Posted on

Coverplay: Building A Business By Addressing A Small & Simple Need

COVERPLAY was discussed again in a blog called A Consultant’s Chronicles: The business blog for Means to an End — a mediation, HR training and organizational consulting service in the SF Bay area. The author discusses why COVERPLAY’s slipcovers work — it’s a simple and smart idea that is necessary. The author goes on to talk about some of the features of the pack and play slipcovers, how to build a business with the right idea and the frustration we get when we hear of an idea explode that we probably could have thought of. I have included the blog post below.

Although I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to making fun of “reality TV,” there is one sub-category I watch with genuine interest & that is any reality show about business. Until this summer, success in this area belonged only to Donald Trump. This month there’s a new show I like a lot called Shark Tank where real venture capitalists compete with each other to fund real Shark Tank entrepreneurs using their own money.

Building A Business By Addressing A Small & Simple Need

Sunday night’s episode was a classic case study in building a business by addressing a small & simple need. The name of the product is Coverplay, which was developed by Allison Costa & business partner Amy Feldman. It is a specially treated [& patented] coverlet for playpens. Why do parents need it? Think about what happens in a playpen: it’s a venue for [pre] toilet training, children bring food, toys & well, frankly, anything they can get their little hands around [not to mention what their brothers, sisters & playmates may contribute] making your child’s playpen host central to all kinds of bacteria. Clearly, an uncovered playpen is not a safe place for a small child whose immune system is just developing. Enter Coverplay, which:

  • Protects against viruses
  • Is machine washable
  • Comes in a selection of colorful patterns
  • Pediatrician recommended
  • Great for travel

A “Silver Lining” In a Down Job-Market

In short, it’s a fantastic idea that’s really simple & really necessary. As soon as you look at it you can’t help but think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Its utter simplicity reminds me of other really basic ideas that turned into big businesses, like Post-Its or even the tops of take-out coffee cups with a small sip hole in them. The list of simple products like these goes on & on. They all have at least one thing in common: they are examples of small, simple ideas that fill a void. It is exactly what Madison Avenue adman & TV host Donny Deutsch talks about when he encourages potential entrepreneurs to develop their “big idea” & bring it to market. In a job market filled with bad news, this product is a ray of sunshine capable of inspiring anyone with a little “big idea” to put forth their best effort to make their dream a business reality.

Posted on

Shark Tank Helps Educate About Angel Investing

Raising money for your start-up is difficult. There are few people that are willing to invest their money in someone else’s relatively unproven business, but even if you have those people, fewer businesses have the right characteristics to be financed through an external capital raise. HispanicBusiness.com featured an article that discussed Shark Tank, its use as an investing/entrepreneurship educational tool, and what many professors thought of the show and its hopeful business-owners that have appeared on it.

The Shark Tank is actually a U.S.-spin off of popular British television show Dragons’ Den. Most of the academics said that Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank are useful educational tools. Part of the programs’ benefit comes from having a celebrity deliver a message. As Sarah Dodd of Alba Business School puts it: “Three minutes with Dragon Theo Paphitis convinces my students far more than three hours of me saying the same things.”

Check out what Hispanic Business had to say about our Shark Tank Entrepeneurs in their article below:


Raising money from business angels is difficult. Few people are willing to invest their money in someone else’s startup and fewer businesses have the right characteristics to be financed through an external capital raise.

Still, people raise money from business angels all the time — not a lot of entrepreneurs, mind you, but enough to indicate patterns that account for who obtains angel financing and who does not.

These patterns have led a lot of people, including me, to write books and articles about how to raise money from business angels.

While the printed word teaches some aspects of raising angel money, it falls short in other areas. Books and articles fail to capture the money-raising process well. They don’t show the messy reality of persuading people to provide you with capital. They aren’t good at revealing the nuances of human behavior that are involved.

The limitations of the printed word led me to wonder if the British TV show Dragons’ Den and its U.S.spin-off Shark Tank complement books and articles at teaching about angel investing.

Does TV Falsely Speed The Process?

To figure out if these shows offer an educational benefit, I sent a message to the members of the Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Division listserv (a group of business school professors who teach entrepreneurship) to obtain their perspective. Below, I’ve summarized the views from this decidedly unscientific survey.

A few professors were negative on the value of these shows, largely because the format crams a relatively long process into a TV schedule. For instance, Benson Honig of McMaster University asks: “How many investors would read a plan, view a five-minute presentation, and make a decision?”

Honig makes a good point. A couple of years ago, I did an analysis of the Angel Capital Assn.’s survey of its member groups, which showed that the average amount of time an entrepreneur took to present to the group was 21.1 minutes. (The median was 20 minutes.)

But the ACA survey also showed that some angel groups did allow entrepreneurs only five minutes to present. While these groups didn’t make investment decisions after such short presentations, they did choose whether or not to conduct due diligence. Perhaps the short period to present is real.

Another criticism of the shows is that they make angels look foolish and illogical. John Bunch of Benedictine University writes: “I think it is the last thing I would recommend to my students, unless I wanted to show how foolish and illogical business angels can be.” But if business angels are sometimes foolish and illogical, isn’t that valuable for entrepreneurs to know?

A Lot of Positive Reviews

Most of the academics said that Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank are useful educational tools. Part of the programs’ benefit comes from having a celebrity deliver a message. As Sarah Dodd of Alba Business School puts it: “Three minutes with Dragon Theo Paphitis convinces my students far more than three hours of me saying the same things.”

