Snow Business These BIZ Experiencess said to heck with scraping ice from their windshields in winter, and came up with a solution to the chore.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
What: No2Snow Eliminator, a neoprene cover thateliminates ice and snow buildup on car windshields
Who: Dave and Melissa Brown, co-founders of Sno-WayTechnologies LLC
Where: Indianapolis
When: Started in November 2004
Like many Americans, Dave and Melissa Brown have a two-cargarage that houses everything but their two cars. Because they parkoutside during the winter, scraping ice and snow off theirwindshields every morning became a burdensome chore. After fieldingnumerous complaints from his wife and empathizing with her, Dave,37, set out to find a product to eliminate the task altogether.
The selection was slim, and the few products out there werecumbersome and ineffective, so he began experimenting withdifferent materials to design a solution. "I was motivated tomake my mornings easier," says Dave.
He spent the winter of 2003 developing a windshield cover thateventually became the No2Snow Eliminator. At three-sixteenths of aninch thick and made from lightweight neoprene, it is impervious toall water elements and seals itself to the windshield with onestrap to keep it in place. The cover rolls up for easy storage.
The Browns took out a business loan for over $25,000, purchasedneoprene in bulk and began manufacturing out of their garage. Theyestablished Sno-Way Technologies LLC and their website in November2004.
Melissa, 37, instantly sparked sales after calling in to marketthe product on Tom Martino's radio show, a nationallysyndicated consumer-advocacy broadcast. Within two months, Sno-WayTechnologies brought in over $25,000.
The Browns have since partnered with a manufacturer that alsohandles the marketing and distribution of the product. With theNo2Snow Eliminator available at local markets and through Amazon.com, 2006 salesof the $24.95 product are projected at $120,000 to $150,000.
