INVENTION SITE QUIRKY LOOKING FOR NEW EDISONS

Quirky is an invention website that takes ideas from its online community and makes them into real consumer products. Ben Kaufman, 29, founded Quirky seven years ago with the aim of making invention possible for everyone. When Ben Kaufman was a teenager, he came up with an idea for headphones to go with an iPod. But he didn’t just dream about his idea. He decided to try to produce and sell it and then convinced his parents to lend him some money. He flew to China, made a deal with a manufacturer, and created a new product. Quirky takes ideas from its online viewers and makes them into real products. On the site, users vote for the product ideas they like the best. Every Friday, two winners are crowned. Quirky developers create each winning product at a design shop and then those products go into presale. If enough people decide to buy a product, Quirky takes it to market. The company produces those products in a factory in China and ships them to stores. Quirky always has products in different stages of development, going from idea to store shelves. “There’s a difference between your crazy scientist garage inventor and regular people,” said Kaufman. “Regular people experience problems on an everyday basis that discourage them. Those are everywhere. That’s what Quirky is here to achieve, to capture those problems and turn them into products.” Quirky’s online community can participate in more ways than one. They can share their product ideas, and they can also make suggestions to improve other people’s ideas. Quirky shares part of the money it makes with its community. It gives a larger share to inventors and different amounts to people who give helpful suggestions. “I’m always on Quirky,” said Andrea Zabinski. Zabinski’s invention is called the Ventu. It’s an all-in-one pasta strainer, mixing bowl, and serving bowl. Zabinski says she has made more than $5,000 from giving ideas for improving other people’s inventions. “You have to spend time there,” Zabinski explained. “You still have to work at it. Now I’m making money on other products just by voting. I’m getting little pennies here and there, but they all add up.” Zabinski is one of the Quirky inventors featured on “Quirky.” “Quirky” is set to debut on the Sundance Channel as a new six-part reality TV show about the website and the company behind it. The first episode features the inventions of the Ventu and the Pivot Power, an electric power strip. The episode tracks the problems while trying to get a product made. The production of Pivot Power is slower than expected. In addition, there are disagreements on the design for the Ventu. Kaufman is excited about the show. “I love TV drama,” Kaufman said. “Not in a fake way, but in a high-stakes, put-it-all-out-there and let’s try to make something happen way. It shows the world that we’re going to make something happen here.” The “Quirky” TV show is a lot like Ben. It sends the message that anyone can be an inventor. All it takes is creativity and hard work.