CordBrick: Interview with Inventor Nick Barrett
Few things are as annoying as tangled cord or — worse — a cord that falls in between furniture and it hard to retrieve. In order to prevent these problems, and just make it easier to plug things in overall, CordBrick was invented. CordBrick is a small palm-sized device made of steel with a soft silicone shell. It (and its larger counterpart, the DeskBrick) are intended to be placed on a nightstand or desk and serve as a secure way to charge your devices. It can hold up to four cords and is priced affordably at $19.99 for a pack of two (DeskBrick is $19.99 for one).
This patented product hails from the mind of serial entrepreneur Nick Barrett who recently discussed his invention via an exclusive interview.
Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you get interested in inventing and how did you come up with the idea for CordBrick?
Nick Barrett (NB): I’m no different than any average person — I’m lazy! I was in bed and my phone cord had — once again — fallen off the edge and onto the floor, causing me to get out of bed and then reach under my bed or behind my nightstand for the cord. Soooo annoying! I thought “why doesn’t someone just make a silicone BRICK that’s heavy enough to hold cords on a surface without adhesive? So that’s what I did!
MM: How different did the protype look from the finished product?
NB: I’ve attached a “first prototype” and “current model” photo — I used modeling clay from Michaels — $20. Although it looks different, it functions fairly similarly to the end result (except it’s not nearly as heavy, the current product is 3.5oz — 100g, while the yellow prototype was just over 1.5oz or 40g.
MM: How did you decide on the materials and how tough was it to mass produce a product?
NB: I had a gut feeling having seen other products that silicone rubber would be ideal for this application. I never seriously considered another material. It was VERY difficult to produce for me — someone with zero manufacturing experience to that point. I got my first mass produced version to market within 1 year, and we’ve since launched a second and now a third version of the product with minor improvements based on customer feedback.
MM: You had never invented anything before, so how did you go about marketing and promoting this product?
NB: Marketing is probably the hardest part. Having an idea is the easy part for me. The difficult things are the messaging, placement, and funding. Each of those has to do with marketing, at its core (though, to different people). People hate ads (I do) and are annoyed by them. So, you have to make your ad — your marketing — so compelling, catchy, attractive, clear, concise, and simple, that as many people as possible “get it” as fast as possible. That isn’t as easy as it sounds! The biggest help to me has been other entrepreneurs who have “done it before”. So, I seek out those people and try to learn what I can from them and apply it to my own company. We’re also taking a multi-channel marketing approach where we focus our marketing on different targets — the end user, the retail shop, and the promotional products company. Each of these are great customers for us and help us get CordBrick (and DeskBrick) to the masses.
MM: How long did this take to design overall…also, how did you decide which colors to offer this in?
NB: Four years in, I’m still designing it…! It’s always improving. The original design took about a year to complete, and over the two years we tested and perfected it, eventually reaching the current version (V3) we sell today.
MM: What is some of the best feedback you’ve gotten about this product so far?
NB: “Why didn’t I think of this?” is said very often. At first, I wasn’t sure it was good compliment, but eventually I realized it is, because it means people “get it”. It’s memorable, which is part of what makes CordBrick a strong brand. Another I hear alllllll the time is, “have you been on Shark Tank/are you going on Shark Tank?” which is obviously a HUGE compliment. I’ve even met two Sharks in 2024, and both loved CordBrick!
MM: What other projects are you working on right now and what other inventions are you planning?
NB: We just launched DeskBrick — a new type of desktop cord organizer that has flexy “corner pockets” that can stand phones and grab other commonly used desktop items. We plan on launching other BRICK-themed weighted-holder type items soon…stay tuned to be the first to review them!
MM: What are your ultimate goals for the future and is there anything else that you would like to mention?
NB: I aim to inspire other people who may have lost their way for a while but desire a path to economic freedom by creating their own business. Our mission is to inspire others to BUILD Something too — a product, app, or anything of value that allows them to express their ideas, ways of doing things, or style. Why? Because it has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and I want to share with people younger than myself that it is indeed possible, don’t give up, and that if you don’t fit in at a corporate job — it’s all good — become your own boss! You got it!
* * * * * *
To learn more, visit the official website: https://cordbrick.com/
