Anna and Eli Jay, filmmaker and project engineer, turn to alternative funding sources for a product they created. DriveSlide, A two-piece, sliding, and locking laptop attachment. With 30 days to reach their goal, these first time crowdfunding siblings have nothing but an arsenal of family and friend emails, their combined (minimal) marketing talents, and a product they believe in to make it to the finish line.

Siblings Anna and Eli Jay are turning to the internet to raise funds for a product they’ve created called DriveSlide. Aptly named, DriveSlide is a sleek two-piece, “slide & lock” laptop attachment. The idea started as two separate ridged pieces and has evolved into an aesthetically pleasing, secure, and lightweight solution. Anna came up with the idea late last year when she’d had enough with the lint covered Velcro stuck onto the back of her multiple laptops and hard drives. Working in the camera department on a Netflix project, she noticed the unsightly staple being used regularly to organize equipment. Keeping up with Velcro was messy, and she knew there had to be a better way to secure the essential hard drives she was managing. Eli was months away from finishing a mechanical engineering degree. Not only did her younger brother have knowledge in CAD software, but also after-hours access to the university’s 3-D printer. Anna got to work sketching and taking online classes in product research and development, and within months came up with a design ready for printing. During the process, she invited Eli’s feedback and discovered she’d found a partner for the ride. After teaming up and testing twenty prototypes, they realized that Kickstarter could provide the exposure to launch DriveSlide and began organizing towards those requirements.

Kickstarter has several upsides in that it allows young entrepreneurs to

1) set a funding goal, which in this case will be used to cover manufacturing costs.

2) choose a set number of days to attain the goal.

3) ensure a product is exposed to a large number of people.

The downside is, if the Kickstarter goal is not achieved by the set date, you walk away with nothing. “Scrolling through Kickstarter, you see a lot of things that feel unattainable for those of us without marketing experience,” said Anna, “but then you also see many products made by first-timers like me and Eli, and those success stories are really encouraging.” DriveSlide relieves the annoyance of being anchored to a surface once you plug in your external laptop accessories such as a hard drive and hub. It easily solves that problem with a thin, lightweight attachment. The attachment is made up of two pieces: the Lock and the Key. The Lock stays adhered to the back of your laptop while the Key lives on your accessory.

For a quick and easy hold, simply slide the Key into the Lock. By rotating the Key, your accessory stays securely in place. Anna and Eli Jay’s ingenuity comes from a practical understanding of how frustrating messy workspaces and dangling accessories are for all of us. To learn more about DriveSlide, readers can visit the project’s page.

Contact: Anna and Eli driveslideofficial@gmail.com Split Lamp, LLC (213) 342-1249