Finding his sounding board
The number of Americans launching new businesses is at an all-time high. Think of it as one legacy of the tumult that was 2020: As COVID lockdowns confined us at home and reshaped consumer needs and preferences on a massive scale, curious minds went to work. With an idea and more free time, they tinkered away in garages, second bedrooms and basements, dreaming up new products and services.
That was the journey of Evening & Weekend MBA graduate Nic White-Petteruti ’13 MBA, a management strategist by day and the creator of the Dryer Drawer, a clever device for air-drying dishes that tucks away discreetly into a kitchen drawer. But unlike other entrepreneurs riding the early 2020s startup wave, White-Petteruti has an ace up his sleeve: the support of the Kellogg network.
On the eve of Dryer Drawer’s big launch, we chatted with White-Petteruti to learn what it was like coming back to Kellogg as the client of a lab course that he once took as a student. The depth and breadth of insights he gained from re-engaging with Kellogg inspired him to keep going with his idea, he says.
Walk us through the original idea for Dryer Drawer. What is the product, and what made you want to develop it into a business?
I built the first prototype because I couldn’t find a commercially available product to fit my needs — a gadget that would quickly air-dry dishes that were too delicate or awkward-shaped and had to be hand-washed. I didn’t want to wipe them dry with germy kitchen towels or leave them cluttered on the counter to be knocked over. So, I used my engineering background to make a metal box and a lid powered by a computer fan with a PVC pipe for ventilation. I built it to fit inside a standard cabinet drawer.
Other features came later, like a touch keypad and a timing pin that lets the drawer automatically close after the cycle runs. At first it was something I just designed for me and my family. But during the Fall of 2020, working from home, I started chatting with a neighbor who I learned was a patent attorney. I always thought it would be fun to have a patent, so he helped me, and I started working on the application.
How did your Kellogg connection come into play?
I figured that if I was going to invest in a patent, I should see whether there was a potential business case here. I remembered that a class I took as a Kellogg MBA student, Marketing Research and Analytics, had a big client component. I reached out to professor Rima Touré-Tillery to see if she was looking for clients, and I started working with her class in the Winter 2021 quarter.
It was fun to be on the other side and work with the students, who all had various backgrounds and perspectives. And it didn't feel like I was working with students, really — I was dealing with professionals who just happened to be in a class. Their ideas were so impactful. They made the product and the research behind it a thousand times better.
Can you share an insight that you wouldn’t have gained if not for these Kellogg students?
Sure. For example, through a survey they discovered that pet owners were especially enthusiastic about the concept because if you have a dog who sheds or a cat who likes to walk on the counters and knock things off, that’s a recipe for disaster with wet dishes. Getting that perspective of where I should target this product was so important, especially since I had a limited advertising campaign and marketing budget.
Since the course, you’ve refined your prototype, soft-launched the product at a trade show and took preorders that will be delivered imminently. What are your hopes for the business going forward?
It’s scary because you feel like you’re putting yourself out there. You’re putting your personality and work and effort into the product, and you have a feeling that if people like it then they like me!
But the biggest thing is it’s been useful for my house. The ability to provide something of value to other people that has been valuable to my family is exciting. If I end up with enough demand to do a second production run, I think that would be great.
Beyond launching your new venture, what has the value of the Kellogg network meant to you as an alumnus?
I have a sounding board of folks who I can talk to and get advice from. I actually keep in touch with people from my MBA class and the student group that worked on Dryer Drawer.
The hardest thing when you’re trying anything new is that there's so much information. You’ve got instincts and your education, but you also have doubts. You need that sounding board and a connection to someone who has adjacent experience who can tell you if your idea makes sense. That’s what the support of the Kellogg network has meant to me.
Read next: From classroom to market: Creating a sustainable bridal accessory rental service