Founder Journal #1
"Sometimes the ideas that change your life aren't new. They've simply been waiting for the right moment."
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.
People sometimes ask us where the idea for Flip Pick came from.
The short answer is:
I was playing Metallica's Nothing Else Matters one Saturday afternoon in September of 2022.
The longer answer is:
It actually started about thirty years earlier.
A Problem I'd Accepted
I started playing guitar in middle school.
My first lessons were classical.
For two years I learned fingerstyle before eventually discovering rock, blues, and metal.
Those early lessons shaped the way I still play today.
I've always loved the contrast between delicate fingerpicked passages and heavy rhythm guitar.
There's something satisfying about moving from soft arpeggios into a wall of distorted chords.
The problem was...
Every time I switched techniques, I had to deal with the pick.
Sometimes I'd tuck it into my palm.
Sometimes I'd wedge it between my fingers.
Sometimes I'd drop it completely.
Like every other guitarist...
I accepted that as part of playing.
Life Happened
As I got older, guitar became something different.
Not less important.
Just...
Less available.
Career.
Marriage.
Kids.
Responsibilities.
Like a lot of people, the hobbies that once defined me slowly became things I squeezed into whatever time remained.
I still played.
Just not nearly as much as I wanted.
Ironically, that may have been the best thing that could have happened.
Because when I eventually returned to guitar more regularly, I came back with something I didn't have when I was seventeen.
Perspective.
Looking at Problems Differently
For twenty-three years, my career required me to solve problems.
Sometimes quickly.
Sometimes creatively.
Often with limited information.
After doing that professionally for decades, something changes.
You stop accepting long-standing frustrations just because they've always existed.
You start asking...
"Why?"
"Is there a better way?"
Maybe I Was Always Going to Invent Something
Looking back, I realize Flip Pick probably wasn't our first invention.
It was just the first one we actually finished.
When Transformer toys first came out, I desperately wanted an Optimus Prime.
The problem was...
They were impossible to find.
There was no Amazon.
No online marketplaces.
If the local toy store sold out...
That was it.
So I built one.
Out of Legos.
It transformed.
It worked.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was mine.
Years later, Jamie and I had another idea.
When our daughter started crawling across hardwood floors, Jamie worried about her knees.
She designed little baby knee pads.
We called them Crawl-ees.
We thought they were a great idea.
But we had no idea how to manufacture them.
Or sell them.
Or market them.
So the idea stayed in a drawer.
Two years later, we were walking through Target when Jamie stopped in her tracks.
There they were.
Baby knee pads.
Almost exactly what she'd designed.
Someone else had made the idea real.
It could have been us.
At the time, though, we didn't know where to begin.
Looking back, I think that moment stayed with both of us.
Timing matters.
Then Everything Changed
By 2022...
Our kids were older.
3D printers had become affordable.
CAD software was available to anyone willing to learn.
YouTube could teach almost anything.
Manufacturing wasn't limited to giant corporations anymore.
For the first time...
The tools had finally caught up with the idea.
The Search
The thought came while I was playing.
"What if the pick simply rotated out of the way?"
My first reaction wasn't excitement.
It was skepticism.
Surely someone already made this.
So I started searching.
And searching.
And searching.
Nothing.
At least nothing like what I had pictured in my head.
That's when something clicked.
I already owned a 3D printer.
I didn't need permission to see if the idea worked.
I could build it.
For the first time, curiosity felt more powerful than doubt.
Six Hours
That afternoon Jamie and I were watching the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert.
We're huge Foo Fighters fans.
I wasn't paying much attention.
My brain wouldn't let go of the problem.
Finally I opened Blender.
Started combining pieces from existing STL files.
Started sketching.
Started experimenting.
About six hours after asking,
"What if..."
I held the first working Flip Pick prototype.
Looking back...
It looks almost nothing like today's product.
But it didn't have to.
It proved something much more important.
The idea could exist.
And when I showed it to Jamie, she immediately recalled Craw-ees. She knew we had to pursue this or someone else eventually would.
Why We Really Invented Flip Pick
People often assume we invented Flip Pick because we wanted a cooler guitar accessory.
That's not really true.
We invented Flip Pick because we wanted to remove a barrier.
Not everyone has ten thousand hours to perfect switching between fingerstyle and flatpicking.
Not everyone can spend four hours practicing every day.
Some people are raising families.
Some are working two jobs.
Some are dealing with arthritis.
Some simply want to enjoy playing guitar without fighting their equipment.
Music should adapt to the player.
Not the other way around.
I didn't fully understand that in 2022.
I just thought we were solving a problem I'd had since high school.
Looking back...
I think we were really trying to make music just a little more accessible.
We just didn't know it yet.
Looking Back
If we've learned anything from this journey, it's this:
The ideas that change your life don't always arrive out of nowhere.
Sometimes they've been quietly following you for decades.
Waiting until you've accumulated just enough experience...
Just enough confidence...
And just enough tools...
To finally do something about them.
Looking back, I don't think Flip Pick began with a guitar pick.
It began the moment we stopped assuming that every old problem had already been solved.
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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