RALEIGH – Elizabeth Hunt moved into her first house last year and started making design decisions.
But then, hiccup.Hunt couldn’t be sure a new dresser had a reasonable place to store her contact lens case.
“Everything else in the world has storage solutions, why doesn’t my contacts have a good solution,” Hunter noted that she asked at the time.The question sparked a search, and there weren’t any options available that she could accept.
As Hunt puts it, that’s the origin story of OptoOrg and the startup’s first product, the DailyLens contact lens dispenser.
Earlier this year, Hunter spoke with WRAL TechWire about the bootstrapped company.From this point of desperation, OptoOrg was established.
According to Hunt, she designed a product that she wanted.First, she imagined and drew the design.She noticed what was important to her: easy to hang, easy to load, easy to tear.
“Everything about it should be easy,” Hunter said.”That’s my goal, and that’s going to continue to be our driver — to make it easier to wear contact lenses.”
Others are making different technological bets on contact lenses, as some are working on ways to enhance the lenses to provide access to vision coverage.
So far, Hunter has launched the company and has no plans to seek outside fundraising, she said.She noted that this is her first startup, and it’s beyond the planning stage.Nonetheless, in addition to her full-time role as a business analyst manager, she has been working freelance for herself as a book author and book design layout editor.
The product didn’t materialize immediately.It went through three rounds of prototyping, Hunter said.At first, the middle compartment wasn’t quite right.After the second iteration, Hunt opted to add complexity to the design by adding a suspension mechanism and lid.Finally, a third iteration finalized the design, ensuring it could be hung on something as simple as a pushpin.
Hunter said the company wasn’t profitable yet, but that was last month, before products started shipping.
But the DailyLens is available now, with optional accessories in white or black, starting at $25.
Next, Hunter is planning a travel dispenser that will hold two weeks’ worth of contact lenses and hang on a towel bar or towel ring.She told WRAL TechWire that she then had envisioned and conceived a recycling container for old lens containers.
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Post time: Jun-27-2022