Chameleon Inc. was an idea that came to Mike Kritzell and myself, Gabe Friel. At the time we were both going into our senior year of high school. We were always the type to try to find new business ideas and innovate in interesting ways. Together we started 4 businesses, two of which won regional 2nd and 3rd in Junior Achievements Regional Competition with one being invited as one of the top 15 Junior Achievement businesses in North America to compete in The National Student Leadership Conference. Chameleon was just one of our various businesses, but also one of our favorites because we invented the product.

We took an old idea and renovated it. Chameleon sold color changing phone cases. These phone cases would change based on heat and we even got some of our other businesses in on it too. We reinvented the product many times, but could never get it quite right because it was too expensive. Over the course of 7 months we failed to make an identical product consistently. Neither of us knew anything about chemistry or paint, but by the time we liquidated we had a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn’t. The only reason we let it go was because we had missed a much needed opportunity and were running out of time with our busy schedules.

This product along with other ideas and businesses we had made for the fun of it because we saw either a lack of innovation, we had to much free time, or quite simply we needed money. This is why it is important to share ideas and partner with people to help mature your ideas and bring them to their potential, because we were always coming up with new ideas, but when were worked together on them they thrived.