Two friends, a 40th birthday trip, and one idea slightly less dumb than the rest.
We're Gilad and Shimon. Friends for the last 20+ years. We lived together at university - Gilad studied industrial engineering and management, Shimon studied aeronautical engineering. Instead of studying for exams, we did what every responsible student does - we played poker. A lot of poker. With Gilad's friends, online, any chance we got
Over the years, Gilad had a ton of product ideas. Most of them embarrassingly dumb. Shimon, being a good engineer, always helped him plan and model them in SolidWorks. Most of them ended up in the trash.
Poker Nomad is easily the least dumb of the bunch (we hope).
It all started on the 40th birthday trip
We planned a few-day trip with the home gang. A serious route. We knew we were out of shape and that we'd have to be strict about every gram on our backs.
On the other hand, we knew we'd have long evenings in the cabins. And we knew we had to have a poker kit. A classic Catch-22.
So we decided to design an ultralight poker kit. Shimon designed it, printed it on his shiny new 3D printer, and... voilĂ - we had a very ugly poker kit. But a very usable one, and a ton of fun.
It was very ugly but very functional.
From prototype to a real product
During the trip we collected feedback from the guys, and we had plenty of time to think and talk about improvements.
So we got back to work. Life happened. But in parallel we kept working on a more grown-up prototype - thinner chips, a lighter case, a built-in carabiner - until we reached the current version a few months ago.
And then, as it goes with ideas, life happened again and the prototypes stayed sitting on our table.
The jump into the deep end
Until life forced a reset to think and pushed us to give this a real shot. To stop talking, build a website, and start selling.
So here we are. Two friends who love poker, giving their least dumb idea a real shot. And enjoying every moment of it so far.
And now, we need you
We have to hear what you think. Ideas for improvements, things that are missing, things that annoy you - all of it interests us.
Email us, write to us, comment - whatever's easiest for you. We read everything.