But the academics also think the shows help for other reasons. Here are a few aspects they find particularly valuable:

  • Eden Blair of Bradley University says that the shows “help [students) see what criteria investors use.”
  • John Stavig of the University of Minnesota explains that they offer “good examples [of] how entrepreneurs need to hone their elevator pitch.”
  • Roberto James Lopez of Tecnolgico de Monterrey says that the shows illustrate “how to tell the story of your business.”
  • Sean Wise of Ryerson University says the shows “illustrate the type of questions investors ask.”
  • Steve Phelan of the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) says the programs show the tradeoff that angels face between “leaving enough equity for the founder to retain an incentive [and claiming] as much equity as possible.”
  • Geoff Archer of Royal Roads University says the shows demonstrate that “some stupid ideas get funded,” that “great ideas fail to get funded because of negotiation failure [and] greedy pre-show valuation,” that “founding teammates can really muck up a presentation and/or a deal,” that “having even a few customers and some real sales makes a great impression,” and that “body language, poise and listening skills are very important in an elevator pitch-type environment.”

Some academics even pointed out specific lessons about raising angel money taught by individual episodes. For instance:

  • Noah Wasserman of Harvard Business School says that the Shark Tank “Cover Play” episode addresses “the choice of control vs. value addition.”
  • Sarah Dodd of Alba School of Business explains that the Dragons’ Den “Golden Rules for Success” episode “provides a very clear dose of reality about four critical, down-to-earth elements of any new venture (cash, common sense, contingency and homework).”
  • Dodd adds that Levi Root’s musical pitch for Reggae sauce helps remind students that “they need to be creative and compelling” when presenting business plans.
  • Gary Dushnitsky of the University of Pennsylvania says that the Dragons’ Den episode on the personal air vehicle explains why entrepreneurs’ optimism affects the deals that they are willing to take.
  • Chris Welter of Ohio State University says that the “Blue Tooth Ear Implant” episode of Shark Tank shows “what types of opportunities should seek funding.” He also says that the “Belt Buckle Venture” episode teaches about “realistic business valuations.”

The example of business valuation illustrates the kind of lessons that these shows teach. An entrepreneur asking for $100,000 in return for a 10% stake in the company is valuing the business at $1 million. Many entrepreneurs on the show fail to justify these implicit valuations on the basis of anything other than their personal beliefs. In fact, when Sean Lux of the University of South Florida asked the 62 MBAs in his class what was educational about the shows, the class said the single most valuable lesson was the importance of developing “a rationally based valuation of their company (appraisal, venture capital method, NPV, First Chicago, etc.) prior to engaging investors.”

In sum, despite the negative reactions of a few entrepreneurship professors, the consensus is that Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank help to educate people about angel investing.

Posted on

New York Times Features COVERPLAY Slip Covers

Germs and Traveling

Included in a blog post titled, “Novel Anti-Germ Devices for Travelers,” COVERPLAY was included next to another “anti-germ” device called the “Germ Guardian.” The premise of the blog was to discuss things we can buy during this heavy flu season to keep us from getting sick. I have included the blog post below, but also a link to the article as well. See the blog post by Michelle Higgins below.


Germs and traveling - NY Ttimes article

Cough, cough, sniff, sniff. If you’re traveling this flu season, chances are you’ll hear these sounds on your trip.

If you’re afraid of getting sick, you’re not alone. Almost 90 percent of United States travelers say they are worried about germs while traveling, according to a recent survey by Tripadvisor. And 55 percent said they would request a new seat if their seatmate looked sick.

While that’s not always possible, given how tightly airlines are packing planes these days, diligent hand washing and use of hand sanitizers is usually enough to help ward off infection. But for those who feel they need more protection, companies are offering new products for germ-a-phobes on the go.

Germ Guardian. An 11-inch wand that uses ultraviolet C light to zap viruses and bacteria when waved over an airline seat, hotel bedspread and other dirty surfaces. Cost: $59.99

Nozin Nasal Sanitizer. An antiseptic solution “formulated for the vulnerable and sensitive skin at the distal area of the nose” to help “control germ populations that come to reside there,” according to its Web site. Cost: $14.99

Coverplay Slipcover. A machine-washable, hygienic slipcover designed to fit over children’s portable play yards like the popular Pack ‘n Play offered at many hotels. “Each month, dozens of families in the hotel are using the same portable crib,” states a vividly worded press release. Between uses, “they grow harmful bacteria from saliva, urine, vomit and bloody noses.” Cost: $49.99 to $59.99.

Posted on

COVERPLAY in Club Med Hotels

COVERPLAY slipcovers are popping up everywhere these days! In fact, they are so popular that many large hotel chains now carry COVERPLAY slip covers to provide healthy and safe environments for young children who use a Pack ‘n Play during their stay. Some of these hotels include Club Med, Hilton, Disney, Marriott and many others.

In addition to being picked up by these hotels, COVERPLAY has also introduced more covers for play yards. People are slowly starting to realize that it is much more cost effective to cover these areas than it would be to replace an entire Pack ‘n Play.

These covers can enhance the look of a standard play yard and make it not only look new, but also make it fit with the décor in a nursery or home. There are more than a dozen patterns, colors and styles available from COVERPLAY, and the web site also offers two different types of materials: a cotton Lycra material and a chenille fabric.

Posted on

COVERPLAY Play Yard Sheets

play yards sheets

COVERPLAY now features play yard sheets in addition to Pack ‘n Play slipcovers. These fashionable play yard sheets not only enhance the style and overall appearance of your child’s play yard, they also help keep your child clean and safe — the most important benefit they offer.

You can continue to protect your baby from harmful germs and bacteria with these 100% jersey knit, fitted play yard sheets.