when you and your baby are “on the go.”
Go-Go Babyz is the second start up that we launched in our humble garage in San Jose, CA about eighteen months after we launched our first start up in the same humble garage. Six months after we had our first child. This business outlasted the first and is still alive and operating today after several near fatal experiences.
Enjoy the story!
At Last…The Beginning: Go-Go Babyz-
Part 1 The Trip
“It’s not the Destination, It’s the journey.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tossing, turning, sweating, fretting…
I can’t sleep.
I can’t stop thinking…
I can’t stop replaying it…
Why does it have to be like this…
“What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep”
“Are you still tripping on the plane ride tomorrow?”…
It wasn’t even travel day and I was completely tripping.
I was not a good traveler to begin with…
Anxious, stressed, worried…
This didn’t make for fun or happy travels.
Now, throw a six month old baby and a herniated disc into the mix…
Oh wait, and the car seat, portable crib, bouncy seat, and saucer.
Oh, I forgot the diapers, the toys, the binky, the blanky…
What about the stroller?
Good heavens! Is there anything left in the nursery?
The first big trip with baby!
It’s so exciting, so happy, so fun, so memorable…
It’s memorable alright.
What’s does Ralph Waldo Emerson know anyway? “It’s not the destination it’s the journey”…
Obviously, he never traveled with kids…
At least not by air.
There was no commercial air travel or car seats yet.
The journey sucks Ralph!
We only bear it because of the destination, right?
I tell you, that trip was horrendous.
I just can’t believe all the crap we brought.
First time parents, first trip with baby…
We brought anything and everything we could possibly need!
I know you know what I’m saying, you totally relate.
I know you know because I have seen you in the airport…
Before I was a parent thinking…
“Look at those goofs, get it together and control your kids, how hard can it be?”
Well, let me just tell you how hard it can be…
It’s hard enough to get a baby and their entire bedroom through the airport…
Add a dad, me, with a herniated disc to the mix, and it really gets hard.
I couldn’t carry much…
But there is a silver lining…
In that moment of distress, consumed with frustration, impatience, and despair…
It came!
Great products solve great problems!
Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
Go-Go Babyz was born…
And the rest is history….
Full of happy travels when you and your baby are on the go…
Or was it?
You’ll just have to wait and find out.
Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator
You have to leap if you want to live
Part 2 The Idea
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo
Welcome to part two of the Go-Go Babyz origin story.
Why I am writing this you ask?
Well, don’t great super heroes have an origin story?
Alright, alright, maybe we aren’t super heroes…
But we did invent a pretty super product.
Let’s get back to how it came to fruition…
The night of tossing and turning was nothing…
It was a stroll through Candy Land compared to the airport!
Before I get to that let me explain the trip…
We are going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship…
Wait, that was little Einstein’s trip.
We were heading to the San Francisco airport…
That alone is stressful, what a zoo.
We are going with my in-laws, and another family…
The mom and adult children that just had their first child six weeks before us…
Let me sum it up for you…
What we have here in our travel group…
2 sets of first time grandparents.
2 sets of first time parents.
2 six month old babies.
2 complete baby rooms stuffed into luggage.
2 full-sized, cumbersome strollers.
2 heavy, awkward, hard to carry infant car seats.
2 over-stuffed, oversized carry-on diaper bags.
2 herniated lumbar discs…
We were truly a sight to see. A modern day Noah’s Ark
We trudged our way through security…
Clumsily we somehow navigated the terminal without fatalities…
Maybe a few hit and runs, but no harm, no foul.
We head to the gate, our stroller overloaded with bags, toys, a car seat…
A baby is in there somewhere.
We are sure to be exceeding the max weight by at least 2 times.
But we made it.
Everything out of the stroller – there’s the baby, thank goodness!
Stroller gate-checked and we board…
The entire group goes left…
We go to the right!…
Deserted, exiled to the back of the plane.
We were abandoned!
Stuck in coach as first time parents, for baby’s first flight.
While everyone else enjoyed first class.
Coach wasn’t the issue…it was the abandonment.
It was a LOOOONG flight too, 5 hours…
Hey, don’t judge!
Remember, I’m not a good flyer to begin with…
Now I have a six month old on his first flight…
We have so much stuff for him, we can’t find anything!
We finally land, get our bags, and our bags, and our bags…
We take the shuttle to the resort and ahhhh!
It is the destination, because getting here sure did suck!
I am not sure when it popped…
But it was either at the departure gate or baggage claim…
The idea came…
“They should really put wheels on these things.”
See what came next…
Next time.
Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator
You have to leap if you want to live
Part 3 The Concept
“Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done about them.”– Alfred North Whitehead
There we were beet red and sweating…
There they were beet red and sweating…
And steam shooting out of their ears, eyes bloodshot and staring…
Just like the old cartoons.
