Dr Mir SHITHIL & Walter GORDILLO-CRUZ: Co-Inventors of WavePads

Dr. Mir SHITHIL PT, DPT Co-Owner Aquues Solutions LLC 

• Tell us something about yourself, your background

 Growing up I always had a passion for healthcare and the medical field with an underlying feeling of always needing to do things to help people in a major way. For the most part, I took a traditional route: Graduated with a bachelors of science in biology in 2015, I then went on to earn my doctorate in Physical Therapy from New York University in 2019. Shortly after I began to work as a Physical Therapist in a typical outpatient setting. I love treating patients seeing improvements in their quality of life, but I realize I’ve always had an itch to try to obsessively come up with solutions for everyday problems.

• Tell us about the product you invented with a brief explanation:

 The WavePads are a pair of wrist pads which are ergonomic in their design and specific for the Laptop but versatile for the keyboard or mouse usage. They are made with premium memory foam, non-slip base, and ergonomic arc like structure meant to hug a persons wrists as they type.

• How/Why did you start inventing. What set you off?  

To be honest I think it as always being there. I think it was suppressed by traditional demands of education and the certain careers tracts I was meant to follow. But the COVID Pandemic gave me freedom to explore my mind and passions.

• How did you get from idea to finished product?

In December 2019, one of my college friends and co-inventor Walter Gordillo-Cruz approached me with issues in his wrists due to typing a lot and proposed an item that would give the wrists cushion. This set off our journey to innovate. I thought this was an excellent idea and began to explore 3D modelling with TinkerCAD (which proved to be tedious and difficult). With my Physio background I quickly realized the design needed to ergonomic and anatomically specific to the wrists. Over the next few weeks we went through numerous design iterations and received help from a friend to make a proper 3D CAD model. While I was busy designing, Walter was setting up connections with overseas manufacturers through Alibaba. We went through more than 50 manufacturers until we were able to vet the companies, and match with a few companies that fit our budget, and criteria. We then had molds made from 2-3 companies and sent over to us. From the mold we chose 1 manufacturer. We then had several design and manufacturing tweaks along with marketing features on the product including (logo, box and packaging, orientation of the products etc.) We submitted a design patent application with the USPTO and finally, we placed our first bulk order to test the sell/test the product on the market.

• Let us know of useful resources that helped you i.e. Books, websites, software etc

1. In the beginning of the design process, we watched LinkedIn Learning courses on how to build a 3D model in TinkerCAD so we could design the product ourselves.
2. We watched YouTube videos featuring entrepreneurs with similar stories and goals of creating their own unique product.
3. We specifically watched many videos on choosing the right manufacturer and supplier from Alibaba, which helped a lot during the sourcing phase.
4. We also  watched business related YouTube videos that explained e-commerce marketing strategies and business scaling. Channels like Foundr helped a lot when it came to learning the business mindset and feeling inspired.

• Where are you with your product? Where can we buy your product?

We are proud to say that the WavePads are available on our website (Click HERE) and Amazon Prime (Click HERE)

• Social media, Website and Video  links:

Facebook: Click HERE 

Instagram: ClickHERE 

LinkedIn: ClickHERE

Website: ClickHERE 

Video links: ClickHERE