Posted by Stefanie Zucker on November 11, 2010 · 4 Comments
Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 12:40 pm
As I mentioned in my last PedREST post …by 1999 we had the first set of engineered “concept drawings” of our Pediatric Emergency Transport System – a.k.a. PETS. Our company was in what could probably best be described as a “toddler phase” – we were learning to walk before we could run – and walking meant refining our drawings and “officially” beginning the patent process.
I won’t bore you with all the details of the process we went through to create our patent (although for any of you starting this process, I’m happy to answer questions). Suffice it to say that we did a “prior art” search to make sure we wouldn’t overlap anyone else’s concepts and then worked with our attorneys to draft a patent that described in detail why the EMS community needed the PETS to save kids’ lives. There were multiple changes – both to the document and to the attorneys we were working with – but in the end, by September of 2002, Pediatric Medical had filed for its first U.S. patent. 🙂
By the end of the year things had started to pick up speed. A talented graphic artist / friend of mine by the name of Pete McKay created some logo options for us:
I met with a close family friend who was interested in helping us launch the product. With her on our side there was no way this couldn’t succeed. In business, she was a force to be reckoned with… to me, she was a mentor and a friend. …AND she wanted to help!
I emailed her our logo options and she responded – she HATED the name. Unbelievably frustrating (we loved it)…but unfortunately she had a point. People would either pronounce our name as “pets” or “peets” and neither really worked to our advantage or conveyed anything at all to do with child health or safety. I honestly couldn’t believe I had missed that, but really it’s very easy to get tunnel vision when you focus so intensely on something like this. Sometimes you need an objective opinion to see the forest through the trees.
So, point taken – lesson learned – and off we went to find a new name. By January of 2003 we had it: PedREST, a Pediatric Rapid Emergency Transport System AND a place for Peds patients to REST). It said it all and we were off and running…
Until next time…
Oh, cooperation and working together – it’s still sometimes hard as adults!! But works out well for all of us :).
.-= parenting ad absurdum´s last blog ..How to be comfortable with the parent you are =-.
We all need a best friend and a mirror when we get ready to go out. Funny how what we are so totally convinced is fantastic sometimes requires one quick outside eye to say ‘are you nuts?’ Thank heavens for honest friends/mentors/co-workers!
Yep. She called it right with the name for sure. Smart thinking!