Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
The tampon hasn’t modified a lot because it was invented over 80 years in the past by a male physician named Earle Haas. Which may recommend the design was flawless — however ask the individuals who use them, and you will hear a distinct story.”Interval merchandise are unreliable in crucial moments,” says athlete and entrepreneur Amanda Calabrese. “For athletes, that could possibly be sporting moments, however for a mother, it could possibly be dropping your youngsters off in school, or operating by the airport.”As an alternative of accepting the established order, Calabrese and her Stanford classmate and fellow athlete, Greta Meyer, got down to rethink the product totally. In 2019, they created Sequel, the world’s first spiral tampon, engineered by and for individuals who really use it.
Associated: How This Tampon Firm Overcame Investor Information Gaps and Raised $11.2 MillionEngineering meets experienceThe thought for Sequel wasn’t born out of a want to make cash — it was about fixing an actual downside. Calabrese and Meyer met at Stanford, the place they each majored in mechanical engineering. However their connection ran deeper than teachers. Each have been high-level athletes: Meyer performed Division I lacrosse for Stanford, whereas Calabrese is a six-time nationwide champion in lifesaving, which is an entire different story.
“I’ve competed all over the world sporting nothing however a star-spangled Staff USA bikini, typically for 10-hour occasions on the seaside,” Calabrese says. “You are operating, sweating, continually going from moist to dry, after which add your interval on high of that.”Meyer had comparable frustrations throughout her time on the lacrosse group. She and her teammates, usually sporting white dwelling skirts, regularly struggled with unreliable interval merchandise.”Within the locker room, they have been all the time speaking about how they may enhance the expertise,” Calabrese recollects.At some point in a shared entrepreneurship class, Meyer approached Calabrese with an thought: why not construct a greater interval product?
“She identified that we have been each engineering college students and athletes, and that this is able to be good for our Entrepreneurship challenge,” Calabrese says. “I used to be instantly on board.”Calabrese and Meyer have been so dedicated to the concept they expanded it into their senior capstone. At Stanford, capstones require a working proof of idea. So the duo went above and past, elevating $50,000 in grant funding to proceed the challenge after commencement and show its potential past the classroom.Whereas most faculty grads spent that first post-grad summer season enjoyable or touring, Calabrese and Meyer traded in pool events for manufacturing plant excursions.”We spent that summer season refining our thought and studying by Stanford’s accelerator, StartX,” Calabrese says. “We knew we might want funding to kick off R&D, so we targeted on crafting our pitch, and never lengthy after COVID, we closed a $1 million pre-seed spherical to get issues off the bottom.”
Associated: WNBA Legend Lisa Leslie on Constructing Legacy Past the GameFrom the lockeroom to the labStarting with a transparent downside gave the co-founders course, however there have been extra inquiries to be answered earlier than they may begin creating options.”Now we needed to ask: Why aren’t these merchandise doing their job?” Calabrese asks. “And what precisely is the job they’re presupposed to do?”After conferring with numerous feminine athletes, they decided that the first problem was what the trade calls “bypass leakage.”Upon deeper reflection, the duo realized this problem was the byproduct of a design flaw.”Tampons have vertical channels that go high to backside on the surface of the product,” Calabrese explains. “This successfully funnels the fluid away from the absorbent core and down the aspect of the product.”Recognizing the mechanical inefficiency of this outdated design, the pair got here up with the idea for Sequel’s masthead product: the spiral tampon. By introducing a spiral into the tampon’s building, they created a horizontal stream path alongside the present vertical channels. This design will increase floor space, promotes even absorption and helps forestall untimely leaks by disrupting the downward stream.”We spent years testing the fluid mechanics behind the design,” Calabrese says. “I actually have a video from our dorm room the place we have been illustrating these ideas.”
Ultimately, they began hand-pressing prototypes.”Greta was in a full cleanroom swimsuit, manually making use of warmth and stress to create and take a look at every one,” Calabrese recollects.The capstone goes courtsideSince then, Sequel has flourished, turning into the primary tampon partnership within the historical past of the NCAA by sponsoring Stanford athletics. They’ve labored with Athletes Limitless, USL and Unequalled.Now, the corporate is taking its subsequent massive step, partnering with one of many WNBA’s premier groups, the Indiana Fever. The founders reached out to Fever star Lexie Hull, who attended Stanford herself, and left with an NCAA nationwide championship and a bachelor’s AND grasp’s in administration science and engineering to indicate for it.
“Lexie remembered listening to about us for instance in one among her entrepreneurship lessons,” Calabrese shares. “We reached out to her to be our first WNBA ambassador, and she or he was so excited.”The partnership gives clear monetary upside for Sequel, however for Calabrese, the intangibles matter much more. “These athletes are function fashions,” she says. “1000’s of little ladies throughout the nation look as much as gamers on the Fever and see themselves in these athletes.”She notes that the primary interval product somebody makes use of is commonly the one they persist with for all times.”Attending to work with real-life superheroes like Lexie Hull means all the things to the younger viewers we wish to attain,” Calabrese says. “However past that, we’re normalizing conversations round tampons and interval care, finally aiming for them to be seen as important sport day gear, identical to soccer cleats.”
After six years of analysis, testing, growth, and navigating FDA business requirements, Sequel is starting to make waves in an trade that hasn’t developed in many years.”We imagine Sequel can dramatically enhance the expertise of athletes and followers all over the place,” Calabrese says. “From little ladies taking part in softball to the mothers cheering them on, everybody deserves higher.”With its spiral design and athlete-driven mission, Sequel is not simply redesigning a product. It is redefining the dialog round interval care.
