After a year of selling their flagship product independently, the founders of CacheCase, which makes a combined phone case and wallet, are plotting a strategy to expand into the wider retail market.

Co-Founders Cam McDonald and Matt Biaros and Partner Zachary Levy can rightly claim to be serial entrepreneurs, even though they’re still studying at Dalhousie University. They set out last year to develop, manufacture and sell CasheCase, a phone case that has a pouch for money and a credit card or two. After a year of ups and downs they are ready to find a retail distributor.

McDonald said they envisioned the product as something that could do away with unnecessary bulk in people’s pockets. The response has been positive, he said, especially in the university community.

“A lot of people tell us they love going to the bar with it because they don’t want to have their wallet on them,” he said. “They need their credit card, ID, and their cash -- and of course their phone.”

Jordan Smith, the CEO of Fredericton startup OneLobby, bought the product and agrees that it solves the problem of carrying a bulky wallet as well as a phone. “It eliminated a brick in my back pocket,” he said.

The aim of the product may be simplicity but that word does not describe its development process. The trio of entrepreneurs used a Chinese business-to-business trading platform to design and manufacture the case. They went through several different manufacturers and faulty products. Inexperience, McDonald admitted, led to some decisions that caused these problems and delayed product release. One of these was sourcing their prototype design overseas.

“A lot of Chinese companies are great at replicating, but not so great at creating,” he said. “If I were to do it again, I would have paid a premium to get the prototype done here then send that to China.”

The company tested a previous model on the market before redesigning the case. The current model was launched last November, a few months after filing for a patent.

After 15 months of waiting, McDonald expects CacheCase to hold IP protection shortly.

“Having a patent behind it gives us the strategy of knowing we have a defendable position in the marketplace, and that we have some room for innovation within our patent claim,” he said. “We have an opportunity where we can actually build a brand, something we are really excited about.”

Right now, the partners are keen to bring in an experienced partner. They are even more interested in finding someone with expertise than in finding a partner to inject capital into the enterprise.

 “Our challenge is that we’re young entrepreneurs who are still trying to find out how retail distribution works, and are still trying to figure out how to deal with these bigger companies and how to get noticed on the shelves,” McDonald said. “We’d be more happy to partner with someone who’s an expert than take on money.” 

The company’s startup capital, about $10,000, came entirely from retained earnings from other ventures. McDonald operates a boat-detailing service, while Levy has co-founded web design company Red Anchor Media.

McDonald also runs a social network website for entrepreneurs, konnate.com, which began as part of the Starting Lean entrepreneurship course at Dalhousie.

The other three students who work with McDonald on konnate.com also had previous business experience, and wanted to create a platform to share advice with new entrepreneurs. A person can post a description of his startup to the site, which is in its beta stage, and add insights learned from the venture. The site has only a handful of companies so far, including CacheCase, Red Anchor Media and Konnate itself.

Daniel Boltinsky is a University of King’s College student working as an intern with http://www.entrevestor.com.