Digging through her bag, which was strapped on her stroller to find her ringing phone, probably her pediatrician calling back about her sick child who was now crying in his seat in the stroller, Leslie wished she had better access to her phone….and the ringing stopped, just as she found it. Leslie Perlman, at the time, a mom to two kids under 4 and a third on the way, related her story to her brother-in-law, also a parent, and the two wished someone would make a phone holder that would strap to the stroller like a water bottle straps to a bike. Light bulb!!! Leslie thought, why don’t I make that? 
As a real estate tax attorney, working full time until she had children, now freelancing during the busy seasons, Leslie had no prior experience in creating a product other than her one attempt that ended when a patent search was negative. Reaching out to family and friends – turns out a friend of a family member was in plastics manufacturing although not the kind Leslie needed, but he recommended the right person.
Then her research began – which smart phones would the device hold and what sizes were those phones, how would the device attach to a stroller and what was the average circumference of most stroller handlebars, what would she name the device, what would the logo be, how would she package the item…. and on and on. Leslie dealt with each question as it arose and learned as she went along. She found a new graphic designer for the logo and packaging, a young photographer to take photos, and her sister, Lisa was a huge help. Lisa a new mom herself, had just left the magazine world when her son was born and became the PR and marketing arm for Leslie’s fledging company.
“I never thought I would make this happen. I’d started other things and stopped, but it was important that I saw this through.” Initially filing for a provisional patent gave Leslie a year to get things together before filing for a full patent. Self funding her project she was in for less than 5 figures initially. She also hired a lawyer to Trademark her name and slogan, “texthook – A dashboard for your mobile life.”
“My mission was to make mom’s lives easier. With their smart phone secured in the Texthook, I could see moms playing music for their kids during a walk or easily viewing their fitness apps while using their stroller for exercise.” Getting the mold built in China was her first big expense but she was getting traction with the invention. However, she wanted to manufacture in the US and found a local firm in New Jersey. The phone holder, attaches to any handle bar and accommodates all types of phones.
Now the selling began. With a prototype strapped to her stroller and the kids in tow, Leslie hit the streets of Manhattan to visit baby stores. Seeing this unique product in use, the buyers loved it and Leslie got her first orders. Storing units in her apartment became a problem as orders increased, so a fulfillment company was brought in to store and ship units from off site, a much better option.
“Luckily my kids were younger when I first started and they napped a lot, that’s when I worked, or after they went to bed at 7:00, I’d work till 11:00.” With her kids older now, they love being involved and seeing their mom’s invention on other strollers, “Mommy, look, they have a Texthook.” Or, “Tell them about it, mommy, they don’t have one.” Leslie says, “My kids are really involved, they’ve been with me every step of the way, especially the initial selling. “My husband helps with the billing and accounting so it’s truly a family affair.” What’s next – selling the Texthook to fitness buffs for treadmills and exercise equipment and then perhaps to the grocery cart market.
Beginning with the idea in December of 2008, taking the first prototype to a Nursery school fair a year later, and now the Texthook is being sold in Australia and Japan, Leslie’s company grew quickly. After the Today show had a segment called “Pimp Your Stroller” and the Texthook was featured, the orders went through the roof on Amazon and subsequently Leslie got an order from her first national chain store, buybuyBaby. “When I took this on I never thought I would have a business, so it’s incredible to see what I’ve created.”
Buy yours from Amazon here.
Contact: www.thetexthook.com
VentureMom Tip
Create a solution for a problem.
She had been representing stationery lines for years and never dreamed the she would have her own line. Daphne Mitchell’s friend had pulled her into the paper business when her kids were babies, but it was another friend that sent her down a different path. 
Tori Samuel is an illustrator who created drawings around letters. She made baby gifts spelling out the name of the new born with her innovative letter drawings. When Daphne saw Tori’s creations she had an idea. “Tori’s work was so unique and well received, I felt there was an opportunity to create our own line of stationery.”
