Quirky Appoints New President, Is Primed for Relaunch
New York, NY (PRWEB) March 16, 2017 -- Q Holdings LLC, the private company which acquired Quirky in 2015 after it filed for bankruptcy, has been stealthily rebuilding the once beloved invention platform, and have announced the appointment of Gina Waldhorn as President. This hiring is the first public signal of what’s to come for the invention platform that during its heyday employed over two hundred people and raised over $180 million, but was forced to shut its doors due to an unsustainable business model.
“We’ve been purposely flying under the radar, and working hand in hand with our community members to reestablish trust,” said David Hazan, Partner at Q Holdings. “That started with making sure we did everything we could to honor their ongoing royalty potential.” After successfully making the first payment of newly accrued royalties in 2016, the new Quirky team has shifted their focus to restructuring the business model, and creating a sustainable process for bringing community-led inventions to market.
“We’re currently working on updating the technology and user experience, and putting the inventor at the core of every decision we make,” said Waldhorn. Prior to joining Quirky, Waldhorn co-founded innovation boutique Evol8tion, where she helped brands like Nestle, Mondelez International, and Colgate-Palmolive identify and partner with early stage startups to solve business challenges. At Quirky, her role will foster a new kind of pairing between inventors and brands as Quirky makes a major shift to a business model which phases out manufacturing completely in favor of building brand and retailer direct relationships. This new model will bring more development and distribution opportunities to the community.
While Quirky is not yet releasing specific details on its re-launch plan, the site is live today with an active community, and receiving dozens of new invention submissions per month. The appointment of Waldhorn as president is a positive indicator that the lights at Quirky are indeed on, and potentially beginning to glow brighter than ever.
Quirky is a community led invention platform whose mission is to make invention accessible. Brands are able to tap into the creativity of Quirky’s global community, who collaborate to build great products and deliver open innovation. Anyone can participate on Quirky.com either by submitting their own product idea, or by collaborating to enhance existing ideas. Quirky pays a royalty to all community members who help bring inventions to market.
Jack Anzarouth, Quirky, http://quirky.com, +1 9293733715, [email protected]
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