We thought it might be useful to document the process of starting an online business from scratch.
Jim Coudal and Steve Delahoyde will periodically post here about issues involving our
product and business plan. Hopefully things will go well but even if the whole thing goes down in flames,
it’ll probably be interesting to watch.
Subscribe to our RSS feed.
Overextended Extensions
In the interest of getting everyone in the office in the same room at the same time, every Thursday we have lunch brought over from Jim's wife's incredible catering company, Big Delicious Planet. The discussion topics usually come quick and flow from one tangent to the next, as any good conversation should. At yesterday's lunch (after spending a few minutes talking about why video games don't crash as much as they used to and guessing how the NY Times' bestseller list works), we got to talking about product line extensions.
Amy brought up that we should start making Jewelboxing cozies, knitted-wool wrap-arounds to keep the cases warm in the winter ("They'd be perfect for the holidays!"). Dawson decided we needed a Jewelboxing caddy, a specifically -designed place to store three cases wherever you need them most (like the shower or above the stove). From there, Bryan and Steve attempted to draw this new product line out to an unbearably stupid degree, which went something like this: a) Jewelboxing Case Cozy, b) Jewelboxing Case Cozy Caddy, c) Multi-Caddy Caddy for Jewelboxing Case Cozy Caddies, d) Polishing Kit for Multi-Caddy Caddy for Jewelboxing Case Cozy Caddies, e) and on and on. 
They kept doing this until just after everyone at the table had long-since stopped paying attention to their babble. Then we all started talking about the next logical topic: how to attach a road map to foamcore.
So while we like to think we're a company that comes up with some interesting ideas from time to time, fortunately we also know when to let well enough alone and keep Jewelboxing pure and simple. Though that said, if you happen to have a friend in the business who can sew a few hundred wool case sweaters, we wouldn't mind hearing about it (Amy was right, the holidays are just around the corner, after all).
Here's to hoping only smart extensions are being extended in Royal Oak, Idaho Springs, Middletown, New York, Pasadena, Louisville, San Jose, Brookline, Quezon City, Franklin, Los Angeles, Portland, Rochester, Santa Monica, Ventura, Tampa, Waxhaw, Raleigh, Plainview, Brooklyn, Las Vegas, Sunnyvale, West Monroe, Malibu, Folsom, Idaho Spings, Turlock, Mequon, and St. Louis.
September 11, 2009 03:11 PM