"Sometimes the biggest breakthrough isn't inventing something new. It's finding people who believe in your vision enough to help you make it better."
About the Founder Journal
Building a company isn't a straight line. It's a series of experiments, setbacks, unexpected lessons, and small victories that rarely make it into product announcements.
The Founder Journal is where we share the stories behind PFV Innovations—not as a marketing campaign, but as an honest record of what it's like to invent, build, and keep moving forward. Whether you're a musician, an entrepreneur, an inventor, or simply someone with an idea you can't stop thinking about, we hope these stories encourage you to keep going.
For the first few years of building Flip Pick, we assumed we'd have to do everything ourselves.
Design it.
Prototype it.
Manufacture it.
Package it.
Ship it.
Improve it.
That wasn't because we wanted to.
It was because we couldn't imagine anyone else believing in the idea as much as we did.
Looking back...
That assumption turned out to be wrong.
We Weren't Looking for a Manufacturer
We Were Looking for Plastic
Early in our journey, someone pointed us toward an old episode of Shark Tank featuring a guitar pick called Tik Pik.
Like most inventors, curiosity took over.
We started asking questions.
"Where are they getting their material?"
That rabbit hole eventually led us to Delmar Products.
At the time, we weren't looking for someone to manufacture Flip Pick.
We simply wanted to buy high-quality celluloid to make better picks ourselves.
We had no idea that Delmar had supplied celluloid to D'Andrea for decades—or that they now owned D'Andrea altogether.
Sometimes the most important discoveries happen while you're looking for something completely different.
The Timing Wasn't Right
We reached out.
To our surprise, they responded almost immediately.
That alone felt encouraging.
Unfortunately, their minimum order quantities were far beyond what we could justify for a product that hadn't yet proven itself.
So we thanked them...
And went back to figuring things out ourselves.
At the time, our RAVEN Wing picks were being cut by a local print company.
Originally we'd contacted them to print our logo.
Then we discovered they had a CNC router.
One conversation became another solution.
That's startup life.
You don't always find the answer you expected.
You find the one that's available.
Success Created a New Problem
As we began advertising Flip Pick, something unexpected happened.
Demand grew faster than our ability to make picks.
That sounds like a great problem to have.
It is.
Until you're trying to fulfill every order yourself.
We quickly realized something.
If we couldn't produce larger quantities...
We'd never scale.
No retail.
No meaningful growth.
No way to reach the number of players we hoped to help.
That realization brought us back to Delmar.
This time...
The conversation was different.
Then We Went to NAMM
In 2026, Jamie and I traveled to the NAMM Show.
Originally, we went simply to experience it.
Could we see ourselves exhibiting there someday?
What would that even look like?
Around the same time, we'd restarted conversations with Delmar, so we arranged to meet while we were there.
Walking into that meeting was a little intimidating.
Here we were...
A tiny startup.
Meeting with one of the most respected names in guitar picks and materials.
We showed them Flip Pick.
Walked them through the journey.
Shared where we'd been.
Where we hoped to go.
Talked about the traction we'd already achieved.
Something surprising happened.
They got it.
Not just the product.
The vision.
That meeting changed everything.
Experience Is Meant to Be Shared
One thing that impressed us wasn't simply their knowledge.
It was their willingness to share it.
They looked at our picks.
Our packaging.
Our branding.
Then they started offering suggestions.
Print less on the pick.
Keep the design cleaner.
Simplify the packaging.
Make onboarding easier.
Think like a retailer.
None of it felt critical.
It felt collaborative.
We weren't being told what we'd done wrong.
We were learning from people who had spent decades perfecting their craft.
That's a gift.
The Product We'd Been Chasing
When the first production samples finally arrived...
We weren't even home.
A family emergency had taken us out of town.
One of our sons sent us pictures.
They looked incredible.
But photographs only tell part of the story.
When we finally got home and held them ourselves...
Everything clicked.
The finish.
The smooth edges.
The feel.
The durability.
The consistency.
This wasn't simply a nicer version of Flip Pick.
It was the product we'd imagined from the very beginning.
For the first time, the quality matched the vision.
More Than Validation
Working with Delmar and D'Andrea didn't change our belief in Flip Pick.
We'd believed in the concept since the first prototype.
What changed was our confidence.
Now we weren't just holding an interesting invention.
We were holding a professional product.
Something ready for music stores.
Ready for serious players.
Ready for the global market if that opportunity ever comes.
That realization was difficult to put into words.
As a lifelong guitarist, I'd spent years buying guitar picks without ever imagining I'd someday be working alongside the people who made them.
Life has a funny way of surprising you.
Looking Back
Early on, we briefly considered licensing Flip Pick.
Maybe another company would build it.
Maybe that was the easier path.
We eventually decided against it.
Not because licensing is wrong.
But because we weren't convinced anyone else would understand the vision the way we did.
Ironically...
Years later, we found ourselves working with companies whose expertise elevated that vision far beyond what we could have accomplished alone.
There's a lesson in that.
Partnership isn't about giving up your vision.
It's about finding people whose craftsmanship helps you fulfill it.
Looking Forward
Finding Delmar and D'Andrea taught us something we'll carry with us for the rest of this journey.
You don't have to become the world's best at everything.
You do need to know when someone else's lifetime of experience can make your dream better.
For years, we believed in the concept.
Now...
We finally had the product we'd always imagined.
And for the first time, this dream didn't just feel possible.
It felt real.
Thanks for reading.
The Founder Journal is our ongoing record of what we're learning while building PFV Innovations. We don't have all the answers, but we believe there is value in sharing the journey honestly. If you're building something of your own—whether it's a business, a song, a piece of art, or simply a better version of yourself—we hope you'll keep going. So will we.
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