Opinions expressed by entrepreneurs’ colleagues are their very own.
The tampon has not modified much since he was invented over 80 years ago by an Earle Haas doctor. This may suggest that the project was flawless – but ask individuals who use them and you’ll hear a different story.
“Age products are unbelievable in critical moments,” says athlete and entrepreneur Amanda Calabrese. “For athletes it can be sports moments, but for mom it can give up children at school or run through the airport.”
Instead of accepting the established order, Calabrese and her colleague Stanford and a colleague from athlete, Greta Meyer, decided to completely think about the product. In 2019, they created a continuation, the world’s first tampon, designed by individuals who use it.
Engineering meets experience
The idea for a continuation was not born of the desire to earn money – it was about solving a real problem. Calabrese and Meyer met in Stanford, where they each studied mechanical engineering. But their combination worked deeper than scientists. Both were high -level athletes: Meyer played in Lacrosse Division and Stanford, while Calabrese is a six -time national champion in saving his life, which is a completely different story.
“I took part throughout the world, wearing only Bikini Team USA, sometimes at 10-hour beach events,” says Calabrese. “You take, you sweat, you constantly move from wet to dry, and then add menstruation.”
Meyer had similar frustrations during his stay in the Lacrosse team. She and her teammates, often in white home skirts, often struggled with unreliable era products.
“In the locker room they always talked about how they can improve experience,” recalls Calabrese.
One day, in a common class of entrepreneurship, Meyer approached Calabrese with an idea: why not build a higher product from the period?
“She pointed out that we are both students of engineering and athletes, and that it would be ideal for our entrepreneurship project,” says Calabrese. “I was on board immediately.”
Calabrese and Meyer were so involved in the idea that they expanded him to their older Kapster. In Stanford Capstones requires a working proof of concept. Thus, the duo also exceeded, collecting $ 50,000 for a subsidy to proceed the project after graduating and prove its potential outside of sophistication.
While most College graduates spent this first summer leisure or traveling, Calabrese and Meyer traded at billiard events for production trips.
“We spent this summer improving our idea and learning through the accelerator Stanford, Startx,” says Calabrese. “We knew that we would need funds to start research and development, so we focused on creating our pitch, and soon after Covid we closed the pre -led round of $ 1 million to assemble everything.”
From the cabinet to the laboratory
Starting from a clear problem, he gave the co -founders the direction, but more questions must be answered before they may start developing solutions.
“Now we had to ask: Why don’t these products do their work?” Asks Calabrese. “And how exactly should he do it?”
After connecting countless athletes, they determined that the fundamental problem was what the industry calls “leakage of bypass”.
After a deeper reflection, the duo realized that this problem was a side product of the design defect.
“Tampons have vertical channels that are outside the product,” explains Calabrese. “This effectively sets the liquid away from the absorbent core and the side of the product.”
Recognizing the mechanical inefficiency of this outdated project, the couple got here up with the concept of the Masthead: The Spiral Tampon product. By introducing a spiral to the tampon structure, they created a horizontal flow path along the existing vertical channels. This design increases the surface, even promotes absorption and helps prevent premature leaks, disturbing the flow down.
“We spent years testing the mechanics of fluid behind the project,” says Calabrese. “I even have a video from our room in a dormitory in which we illustrate these concepts.”
Finally, they began to squeeze prototypes manually.
“Greta was in a full overalls in a clean room, manually using heat and pressure to create and test each of them,” Calabrese recalls.
Capstone goes in court
Since then, the continuation flourished, becoming the first partnership in the tampon in the history of NCAA, sponsoring Stanford Athletics. They worked with unlimited athletes, USL and unrivaled.
Now the company is taking one other big step, working with one of the most significant WNBA teams, Indiana Fever. The founders contacted the star Fever Lexie Hull, who attended Stanford herself, and went with the NCAA National Championships in addition to a bachelor and master’s degree in the field of science management and engineering engineering.
“Lexie remembered how she heard about us as an example in one of her entrepreneurship classes,” she divides Calabrese. “We got to her to become our first WNBA ambassador and she was so excited.”
The partnership offers a clear financial position for continuation, but for Calabrese intangible matters. “These athletes are role models,” he says. “Thousands of small girls throughout the country look at players on the fever and see in these athletes.”
He notes that the product of the first period with which someone uses is often the one with whom they keep on with life.
“Working with real superheroes, such as Lexie Hull, means everything for a young audience we want to reach,” says Calabrese. (*2*)
After six years of research, tests, development and navigation of FDA industrial standards, the continuation begins to create waves in the industry that has not evolved for a long time.
“We believe that continuation can radically improve the experience of athletes and fans around the world,” says Calabrese. “From little girls playing in Softball to Mama support them, everyone deserves the better.”
Thanks to the spilled design and a mission based on athletes, the continuation not only redesign the product. He redefines the conversation in the field of periodic care.