Lily Born is a 16-year-old entrepreneur, who came up with a solution to cups falling over and spilling all over the place. She saw the problem at the age of eight, when her elderly grandfather with Parkinson’s disease kept spilling over his drinks time and time again. This would often make it so that her grandmother had to clean up the mess. Born then created Imagiroo LLC, which is a brand for her cup that has three legs on it, avoiding all spillage. Born and her dad even traveled to the ceramic capital of the world in China, to perfect the design of her product. They were able to refine the design, manufacturer, and production of the product. Her cup comes in ceramic as well as plastic. They got funding for her company from multiple sources, which made it possible for the company to get started successfully.
It is inspirational that she saw a problem from someone who was close to her, and that affected her directly, then thought of a solution to fix it. As the elderly grow to be so old that they cannot confidently hold and drink from open cups without spilling, they need a solution to that problem, which Born created. Seeing an issue that others struggle with and solving it is very selfless. It is very smart as an entrepreneur to look at other people’s struggles and create a product according to that. It takes a lot of creativity and confidence to become a successful entrepreneur.
As we talked about in ENTR 101, pain is the pathway to innovation. We can look at people’s pains for ideas, and hopefully, we do not only care for the profit but for the people around us. It is neat to hear about someone who saw not just a random need but the need of her grandfather and then solved the problem not just for her grandfather but, through entrepreneurship, for others like her grandfather.