Max's Story

Greetings from a Kid Entrepreneur

Hi, my name is Max and I have lots of ideas.  I find them in my head.  But The Mug With A Hoop^TM is my best so far.  I was even issued a patent from the U.S. Patent Office! When I was 8 years old, I had the idea to put a basketball hoop on a mug that I was making in art class at school. I knew it was a good idea because other kids started copying me. I worked with Sean O'Reilly at 3D Printsmith, a CAD design expert to make a 3D prototype of my mug.

I was invited to present my idea at The Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College. And then my parents helped me submit my idea to the Product Pitch at Fenway contest sponsored by the Daily Grommet and Boston.com. They called me on the phone to ask me some questions. And then two days later, I found out that I was picked as one of Ten Finalists. And it wasn’t even a contest for kids! I got to go to Fenway Park to present my idea.

And I was named the winner of the popular vote on Facebook! I was even featured in the Boston Business Journal and the Boston Herald. Following the contest, I ran a successful crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. I raised over $6000 for my business along with over $900 for the research program at my school!

With help from my awesome team from Sprout Studios, we 3D printed one of my latest concepts at Fenway Park as part of the live stream on Boston.com. Yes, you guessed it - The Mug With A Glove!^TM I was interviewed on the jumbotron and even got to take a picture with my mugs and the Boston Red Sox 2013 World Championship Trophy. The next day, I had a great showing at the Boston Gift Show.

My retail launch has been really really good!

The Mug With A Hoop^TM Facebook post on UncommonGoods was the single best in the history of UncommonGoods - over 2,900 likes in a few days. Mugs went viral with over 6,000 shares on Wanelo, and write-ups in places like 7Gadgets, Geek Alerts, Tech Investor Daily, and Trendhunter.  UncommonGoods followed up with a really nice blog post.  And then The Grommet launched my mugs to great acclaim.  And a store manager at Nordstrom liked my mugs so much (I walked into the store on a Sunday afternoon and showed him) that he sent it up the corporate chain and they bought them for 40 stores nationwide and online.

Manufacturing in the USA and Thailand

My first edition white mugs were handcrafted in the USA at MudShark Studios in Portland, Oregon. We are now manufacturing my mugs in color like a real basketball. These mugs are handcrafted and hand-painted in Bangkok, Thailand.

I Got A Patent!

I was recently issued a patent for The Mug With A Hoop™ and I have design and utility patent applications pending for the rest of my “play with food” concepts. I worked with the design team at Sprout Studios to finalize my mug concepts for other sports: The Mug With A Glove™, The Mug With A Goalpost™, The Soccer Mug With A Goal™ and The Hockey Mug With A Net™! 

Mugs Are A Retail Success!

My mugs launched with great acclaim. I sold over 18,000 mugs during holiday 2014 and I've already exceeded that in 2015! Nearly every store that carried my mugs had to re-order. I even did personal appearances at Nordstrom where I signed my mugs.

Hammacher Schlemmer asked to carry my mugs and I even made it into the Basketball Hall of Fame (well, my mugs did!).

What's Great About My Mugs

My mugs are not just for kids. Moms like my mugs because they help kids not fool around at the table. And adults who like sports like them too. My product reviews have been really great! My mugs are good for people who can’t go outside and play basketball. Like kids in the hospital. And people needing occupational therapy. I am hoping that schools, colleges and companies will put their logo on my mugs. Or even NBA and MLB teams. I like sports and hot chocolate and that’s why I did it. Thanks for letting me tell you about my mugs.