Founder Journal #6
"You spend years building a product. Then one day, someone you've never met tells you what it really means. That's when you realize it was never just yours to begin with."
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.
When we opened preorders for Flip Pick, the first order came from someone we knew.
It was incredibly kind.
They wanted to support us.
We're grateful they did.
But if we're being honest...
It didn't feel real yet.
Friends and family believe in you because they know you.
That's different.
The moment that stayed with us was the first order from someone we'd never met.
Somewhere out there...
A complete stranger had seen something we'd built, decided it solved a problem worth solving, and trusted us enough to spend their own money on it.
That was surreal.
For the first time, Flip Pick wasn't just our project anymore.
Someone else believed in it too.
Then Something Unexpected Happened
Not long after those first orders, we received an email.
It wasn't a complaint.
It wasn't a question.
It was encouragement.
The customer told us they'd invented a thumb pick years earlier.
They knew firsthand how difficult it was to bring a new guitar accessory to market.
Instead of telling us everything we were doing wrong...
They shared advice.
Encouragement.
Things they'd learned the hard way.
They were rooting for us.
That simple act of generosity has stayed with us ever since.
Two complete strangers...
Connected by the shared experience of trying to build something that didn't exist before.
The Emails That Changed Everything
Around that same time, something else started happening.
The emails changed.
One player wrote to tell us they'd struggled to hold a pick because of arthritis.
Another mentioned an injury.
Another had experienced a stroke.
Another talked about age making it harder to grip a traditional pick.
The details were different.
But the message was almost always the same.
"I'm playing again."
We had never planned to build an accessibility product.
We thought we'd created a clever way to switch between fingerstyle and flatpicking.
Our customers showed us something much bigger.
They weren't just talking about convenience.
They were talking about getting a piece of their lives back.
Several of those emails brought tears to our eyes.
They still do.
Those Messages Arrived at Exactly the Right Time
Building a product is exciting.
Shipping orders is rewarding.
But there are also long days.
Late nights.
Boxes to pack.
Problems to solve.
Questions to answer.
There were times we were exhausted.
Wondering how we were going to keep improving the product while still keeping up with demand.
Then another email would arrive.
Another story.
Another reminder that someone was using Flip Pick to enjoy playing guitar again.
Those messages carried us through some difficult days.
Without realizing it, our customers were helping build the company too.
The Customer Who Was Right
Last Christmas, we sent a simple email to our customers.
Nothing promotional.
Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
Thanking them for taking a chance on us.
Sharing that we were experimenting with new materials.
One customer replied.
He didn't hold back.
The edges were rough.
The material wasn't good enough.
Some of his picks had broken.
I'll admit...
Reading it stung.
Not because he was rude.
Because he was right.
I replied, thanked him for his honesty, and told him we'd send him our newer, hand-finished picks.
When our Delrin picks were ready, I'd send those too.
A few days later he wrote back.
His second email meant even more than the first.
He explained that his frustration came from wanting Flip Pick to succeed.
He believed in the idea.
He wanted it to become the product he knew it could be.
Since then, he's told us more than once that we've provided the best customer service he's ever experienced.
That exchange taught us something we'll never forget.
Sometimes your biggest supporters are also your toughest critics.
And that's a gift.
Our Customers Started Defending Flip Pick Before We Did
As we began running Facebook ads, we noticed something fascinating happening in the comments.
Every now and then someone would dismiss Flip Pick.
"If you can't hold a pick..."
"Just practice more."
"The old way works fine."
We expected those comments.
What we didn't expect was what happened next.
Our customers answered them.
They shared their own stories.
How Flip Pick helped after an injury.
How it gave them confidence.
How it made playing enjoyable again.
We didn't ask them to do that.
They simply wanted other people to understand.
That was the first time we realized a community was forming.
Not around a product.
Around a shared belief that music should be more accessible.
A Musician in New York City
One of the moments that really made us stop and smile came when a multi-instrumentalist and busker in New York City ordered a Flip Pick.
She commented that she'd just bought one.
Curious, we visited her Instagram.
She was incredible.
The kind of musician you stop scrolling to watch.
We looked at each other and thought,
"She's going to use something we built."
That feeling hasn't really gone away.
Every time we see someone making music with Flip Pick, it's still a little surreal.
Looking Back
People sometimes ask when PFV Innovations stopped feeling like a small business and started feeling like something bigger.
Looking back, I don't think it happened because we sold a certain number of products.
Or filed a patent.
Or launched a website.
It happened one email at a time.
One story at a time.
One conversation at a time.
Our customers taught us that Flip Pick wasn't just a clever guitar gadget.
It was removing barriers.
Helping people play.
Restoring confidence.
Bringing joy back into music.
Without realizing it, they also gave us our mission.
Remove barriers.
Make music.
Share the joy.
Looking back, I don't think we invented that mission.
Our customers did.
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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