Cat and Rachel set out to create a portable wind turbine to make clean energy more accessible at the consumer level. But would their business survive long enough to get to market while building hardware from scratch on a scrappy budget? Let’s go back to the beginning.
The company started by implementing small scale wind turbines into high-rise buildings, but soon realized that cash requirements were too high. So they scaled down the technology and came up with Shine Turbine — a 3 pound, 40 watt, downwind wind turbine, which is the lightest and most powerful portable renewable energy sourced charger, thanks to its high efficiency blade technology. Shine also has the highest power output for weight carried. But getting there was not easy. 
Creating prototypes on a tight budget wasn’t easy either. There were many stages including drawing concepts of wind turbines and creating the first 3-D printed prototype to scale the turbine into a portable package. Cat started sending pictures and concepts to investors to get feedback and go back to the drawing board. But to get an idea if people in the community would like their product, if it would be something they would buy and use, the pair took their prototypes to the community and asked them what they thought of the product. And they refined their design based on the feedback they got from customers. 
To buy parts, and set up manufacturing, the business needed funding. It also needed to know if there was a market base to work with. So the CEOs decided to try Crowdfunding to raise money and also grow a community of fans, subscribers and customers. They launched their first Kickstarter campaign in June of 2021 and hit their funding goal of $15,000 in one hour. And they were sold out within their first five days of sales. This successful Kickstarter allowed them to launch into a place of profitability.
Cat said, “We wanted to make sure we were building something that was really important to people and though the Kickstarter we realized, oh geez, we certainly did.” Watch #RamenProfitable to see their full story.