We were trying as hard as we could to get all this crap through the security line quickly…
The crowds growing ever impatient and angry.
I could feel the stares penetrating like lasers…
But hey, we looked good! At least our clothes did.
We were very fashionable, sporting the latest brand on the market.
Yes, I brought you back to the airport again.
I left out an interesting little fact to the back-story…
The clothes we were wearing?
The latest from our first little business.
That’s right, we were rock stars…
New parents, new business owners of the hottest brand in the action sports industry…
Of course at this point we were looking more like the idiotic stars of slapstick.
But there we were nonetheless being assaulted by stares and angry, snide remarks…
Yes people, we felt them, we saw them, we heard them thank you very much.
Yet we also heard the voice – the most important remark of the entire trip…
“They should really put wheels on these things.”
No, not that one…
“Yes they should! Let’s do it!”
It was on. The entire trip was focused on this concept.
Interesting note, my father-is-law was a mechanical engineer…
Whom, might I add, at that time recently sold his business and retired.
The trip was great, thanks for asking, but all good things must come to end…
Fortunately, we had to do the travel part all over again.
I say fortunately because it kept the pain alive…
The trip there was not an anomaly, the return sucked just as bad…
Confirming there really was a need for a better way to travel…
So we got home, deep in the infancy of our first start up, still in our home…
Which hasn’t made a profit yet, mind you…
And Kerry goes all in on what is to become Go-Go Babyz.
You might think we’re crazy…
And you just might be right…
But, you’ll just have to keep on following the story.
Talk Soon,
Kevin W.
@gogobabyz |@Leap272
You have to leap if you want to live.
Part 4 The Insanity
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
You’re back?!
Reading about our crazy life makes you feel sane, huh?
A key point to remember…
When you’re crazy, you usually don’t think you are.
But were we really crazy? I mean, we did get different results…
Read on and you can be the judge.
We really didn’t realize how crazy all this was until looking back…
I mean what’s so crazy about starting a second business in your house…
While the first is losing money and under two years old?
While you have a six month old baby?
With only one income?
And let’s not forget the daily crack coffee habit x 2…
I’d say there’s a little bit of crazy in there somewhere.
Onward we ventured with a second start up!
I continued to work everyday as a Ford Technician.
In just about every spare moment I worked on start up number one…
Because any day now it’s gonna go, I just knew it!
Kerry focused all her time on start-up number two, in between caring for baby number one.
Remember that mechanical engineer guy?
Her dear old dad was coaxed out of retirement to help get this going.
He had the experience, skills, and mechanical engineering knowledge…
A most importantly, belief, willingness, and a little cash!
So, I focused on number one and she focused on number two.
I really only participated in conceptual things and a little bookkeeping for number two.
Fortunately, things moved a bit faster with number two.
We learned a lot of valuable lessons from early mistakes with number one.
This saved some time, money, and frustration.
It’s amazing what a little bit of operating cash and experience can do as well.
Before we knew it, Kerry was out of the house and into a real facility…
A working, wooden prototype was in the mix, and real 3D drawings were in progress.
Yes, I did say wooden – the original prototype was made all kinds of stuff…
Plywood, 2x4s, skateboard wheels, and hacked up suitcases!
Can you imagine a wooden Travelmate? It might have been ugly but it worked!
Let me just forewarn anyone who wants to make an injected molded product with multiple parts…
Especially in the juvenile products industry…
Product development and testing take time and money…
Do your research and be patient. Don’t rush things; it will cost you in the long run.
That said, before any “gogo kidz” or “Travelmate” hit the market, there was the Urban Advantage…
This was a product a factory we started working with.
We designed a patented safety feature to prevent 3-wheeled strollers from tipping…
Added our logo and colors to it, and we had revenue to fund the business.
I keep saying we although, as I mentioned, the beginning was all Kerry.
Kerry took that business and pushed it forward with her passion and determination and…
A second baby in her belly!
Yup. Now we had two businesses, and soon be two babies!
Not to mention 2 dogs and 2 cats.
By this point, Go-Go Babyz was off and running, out growing their space every year.
The Travelmate was officially out and things were happening.
That is really the gist of the origin; there are little nuances here and there.
Little twists and turns but for the most part, that is it.
There are still a lot of stories to tell about the early years and rise to the top…
So, I’ll keep on telling stories if you keep on listening & reading…
They will probably not follow a true linear path – my mind just doesn’t work that way…
In case you haven’t noticed yet!
So what will I write next?
Hmmmm…
Talk Soon,
Kevin W.
@gogobabyz |@Leap272
You have to leap if you want to live.
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