Introducing Desk Buddy
The worlds first and only desk extension designed for the millions of college students nationwide who spend hundreds of hours per academic year suffering behind small tiny lecture desks without enough space to function.
Patent Pending.
Benefits
Desk Buddy Receives 1st Place and $2,000
by Shark Tank's Daymond John!
Last April after 3 back to back 1st place business competition wins, our team was selected by the University of Iowa's JPEC program to pitch to Shark Tank's Daymond John in front over 2,000 students and community members where the product was awarded yet another 1st place finish.
Desk Buddy at the Young Entrepreneur Convention
Wins top 6 out of 150 submissions by Shark Tank's Kevin Herrington
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Desk Buddy is selected as 1 of 6 finalists out of over 150 contestants at the worlds first Young Entrepreneurs Convention by Shark Tank's Kevin Herrington.
The Problem
The average college student spends 15 hours per week, 60 hours per month, 270 hours per semester, and 540 hours per academic year suffering behind a small desk during lecture, class, and testing.
The Solution
Desk Buddy turns that tiny piece of wood into a comfortable workspace.
Lecture
(Before Desk Buddy)
(After Desk Buddy)
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Use Desk Buddy during lecture to make room for the items you need to make it through the class.
Testing
(Before Desk Buddy)
(After Desk Buddy)
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Countless minutes are wasted during a test rearranging items. Use Desk Buddy to increase focus and decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the exam.
How It Works
Product Specs
Why Indiegogo?
Part of the idea behind the lean startup is to prove demand, and build products in a rapid, user-centered design cycle. By reaching out on Indiegogo, we can assess our demand, build a stronger relationship with our early adopters, and use feedback to make our product as amazing as possible.
What We Need & What You Get
Thanks to help from members of our local community we have been able to build a mold, develop and produce packaging, and begin the manufacturing process!
Now all we need is additional funding to pay for the raw materials (plastic, thrust pads, nobs, screws) and we can begin mass production.
By making a contribution to our campaign you will receive a Desk Buddy and play a vital role in providing the resources we need to manufacturer and ship the product.
The Manufacturing Process
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The Desk Buddy is created by a process called injection molding. Injection molding is defined as follows: The shaping of rubber or plastic articles by injecting heated material into a mold. Check out the video below to see the first Desk Buddy to ever be produced (4/29/2016).
(The two halves of the mold close, hot plastic flows into the cavity, cooling units within the mold harden the plastic, the mold opens, ejector pins push the unit out of the mold producing the main body of the product).
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(Two halves of the mold opening after the unit is ejected)
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(Desk Buddy's founder Andrew Shao (right) with partner and CEO of MSI Mold Builders (Roger Klouda).
2. After the main body is produced a threaded brass insert is placed into the unit which allows us to attach a screw, nob, and lastly the thrust pad which completes the clamping mechanism.
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3. Once the part is completely assembled it goes through our 5 point quality assurance process. After it passes, the unit is packaged and boxed for shipping.
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Desk Buddy's Story
Andrew Shao came up with desk buddy during his senior year of college after taking a statistics exam that he wasn't able to finish. Like most college students his desk was cluttered with a scantron, notesheet, pencils, eraser, calculator, and the test itself.
He was forced to stack things on his legs and place items on the desk next to himself just to see the test itself.
Focus was broken and countless minutes were wasted rearranging items. He realized that not having enough space on a desk provided by the college was frustrating, distracting, and a waste of time.
After the exam he couldn’t stop thinking about the millions of college students nationwide that must be experiencing the same frustration and anxiety that he felt during that exam. So he went to different campus groups and even other colleges to see if he was the only one experiencing this problem.
What he found was that almost everyone had the same frustrations and were desperately looking for a solution. This experience motivated him to develop an inexpensive solution that would permanently fix the chronic lack of space students have during an exam and while in lecture.
