We were lucky to catch up with Warren Black recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Warren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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?
In 1996, I became the first person in history to integrate fully immersive virtual reality educational Game Design into a public school.
I thought of the idea in one second in 1993, but it took me three years to acquire a school and a great teacher for the pilot program. Next I needed. 3D Studio Max and powerful computers to run the VR experiences and secure head mounted displays for the students final projects.
It took me six months going to the school board monthly before they gave me permission to have a classroom at a public school in San Mateo, California. I was introduced to a wonderful teacher for an Earth Science class, and we designed the curriculum.
I needed five extremely powerful computers so I called the president of Hewlett Packard twice a day for three months. One day, while I was driving in San Francisco, my beeper went off and I went to a phone booth and I called the number. It was the president of Hewlett Packard and he gave me 30 seconds to talk. I told him I was going to be the first ever to put VR into a public school and he loved the idea and ask what he would get in return and I told him I would put his company on national TV. That was a huge risk to say it, but I believed it.
Third, I had to acquire virtual reality head mounted displays. They were very expensive so I approached the contractors for NASA and the Air Force who trained the pilots in VR. I wrote a handwritten letter telling the CEO that the students had worked hard for a year and we needed a VR head-mounted display to run their projects. He was so kind and sen up a headset that cost $125,000 with somebody to run it in the classroom for a week. On May 6, 1996, I called the press conference and I got on national TV. I’ve been doing it ever since!.
Warren, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have appeared on 12 different television shows and you may go to www.vrquest.com and under the “Press” tab view a few examples.
The problems I deal with as far as my clients are basically the bureaucracies because I sell into public schools. It’s difficult in each state to understand the complexities and the minutia of details to secure a contract.
We developed our own game engine which sets us apart in regards to functionality and use on a low in laptop.
What sets me apart from others as that I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but if I believe in something I don’t give up. Even if I fail along the way, I always manage to find a solution to the problem. The second thing that sets me apart is that I demo, demo, demo. If you want to sell a product nobody’s ever seen before, you better have many pairs of shoes and travel thousands of miles so everybody knows how wonderful your product is. There’s nothing better than walking into a classroom and watch teachers, administrators, and students become slack jawed because they cannot believe what they are seeing, and creating for themselves. When I started, nobody knew it virtual reality was. Imagine me trying to sell VR Quest into a school in 1998? Fortunately, my personality is infectious and I have a lot of passion and my product is fantastic.
I work a lot with politicians and most of my programs go into schools in underserved communities. There’s a huge need to educate those students who are unable to access higher end technology products at public schools that are not funded well. I make it affordable and it’s a win for the politician, the parents, and most importantly the students.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
COVID-19 shut me down for almost 4 years. Instead of retracting my business, I invested heavily in, redoing the software and adding curriculum modules. I also pivoted to online learning versus in school lessons because schools were closed.
Additionally, COVID-19 also open my eyes to emerging tech technologies, such as artificial intelligence and Web 3. I am working with applications as part of my program.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I mentioned this earlier. I started selling VR Quest in 1996 when no one knew anything about virtual reality in a school. Most people knew tidbits of information.
The hardest market is selling into schools. There are high standards by teachers and administrators because the products are so important because they affect students and young adults.
With all due respect and honesty, 95% of the people who saw a demonstration of my product, wanted it. Most of them didn’t have the money in the beginning because it was very expensive. I knew one day that the cost of head mounted displays would drop down to a few hundred dollars from thousands and thousands. I was right when Oculus Quest was purchased by Facebook in 2017. By then, I had a 19 year head start on the other education companies getting into VR. I can’t give you the secret sauce, but there’s one thing that sets VR Quest apart and that’s why I’m a Sole provider in many of the states that purchase my product.
For those 19 years, I was one of the few people going into schools. Sometimes it took a year or longer for school to acquire grant money or funding. So I had to be patient and never give up. I repeat that in all my lectures. Never ever give up if you want something bad enough. If you know what you have is good and outside forces hold you back, bide your time and wait until the situation changes, then ferociously attack the market.
I can’t tell you how many times after a demonstration I was called back within a few months and was told that VR Quest was amazing and that the school had found funding to buy the VR Quest. Imagine if I had given up? I never would have gotten those sales.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vrquest.com
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