Toronto entrepreneurs think they've turned the switch on Christmas
By Kevin Connor, Toronto Sun
First posted: Saturday, December 06, 2014 07:00 PM EST | Updated: Saturday, December 06, 2014 01:41 PM EST
TORONTO - Two local entrepreneurs say they have made the first significant improvement to Christmas tree lights since they started twinkling in the late 1800s.
Joe Pantaleo and Stefano Karabas of Scarborough had been working in the construction industry for two decades when the light went off for their invention to easily switch on and off the holiday tree bulbs.
They invented the Elf Lite, a remote control tucked inside a Christmas ornament that controls tree lights in a single click. The tree gets plugged into a remote wall outlet and a remote control switch activates a trigger in a decorative Christmas ball.
The ball started rolling after Christmas 2011 when Pantaleo, who admits to being clumsy, almost toppled his tree while trying to turn it off before retiring one evening using a foot pedal switch.
“I went to turn off my lights like I usually do and I tried to find the foot pedal like I usually would do and I got really frustrated,” said Pantaleo, who had had a few near misses crushing presents under the tree trying to hit the pedal.
“I got really frustrated and thought there has to be a better way and an idea popped into my head.”
That was when a rough prototype was created and Pantaleo took it to Karabas’s house.
“He brought me this mangled ball with a button on the bottom and at first I laughed. We decided to see if it really worked, but the problem was it wasn’t Christmas anymore and there were no more trees,” Karabas said.
With no trees, the pair looked for something else to test the device.
“The first thing we saw was a toaster sitting on the counter so we plugged it into the toaster and stood back about 10 feet and pressed the little black button and had a eureka moment. Suddenly we realized we had something that could make Christmas fun again,” Karabas said. “For us it was like the way you’d react at Christmas as a kid when you got your first remote car. I know that is insane, but that is the feeling.”
The pair are now working on plans to mass produce their product, but since they didn’t have enough cash to cover the start-up costs, they have turned to Kickstarter, a crowd fundraising site.
So far they have 23 backers and have raised $2,775 of their $50,000 goal.
“We didn’t have the money to mass market it. This way we didn’t have to break the bank to get us to where we are to get it on the market before next Christmas,” Karabas said.
Depending on the amount given at Kickstarter, donors can be one of the first receive an Elf Lite toque to packs of bulbs in a choice of colours.
For more information, go to www.kickstarter.com/projects/1691878456/elf-lite.
Two local entrepreneurs, Stefano Karbas ,left, and Joe Pantaleo, developed a way to turn your Christmas lights on and off with the switch of a Christmas ornament. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun)
Toronto entrepreneurs think they've turned the switch on Christmas | Toronto & G
By Kevin Connor, Toronto Sun
First posted: Saturday, December 06, 2014 07:00 PM EST | Updated: Saturday, December 06, 2014 01:41 PM EST
TORONTO - Two local entrepreneurs say they have made the first significant improvement to Christmas tree lights since they started twinkling in the late 1800s.
Joe Pantaleo and Stefano Karabas of Scarborough had been working in the construction industry for two decades when the light went off for their invention to easily switch on and off the holiday tree bulbs.
They invented the Elf Lite, a remote control tucked inside a Christmas ornament that controls tree lights in a single click. The tree gets plugged into a remote wall outlet and a remote control switch activates a trigger in a decorative Christmas ball.
The ball started rolling after Christmas 2011 when Pantaleo, who admits to being clumsy, almost toppled his tree while trying to turn it off before retiring one evening using a foot pedal switch.
“I went to turn off my lights like I usually do and I tried to find the foot pedal like I usually would do and I got really frustrated,” said Pantaleo, who had had a few near misses crushing presents under the tree trying to hit the pedal.
“I got really frustrated and thought there has to be a better way and an idea popped into my head.”
That was when a rough prototype was created and Pantaleo took it to Karabas’s house.
“He brought me this mangled ball with a button on the bottom and at first I laughed. We decided to see if it really worked, but the problem was it wasn’t Christmas anymore and there were no more trees,” Karabas said.
With no trees, the pair looked for something else to test the device.
“The first thing we saw was a toaster sitting on the counter so we plugged it into the toaster and stood back about 10 feet and pressed the little black button and had a eureka moment. Suddenly we realized we had something that could make Christmas fun again,” Karabas said. “For us it was like the way you’d react at Christmas as a kid when you got your first remote car. I know that is insane, but that is the feeling.”
The pair are now working on plans to mass produce their product, but since they didn’t have enough cash to cover the start-up costs, they have turned to Kickstarter, a crowd fundraising site.
So far they have 23 backers and have raised $2,775 of their $50,000 goal.
“We didn’t have the money to mass market it. This way we didn’t have to break the bank to get us to where we are to get it on the market before next Christmas,” Karabas said.
Depending on the amount given at Kickstarter, donors can be one of the first receive an Elf Lite toque to packs of bulbs in a choice of colours.
For more information, go to www.kickstarter.com/projects/1691878456/elf-lite.
Two local entrepreneurs, Stefano Karbas ,left, and Joe Pantaleo, developed a way to turn your Christmas lights on and off with the switch of a Christmas ornament. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun)
Toronto entrepreneurs think they've turned the switch on Christmas | Toronto & G
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