This is where it all started. I was 22 at the time, and was a Union Camera Assistant working in the film industry in LA. On the side from my real job, I started working on the idea for a product that I didn’t see anyone making on the market - a collapsible, reusable drinking straw. I came up with a design, manufactured prototypes, filed a utility patent, found a co-founder, and ended up launching the product on Kickstarter in 2018. To put it simply- the project just took off. One month after launching Finalstraw, we had over 30,000+ anxious backers, and an onslaught of copycat products.

6 trips to China, and a real-life crash course on how to run a business later, we were able to manufacture and ship units to all our supporters. But as they say, more money, more problems. Shortly after launching, my co-founder and I started to butt heads, and I ended up selling my stake of the business in late 2019.

Role: Co-founder

When: Spring ‘18 - Fall ‘19

What: A collapsible, reusable drinking straw

Why: After moving to LA, I started running a lot and kept finding plastic straws every time I went on a run. Plastic straws had become the poster child of plastic waste and environmentalism, and as such I wanted to have a reusable straw, but wanted it to be small and always with me.

What I did: I did everything from invent the product, create our launch video and marketing material, finance the kickstarter campaign, to eventually hiring a team, and managing the design, manufacturing, assembly and shipping of the final product.