We were lucky to catch up with Debra Orr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Debra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I drew my idea on a little piece of paper and found a product engineer to help me turn my drawing into a CAD file which is a digital file of an object.

I used the CAD file to start rapid prototyping my invention using a 3D printer. After I felt my prototype was ready for manufacturing, I found a manufacturing partner and they worked with me to engineer tooling to manufacture the parts. To help protect my intellectual property, I utilized a registered patent agent to help me file a design patent.

Since the process to patent a new invention can take years, I then found a warehouse and fulfillment center to store and ship my inventory and built a Shopify website to capture sales. I started using Facebook and Instagram to generate awareness of my new product.

It took me about 9 months to go from ideation to actually selling my invention to customers. While this process seemed very challenging and risky at the time, the effort, time and money it has taken to scale the business has been more substantial due to the impact of COVID on the supply chain and the time it takes to build your business infrastructure and team as you grow.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Debra Orr, and I invented a product inspired by my pug called a Fluff Trough. The Fluff Trough is a patented elevated feeding system with interchangeable inserts and accessories designed to create the healthiest feeding experience for your pet.

As my pug was aging and experiencing more health issues, I noticed he was struggling to eat because his feeder was not designed for his unique anatomy (i.e., flat face) so I started brainstorming a bowl that would work better for him. I eventually came up with the idea for the Fluff Trough and used my life savings to bring the product to market to help other pets who may be struggling with the same issues as Pork Chop. It was a huge risk at the time and a learning experience because I had never commercialized anything before.

The more my business grew, the more I learned how important it is to start a business with the goal to solve a problem and add value to others (don’t just start a business because you want to be your own boss and make money).

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I used the money I had been saving as a down payment on a house to start my business while I was working my full-time job to pay my bills. It barely covered the basic investment I needed to bring my invention to market so I knew I had to find more funding.

I auditioned for Shark Tank and was called back to meet the casting director. After I went through the audition process, I was cut before I made it to the TV show. At that point, I felt devastated because I thought I had lost my best chance to find people to invest in my business and I was stuck.

I shared on social media that I was looking for people to invest in my business and to my surprise I had so many people reach out interested in investing in my business because they saw so much value in my invention. I eventually partnered with some investors and sold equity in my business for capital needed to grow my business.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We have a very unique social media presence because we re-share a lot of customer content instead of sharing polished and edited marketing images. We also do a lot of contests and giveaways with influencers to build our social media presence.

We are always posting business updates (both good and bad) on social media to maintain transparency with our customers and we like to have conversations with our customers by asking questions and asking for feedback.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flufftrough.com
• Instagram: @flufftrough
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flufftrough
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debramastic/

Image Credits
We own all images