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I'm confused as to what he invented. Here's an advert from a year before he even formed the company advertising the exact same product: https://www.youtube.com/
by lexicality 8y ago
I'm confused as to what he invented. Here's an advert from a year before he even formed the company advertising the exact same product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PpNLD3TrdE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PpNLD3TrdE
- Jyaif 8y agoI remember when I was a kid being quite proud of myself when I figured why there where 6 wheels on some shopping trolleys, so they've existed for at least 20 years. At best they re-invented the thing, but they certainly did not invented it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- fransan 8y agoI remember those too when I was a kid back in Spain. :) Ah! you can still buy them; here's one you can fold: https://www.google.com/search?q=carro+dela+compra+con+tres+ruedas&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgiqO2_b3fAhWKTt8KHYGODy8Q_AUIDygC&biw=1920&bih=954#imgrc=AvNQgpll-ZgzjM https://www.google.com/search?q=carro+dela+compra+con+tres+r...:
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoNot sure why this is getting downvoted; you're entirely correct. Wikipedia's "stairclimber" page was created in 2007. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber
- xixixao 8y agoThe information is two clicks away from you (one on UpCart in the article, and one on Learn More on their website): > The UpCart Deluxe combines an all-terrain three-wheel chassis with a folding hand cart, with unique engineering that makes it easy to bring home the groceries or haul a cabinet up to your fifth floor apartment. UpCart improves stability, is capable of “walking” over irregular terrain and always folds flat for compact storage. There are pictures too.
- corndoge 8y agoI don't see what it is you're trying to point out. It looks like functionally the same product to me. The only difference is that UpCart is collapsible - is that what you were getting at?
- adventured 8y agoThat difference will potentially get you a patent on the combination (not the wheels part). The YouTube clip and item referenced above is fixed (appears far more industrial as well), with no folding or contracting parts. One of the selling points of the Stair Climber supposedly is its ability to "fold completely flat for easy storage or transportation." It also appears a lot lighter, easier for someone to throw in the trunk and haul around. That's a big product difference in the market. One you sell for $300 for heavier industrial purposes (the YouTube cart looks like it could take a beating in a warehouse for a decade), the other you sell for $79.95 for household use or to small businesses with more modest needs. Is it a radically new invention. No, it's an improvement or variation on an existing product.
- malshe 8y agoWe were using non-collapsible stair-climber shopping carts in Singapore since at least 2011. It was about 30 USD.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoWe know what he claimed to invent, but the point is that he didn't actually invent any of those mechanisms. They've been around for decades. At best this is incremental development on existing stairclimber trolleys. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber
- lexicality 8y agoOver a century in fact - https://patents.google.com/patent/US849270A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US849270A/en
- RyanOD 8y agoA more appropriate title might be, "Selling a Stair Climbing Dolly..." as this is mostly a story about understanding how to get in front of your target audience and sell through the right channels (Facebook, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Lowe's, and QVC).
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ghostbrainalpha 8y agoIt's definitely a little of both. But its nice to see how far a little engineering development and solid (but not genius) marketing can take somebody.
- rasz 8y agoIt seems one of the ways to sell is to claim the invention, just like Apple https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/con-jobs-5-things-apple-didnt-invent-internet-wont-shut/ https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/con-jobs-5-things-apple-didnt-...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cgy1 8y agoI don't think Apple claimed that they invented any of those things listed. Seems like a bit of a strawman.
- malshe 8y agoThis article is irrelevant because none of the claims there is made by Apple. It's what people believe. The closest claim is that Apple invented USB-C but again there is no official claim and all you have is John Gruber saying that he was told about it by someone who he won't name. In contrast, this product is literally what the manufacturer is claiming to have invented.
- samstave 8y agoHonest question; how large is QVC's reach and market and WHY is it whatever it is? IMO, if you want to succeed with QVC, you should market a widget to the elderly/uneducated?
