Inventor Story: Tim Kehoe

Tim Kehoe had a great idea: he wanted to make brightly colored bubbles.  Bubbles have had longevity nearly unmatched in the toy market.  In addition, bubbles, since their commercial introduction, have remained largely unchanged.  The same bubbles you blew as a child were pretty much the same as the ones your grandparents blew.  They are still purchased in large quantities.  Kehoe thought he had an easy way to make a fortune.  Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before?

Kehoe started to work.  He mixed batch after batch of brightly colored solutions, trying every kind of dye and every kind of soap and he got the same result every time: all the dye would run down the sides and collect on the bottom of the bubble.

After two years of experiments, and countless ruined clothes, countertops and many chemical burns, Kehoe had a success.  He didn’t do anything really different, just an adjustment of temperature and mixing time, but a brightly colored bubble floated across his kitchen.  He started showing his idea to toy executives.

At first, the executives were amazed.  They realized what a huge profit potential the product had, but then the bubble burst: the demonstration bubbles left stains in the boardrooms and offices where he demonstrated his idea.  The executives told him to come back when he had the idea perfected. 

Kehoe continued to work on his idea on and off for another 8 years when he finally asked for an investment to start a toy company.  He had many ideas he pitched to investors, but he kept his bubble idea secret.  When the investors were on board, he finally told them about the bubbles.  They were ecstatic; they wanted to see them.  They told him to show them on Monday.  He worked all weekend, but he couldn’t produce any colored bubbles.  The soap company changed the formula for the soap he had been using.  He decided to try a different dye with the new soap and went to a store and bought every dye he could find.  Luckily, he found a pigment dye that worked, and even more importantly, it didn’t leave permanent stains. 

He showed the idea to his investors.  They were so excited that they decided to throw a bubble party to introduce the idea.  They invited parents, children, hired a film crew and rented a bubble machine.  At first, the parents and children were amazed.  A few mothers were even brought to tears.  Then the bubble burst again, but instead of staining a board room, this time it coved the children with multi-colored dye.  Parents were furious.  When Kehoe tried to explain that the color would wash out, it was already too late.  Parents didn’t want to see their kids colored with dye.

At this point, Kehoe decided to bring in an expert.  He hired Ram Sabnis, one of the few people in the world who has a Ph.D. in dye-chemistry.  Sabnis said he could have a disappearing dye within a year.

Sabnis never knew how difficult it would be, but he delivered on his promise.  The dye he created disappears after 30 minutes, or just put a little water on it and it will disappear immediately. 

These colored bubbles are called Zubbles.  They are brilliantly colored and promise to be a huge success with children and adults.  Toy stores are going wild, hoping to have them before Christmas, even though Kehoe plans to bring them to stores in January. 

Now Kehoe and Sabnis are working on new applications for the dye. Since Sabnis had to create an entirely new dye for Zubbles, there are many new opportunities for this disappearing dye.  They think Zubbles will just be the tip of the iceberg and probably the other products they create will be more practical.

Inventors can learn many very important things from Kehoe’s story.  His commitment to his idea is very impressive.  If you have a great idea, don’t give up.  It took Kehoe 11 years to create his idea, but now he will make millions, and also has a chance to impact the lives of people around the world with different dye products.  The other thing Kehoe did right was to take on an expert.  Experts can sometimes be the biggest contributing factor for success.  You should never hesitate to take on expert help and always be on the look out for someone to help you.  Kehoe’s story also reminds us of how important it is to perfect your idea.  I love stories like these.  It makes me believe that you can accomplish anything as long as you don’t give up and are willing to work hard.  I hope this encourages you all not to give up on your great ideas!

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