Music Under Water

Early in my career, I had the opportunity to conduct some innovative product discovery for my 5th grade science fair. At the time, the term "bluetooth audio" didn't even exist. With a passion for both ingenuity and aquatics, I set out to achieve the impossible: create a device that could project music...underwater.

The discovery process was thorough and extraordinarily validating. I began by scoping out my development roadmap, making sure to highlight the key priorities for my product (slogans, logos, patents, etc). Once the road ahead was clear, I conducted a validation workshop, gathering positive reinforcement from trusted community members (echo chambers are good, right?).

I then moved onto more objective consumer surveys and pricing exploration. To no one's surprise, my product received universal praise, achieving a rare NPS score of 100 - virtually unheard of nowadays. Fueled by my strong research insights, I determined that a premium pricing model made the most sense for my product.

The creative process was both intellectually demanding and wide-reaching. Since a product of this scope and scale had never been achieved before, I couldn't simply name the product 'Music Under Water' - or could I? The simplicity of the name helped enhance the gravity of the product itself. Pure genius.

It was during this stage of the development process that I found my passion for design and innovation. In order to truly break down barriers, one needed to be fearless throughout the process and not afraid to take big swings. With M.U.W, I may have taken the biggest swing of them all.

As it turns out, bluetooth audio cannot penetrate water, so we are still fighting an uphill battle with underwater audio to this day. There have been a few minor breakthroughs in the space, but nothing as truly disruptive as my concept. After spending the last 15 years preparing, M.U.W may finally be ready to enter the prototyping phase.