Harker School seniors and TuffToy co-founders, from left, Rohan Gorti, Arin Jain and Zubin Khera, with their toys and dogs, Bhurfi, left, and Cosmo, in Saratoga, Calif. , on March 28, 2023. The seniors started a dog toy company, TuffToy, that grew out of their entrepreneurship class at their school. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Axl the goldendoodle didn’t even need to see the prototype dog toy made by three South Bay students — he smelled it in a backpack one of the teenagers brought home.
“Axl literally opened his bag and just stole it,” said Arin Jain, 18, who invented the TuffToy dog toys with his 17-year-old high school classmates and longtime friend. namely Rohan Gorti and Zubin Khera.
The goldendoodle’s high interest in the toy — a brightly colored cloth “skin” over a scented rubber ball — has now been matched by dog owners: Harker School seniors have sold more to 2,000 units since June, and this month introduced their products to the Bay Pet boutiques in the area. On Monday, they secured a $17,000 deal with a Silicon Valley software company for TuffToys embroidered with the company’s logo.
TuffToy began in 2021 in an entrepreneurship class at Harker, a private K-12 institution in San Jose, when Jain, of Saratoga, Gorti of San Jose’s Silver Creek neighborhood, and Khera of Campbell, instructed juniors to identify a problem and invent a solution.
Their thoughts turned to the dogs. Khera has Axl, Jain also has a goldendoodle, named Cosmo, and Gorti grew up with a Labrador retriever named Dash who recently passed away. Maybe the world needs a better dog toy?
“We interviewed our friends, our neighbors, people at dog parks, just anyone we could find with a dog, and we asked them, ‘What are the common issues you have with your dog toys? dog?’” Jain said.
A particular type of complaint came out, and the students saw their problem.
“Current (dog) toys on the market are very expensive and break easily, so you’re stuck in this cycle of buying a dog toy, waiting for your dog to tear it up one day, and buy another one. ,” says Jain.
Gorti learned to use a sewing machine and they built low-budget initial prototypes — the “minimum viable product” in Silicon Valley startup lingo — using rubber balls and puppets bought online. They go out to dog owners again, for feedback, to refine their toy.
The students found that noisemakers inside dog toys, especially in the work-from-home age, are far from universally popular. “We were thinking of putting a squawker inside, but a lot of owners, when they hear that thing, it’s just annoying,” Jain said. They came to scent as a tool for dog communication.
Axl the goldendoodle, after sniffing the toy and taking it from Khera’s backpack, started playing with it immediately, running around the house with it,” says Jain. Cosmo loved it too. But did the product solve the problem ?
“We tested the durability of the toys by giving them the right user: dogs,” says Jain. “We went to local dog parks and had dogs of different breeds, sizes, and ages interact with a TuffToy. The dogs couldn’t tear the toy apart.”
The students ordered 300 units from a manufacturer they found in China, received the toys in May, then launched their online store in June and sold 45 toys in the first two days , and placed them on Jain’s dining-room table. Business was so good that the clerk at the local post office recognized Jain by sight.
In July, the students, who have known each other since kindergarten, beat out software-focused inventors for the $20,000 first prize at a national business-pitch competition in Chicago.
Since receiving some seed money from Harker, where high school tuition costs north of $60,000, to get their product off the ground, the young business partners have invested about $7,000 of their prize money raised to grow TuffToy, expanding their offerings to include embroidery. brand names and logos for company sales. Products so far include inner rubber balls in peanut butter, beef and vanilla scents, and fuzzy outer skins adorned with sports, “Monster Mash” and “Happy Howl-idays” designs . Customers can purchase balls and skins together or separately.
In September at the so-called largest dog festival in the country, Bark in the Park in downtown San Jose, the trio set up a booth and sold more than 100 units. “It helped us understand how to sell to people,” Jain said, adding that they plan to sell their wares on April 27 at DogFest in San Francisco.
Revenue totaled $24,000, from sales of more than 1,000 units to consumers, mostly online, and about 1,250 units to corporate customers including 500 at Harker for sale at the campus store, said Jain. The tech-firm’s deal this week, for 1,500 toys, each with a ball and two custom-designed skins, will add a big revenue boost. Jain said he could not say the name of the company.
Earlier this month, Waggin Tails Pet Supplies, which has stores in Los Altos and Union City, began carrying TuffToys.
The student business and entrepreneurship teacher at Harker, Michael Acheatel, said his students came up with a winning idea, but would likely succeed in any business. “They have all the characteristics of all successful entrepreneurs,” Acheatel said. “They’re resilient — any time they see a roadblock or an obstacle … they just go into problem-solving mode. Their work ethic is just amazing, they are so hardworking. They see the opportunity and they take advantage of it.”
