Sterling Prototyping, named after my favorite character from a series of books I read in my childhood, was conceived when I had a great idea. Not to start a company, but to make a product. I wanted to make a device that would help people ensure their hands were properly cleaned in food and medical industries, something that could be easily fit onto existing faucets.
I planned everything out with my wife. We figured out how we would tighten our budget to live on the $1200.00 a month she brought in. I quit my dead end job and we spent our last $500.00 dollars to build a very small lab in our apartment.
We couldn't afford fancy microcontrollers back in 2008, so I had to leverage everything I'd learned in college getting my degree in quantum physics and mechanical engineering to figure out how to build the digital microcontrollers and sensors from just analog components. I coded the entire device in assembly and wrote the firmware to an integrated circuit with a homemade connection to my computer.
Sometime in 2009, I'd finished the proof of concept of the Hand Washing Helper and packed it as best I could in a casing that demonstrated how it would fit onto any faucet. And then the real problems began.
I needed to make a nice casing for my device. Something that reflected the work and care I'd put into the concept and design inside the device. I modeled an animation with the only software I had available at the time, Flash. This gave me a nice presentation for the device, but when I took this to 'prototyping' facilities I was literally laughed out of the room more than once.
I needed ONE casing to present this item to a few key people I planned to ask to invest. Asking people for money for a project is hard enough, trying to do it without a clean working model is just a waste of everyone's time.
It became clear to me that I needed to find a mechanical engineer that was also a proficient 3D modeler to render and build the files the 'prototyping' companies asked for. The real killer was that I needed no less than $10,000.00 to get the initial mold built. Then I'd have to pay for the casings and I needed to order at least 1000 of those. I... Only... Needed... One…
So there died the dream, I shelved my work, picked up a 9 to 5 job, and slunk back into the grind. Years later, in 2012 I decided to try again. This time with a mobile welding business. While that went well enough, I still couldn't forget about the Hand Washer Helper still sitting on my now dusty lab shelf.
One day a friend of mine bought a partial kit for a hobby 3D printing machine. They couldn't assemble it so they left it with me. I took some time, got it together, got it working, and soon was printing small pieces with it. Getting a 3D printer to work in 2012 was no small feat and wanting to make large scale items was an ambitious dream.
So, I developed a welding technique for 3D printed plastics that allowed me to make much bigger prints. I decided to switch the welding business to a prototyping business. REAL prototyping that is; concept, to feasibility, to proof of concept, to manufacturing prototype.
I knew there were people out in the world that needed the same help I had needed with the Hand Washing Helper. The memory of being laughed at and hurtling into a giant financial barrier still hurt. I wanted to help. I also wanted to model my idea of what I thought prototyping should be. I acquired AutoCad and taught myself 3D modeling, picking up small prototyping jobs where I could, while continuing to do welding jobs to make ends meet.
Over the next 12 years I honed my skills. I found myself designing full time. Finally, after a little over a decade, I was making enough money to grow my business the way I had dreamed. I've helped a lot of people realize their ideas, their dreams, and not once have I ever laughed at them.
