Hoop Dreams
When you're having trouble finding a manufacturer for your product, these ideas may help you locate the one you want.
By Don Debelak
Anyone who loves basketball as much as Jason Parr does would
understand his need to shoot hoops during the workday back when he
worked at a Farmington Hills, Missouri, media management firm in
1995. Lunchtime, of course, was the perfect time to do this, but
hauling around a cumbersome portable basketball hoop in the bed of
his pickup truck didn't sound too appealing. Hence, a
brainstorm: "Why not install a basketball hoop in a pickup
truck?" he thought. Parr then went to work with his uncle, an
engineer, and created a hoop that folds up and down (similar to a
convertible top). Presto! Instant basketball, any time there's
a paved parking lot. Parr, now 35, has two patents on his invention, called Pickup
Hoops, and has even sold two units to Nike, which uses the hoops to
set up basketball demonstrations. But the product hasn't gone
any further yet, as Parr has focused on getting a licensing deal
from a major sporting goods store or pickup truck manufacturer. When potential buyers didn't bite right away, Parr decided
to create interest in his product by organizing events and
displaying it everywhere he went. He has provided the hoops for a
wheelchair basketball league, run his own tournament, set up Pickup
Hoops at the last three Final Fours and even set his product up at
big rest areas whenever he travels. "I attract a big crowd
[everywhere I go with it]," says Parr. Content Continues Below
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