The Highs and Lows of Launching a Tablet, e-Reader & iPad Accessory

January 10, 2012

For the last year and a half, co-founders Prometheus Trotsky and Nikki Braziel (your writer) have been working feverishly to build a business to support the launch of the TabletTail line, a group of interchangeable iPad accessories they invented that work with any tablet or e-reader. Now, we’re on a (very slow-moving) shuttle bus to the Las Vegas Convention Center to ring in 2012 International CES. We have our team with us, wearing Octa shirts, and we’re carrying one very strange package.

Booth 6221 has been its own mini-journey. After securing Quantum Foam 3D reflective wallpaper from a very generous Louise Wakefield at Beware the Moon, we backed the booth in its glow. Then we set about working with Brian Pinkham of PhotonicBliss to design and engineer a suction-reactive LED display table. Finally, we cut a beautiful frosted plexiglass Octa sign. We packed it all in a crate, crossed our fingers and shipped us to CES.

At the Convention Hall on Sunday, we located our booth behind the Great Wall of Moshi, a monolithic and impressive display of iPhone cases and iPad accessories. Our crate was no where to be found. After a bit of searching, we located it misplaced an aisle away. We flagged a forklift driver and started building. LED table intact. Check. Quantum Foam wall secured. Check. OCTA sign? CRACK!!!

Our beautiful sign snapped in two. Scope out Octa on Facebook to see pictures of the saga. It involved a crash-prone taxi driver, getting stranded in suburban Vegas, foam core, spray painting in a parking lot, a bus, an exacto knife, and several Wynn towels covered in green acrylic. Now we’re on the slow bus to the convention hall, carrying our revived sign wrapped in craft paper. We’re ready to share our iPad accessory — the result of our hard work, tenacity and excitement. Look for the Vacuum Dock + WhaleTail, launching today! But first, look for our beautiful repaired sign in booth 6221.