Spiral Notebook Spine Label

Spiral notebooks when placed on bookshelves are completely unable to be labeled effectively. I have noticed this throughout my education, and sought to change this since I often have to go through a lot of pain to find the notebooks I need.

Splable is a very simple, flexible polymer label which allows for seamless labeling with permanent marker. Alternatively, the user can use clear tape for a temporary label. The bread and butter of the technology comes with the choice of polymer that allows for writing, and also flexes without breaking after numerous uses.

All design was done utilizing AutoCAD Fusion 360, and was printed on my Prusa MK3 FDM 3D printer.

I conducted more than 200 market interviews with strangers: The students and locals in the Lincoln and Omaha area. I concluded an adequate sales price, and even gave a few away for trials to be able to iterate the prototype and continue development. It was all seeming to go well, until I decided that this business was not worth pursuing.

I ended up winding this project down because of the economics and risk. It would have costed me nearly $15,000 to start production and secure intellectual property protection. I learned a lot about economies of scale, as Splable can be produced for ~$0.75 on small scale and ~$0.15 at mass production. The cost was too high, and in college I am really unable to give my full attention to operating a business.

I have decided in future I will focus on software for entrepreneurship, as the business scales much better than a product based business. However I have learned a tremendous amount about prototype design, intellectual property, manufacturing, and solid business principles.