Working World

Susan Nichols, founder and owner of the Santa Monica-based company Yogitoes, is a great example of an entrepreneur who created a product she herself needed, but could not find in the marketplace. It began with the development of a product called the Skidless, which is a cover for a yoga mat. It separates the yogi from the unhygienic floor or mat, and since yoga mats often become sweaty and slippery — even the “sticky” mats — it also prevents falls during the performance of a vigorous practice.

Susan, a former New Yorker, had taken up Ashtanga yoga as part of her post-surgery rehabilitation after a Rollerblading accident. In 2000, she was practicing chaturanga pose when she slipped and landed abruptly on her conventional “sticky” mat.

And while there are products such as the Mysore rug that are used on top of a yoga mat to prevent slipping, they have to be moistened for use, and was not quite what Susan wanted to use to prevent future falls. She wished there was a fast-drying mat cover that would absorb moisture and provide superior grip for a safe and slide-free practice.                

Eventually Susan moved from New York to Los Angeles and became a certified yoga teacher. She began researching how to develop a yoga product that would fit the criteria she had in mind, and since she had previous experience as a toy designer, she explored various materials and processes that she thought might yield the cover she wanted. She knew a microfiber would be lightweight and suitable, then hit upon the idea of adding rubbery, silicone nubs (such as those found on the bottom of a dog’s water bowl) that would make the cover adhere to the mat.

Through a serendipitous conversation with a man in a 99 Cents Only Store, she was introduced to a factory in Korea that could manufacture the microfiber with the nubs. Only a few weeks later, in December 2003, she had her first batch of 1,000 Skidless, which she sold to yoga schools. The batch sold out by January, so she placed another order. After that, business grew strictly by word of mouth, and revenues went from $123,000 in 2004 to $1 million in 2005.  The company has continued to grow, receiving orders from all over the globe.

She told an interviewer for Perfect Business – The Entrepreneur Network that she started with “zero dollars” and “you don’t need money to start.” In the beginning, she bought a Nolo book on how to write a provisional patent and, with just a quick review by a lawyer, filed a provisional patent for $85 until she could afford to hire a patent attorney. She advises beginning entrepreneurs to not get caught up in what the future looks like: “If you have a great idea, just focus on the steps.”  In her case, she said, “It just came so naturally. The pieces come, if you allow it to take shape on its own.”   

Six years after its founding, Yogitoes now sells a variety of yoga and fitness products to a world-wide market. Portions of the proceeds from certain products go to children’s charities in India, Africa, Peru, Tibet and the U.S.   

Suzanne Ridgway is a freelance writer and regular columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines. She also writes grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.

1 COMMENTS

• Catherine Rhodes

  This is an example of an entrepreneurial idea that came about due to a need identified by an individual consumer.

  Jun 03, 2009