Congrats go out to our friends at IdeaPaint!

Cambridge-based IdeaPaint just announced that their award-winning dry erase paint is now available at 365 Lowes locations from Virginia to Maine. IdeaPaint has been growing tremendously since it’s launch in 2008, securing $5M from locally-based Breakaway Ventures in 2008 and closing a second $3.3M round back in February. Their product was also featured on ABC’s popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. As the first major agreement with a “big box” retailer, the deal with Lowe’s represents a huge milestone for the company, founded by three Babson College alumni.

“Our retail launch with Lowe’s for our ‘HOME’ dry-erase paint is the culmination of years of work spent spreading the word and fortifying loyal customer support for IdeaPaint — painting the walls of everyone who would let us,” says Jeff Avallon, co-founder of IdeaPaint, on their blog.

With this Lowes partnership, it is clear IdeaPaint has succeeded in disrupting the dry-erase market. How long until the norm is writing on all surfaces from desks, to walls, and even your bed frames? Congratulations to the IdeaPaint team for this incredible milestone!

To learn more about IdeaPaint, check out their website. Also, be sure to follow them on Twitter @IdeaPaint and fan them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IdeaPaint.

IdeaPaint hits primetime television!

IdeaPaint has been one of the most successful startups in Boston. They recently received $3.3 Million in their second round of founding and they are one of the companies being celebrated at Venture Development’s NEXT: A Celebration of the Commonwealth’s Emerging Entrepreneurs. Now IdeaPaint is being featured on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, this Sunday at 8pm.

IdeaPaint’s revolutionary invention allows you to paint dry-erase boards on any surface. We can only imagine what they’ve got planned for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

But wait, what is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and why is it such a big deal? It’s a national television show that builds homes for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it. They usually work with families who are huge contributors to the community; oh and it’s a primetime, national television show. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is known to bring tears, hugs and corny one-liners from host Ty Pennington.

IdeaPaint won’t be the only guest featured on the show, they’ll be joined by KISS. Yes, the rock band KISS. Do you think ABC planned that? A band who’s members paint their faces featured with a company who paints white-boards onto walls. It might be a stretch, but we think it’s more then just a coincidence.

Make sure you tune into ABC, Sunday night at 8pm to support your fellow entrepreneurs. It will be exciting to see what they’re going to do with the IdeaPaint. Maybe they’ll make KISS, dry-erase board rock stars.

What Boston startup would you like to see on a television show? Drop us a line in the comments section.

IdeaPaint has been killing it lately. Follow them on Twitter or Facebook for company updates.

Congrats go out to our friends at IdeaPaint!

According to a press release posted on PEhub.com this morning, Cambridge-based startup IdeaPaint, which makes dry erase paint that can be applied to a myriad of smooth surfaces to create dry erase boards, struck a deal for another $3.3M in funding today. They took home $5M from Breakaway Ventures in a first round of funding back in 2008.

“At IdeaPaint, we have been fortunate to experience rapid growth over the past year,” said Bob Munroe, president of IdeaPaint in the release. “We decided to raise additional funds in order to fully take advantage of the many opportunities available.”

At the time this article was penned, phone calls to IdeaPaint had not yet been returned.

The second round of funding comes (quite impressively) from one individual: Todd Krasnow, the founding chief marketing officer of Staples, Inc. Although the Highland Capital Partners venture group was not involved in the deal, Krasnow is associated with the Highland Consumer Fund. Krasnow will join IdeaPaint’s board of directors as part of the deal.

“I think the company markets a unique, useful and exciting product line that has a tremendous opportunity for growth,” said Krasnow in the release.

IdeaPaint remains one of the most exciting and innovative startups in Boston, and we’re big fans of the founders, all of whom are Babson grads. The fact that an angel investor like Krasnow was willing to part with $3.3M in support of their innovation stands as a testament to their viability. It’s not our bag to follow funding exclusively, but isn’t it nice when your friends find funding?

We’ll do what we can to find out about how this will affect their future plans. Meanwhile, join us in congratulating them.

To learn more about IdeaPaint, check out their website. Also, be sure to follow them on Twitter @IdeaPaint and fan them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IdeaPaint.

Some of America's greatest inventions are from Boston

We here at BostInnovation are all about inventions. One of the great things about Boston is its history. We are the birthplace of the great innovator, Benjamin Franklin. If it hadn’t been for Franklin we wouldn’t have bifocal eye glasses or lightening rods: Two very important things when it comes to seeing and not getting electrocuted.

Unfortunately, Franklin ended up in Philadelphia, but innovation in Boston has persevered.

What are some of the inventions that led to Boston becoming the East Coast’s hub of Innovation?

1) Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone
Although the history of the invention is a little shady, Bell was stationed in Boston when he received the patent for the telephone. Bell was in a patent race with Elisha Grey and was accused of stealing some of Grey’s ideas, a fact that sullied the history of the invention. Technically, he was the first to be awarded with a patent for the telephone however. Bell would go crazy if he saw what telephones have become today. Thanks to Bell, we’ve got these things called cell phones that connect us with anyone at anytime and don’t have to be plugged into a wall.

2) King C. Gillette’s disposable blade safety razor
Gillette changed the way men shaved with the invention of the disposable blade safety razor, and he was in Boston when he did it. He discovered a way to make inexpensive razors and made wild profits by selling disposable blades that protected the skin. What resulted was a multi-billion dollar per year industry. Gillette is now one of the most well known brands in Boston and has gone way beyond selling men’s razors.

3) Dr. Percy Spencer’s microwave oven
The microwave is a college student’s best friend. If it weren’t for microwaves we would all go hungry. Thanks to an accident at Raytheon, Percy Spencer invented the microwave. Raytheon was experimenting with vacuum tube called a magnetron when a candy bar melted in Spencer’s pocket. Kitchens and cooking entered the future with the microwave, and college students everywhere became supremely reliant on Easy Mac.

4) Thomas Edison’s electric voting machine
We all remember what happened in the 2000 election when George W. Bush questionably beat out Al Gore: Dangling chads became the buzz word. The electronic voting system got in the way. Who invented the first voting machine? Our boy, Thomas Edison. It was Edison’s first patent and was originally meant for congress. They thought it was too slow but it lead to the electronic voting machines that have become key to modern democracy. Surely Edison was bummed that the big wigs didn’t like his patent, but he would have felt better to know that 135 years later, electronic voting machines can still seem sub par.

5) John Goscha, Jeff Avallon, and Morgan Newman’s IdeaPaint
We are kind of obsessed with IdeaPaint here at BostInnovation, and that’s why we’re putting such an untried invention on the list. With IdeaPaint you can paint a whiteboard on almost any surface. That means no you can eliminate the trip to Staples or Bed, Bath and Beyond when decorating a classroom or your child’s bedroom. All Babson graduates, Goscha, Avallon, and Newman invented the idea when they couldn’t afford white boards in school. They’ve been raising eyebrows (including ours) ever since.

The future for Boston inventions is promising and we are excited to see what the next big thing will be. What are some of your crazy invention ideas?