Success at Origins

Origins International Game Expo just closed a few short hours ago and was a resounding success.

We presented for the first time at a major gaming exposition and were open to a wide variety of possiblities. As I framed them for my son, who joined me at the convention, the worst case scenario was that we would pack every Hold-it! Game Card Organizer back into the boxes and bring them back to Massachusetts, while the best case scenario was that we would have no stock left to pack. The reality, we knew, would be somewhere in the middle.

Yes, making enough on stock at a convention is usually a priority. However, for a new company, such as Innovatium, getting the word out that our Organizer was on the market and having that word spread was the real win at Origins. For example, here are some of the games that folks mentioned as being great for use with the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer:

• Settlers of Catan -- 6+ games (we knew this!)
• Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Europe, & Ticket to Ride Märklin
• Alhambra
  
• Dutch Blitz
  
• Apples to Apples
• Mare Nostrum
• Arkham Horror, not to mention a whole bunch of games from Fantasy Flight Games
• Parthenon
• Killer Bunnies

Additionally, we previewed an acrylic game border for the Settlers of Catan games. Yes, it is a one trick pony, but boy, what a trick. This border keeps the cards for the 3-4 and the 5-6 person games of Settlers from getting knocked during game play. We will be adding the Seafarers border shortly. The success of this item prompted us to carry it in our online store.

There was a constant flow of people who stopped at our booth and listened to our pitch for the Hold-it!. Our Director of Sales and Marketing, Liz Fulda was also present and did a great job bringing folks in to learn about our Hold-it!.

All in all it was a great show, lots of people, a good number of retailers and even some distributors all got to see the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer in person and many, many of them walked away with a Hold-it, or walked away saying, "That is a great idea. I'll see you at Gen-Con."

Thanks for Reading!

Spring Update

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know what has been going on at Innovatium.

We had done some work with the wonderful Alison Summers regarding our sales and marketing and are looking to work with some other, highly recommended folks.

The upshot of all this are some changes, some of which are long over due.

For one, we will be updating the web site. This is in the "long over due" category.

Another change is that we won't be going to Essen this year, but will rather look to attend other tradeshows primarily in the North East, where we are located. We will also be looking for game tournaments where we can let people try using the Hold-it! for themselves.

We've set some sales goals -- it's good to have goals -- and are simulateneously finishing the plans and executing the plans. For example, as we talk about advertising and article promotions, we are going full-speed ahead on preparations for Origins and GenCon Indy.

All of the conversations, planning and work to date has me feeling very confident that this will continue to be a wonderful year and that we will help many people get organized with the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer.

Thanks for reading!

Risking Failure

Continuing on the topic of priorities, I was pondering "Just how important can things be?" By that I mean, "Just how important is 'important'?" How important are you willing to let high-priority things be?

Are you willing to stay up late and get up early to meet a deadline for your work? What about to help your child with a school project? Are you willing to go to bed early so you can get up early and exercise? Are you willing to be responsible about what you eat so that you can be in the physical condition you wish?

These are important questions, not because the answers to them will change your life, but rather because how you answer them helps you to learn about yourself.

The biggest indicator of importance is whether or not you are willing to risk failing. I have a specific meaning of failure, which is "to not achieve neither the original goals nor an acceptable subset of them, and to stop trying to achieve them."

I prefer this perspective because it highlights a few things.

• Something is a failure only if you deem it to be so.
• There are degrees in which something can succeed, if you are open to them.
• If you continually work towards your goal, then you really haven't failed. You simply haven't succeeded yet.
• Not succeeded is, therefore, not the same as failing.

Yes, there are precise and specific instances where a tightly defined goal yields a clear success/failure evaluation. Your team lost the basketball game is something one could consider a failure.

But isn't there a next game? What did you learn from this game? You really only get out of it what you put into it. And, nothing spectacular was ever created by accident by mediocre effort. (Go ahead, prove me wrong!)

If you are not willing to let this effort, this attempt, fail, then maybe the goal isn't large enough.

When I have to guarantee success, I scale back the deliverables to something I know I can achieve. While it is very satisfying to then achieve the stated goal, something is missing. The thrill of creating something significant really comes from extending oneself. For that, you have to be willing to fail. At least in this attempt.

At least that's the way I see it.

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year

It's about time that I took a moment to touch base.