- mbell 8y agoPatents are weird: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3450219A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US3450219A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US10131374B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US10131374B1/en EDIT: 1906 - https://patents.google.com/patent/US849270A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US849270A/en
- lexicality 8y agoAh I see. The patent is for the exact way this cart folds, and then Mr Reznik is just very good at advertising.
- jjeaff 8y agoI'm not even sure he's good at advertising. It's all very boilerplate style. Same type of promos you would see for countless other "as seen on TV" products. But he obviously has some hustle, grit, and maybe a bit of luck.
- sitkack 8y agoInnovation - "and not all innovations require an invention." When I heard the phrase "stair climbing dolly" I immedietly thought of the three wheels on an axle design. My first search found this from 2007, but 1906 is just as good. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221786654_Climbing_Robots https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221786654_Climbing_...
- d--b 8y agoThese have existed for decades. My grandma had one of these in the 80s
- mromanuk 8y agoyes, weird, those were pretty common in the 80s
- samstave 8y agoI'm convinced the 80s was the best decade. Mullets were OK Mid-rift bearing shirts for MALES were OK (even in Net Fabric) Computers were cool Phreaking was 1337 Captain Crunch Movies were fantastic (minus the pedos who were tormenting the great kid actors of the day) Transformers Space Lego NES etc...
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoThey were fairly standard fare in office supply catalogues 20 years ago. Cheap ones, expensive ones, folding ones. This is empty marketing not invention.
- alehul 8y agoSo what you're telling me is... he literally reinvented the wheel.
- samstave 8y agore-inventing is a bit high, lets just say it's a step up
- dang 8y agoSince both the article title and the title submitted here ("Inventing a Stair Climbing Dolly Making $583K/Month") are baity, and possibly misleading as well, we changed the title above to something more neutral. This is in the site guidelines: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait" https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoI've not seen another 3-wheel (well, 6) _fold-flat_ trolley. Perhaps that combination is novel, and maybe it needs invention to make the combination work (?).
- CydeWeys 8y agoDoes it matter? They designed, manufactured, and launched a product that sold profitably, doing millions in revenue. They're supporting multiple people full-time. The vast, vast majority of startups aren't inventing anything new that didn't exist before, either. You don't need to come up with a novel invention to have a successful business; it's usually sufficient just to do something at lower cost, or do marketing better.
- jonny_eh 8y ago> Does it matter? Lying matters. We're not talking about some kind of white lie to make someone feel better either. It's lying to make money, which we should all agree is bad.
- CydeWeys 8y agoWhat exactly are you accusing them of lying about though? I'm not seeing a lie. It does appear that they invented the first folding 6-wheel hand truck, and have the patents to prove it.
- raquo 8y ago> It does appear that they invented the first folding 6-wheel hand truck They certainly make it appear that way, but it's a lie. I've seen very similar dollies more than a decade ago, as did others in this thread. Their patents are either invalid or cover some minor aspect to make an impression that they invented the three wheeled stair-climbing mechanism.
- ivanhoe 8y agonot just that, my grandpa owned a grocery shopping bag/dolly with exactly the same 3 wheels idea, and it was like 30 years ago... they might have perfected an existing idea, but that idea is around for long time...
- Yoric 8y agoYeah, I'm pretty sure I've seen this kind of products at least 10 years ago. I imagine there's a difference, but I don't quite see which one.
- ChuckMcM 8y agoAnd here is a patent application from 2005 https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070075509A1/en?inventor=Samuel+Wyrick https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070075509A1/en?invento... for the item. Doesn't look like it ever issued however, if you look at related patents you will see there are people all over this space "idea wise". As a result its perhaps best to read his story as "Here is how to get an idea to go viral." More often than not the idea itself isn't really what makes or breaks a company, it is the people executing that idea that gets it out in front of people.
- early 8y agoHere is where I got mine from https://www.biltema.no/bil---mc/verkstedsutstyr/lofteutstyr/traller/trappetralle-3-hjuls-2000024045 https://www.biltema.no/bil---mc/verkstedsutstyr/lofteutstyr/...