Business Opportunities Weblog

September 12, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

The Chronicle-Telegram:

During a fall fishing trip with a friend in the Florida Keys, Jeff Murray noticed that the expensive LCD gauges on his friend’s boat were faded and yellowed by the sun.

The expensive instruments also became so foggy when exposed to the heat from direct sunlight that they were impossible to read. While attempting to find something to help his friend at local marinas and on the Internet, he came up empty-handed. No one sold a product that could shade the gauges and remedy the boating dilemma.

So Murray decided to solve the problem himself. Thus, the Gauge Shade was born.

“It was such a simple idea,” he said. “I couldn’t believe no one had thought of it before.”

The Gauge Shade, produced in Vermont and backed by a money-back guarantee, is made of UV- and chemical-resistant plastic that doesn’t chip or fade and requires no drilling or removal of the gauge to install. It simply snaps onto the existing hardware.

Murray did much of the product’s test marketing in Florida, where year-round sunshine has made boating a big business. After giving it a try, local boaters were amazed by how well it worked and how little it cost.

Photo by Jeff Murray.

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Tags: Internet, Niche, Startup