2005, the year of the founding of Innovatium, was a great year. We accomplished a lot -- far more than we really had any right to believe we could do. 2006 is shaping up to be even better.

Three major activities are planned for '06:

1. Continue sales and promotion of the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer
2. Start R & D on a new product for the camping and outdoor community
3. Start R & D on a new product for triathletes

Beyond that are a huge number of details, including our continued search to find investors who would like to become part of the Innovatium family.

Conventions

We will be at at least three conventions this year:

Origins by GAMA (June 29 to July 2)
GenCon Indy (August 10 - 13)
Das Spiel in Essen, Germany (October)

We are going to try and host some games at each convention, offer some promotions and generally try to have a really good time. Hope you can join us.

New Products

Obviously, there isn't much I can say about our new products until we have done quite a bit of work on them. If you're interested in helping us, we will need folks to answer questionnaires as part of our primary market research, please contact us through our website and let us know!

We'll put more information in the next newsletter. If you'd like to receive our newsletter, please sign up!

OK, back to the topic. We're planning on doing R & D in 2006 and getting to the manufacturing stage in early 2007.

For the Triathlete project (Project Tri), we would like to introduce the product in the winter of '06-07 so that there is some presence for the '07 Tri season (those of us in colder climates know of what I speak). Speaking with race directors, triathletes and race organizers & judges are all part of the initial product exploration plan.

The camping and outdoors-person project (Project Hike) will likely take a longer cycle with R&D running in '06 and product introduction in '07 with sales targeted for '08. We will need a number of volunteers for primary market research before we get into the next design stage. There is a good chance that we will want to partner with an established outdoor product firm. That will be fun.

Of course, we will ask all volunteers to sign a standard non-compete and non-disclosure agreement. Volunteering is a great way to get involved, have fun and participate in the creation of something new. It's a real kick!

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon

Shortly after the last post, a new series of orders started coming in.

Wonderful!!

Hey, we all know that the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer is a fantastic deal. It's really great to see that other folks are hearing about it and learning the same thing too.

I am extremely pleased that so may people are interested in the Organizer with so little promotion and so little time on the market. Thank you all for helping to spread the word!

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a Happy Holiday and Joyous New Year!

It's Kind Of Quiet

Here at Innovatium it's been rather quiet.

We pushed and pushed really hard all summer long to get the new company off the ground and get the first product, the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer into production.

After the tremendous roller coaster rides of the Summer and Fall, it seems so quiet now. We are shipping orders as they come in. There was a flurry of backorder to fulfill, which was done very quickly. Then there was a flurry of activity to update advertising and promotions, which was also done very quickly. Now, there is just not much more pushing to do.

Yes, we are keeping our few ads alive. But since the Hold-it! Game Card Organizer came to market rather late for the 2005 season, we are simply doing the best we can.

So, we're taking advantage of this quiet time to reflect, plan, plan and plan.

Some of the things we're planning are:

• Conventions for 2006: Origins, GenCon, Der Spiel (in Essen, Germany)
• New Products to enter into R & D.
  
• Investors. Oh, how lovely to find some more wonderful folks who believe in us and what we're doing.

Without a doubt, some of the best work is the New Product development. There are quite literally over a dozen products on the drawing board for evaluation and planning. We would like to bring one, perhaps, two, new products out in 2006 for sale in 2007.

Wow, that looks like a long time away. However, having lived this year experiencing every minute as real and as raw as can be, I now know it will soon be upon us.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a Joyous New Year!

Thanks for reading

Lets get things going!

I'm feeling pretty good and it's time to focus on getting the ball rolling!

The product is here, the product labels are here and the retail cartons will soon be here. There are outstanding orders to fill. We've had really good feedback at some conventions and will be listed in a new product directory.

OK, folks, let's get the word out! You need a Hold-it! Game Card Organizer! by Innovatium. Really you do.

My wife uses two in the kitchen for holding all sorts of things. Some ladies at a business meeting I recently attending swore it was the best thing they've seen for their make up.

A multi-chambered organizer might seem expensive at $29.95, but this organizer is worth it.

First of all, you will find dozens of uses for it. Especially if you are a regular gamer.

Then, it will last forever. Check out the movies on the website. I even drop it from head-height onto the small stabilizing feet at the back and it didn't even crack!

Finally, if you are the gaming type, this is a modest investment in your gaming pleasure -- for the rest of your life!

Thank you for reading.