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TAYLORSVILLE — The current best-selling cup holder adapter on Amazon.com comes from a location that might surprise some — a home in Taylorsville.
Michael Shultz regularly used a large Nalgene water bottle, but was tired of throwing it on the seat next to him while driving. Since the bottle didn't fit into his cup holder, he just hoped it wouldn't go flying if he had to make a quick stop or turn.
After searching online for a suitable adapter and failing to find one that would work, Shultz said he had an epiphany and came up with the idea for the BottlePro. He designed it to hold large Nalgene bottles like his, in addition to similar containers. The adapter also comes with an adjustable base so it can fit in a wide variety of vehicle cup holders.
"I (thought) if I haven't found it anywhere, and I know that other people like me would need it, maybe we'll give it a shot and make one and see how it goes," he said.
Apparently Schultz wasn't the only one looking to secure large beverage containers. Within 40 days of launching his product in June on Amazon.com it became the No. 1 best seller in the "cup holder" category, which includes more than 2,000 options. It sells for $19.95 on Amazon and $16.95 on the BottlePro website.
"It really did just come out of a personal need for something and kind of blossomed into something else from there," he said.
The success has kept Schultz, a mining engineer, and his wife busy. They have been running the operation in their free time while maintaining their "day jobs." Until the end of September, they packed and shipped all of the packages in their home. Schultz said his basement looked like a "warehouse" and the couple got to know their neighborhood's delivery woman well.
"It was really interesting when we got off of backorder status and had to pack up over 250 boxes on a weekend," he said. "The USPS lady came and said she'd have to come back at the end of the day when her truck was completely unloaded."
While the BottlePro is selling well now, Schultz's journey hasn't been all smooth sailing. He actually attempted to launch the product on Kickstarter first, but fell short of what he called a modest funding goal. However, Schultz and his wife decided to pursue the project anyway and saved enough money to purchase the necessary plastic molds by themselves.
The couple hoped to sell their first run of a thousand units within a year and start making a profit after two years. To their surprise, they sold out of the BottlePro within a few short months and had to place an order for more to keep up with demand. Schultz said orders keep increasing.
It really did just come out of a personal need for something and kind of blossomed into something else from there.
–Michael Schultz
"That's one of the biggest things I would recommend to anybody. Even if you have something like that, a major setback — we put a lot of time into that Kickstarter and it failed pretty miserably — just keep trying," he said. "It worked out for us and it could work out for other people as well."
Schultz is already working on an upgrade for the BottlePro. Since the couple used their own money to fund the project, they had to cut costs by eliminating a few features Schultz dreamed up for the cup holder's Kickstarter project. Now that demand has increased, he hopes to release the upgrade within a year.
In the future, Schultz also hopes to be able to use profits from the BottlePro to give back to the community. He is particularly passionate about water conservation.