Because Daphne had been retailing lines, she knew what was needed when launching her own. They decided to partner as the demand for Tori’s designs gained steam. Tori’s husband scanned the hand drawn images and Daphne created a book to showcase the letters from A to Z as well as the other icons she has created over the years, so customers would choose their own.
With the advent of on-line invites, Daphne has seen the stationery business change. Companies adapted by adding other products or they closed. She has adapted by offering Whale Island Press custom designs and on-line designs.
When she turned 40, she treated herself to a culinary class making pastries. Michelle Jaffee had always loved baking but three kids had kept her from her passion. She remembers how her love of baking developed, “My mom helped me bake my first cake when I was six – a carrot cake! – in a wood burning stove. Before my mom was a baker, my grandma was a baker. It seemed like she was always making a cake with her white Kitchenaid mixer to bring to someone’s house. At Christmas, she sent her very, very crisp, thin cookies layered between waxed paper in a box wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine.”
Using some of her grandmother’s recipe, Michelle developing an assortment of tasty cookies. In 2009, she began to get requests for batches from friends and family. Michelle thought, why not make this a real business venture, and at first looked into selling baked goods at the local farmer’s market. She then realized to do that she’d need a license for her home kitchen, then she’d need a commercial kitchen to grow, then she’d need helpers….she thought, “If you give a mouse a cookie….” literally.
“It happened organically.” Her first outside sale came when a friend who owned a car wash, asked for an assortment of cookies for the counter. A customer whose husband owns a specialty food store came to get her car washed, loved the product, told her husband and Michelle got her first wholesale order. Other orders came from that exposure and she soon realized that she wanted to be “all in.” Her baking business became wholesale before she ever made it to the farmer’s market. That’s how good her cookies, bars and pastries are.
The next step was a store front. Michelle had explored several locations but none worked out until one day she found the perfect place in February of this year in Fairfield. “Running a neighborhood bakery has always been a dream of mine.” Signing the lease she knew there was no looking back and she says, “I didn’t want to look back and say I never tried.”
The first time she walked into a Babies R Us, she burst into tears. Allyson Downey recalls what happened, “I looked up at a ten-foot wall of baby bottles and saw it as a metaphor for how completely unprepared I was to be a parent. So when I got home, I started sending emails to my friends: what kind of car seat do you have? What diapers do you use? Do I need to be able to collapse an umbrella stroller with one hand? As my inbox flooded with advice from my in-the-trenches friends, I started to feel a little less overwhelmed… and a little bit more ready.”
Allyson remembers thinking that there had to be a better way for people who have had babies to share their favorite “go-to” items with their friends? With more than 4 million first child babies born in the US each year, she started thinking, “If something like this doesn’t exist, maybe I should create it.” She shared her thoughts with her husband and they agreed the idea had enormous potential.
When the couple visited with a college friend, Melissa Post, who was on bed rest, pregnant with twins at the time, they told her what they wanted to do. Melissa’s first response was: “Are you sure something like this doesn’t already exist?” She then proceeded to share her experience trying to prepare for her daughters’ arrival, which was remarkably similar to Ally’s. After walking into Buy Buy Baby and starting up at a wall of baby bottles made up of at least 10 brands she’d never heard of (what was Dr. Brown’s?), she texted 5 friends who’d recently had babies and asked, “What bottles do I register for?”
already moms trying to figure out what she needed. One by one, Melissa’s mom friends would each send a list of their tried and true choices for bottles, wipes, strollers, car seats, carriers, breast pumps, pacifiers and everything else a new mom would need. She was inundated with documents to review, but had no idea how to organize all of the information into anything that made sense or helped her to navigate this incredibly overwhelming process.
The three began to see some real synergy in what they could do together. Before bed rest, Melissa had spent several years working for American Express in web site development, and knew she was facing a 2 hour commute (each way) again after the twins were born. Almost immediately after talking to Jack and Ally, Melissa knew she wanted to get involved in some way, and there was no turning back.
When a Mom Starts a Business Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 10:00am – 11:30am The Pequot Library, Fairfield, CT