The Exchanges

Q can be, you know, harmful to, uh, pathogens, uh, and things of that nature, uh, harmful to humans. You chose to go with, I think, a polycarbonate, uh, filter, uh, plus, uh, nano alumina and polypropylene. I, I'm saying all those things like I know what I'm talking about. I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just reading off your website, but why are those the right materials?

A Well, it, it's, uh, there's a million directions to go here and keep in mind, this is freshwater, not desalination. Um, and ultimately it's able to maintain a low head pressure. So we can, we can still push the water at a fairly quick rate, uh, using that tiny pump. Um, and then it's, uh, it's long lasting and, um, doesn't require any And maintenance. So like the, the life straws, which are beautiful, uh, ceramic filters, they require a back flush after just about every use where the back flush is really challenging. Most people don't do it. It requires distilled water and therefore the pump or the filters get clogged pretty quickly. And ours, ours, we're not designing people to have to maintain, uh, after it's usable life, which is about a thousand liters. You just replace that filter element.

AI assessment note: “ultimately it's able to maintain a low head pressure.”

Q Let's talk about that filter plus sink plus shower you won in last year. Well, this year, the CES innovation awards, it's building on your website at 223 dollars help describe a little bit more. Why did you win that award from CES? What makes the product so unique?

A Yeah, I think what we ultimately do well is we combine existing technologies into a new ecosystem, so to speak. Uh, I took a USB powered pump that I found from an aquaponic system in a classroom, just this tiny little water pump. And then I combine that with a three-stage water filter, which is similar to like the life straw, you know, where you can drink straight out of a stream. Uh, and so instead of hanging out next to a stream, like if you've ever gone backpacking, you have to make your own water. Or you're pumping it or you're squeezing it through a bottle. This little USB powered pump does the job of pushing the water through the filter. And then we use that same pump to run a little faucet. Uh, and the faucet has a little switch on it that, uh, then activates the power bank that comes with it. It can be run directly on solar, of course, cause we're go sun. And you know, that whole ecosystem come together has never been seen before. And then it just happens that it turns into a really wonderful shower. Uh, and what's cool here is you're talking water conservation. So when you are off grid, you don't have to haul around huge amounts of water, whether that's in your van or your vehicle, your RV, uh, or if you're just, like I said, backpacking, uh, it sips on water. It uses one 10th the water consumption of a typical faucet. So it's kind of like the LED of water consumption.

AI assessment note: “we combine existing technologies into a new ecosystem, so to speak”

Q time, but it's just tinkering. They never really systematize, operationalize, find a manufacturing plant, sell a couple of units, et cetera. Walk me through how you do that. I mean, how did you go from camping guy that wants like clean water out of the stream under five pounds, a thousand liter life to actually manufacturing this thing and being able to list it for 223 bucks on your website?

A You know, that's a great question. I, I use a lot of spreadsheets. We do a lot of evaluation. We have a bit of a formulaic process for product development and launch. Um, and then we have a lot of great partners in Asia. Um, we found someone making something very similar in Taiwan. We found another similar manufacturing product in China. We, we kind of partnered together when we would basically just ask them to refine those products and To meet our more stringent specification. And then, you know, we have an assembly facility in, um, China as well, where, where we have, um, all these parts and pieces come together, uh, where we put together, we have, um, like, like you mentioned earlier, we have 10 solid, unique SKUs that we assemble ourselves and manufacture more or less ourselves in China. So we're up to speed to be able to deliver.

AI assessment note: “We found someone making something very similar in Taiwan. We found another similar manufacturing product”

Q is a lot of software companies struggle with distribution. I imagine there are some types of software that folks like you really love to use. Just look at your favorite apps on your phone. Have you ever looked at partnering? I mean, using your quarter million person email as partnering with software apps to drive more revenue and sort of more lock in your community into your, into your community?

A Yeah, we've done a little bit, but I'd love to do more, and I would love to hear more of the suggestions from your community. Um, you know, I'm a big believer in, in software as a, as a driver. I mean, I think I mentioned last time we were on, um, Figma has been super helpful for, for graphic layout. Shopify, of course, for just general web sales. We do have some plugins for like communications that attentive, um, Um, we use something called shipping easy to help our customers make sure they're in tune with their orders. Um, but, but I'd love to do more and I'd love to do more on all this amazing, relevant, uh, social media, uh, you know, to get more engagement with consumers.

AI assessment note: “Figma has been super helpful for, for graphic layout. Shopify, of course”