Springfree Trampoline: Keith Alexander & Steve Holmes (2019)

Key takeaways

Innovative problem-solving often requires persistent tinkering and a willingness to experiment with new ideas.
Partnerships can be crucial for scaling inventions—Keith’s technical expertise paired with Steve’s business acumen helped realize the trampoline’s market potential.
Market acceptance and safety perception significantly influence product success, and sometimes, challenging these perceptions is necessary to bring safer solutions to the public.
Scaling production across continents involves strategic decisions about manufacturing, intellectual property, and navigating relationships with big retailers.
Resilience and adaptability are critical—entrepreneurs often face rejection and setbacks, but perseverance can eventually lead to success.

Summary

Introduction to Springfree Trampoline and Inventor Keith Alexander

The episode begins with a discussion about the safety concerns surrounding traditional trampolines and how Keith Alexander, a New Zealand engineer, was motivated to invent a safer trampoline after noticing how dangerous conventional options were. His journey of experimentation, tinkering, and innovation is explored, illustrating his passion for problem-solving and engineering.

Keith Alexander’s Engineering Journey and Inspiration

This section delves into Keith’s background, his engineering education, and his early inventive spirit, highlighting his experiments with water shoes, water walking shoes, and other quirky projects. It emphasizes his love for tinkering and solving engineering challenges, which later culminated in his work on the trampoline.

The Birth of the Safer Trampoline Design

Keith’s initial ideas for a safer trampoline involved replacing metal springs with a flexible fiberglass rod system and creating a soft, enclosure-based safe bounce environment. His persistence through prototypes—ranging from inflatable rings to fiberglass rod structures—demonstrates his dedication to improving trampoline safety.

Commercial Challenges and Partnership with Steve Holmes

The episode covers the challenges Keith faced in commercializing his invention, including university ownership of the patent, funding difficulties, and finding manufacturing partners. Steve Holmes, a Canadian businessman, enters the story as someone willing to take a significant risk to bring Keith’s invention to market, leading to the development and scale-up of Springfree Trampolines.

Market Launch and Growth of Springfree Trampoline

Keith and Steve’s collaboration results in the launch of the Springfree trampoline, which is marketed as the world’s safest. The initial successes at trade shows, partnership with Costco, and expansion into international markets like the UK and Japan are discussed, along with the challenges they faced, such as manufacturing costs and the decision to produce in China.

The Rise and Challenges of Scale and Market Expansion

The episode details the rapid growth of Springfree Trampoline, including their strategic store openings, building manufacturing facilities abroad, and expanding their customer base. Challenges such as market rejection at Costco, supply chain issues, and the eventual fallout with Costco are explored, illustrating the complexity of scaling a hardware-focused business.

Reflections and Lessons Learned

Keith and Steve reflect on what they've learned from their entrepreneurial journey—persistence, innovation, risk-taking, and resilience. Keith likens the invention process to having a child—exciting at conception but requiring nurturing, with luck and perseverance playing vital roles.

Show notes

In the late 1980s, a New Zealand engineer named Keith Alexander wanted to buy a trampoline for his kids. After his wife said they were too dangerous, Keith set out to design his own—a safer trampoline, without metal springs. He tinkered with and perfected the design over the course of a decade. But he was daunted by the challenge of bringing his invention to market; and he almost gave up. At that point Steve Holmes, a Canadian businessman, bought the patent to Keith's trampoline, and took a big risk to commercialize it. Since the start of the pandemic, sales of Springfree Trampolines doubled, and since their launch, the company has sold nearly 500,000 trampolines worldwide.

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