Hanna Lim and Lollacup
Hanna Lim invented the Lollacup, a cutting edge valve-free sippy cup with a flexible straw that has a weighted end that anchors it in the liquid regardless of its position, which means that young children can drink effectively even when the cup is tilted. The Lollacup’s handle is removable making placement in most cup holders possible. The Lollacup is easy to clean and includes a cleaning brush for added convenience. Lollacups are available in bold red, good green, happy orange, brave blue, posh pink, chic black, and manufactured in the United States.
I spoke with Hanna Lim, President of Lollacup and asked her the following questions:
Hanna Lim…what gave you the idea for Lollacup?
When my daughter was nine months old, I held a straw to her lips and was ecstatic to see her drinking effortlessly! Excited by this discovery and our pediatrician’s recommendation to wean my daughter to a straw cup rather than a traditional sippy cup, I went out and purchased several toddler straw sippy cups. Strangely, my daughter could not get a sip from any of these cups. After talking with other mothers about my experience, I learned that some of their children found it so difficult to sip from toddler straw cups with spill-proof valves that they were turned off from using straws altogether. That’s when Lollacup was born — a straw cup with all the qualities that I value in a children’s product: easy to use, easy to clean, safe (BFA free), made in the USA, and just plain attractive.
And what made you act?
My husband was in business school when I shared my idea with him. He suggested I flesh out the idea while our baby was napping. We agreed that once I pulled a solid business plan together and we both felt that it’s a viable product that we would move forward and do it full time. I took the time to write a 55 page business plan. I had help with projections and numbers but we soon realized that it could be a business and this is why I pulled the trigger.
Hanna Lim…How was the prototype process?
It was an absolute nightmare. We had zero experience in plastic manufacturing, I literally didn’t know the term injection molding before we started. It wasn’t until I started fishing around on Google that I learned that in order to make a plastic object you need to injection mold it. Prototyping was also a learning process. I searched for local manufacturers and scheduled meetings with them. I learned about prototyping from what these various manufacturers would share with me. We had prototypes made from the 3d machines like the SLA’s to see, feel, and hold the product, but they were not functional. Once we started manufacturing it we had plenty of hiccups and unforeseen engineering issues. It was an expensive and laborious process.
Our competitive edge is that we never manufacture overseas. Quality and reliability are very important to us. There are probably 75 sippy cups on the market that are manufactured overseas, and maybe one or two here in the United States.
And how was the patent process?
We decided to file a design patent rather than a utility patent so it was relatively easy. We found and hired a great intellectual property attorney locally. There are certain things we do ourselves but when it comes to anything legal we thought let’s just do it right and get it done quickly. I could foresee us spending months trying to figure out the whole patent filing process and that would have taken time away from selling. We spent $5,000 – $7,000 and took between eight and ten months to secure our patent. It’s great if you can do it yourself and quickly but spending time on paperwork when you could be selling didn’t make sense for us.
What were some obstacles and how did you overcome them?
There were many. The most important part of your business is selling your product. You can invent all day but if you don’t have sales then it doesn’t amount to much. Just getting in the front door and having a store owner or buyer willing to take it on is the major obstacle and we overcame it with persistence.
I’ve never been in sales and I didn’t realize how aggressive you need to be. You have to show up at a stores and beg them and say here is your free cup, put it on your shelf and I am confident it will sell. That is what I did in the beginning and that is how I opened my first 50 accounts. Every time my child was napping, I’d have my mother-in-law watch her and I’d go to a local store and ask them to put it on their shelf, assure them that someone would buy it and ask them to order more when it sold.
We have a Lollaplate and bowl and we are hoping to expand our line even more but we don’t want to move too quickly. I think that is how many businesses fail. They get some name recognition and over expand and fail at managing a lot of products. We prefer to grow slowly, more organically.
So what advice would you give to those interested in inventing?
It kind of goes back to what we started with. If you’re serious about taking your invention and marketing and selling it, the best piece of advice that I was given and would give, is to write that business plan. Get it down on paper! It’s your roadmap for you and your business. This is a generalization, but it’s really easy to get caught up in your invention and thinking that your product is so good it will sell itself. It won’t. When you have a business plan it grounds you and your focus is on your invention as well as the other 20 things that need to be considered and addressed on a daily/weekly basis. The business plan really maps out the future of your invention.
Finally…how was the Shark Tank affect?
It has been the greatest thing, getting our name out, alerting the public of what our product is and what we offer. When we first aired we were totally unprepared. I think a lot of Shark Tank participants are small businesses and have never had this kind of publicity. The morning after we first aired, Mark and I had about 5,000 emails each in our inbox. We were shocked; I didn’t know how we were going to tackle that. On top of that we had over $100,000 worth of orders on our website. In addition, we were getting reorders from stores. It was utter chaos because we were running the business out of our house. Subsequent airings have generated additional exposure and an influx of orders both wholesale and retail so it’s always great.
For more information about Hanna Lim and the Lollacup, please visit www.lollaland.com
