, red, clear and green.

Review in TD Monthly

Toy Directory Monthly (TDMonthly) reviewed the ball.

Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker by Industrial Revolution

Age: 3 and up
Gender: Girls and Boys
Price: $34.95

First Impressions
The kids in my preschool arts class went crazy with questions: “It is a ball?!" "How is it going to make ice cream?” “Is it going to light up?” “Wow! What a cool ball!” Since the Play & Freeze Ice Cream maker doesn’t look like an ice cream maker, it was very mysterious for them, and they all wanted to try it.

Skills Reinforcement
The Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker is a great tool for teaching kids to follow directions. It also develops their hand-eye coordination, large-motor skills and body movement. In addition, it reinforces the importance of accurate measurement when using a recipe. And, best of all, sharing is stressed during both the making and the eating of the ice cream.

Playability
It was easy to fill the ball with ice — the large opening allowed the kids to pour all the ingredients in without making a mess. The children loved rolling the ball and listening to the sound of the ice. And the recipe was easy to follow.

Recommendation
This product made our cooking project more fun than usual. I played the “Hot Potato” song and they rolled the ball, passing it to one another, so it was a game as well as a cooking project. I would say the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker is a “must-have” for educators. It’s also great for birthday parties. The only problem was that the ball makes only a small quantity of ice cream, so I had to buy some, too. I gave each child a small spoonful of the ice cream they had made, as well as some of the store bought. Of course, they all preferred the one that they had made.

Great local news coverage

KOMO News, one of our local Seattle stations, did an excellent "Does It Work?" piece on the ice cream ball. Make sure you check out the video.

Parents Magazine

Parent's Magazine has a nice bit on the ball in their June 2006 issue on page 26. Here's a copy.

Blueprint Magazine

Blueprint Magazine is now available. It's a Martha Stewart magazine and this is the premier issue. They have an article about using camping gear to decorate the home and there's a picture of two women at a table with our candle lanterns in front of them. Unfortunately, the picture turned our yellow lanterns to a strange sort of orange color. And they positioned them on the table so that one seems to be growing out of another. There's another lantern hanging on the wall behind the women. That one is pretty clear.

The text doesn't add much value either. Basically, this is a disappointment. We hoped they would make better use of the samples we sent them.

Cult of Personality

Generally I've avoided the limelight when it comes to the company. I want our publicity to be about the products, not the boss. However, I made an exception when the LFM folks wanted to write an article about the business. The article is much more focused on the two LFM grads, rather than just the products.

It's also probably the only time I'm going to be referred to as an emperor.

