Shark Tank + Building Blocks = Innovation
This past week I was watching ABC's hit show Shark Tank, and I came across a company that seemed pretty fascinating to me. When I was younger, being that I was born in the 90's, grew up playing with G.I Joe's, Hot Wheels, and Lego's like most kids. To think of it, I still have my old Lego train set to this day, and the electronics that came with it still work correctly. Even though the patent for Lego bricks expired in the early 1990's, Lego has still proved themselves on being ahead of the competition. From the latest IP's to major hit blockbusters such as The Lego Batman Movie, as well as their STEM engineering programs. It's interesting to look at the long journey this corporation came, and all the copy-cats that could have potentially deterred their growth. Nonetheless, Lego still managed to get out on top having a far larger fan base than any other toy on the global market to this date.
The show featured a company by the name of Pinblock is a newly emerged building block that promotes greater creativity, versatility, and lower limitations than other brands such as Lego, MegaBlock, Kinex, etc. Pinblock's unique structure comes from its beveled edge, the 360-degree turn system which allows the blocks to bend, turn, or fold. Each block piece has the same shape, and size, but different color assortments (no more shall you have a lost brick, and scraping your floor off to find it!). I found examples on their website of pixel art, jets, and even wearable items such as watches or masks. The cool part about the Pinblock is that an instruction manual is not needed, and their slogan "anything is possible," actually is!
CEO Vladislav Smolyanskyy came on Shark Tank with a mission to significantly enhance child learning with combining STEM and creative tool into one. He claimed that kids nowadays are not getting the most brain power out their play time where the majority of learning takes place. Vlad's vision is to give every child the opportunity to think "outside of the box," and create something beyond expectations. Personally, I would have to agree with him because putting together Lego's back then feels like today's IKEA furniture (What if I want to put the shelf lower than described!?!).