(WSB photo. L-R, Bob Carrasca, Michael Todd Smith, Ryan Ames, Keith Creighton)

By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

There’s nothing like a bonk on a toddler’s head to get a parent’s attention. So how do you turn that bonk into a preventive product you can market nationally or internationally? The answer lies in a couple of businesses along a single block of California Ave SW in Morgan Junction.

For the West Seattle family who precipitated this collaboration, it was an unfortunate meeting of a coaxial cable connector and their infant son, who ran into the metal piece sticking out of the wall. Some blood was shed along with tears. But after the BandAids were applied, the dad went online, hoping to find a cover of some kind so that the cable connector would no longer be a danger.

The advice online: Duct tape.

“Shocked,” said Ryan Ames, after discovering that the thing he wanted did not seem to exist, not just in the US, but even on baby-proofing sites in Australia, the UK, and Canada. That’s when he started to think that he stumbled across an unexpected void in the arguably very full market of baby-proofing. “I had folks who worked with the big child-safety companies and I sat in their office and they couldn’t figure out why this hadn’t been done. There seemed to be a need, a market for it, and I would certainly want this product in my home.”

As Ames talked with more people, he realized he had an idea good enough that it should be patented. It’s easy to think big at this point: Big-box stores, celebrity endorsements, manufacturing numbers in the 6 figures. But where to start, how to plan and design and manufacture something like this? Ames is a banker by day, with no background in manufacturing or marketing. He did talk with some larger companies, but the team that he credits with getting his product to market was one he found behind a few storefronts in the 6000 block of California. “Does someone believe … in this product? And Bob [Carrasca] did.”

Tucked in between hair salons, financial investment offices, and attorneys are Carrasca’s Pillar Product Design, and a few doors down, Collective Seven, a branding and marketing firm headed up by founder Michael Todd Smith. After interviewing multiple firms, Ames chose both of them to help bring a product he now calls OutletGuard Solutions from concept to consumer. “I needed both of them for hand-holding, says Ames. “I knew they could get this out.”

All of this started to come together in the early 2020s, which was fortuitous from a “necessity is the mother of invention” perspective. “The timing on it was really interesting,” says Carrasca. “In the pandemic, the spare room becomes office space and a place your infant might be.” The consensus among the team was that covering the outlet would not just prevent injuries, but also ensure that dust and things like peanut butter wouldn’t get in, along with fingers that could cause expensive damage to components, “The product protects your kids from danger, but also protects the outlet, says Keith Creighton, a copywriter with Collective Seven.

With Carrasca designing the outlet covers, making them cost-effective, attractive, and UL-rated (for electrical compatibility), and Smith putting together everything branding — from logo and colors to SEO and website — Ames was ready to make the leap to initial production, working with a factory in China. “When we were working early on with Ryan, there are a million plugs out there [that could need a cover]. How do we differentiate this product from others? We don’t want this product to be 20 unique pieces. We want it to be 5 pieces.” And that is where the product has landed, in its initial production/marketing phase. Each piece can be rotated to be used in different orientations, and “fit tightly, but also match fluctuating tolerances,” since every outlet from every manufacturer is just a little bit different.

Ames has benefitted from the broad knowledge of his team, which includes background in the logistical and manufacturing challenges of large-scale production while also having sensible advice about how to bring a product to market without getting in over one’s head. “I lean more toward the safe side,” says Smith with Collective Seven. “I’d rather spend a little more—pay more for smaller order, go through the ordering process, a soft rollout. Businesses can blow up out of the gate because they’re not set up.” Carrasca added, “If you’re not fulfilling orders in 1-2 months, you’re out of business. Groups like us mitigate that risk, allow time to prototype, do market research … find the right target demographic. Then you’re ready to invest.”

Speaking of financing, before you think this sounds an awful lot like Shark Tank, there is no Mr. Wonderful on the team. Ames is funding the entire venture himself. The first run of OutletGuard parts were manufactured last year and are available now only on the myoutletguard.com website. Since August, several hundred have sold, shipping to 30+ states. The biggest surprise has been that most orders are for at least 2 packages. So far the team is pleased and optimistic, and fulfilling each order with a hand-written thank-you note. “They are in stock and tariff-free,” says Creighton.

Once they take the first baby steps of confirming there’s market demand, the next step will be to sell OutletGuard to retailers. Ames is excited to have a product with multiple free patents and a whole world of baby-proofing need. Asked if he can envision a time in the future when this might be his full-time work, he didn’t skip a beat. “I would love for it to be.”