	The LFM Emperors of Ice Cream By Amy MacMillan, LFM-SDM Communications Assistant May 1, 2006
		He didn't know it when he graduated from Leaders for Manufacturing in 1997, but Keith Jackson had a frosty future ahead of him. Steve Llorente (L) and Keith Jackson, both members of the LFM Class of 1995, on their factory floor with one of their most popular products, the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker. Jackson already had an S.B. in Aero-Astro from MIT when he entered the LFM program in 1995. His friend and fellow LFM classmate Steve Llorente had a similar background and ambitions. Llorente possessed both an S.B. and an S.M. in Aero-Astro, and had experience working for Boeing's Helicopter Division in Philadelphia. Armed with their newly-minted LFM dual degrees in engineering and management, the two set off for careers at the world's largest airplane manufacturer in Seattle . Only they gave it all up in 2004 and 2005. For an Ice Cream Ball. The Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker can generate a pint of soft serve ice cream – or margaritas! Jackson left Boeing first. He loved building airplanes, but he knew he wanted to go into business for himself. He just wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He spent six months researching companies until he found Industrial Revolution, a small company formerly known as UCO. UCO had been making top quality outdoor products since 1973. It was most famous for its candle lantern, a lightweight lantern that had been used by campers and outdoor enthusiasts for a natural, safe, and long-lasting light. Three million candle lanterns had been sold since 1982, and the company's annual sales were a healthy but stagnant $1.2 million. Jackson was attracted to the manufacturing and distribution company's small size, stability, and proximity to his home in Redmond, Wash. It took him six months to close the deal and become owner and president of Industrial Revolution. Llorente followed him a month later, becoming the company's Sales & Marketing Director. Llorente also thrived at Boeing, but he had always been intrigued by small manufacturing firms and wanted to work for a smaller company where he could make more of a difference. He drew on his LFM background for marketing information such as the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, promotion) and now he "is the marketing department" at this small company of just 10 employees. Jackson says Industrial Revolution has estimated annual sales to be $5 million this year. Much of it is attributed to the celebrated ice cream ball, an Industrial Revolution product that's been on the market since the spring of 2004, a year before Jackson purchased the company. However, some of the sales boost can be attributed to increasing sales of candle lanterns and finding new and innovative camping products to add to the company's growing product line. Within a few months of taking over at Industrial Revolution, Jackson and Llorente signed an agreement with a Swedish company “Light My Fire” to bring their innovative camping kitchen products to the United States. Coffee can ice cream In order to understand the phenomenal success of this ice cream creation, one must go back in time and give credit to those ingenious entrepreneurs – the Camp Fire Girls. For years, Camp Fire Girls have made their own ice cream using two coffee cans, some rock salt, ice and cream. They added the mix in one small coffee can, and then sealed it in a larger coffee can, which they would kick around until the ice cream formed about 15 or 20 minutes later. Shortly before Jackson acquired Industrial Revolution, outdoor gear supplier REI approached the company, and asked it to design the ice cream ball. The creators came up with the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker, an 8-inch lightweight Lexan™ plastic ball with a metal cylinder where you add ice, cream, and rock salt. Seal the ball, and then shake, rattle, and roll it for about 20 minutes, until it's "done" and there's a pint of delicious soft-serve ice cream to eat. L.L. Bean then put the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker in its catalog in five vibrant colors, and sales took off in the spring of 2004. Jackson says the company initially hoped to sell 6,000 of the product, but has now sold more than 100,000, mostly in the United States. Its sales now account for more than half of Industrial Revolution's sales, according to Jackson, who bought the company on April 1, 2005. "REI didn't think it would sell too many, but they vastly underestimated it," Jackson said. The product has sold almost solely through intensive media coverage, rather than advertising, Llorente says. Consumer Reports ran a favorable article last July, and again in its December holiday gift list issue. The Play & Freeze has been on featured ABC's Good Morning America, and in other media outlets, including Parade magazine, Time magazine, The Washington Post and The New York Post. It helps that the ice cream ball now comes in seven colors (from Tangerine to Cranberry) and has the right price point (it retails for between $29 and $34.95), Jackson says. Some of ice cream ball phenomenon can be attributed to serendipity, but it's also a great product. "It's just so different from other products," says Llorente. "Typical ice cream makers are a lot of work, or they are boring. This product keeps people engaged in making a treat," he says. It's also not just pigeon-holed as a "camping" product, he adds. The family-friendly ice cream ball is also sold at hundreds of toy stores, high-end kitchen gadget retailers, large retailers, and of course, REI and L.L. Bean. Adults can also enjoy frozen margaritas and other concoctions using the Play & Freeze, Jackson says. Industrial Revolution's web site features nearly two-dozen recipes for ice cream, frozen yogurt, and slushies. The Play & Freeze has almost exclusively been sold in the United States and Canada, but Industrial Revolution just shipped the product to Great Britain, where Jackson expects it will sell briskly. Llorente says the only "negative" feedback from customers has been that a pint isn't enough ice cream. But, the company has just remedied that with its 9-inch "Mega Ball" which yields a quart of ice cream in about 30 minutes, and is now available through L.L. Bean for $39. Rapid growth Before Jackson purchased Industrial Revolution, he spent many, many hours with the company's previous owner, whom he credits with running a solid business. His LFM degree has also assisted with the learning curve in becoming an entrepreneur. He cites reading a balance sheet and understanding a profit-and-loss statement as two pivotal skills he learned through LFM. Additionally, Mary Rowe's negotiations class proved invaluable when he ran into a stumbling block while trying to purchase the company. The previous owner suddenly backed out of the deal during negotiations, but Jackson persisted, using a Perceived Injurious Experience (PIE) letter (a skill he learned in Rowe's class) to help resuscitate the deal. While Industrial Revolution has enjoyed tremendous growth with the ice cream ball, Jackson faces all the usual challenges of any small business owner. "Cash, cash, and cash," he answers when asked what the greatest concern is. "The company is very profitable, but growth eats cash. Profit is not the same thing as cash, and I remember learning this in LFM. It's been very challenging to keep the finances growing fast enough to support the growth of the business," he says. Inventory is another issue. The Play & Freeze took off so rapidly that the two businessmen were unsure of how much inventory to stock. It's a delicate balance, Jackson says. But, he's not complaining. "I love this. This is just want I wanted…a good challenge," he says. Jackson puts in his time in the office, but also works at home and on the weekends. He recently took four vacation days, but worked through most of them. "I'm excited and interested in this, and it's not like working for someone else," he says. Jackson still misses making airplanes and the strong LFM network at Boeing, but he's in the right place right now. Llorente agrees. "Boeing was hard to give up, and now the large company safety net is not there, but it's easier to make a difference here." Jackson's route from LFM to becoming a small-business owner may be a tad atypical, but he has no regrets. He emphasizes that his years at Boeing were critical to his success. "It gave me work experience that I can still call on, and it gave me money, too. I couldn't have come straight out of LFM and done this! I didn't have the money to invest," he says. He's also careful to note that he purchased an existing company with growth potential. "This was a great way to go, because I didn't have to start from scratch," he says. The Play & Freeze has been enormously profitable, but Industrial Revolution has many other products that it is promoting, including the Grilliput, a portable grill which is billed as "the smallest mobile kitchen in the world." Llorente and Jackson, however, are still focusing on the "Mega Ball," before worrying about further diversifying. Other products will take time to bring to market. "The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream," said American poet Wallace Stevens, and these LFM alumni are certainly the emperors of a growing enterprise which will be around for many years to come.

