Necessity Gives Birth To Invention
Tyler Gildred was standing in his barn in 2004, looking at industrial machine and car parts stacked to the ceiling.
The Santa Ynez resident had just bought the inventory at an auction, and he was thinking there had to be an easier way to re-sell it all.
“I was taking pictures, making sure they were the right size, uploading them onto the computer, filling out forms and just wasting time with all the inventory I had to put up for sale on Web sites like eBay and Craigslist,” Gildred said.
Then he lost his digital camera and had to use his cell phone camera to e-mail himself pictures of his products.
That’s when it dawned on him: He needed to come up with a computer application that allowed people to upload items for sale directly onto eBay from their cell phones.
“We originally went to eBay with the idea and had multiple meetings with vice presidents and engineers, and they all loved the idea, but the problem wasn’t the application but phone technology at the time.
Zuujit will simplify the process, he said, so all a seller has to do is photograph an item using an iPhone and let the “app”’ guide him through the next few clicks to identify the item and a selling history, which will help find the recommended price range. The seller will have the product up for sale on the Web without ever having to touch a computer.
Photo by The Santa Ynez Valley News.
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