There's no denying that I am incredibly nervous about building this company. My career history lies in publishing, an industry that is currently in turmoil due to changes in content discovery, the impact of AI, and the ever-dwindling attention spans of consumers.
So, in full transparency, I have very little experience in manufacturing products. This is a completely new venture for me... and I'm bricking it.
What if I fail? What if customers think my products suck? Have I wasted thousands of pounds on a silly idea? Will this put pressure on my family if it doesn't work?
All the ideas that any founder goes through. And silly me, thinking it would be a good idea to start a new business as my daughter, Elowen, is born... A lot is going on in my head right now, but deep down, below the noise, I am so darn excited to build something with meaning.
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I own and still operate a content brand called Retro Dodo, an independent publication dedicated to news and reviews in the retro gaming space. I must have reviewed thousands of products in my time, but I have yet to find a company that is building cool accessories for gamers, ethically.
The idea popped into my head when I was looking for display stands for my GAME BOY collection, and all I could find on the market were cheap, poorly made 3D printed products or mass acrylic stands made in China in a way that pollutes our planet.
It was at that moment that I went down a rabbit hole, trying to find a solution to my idea of building cool accessories for gamers and collectors that actually supports our beautiful planet that we call home.
After thousands of pounds invested, many different prototypes produced, meeting with different creators to help us perfect the manufacturing process, and finding eco-warriors to help source plastic waste from our oceans, the idea could be made possible... with a lot of work.
It's the perfect combination: a well-known content brand with thousands of community followers and great relationships, paired with a new impactful e-commerce company building products for that community. Or so I believe.
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I got in touch with a well-known artist whom i have worked with in the past, Joseph Tomkins. He's incredibly smart, passionate and has a history in developing products in the retro gaming space. He was the guy I needed.
He helped develop and bring to life our first two products and has been an unbelievable member of the team, someone who this brand can't live without. He too has taken risks and a lot of time helping GAMENOOK amongst a full-time job, and just like me, he's crazy enough to join the mission while bringing a new human into this world.
GAMENOOK, the company run by crazy new fathers with a crazy new idea. Haha!
As of writing this, we have prototyped our first product: The Throne into oblivion, and are waiting for the final aluminium mould to be delivered. Then we will begin working with our manufacturing team in Wales to start production.
We are starting with just two colour-ways for this product, a Cluster mix, containing a mix of plastics taken from land in a multitude of colours, and Coastal, containing plastic from land and 505 of plastic taken from our oceans.
We have partnered with WATERHAUL, a UK-based eco-company that cleans the oceans with their bare hands, and turns that dangerous ocean waste into polymers that we can then use in our products.
This allows us to help this awesome company support our ocean ways without actually having to go out and clean it ourselves, allowing our small team of two to focus on building the product, while we pay WATERHAUL to collect the ocean waste for us.
With all of that research and development, paired with endless product testing, we will be ready to begin shipping our first product in Q4 of 2025.
I am so pumped, and the journey so far has been exhilarating. We already have 17 pre-orders, too, which is insane. That's 17 customers ready to support us and see interest in our product, before we even go live. I could cry.
Now, we wait a couple of weeks before production starts... It's going to be a wild winter, and I can't wait to get our products into your hands.
Thank you for following our journey; it means the world to us.
Team GAMENOOK - Brandon & Joseph