For the Inventor Minds Out There: Why I Keep Building (Even When It’s Hard)

A note to the tool builders, fixers, and thinkers

If you’re someone who can’t leave a problem unsolved, who lies awake turning over a new tool idea in your head — this one’s for you.

I’ve spent the past 12 months deep in the trenches of product development. Not in a fancy lab. In my garage, on job sites, and in the back rooms of workshops all over the place. And I’ve learned two things very clearly.

First: there are two types of people you’ll meet when you’re trying to bring an invention to life.

Some are legends. They get excited with you. They offer ideas, tools, or contacts. They might not even fully understand what you’re making, but they get what it means to be inventing something, and they want to help.

And then there’s the other kind.

You show up asking for a small fitting, a weird glue, or a custom thread — and you can feel it: you’re wasting their time. They sigh, cut you off, tell you “that won’t work” or “we don’t do that.” I’ve had people go from slightly annoyed to impatiently furious just because I asked a follow-up question.

Honestly, if I let that kind of reaction stop me, the Louvre Gun wouldn't exist.

The real work happens before anything is for sale

When I started designing the Louvre Gun, I had a basic goal: clean louvre windows fast, without streaks, and without fuss. I thought the idea was simple. But the execution?

I went through:

• Dozens of glues and sealants (none were perfect)

• Shrink tubing, thread tapping, and plastic welding

• 3D printing (bought a printer just to try a part I didn’t end up using)

• Countless chats with mechanics, plastics guys, engineers, and suppliers

• Eventually, custom samples from overseas factories

All that just to solve a tiny part of the design: making the connection watertight and reliable.

But when it clicked, when I finally held a prototype that worked and felt solid — I knew it was worth every phone call and weird look I got along the way.

I’ve found myself going through the same crazy process with my other tools, like the Louvre Mop and Grip Clip. The R&D phase takes time and tenacity! Then there’s scaling production. Then packaging. Then marketing. Then actually selling it.

It’s a lot.

So here’s the point of this post:

I know I’m not the only one doing this kind of work. And I’m not trying to keep it all to myself. If you’re out there building, inventing, tinkering, or even if you just have an idea and don’t know where to start — I’d love to hear from you.

I’m keen to share what I’ve learned, but also to learn from others. Maybe you’ve solved a problem that I’m still stuck on. Maybe we could collaborate, your idea might just need a little help to become real.

If any of that rings true or you just want to swap stories from the workbench, hit me up.

You can reach me via jono@xprt.tools, or comment on this post.

Let’s make it happen.