Mealkit review

A review of the mealkit appears in Inside Bay Area. I enjoyed the review, but the spork is only $3, not $6. Here's the meat of it...

Mess(y) Adventures

When I unpacked the newfangled lime green and gray plastic mess kit from Light My Fire, I was nonplussed. I like my Girl Scout mess kit. And besides, plastic melts. Convinced that this was a loser, I decided to test it out. I sent it on a field trip to Arizona with my trusted assistant, where it was filled and dropped and tossed around from meal to meal.

My assistant (OK, my daughter) reported that the kit performed quite well. The small bowl was perfect for yogurt. The medium bowl held just the right amount of cold cereal, and while the large, triangular bowl wasn't quite large enough to hold a Navajo taco, it sufficed. The strainer, she said, was perfectly useless, and the spork — a fork on one end, a spoon on the other — made people laugh. Although the plastic mess kit may not be a great pick to take on a camping trip, where open fires are the norm, it's a compact, useful choice for a road trip. The kit is $24. The spork is $6. For more information go to http://www.lightmyfireusa.com or call (888) 297-6062.

Sweat Magazine with a twofer

Sweat Magazine wrote about the ball and the mealkit in a single article. They have a particularly nice picture of the ball.

The Fuel Faucet

Even more unusual...a review of the fuel faucet! And in French no less! Click on the image for a full-size version.

La Pelota

Time to polish your rusty Spanish...

Play & Freeze es una pelota con la cual podrás hacer helado en cualquier lugar.

No requiere de energía eléctrica.
Su interior se encuentra dividido en dos secciones. En la parte externa se coloca hielo junto a sal en roca y en la interna la mezcla para preparar el helado. Se cierra y se sacude (o juega con ella) durante unos 10 minutos, tiempo suficiente para que el helado adquiera la consistencia necesaria y pueda ser saboreado.

Se encuentra disponible en varios colores y cuesta US$ 29.95.

(Vía Shiny Shiny)

Early post about the Mega

The Cincinatti Post has a nice article about the new Mega ball. This is one of the first (of what will be many) clippings about the ball.

Recent feedback

Some of the other folks in the company handle all the feedback. However, we recently changed the system so I have visibility of the feedback again. Here's a great one that came in today.

I usually don't find myself impressed with the ingenuity of companies much these days. There seems to be alot of combining things that we don't need combined (eg camera phones) and that is not really innovation, but combination....
Anyhow, I found the ice cream ball to be an amazing idea. My wife purchased one for my birthday last year, and we made the best Vanilla ice cream that I have ever tasted. The real cream was fresh, the sugar was pure cane, and the vanilla was real too. Your product allows us to make ice cream that is free of preservatives and "artificial" anything. You should have these in every health food store in the country!
Thank you for your innovation and keep the good ideas coming! I have used a brass candle lantern for years and absolutely love it. Where can I get some of the beeswax candles near zip code 61569?
Thanks again,
Matt

New ball at Bean!

L.L. Bean is now offering the new MEGA ball for sale on their website. Unfortunately, it's already in backorder status!

Video from Toy Fair

Check out our folks at Toy Fair in New York showing off the ball, including their video!

Great spork review

Gazette.com has a very positive review of the spork. "This one, in bright, inviting colors, is the spork I always wanted to invent."

Kidzworld

Kidzworld did a review of the ice cream ball. It includes a quote I've never heard before:

If you're a total freak, you can add a chopped sardines for sardine flavored ice cream - the possibilites are pretty much endless.

I knew the possibilities were endless, but still.