In the late 1980s, a New Zealand engineer named Keith Alexander wanted to buy a trampoline for his kids. After his wife said they were too dangerous, Keith set out to design his own—a safer trampoline, without metal springs.
He tinkered with and perfected the design over the course of a decade, but he was daunted by the challenge of bringing his invention to market; and he almost gave up. At that point Steve Holmes, a Canadian businessman, bought the patent to Keith's trampoline, and took a big risk to commercialize it.
Since the start of the pandemic, sales of Springfree Trampolines doubled and since their launch, the company has sold nearly 500,000 trampolines worldwide.
1:50 - Intro
3:40 - Keith’s history of engineering
7:13 - Keith starts as an engineering consultant
10:09 - The trampoline idea
15:40 - Modifying the first draft
19:11 - Commercializing the idea
27:56 - Keith is introduced to investor Steve Holmes
33:45 - Buying the patent
35:49 - Creating the enclosure
38:11 - Competing in a supershow
42:24 - Burning cash to deliver to Costco
49:51 - Presenting the product to the world and expanding
53:25 - The price
54:20 - Trampolines in the office
55:47 - Lucks vs. hard work
James Dyson - How I Built This
