Jay Leno: ‘If you have an invention, contact Ben’

When Jay Leno said during Friday night’s “The Tonight Show” that “If you have an invention, contact Ben,” Jay Leno was talking to anyone who has an idea for an invention. And Jay Leno was talking about Ben Kaufman. Ben Kaufman, who is the founder and CEO of Quirky.com, was Jay Leno’s guest on “The Tonight Show” on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Most importantly, Friday night's "The Tonight Show" was a nice reminder that the American dream is still alive.

Jay Leno’s Friday night “The Tonight Show” guest Ben Kaufman from Quirky.com did not only amaze Jay Leno’s audience but even Jay Leno himself. In his introduction to Ben Kaufman, Jay Leno said,

“You know folks. One of the great American dreams is to invent something amazing; to be the next Thomas Edison, the next Steve Jobs. Now there is a website called Quirky.com that lets ordinary people become successful inventors. This is really cool.”

And one has to agree with Jay Leno. Being able to come up with an idea for an invention and then have someone else engineer it, manufacture it, and sell it, is “really cool.”

Before Ben Kaufman showed Jay Leno and “The Tonight Show” audience a few examples of what today’s American inventors come up with, Jay Leno asked Ben Kaufman,

“Explain what you do. I find this fascinating.”

And Ben Kaufman responded, “So at Quirky we let regular people become inventors. They come to our website, they share their idea; how the world can be better. As long as enough community members, vote, and rate, and comment on their idea, we’ll do all the heavy lifting. So all of the rest of the stuff that usually stands in the way for inventors like engineering and manufacturing and retail, we’ll do that for them.”

After Ben Kaufman’s short explanation of how Quirky.com works for the American inventor of today, Jay Leno emphasized,

“So you make the product for them, then you sell it, and then you all split the money.”

During Friday night’s “The Tonight Show,” Jay Leno and Ben Kaufman shared with the audience some of the everyday inventions that people have come up with; -- and are making thousands or even millions of dollars.

For the invention of the Broom Groomer, a step-on dustpan with rubber “teeth” on the back of the dustpan that “let you quickly and easily comb out dust bunnies from your broom’s bristles,” Quirky is paying the inventor “over $30,000 to $40,000” said Ben Kaufman.

The 22-year-old everyday inventor who came up with the idea of the Pivot Power, which is a pivoting surge protection power strip, is making over a $1 million a year, Ben Kaufman told Jay Leno.

Among the inventions that sparked Jay Leno’s entertaining comments during “The Tonight Show” were the Fruity Tush, which has the technical name “fart filter,” a pretty looking panty with a “liner that wraps around the back of a Thong and fits in the crack of your bum,” -- “Not a good Valentine’s Day gift, you guys, not a good Valentine’s Day gift.”

Or the Motorcycle Helmet that has brake lights and turn lights on it and “easily syncs with your motorcycle's lights via RFID signals.” -- “They should put that on jeans for fat ass people You know when you follow.”

Among the inventions that Jay Leno found the most amazing were the Pluck, which easily separates the yolk from the whites, and the Stem, which is designed to allow a cook to spray juice directly from a citrus fruit. (And, of course, Jay Leno used it also as a deodorant spray, “It’s like a vegan deodorant.”)

The packaging for each one of the products shows the inventor’s picture and name. Ben Kaufman’s Quirky.com website, which sells all products, does not only show the inventor’s picture and name but also provides information about how much the inventor has earned so far, how long it took to develop the invention, how many days the invention has been in the store, how many units of the invention have been sold, and how much money the inventor has made.

For example, Tim Houle, the inventor of the Stem, which sells for $4.99 per unit, has been paid out a total of $42,961 so far. It took about 1 month to develop his invention. His invention has been in the store for 306 days and 125,539 units have been sold so far.

In order to get a quick overview of what other ordinary invention ideas Ben Kaufman and Quirky have developed so far, the Quirky Shop website shows a selection of products with pictures.

In 2011, The New York Times wrote about Ben Kaufman and Quirky.

“While many people have passing ideas for new household products, few make the effort to realize them. But Quirky, a self-described 'social product development' company, is changing that. Founded by Ben Kaufman, a 24-year-old inventor and entrepreneur, the company solicits ideas for new products on its Web site, bringing the most popular suggestions to life with the help of in-house product designers and an online community, and then sharing the profits.”

During the interview with The New York Times, Ben Kaufman said that,

“The best products in the world are the result of problems that people are experiencing. The products in the first episode, Jake’s pivotable power strip and Andrea’s strainer bowl, are two problem-solving products. They’re not frivolous things. Andrea didn’t want to wash all the bowls in her sink, and Jake was annoyed that he couldn’t fit all the power bricks into his power strip. They’re simple problems that resulted in brilliant solutions. … The beauty of Quirky is that anyone can do it. We have people who are housewives, retirees, kids in school. It’s for the untapped minds: people who have great ideas and an amazing creative spirit.”

After finding out how much money the inventor of the Broom Groomer has earned so far, Jay Leno, who is certainly no stranger to “an amazing creative spirit,” told Ben Kaufman,

“This is unbelievable. I could have invented this. I’m stuck in this dead-end job. I could have been doing this.”

For anyone else who feels like Jay Leno, it might be a great idea to follow Jay Leno’s advice, “If you have an invention, contact Ben.”

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