A man came up with a novel way to keep people from spilling their coffee and he was given £20,000 ($31,900) in order to help make his invention a reality.
Because seriously, it’s a product that all coffee lovers could use.
When he first moved to the UK from Poland, Kacper Serafin only had £260 ($319) in his pocket. But he also had an ingenious design for a coffee mug that would prevent spillage.
After his day job of packing boxes in a sports shop warehouse, Serafin would spend his nights working on improving the concept of his product.
He said: “One night, the coffee spilled all over my work notes so the idea came to me to sell coffee mugs that didn’t easily knock over and ruin your hard work!”
Serafin continued: “I had a very small room with a tiny, shaking desk and I wanted to find a solution to the problem I was facing.
“I also wanted a coffee mug that you could take to work and the coffee would keep warm for busy people such as me working in the warehouse during the day.”
He was hoping to develop his “magic coffee mug” idea in China so in order to save up for the trip, he got another job as a Deliveroo rider. But he soon realized that if he wanted to have enough time to devote to his business, he’d have to quit his full-time warehouse job.
“I went to China to meet potential suppliers and found a factory to work with who I still work with now,” he said.
“In China, I oversaw the production line and decided to test out a trial of 50 mugs which sold very well, so I then ordered 200 more and then 500 and was able to register the trademark the ‘Magic Suction Mug’ in July 2018.”
Serafin had another stroke of luck because Deliveroo, also a start-up business, said it wanted to hear if its own drivers had any business ideas of their own.
When Serafin pitched his idea, Deliveroo loved it so much that they granted him £20,000 to grow his business.
“My business pitch to Deliveroo included detailed plans on how I will work with local community people to build my brand and promote the product to as many people as possible,” the designer said.
“Right now I am still packing the parcels and organizing every aspect of the business.
“This investment will allow me to hire someone to help with the graphic design and videography to show people how the product works and spread the word!”
Serafin also has a message for those who are thinking of starting their own businesses: hard work and getting back up after setbacks are important qualities you’ll need.
“To anyone starting a new venture I would tell them that they don’t need lots of money or special skills to start a new business, but you have to get started and keep trying even if you have knockbacks,” he said.
“All you need is to take a leap first, work hard and eventually the big results will come to you. You won’t be able to get there without taking that calculated risk at the start.”
Replaced!