Sparked Innovations actually started out in Ed Lester’s garage in Bala Cynwyd, PA during the summer of 2017… talk about humble beginnings, eh? In fact, his small living room and mini kitchen doubled as our inventory shelving and “production area” for packing goodie bags. Rich was still working a full-time job, so Ed was the guy machining parts, soldering boards, assembling housings, packing and shipping orders day after day. Rich would spend his evenings doing bookkeeping, website development, and sales/marketing. The two partners would meet on the weekends to discuss the previous week’s happenings and plan for next.
After 2.5 years of close quarters, limited space, fume inhalation from inadequate ventilation, and the general takeover of Ed’s domicile, we decided to take the leap and move into a larger space. We relocated 27 miles away to a vacant building in Colmar, PA with a leaky roof, a mouse problem, no heat, nor air conditioning that was contemporaneously up for sale, which meant we could be kicked out at any time. Here, we developed Fannie, redesigned Ohmie, and laid the groundwork for what would be formal work areas, designated stations, and standard operating procedures.