Combining their love of music and entrepreneurial savvy, Tiger Band’s drum major and saxophone section leader created eFlip, a device that allows musicians to mount their phones and tablets to their instrument with a lyre.
Business management senior and saxophone section leader Garrett Kessling invented the product, while finance senior and drum major Daniel Wendt managed the business side of the venture. After reaching their first major deal with the University of Illinois’ marching band, the two plan to fully stock their inventory by the beginning of the summer.
Since he first joined marching band in the sixth grade, Wendt has harbored a lifelong appreciation for school band culture. However, he said the way bands rehearse has not kept up with the pace of modern technology.
In a typical band rehearsal, shuffling between sheet music and playing instruments wastes time and paper, he said.
“Think about the way you read magazines and newspapers and books now. It’s all digital, right?” Wendt said. “Well, bands didn’t have that option because there was no way to connect phones and tablets to instruments.”
Kessling sought to simplify his rehearsing experience by looking for a way to literally and figuratively connect music to technology.
He went to the Louisiana Business and Technology Center, where a student engineer helped him design different 3-D printed models for what would become eFlip. With a $400 prototyping cost, Kessling said the invention process was “extremely cheap” compared to an expected $10,000 price tag without the LBTC incubator’s assistance.
In 2014, he said the LBTC asked him to represent LSU at an annual SEC Symposium in Atlanta. Looking for a business partner to join him on the trip and in the endeavor, Kessling approached Wendt about controlling the financial and marketing sector of the business.
Two years later, eFlip sells for $24.99 on Kessling’s and Wendt’s venture company Tonal Innovation’s website. If an entire band adopts eFlip, he said the band director gets a cheaper wholesale price.
Wendt said he and Kessling implement a two-pronged approach to their brand — targeting individuals, whose eFlip usage he expects to create a “snowball effect,” and band programs, which will be able to reduce costs of printing sheet music in favor of iPhone or Android apps.
Despite an abundance of pre-order sales and individual sales, Kessling said Tiger Band has not jumped on the bandwagon yet.
“A select few in Tiger Band do use it, but we’re looking to discuss with the administration at LSU to get it implemented here as well,” Kessling said.
As winning veterans of the Fourth Annual Elevator Pitch competition sponsored by the E.J. Ourso College of Business, Wendt and Kessling plan to participate in the Student Incubator’s 2016 Venture Challenge, another business plan and pitch competition complete with a panel of judges who act as investors. The two hope to secure part of the $25,000 prize split among the four winning pitches.
With a filed patent, working prototype, actual invention and sales, Kessling said he thinks Tonal Innovation has a chance at success.
Staying true to their slogan, “bridging the gap between music and technology,” Wendt said eFlip allows customers to save time and money and enhance music practices.
“We’re bringing the band world into the 21st century,” Wendt said.