Soulo
In 2018 I entered into the Aging Innovation Competition hosted by the New York State Department of Aging. The challenge asked for product designs that would help older adults with their activities of daily living (ADL) such as brushing their teeth, bathing, toileting and mobility.
My team and I designed a long handled toenail trimmer that would help adults who can’t reach their feet trim their toenails independently. After becoming a finalist and winning $5k, we pushed forward our idea, patented the product, and incorporated as a company, PediCure Inc.
As the CEO of my business, it’s been a 3 year journey of rapid growth, learning the A to Z’s of how run a business and doing everything from product design, marketing, ecommerce to intellectual property, finance and fundraising.
12 product design iterations, 5 patents, 1 (pending) trademark, and many sales later - we finally have a manufactured product. You can buy the Soulo Nail Trimmer today on our website.
Many older adults have difficulty trimming their feet.
When I visited my grandma, I noticed her long, neglected toenails. She was too embarrassed to ask for help and struggled to reach them.
My grandma is one of millions of aging adults who have this problem. After 100 customer discovery interviews we learned:
They can’t reach their feet due to falls, surgeries, or hip, knee, and back pain.
They’ve been relying on family but desperately wish to take of their personal hygiene privately.
Services like podiatry and pedicures are too costly.
Waiting on someone to come to your home is inconvenient.
Some are so desperate for a solution that they’ve created DIY nail trimmers.
Interviewing my grandma to understand her pain points
Initial sketches in our design process
Bringing a prototype to seniors at Longview Senior Living in Ithaca
We derived product requirements and feature ideas from user interviews.
PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS
The user should not need to bend down to trim their toenails. The user should be able to trim their toenails in a seated position.
The product should file down nails without cutting skin.
The trimmer should have sufficient power and speed to file down nail.
The trimmer and extension arm should be securely connected so that the trimmer does not fall off during trimming.
The filing tips should be securely connected to the trimmer so that the tips do not wobble or fly off during use.
The product should be re-chargeable.
The product should be durable.
The trimmer should have a modern industrial design and Soulo branding.
PRODUCT FEATURES
The trimmer should be detachable from the extension arm for easier storage, shipping and so that the user can use the trimmer on their fingernails as well.
The extension arm should be length adjustable to accommodate for different heights.
The product should have 2 different speed settings for different nail thicknesses.
The filing tips should be interchangeable. There should be a filing tip that allows for a faster trim to shave down nail quickly and one tip for polish.
A light will illuminate the trimming area
Product design evolved over 12 different iterations.
We 3d printed and assembled working prototypes to ship to users to get feedback. This process of iterating taught me: 1) Narrow the scope of your target audience / beach head market or else we might incorporate unnecessary features 2) the product requirements may grow as we uncover more insights from users 3) try to sell the product for $ earlier for higher quality feedback 4) understand the pros and cons of different prototyping methods
Our final go-to-market design addressed the key needs of our users for an effective & comfortable nail trimming experience.
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Resting the product on top of the foot with the silicone padded toe guide made for a comfortable experience that did not require the user to have to exert a lot of effort to hold the trimmer in place.
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In initial designs, some users said that the filing tip would stop spinning if pressed on hard enough. The dual speed function addresses different nail thicknesses so that the motor does not stop even for thicker nails.
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Having the trimmer rest on top of the foot made it much easier for the user to see and point and manuveur the trimmer.
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The trimmer uses a filing mechanism so there is no clipping involved to prevent injuries and cuts.
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Trimmer Dimensions: 7" long x 2" tall x 1.75" wide
Extension Arm Maximum Length: 18”
Extension Arm Minimum Length: 11”
Trimmer Weight: 4.5 ounces
3.7V 500mAh Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery
Charging: USB-C
Interchangeable
filing tips
Length adjustable arm
Quick Release
Silicone padded divot
Dual Speed
LED Light
We made high fidelity SLA prototypes in house and sold them online to verify our design and go forward decision.
We made over $1.2k in sales with 22 trimmers sold. We hand-made each product, using stereolithography (SLA) to create a smooth, plastic surface and higher quality finish. What gave us confidence to invest in manufacturing is that our repeat testers & buyers who have tried many iterations of our designs, all verified that this was by far the best version they’ve used to date.
The difference in FDM (left) vs. SLA printing in terms of quality was huge.
We are now manufacturing our product and have received finished samples.
We’ve partnered with a mold factory in China to create injection molds in December 2023. Starting in 2024, all product will be plastic injection molded and the nail trimmer will be available for sale in April 2024.
