Aaron Krause is the inventor of Scrub Daddy, one of the most successful products to come from the hit ABC show, Shark Tank. He has brought innovation to his field and is ready to continue changing the realm of cleaning products.
Krause was not always set on making sponges. Before Scrub Daddy, he ran an international manufacturing company. The initial prototype of the sponge had a different use than dishes. He wanted to make a foam product that could be used to wash dirt and grime off of hands more efficiently. The sponge was round, with a grooved side, and two holes in the middle. Krause’s target clientele was autobody shops. However, when he tried to pitch his sponges to the autobody shops in 2011, he was not welcomed with open arms. From here, Krause realized that perhaps his idea was not meant to survive. By 2008, his buffing pad company was bought out by 3M and all that he had left was his box of unwanted sponges. In 2008, while cleaning his outdoor patio equipment, Krause noticed the sponge had special qualities, including a changing firmness based on the temperature of water being used and amazing non-scratch ability. He quickly realized that this would be fantastic to use on dishes. A smile was cut out of the sponge and another patent was granted. In 2012, Scrub Daddy, Inc. was born and was being advertised on QVC. By July of 2012, Krause was featured on an episode of Shark Tank (Season 4, Episode 7) that aired in October. He made a deal with “Shark” Lori Greiner, who invested $200,000 for a 20% stake in the company. The dream of entering onto the retail market was achieved by 2014, at which point Scrub Daddy was being sold in Bed Bath & Beyond, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Meijer, and more. As of 2018, they are being sold in every major US retailer and several international retailers and their product line has expanded beyond just sponges to cleaning solutions, mops, dusters, and even wearable merchandise!
Aaron Krause, inventor of Scrub Daddy
Krause graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in psychology. This is useful toward helping him be innovative and create new products. Before Scrub Daddy, there weren’t many innovations in the dishwasher industry but since this one-of-a-kind sponge has come along, there have been several innovations branching off from it. His passion for the product is fueled by his enthusiasm to continue inventing.
His creative process is inspired by the way he strives to make every product the best possible version and to make it original. Krause’s creative process starts with always being on the lookout for problems that need to be solved. Rather than keeping a notebook full of his ideas, he organizes his new product ideas in his email to keep them in a digital format. Before diving to deep into finding a solution, he will search the internet to see if a viable solution for the issue already exists. As an entrepreneur, he has a high respect for intellectual property so he will look at previously patented ideas that didn’t succeed so as not to infringe on any of those. But, if there is a product that already exists that he believes could fix the problem by reinventing the product, Krause will contact his lawyers to figure out a way to get a meaningful patent that he can transform into a successful product. Emphasizing the importance of speed, Krause begins collaborating with his engineering team right way to try and improve and implement the idea. He prioritizes working with others along the way and really values feedback from his team of employees and investors.
Krause’s creative process fits similarly with the aspect of improvisation that Nick Cave highlights throughout his own creative process. While writing songs, especially on his newest album, Ghosteen, before the pandemic hit, he was trying to write songs for himself rather than necessarily for his audience and fans. The freedom that comes from improvisation is important in the creative process, whether in an artistic sense or tangible product sense. Like Krause, who finds a problem and just let's loose from there, Cave finds a path and journeys down it while in the studio. Recognizing how such different professions can have overlapping aspects of their creative process is eye-opening to how universally applicable creativity truly is.
Sources:
Cave, N., & O’Hagan, S. (2022). Faith, Hope and Carnage. Canongate.
I LOVE Scrub Daddy sponges and always use them, so this post was a fun way for me to learn more about them! I never knew that so much thought could go into a little dish sponge. My favorite thing that I learned from this post was how Aaron Krause didn't stop trying when the autobody shops shot his idea down - instead he learned from the experience and kept on trying to invent something that was useful. That goes along with the theme of using failure as a learning tool rather than the stopping point of a process. I also appreciated how he looked at previous inventions as a form of inspiration but was also very careful to not copy someone else's idea. I think something could not count as true creativity if all of it was copied from other people, but creativity is also oftentimes a collaborative process that needs the input of others! One question I have is how do you think that his college education and majoring in psychology helped his creative process? To me it seems like Scrub Daddy and Psychology would not have much overlap.
ReplyDeleteYeah Leah, I would agree that psychology and Scrub Daddy do not have much overlap yet I think it is less about the end product, but rather the influence that his education in psychology had on the journey he took to reach the final destination. I think studying psychology could have provided him with a good base knowledge of how the brain is influenced by the world around it. In that way he was able to know that using resources that already existed was a good jumping off point to help him eventually produce a unique product that could serve a useful purpose.
DeleteLike Leah, I am also a huge fan of the Scrub Daddy sponges! I also like how there are different forms of the original product, like the Scrub Mommy that has a softer side along with the original. I feel like his psych degree really helps him tap into the market. I know that the company releases seasonal/limited edition products for holidays and seasons, and people often have a FOMO mindset if they don't buy something available for a limited time, so they can get an increase in sales on something like a jack-o-lantern Scrub Daddy for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteYasmina, that is such a good point about using his psychology knowledge to promote sales by using the concept of "limited time only" products. You are so right that people are more likely to purchase something that seems limited due to the business idea of supply and demand.
DeleteMe, too! I really like scrub daddy sponges. I had never seen the commercial for them and thought maybe they were overhyped until I saw them one day at Walmart. I appreciate how much thought he put into making a "better" sponge-- something so simple and not thought about very much. I've seen many different types of dish cleaning tools and I think it's safe to say Scrub Daddy sponges are one of my favorites (my current SCOUR Daddy is falling apart though).
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