BlueTipz is a tool for ice fishing that alerts anglers when they get a strike on their tip-up. This allows them to sit in their shack and get a notification when their tip-ups outside the shack catch fish so they can catch more fish faster.
The idea came from Brad Zdroik, and the meeting between WYZGYZ and Brad was serendipitous. After he explained the idea, WYZGYZ had the ability to develop a working prototype within two weeks. This prototype was just a bare circuit board, and it didn’t connect to smartphones yet, but it demonstrated the capability, and worked well enough in the test environment that the decision was made to keep working.
After many prototypes of both the electronics and the enclosure, it was time to commit to the manufacturing of the product, and establishment of BlueTipz as a separate company from WYZGYZ.
Tooling went quickly, and we developed rigs for aiding in assembly and programming and testing the units. We set up an online store and started taking orders online. We also managed to get into retailers by the end of October, mostly on a trial basis because we were a new product.
The entire product development cycle of idea to shelves took less than 6 months for a startup company. Production is taking place in Wisconsin, we are on track to be profitable in the first season of the product, and the response from the community has been positive.