You're never too young to be an innovator..

Most people seem to have an image of inventors as old, or somehow resembling the crazy old man in 'Back To The Future', but in reality, inventors come from all walks of life and a huge range of ages – as Dan Bailey-Taylor proves.

“When I was 16 I remember being out in France with friends and we were trying to make a pizza. We had a wonderful pizza oven to use, but try as we might, we couldn't make a good circular pizza base using a rolling pin. I remember thinking 'why isn't there something circular to roll out a pizza base?' and it must have stayed in the back of my mind”

“The following year, when I was 17, I wanted to make the most of my time off in the Summer. I'd saved up for a car, but I wanted to do something really different, something which could become 'big'. I remembered my previous summer and my idea that there should be an easier way to produce a perfect pizza base, and that inspired me to go on to create the solution to the problem – which is how most inventions come to be, don't they?”

It was 2009, and Dan spent his summer designing a tool that can roll out a perfect pizza base and which also solved another problem at the same time, the transfer of the pizza base to it's oven tray. He called his product the PiZZa Ball and he now sells the product online via his business BT Design and is also discussing distribution in the UK via a chain of cookery shops. So how did he go about it?

“I sat down at my desk during the first week of the holiday and made a start. I had an idea in my head of the product, but needed a name and also needed to research possible materials for it to be made out of, as well as learn about production methods, patenting and packaging. During this time I came up with the name PiZZa Ball, it seemed an obvious choice, and then I went on to create the 'brand' for the product so I could go ahead and design a logo for a website, letterheads, business cards and the like”

“I also decided that the ball would need a practical base so it wouldn't roll off a work surface. After making prototype balls I decided upon making the PiZZa Ball out of metal and then started to look for a manufacturer. I identified one in China who would make the products, meanwhile I set about designing the product packaging, which I did myself to keep costs down. When it was all finally coming together I was in a position to put in a bulk order and also to file for a patent, via my lawyer Kit Grundy”

Amazingly, for such a young man, Dan managed to get through all of the complex processes required to bring a product to market, with no training, no team behind him and little money to back him. If that's not incredible enough, the PiZZa Ball has proved to be such a fabulous innovation that Dan has appeared in the press on several occasions and, incredibly, he was invited to appear on Dragon's Den to showcase his product, resulting in a 'boom' for online sales. The simplicity of the product, combined with it's other USP's are a real draw for people.

“It's a stainless steel ball with a stylish rubber base. You simply place it onto your dough and roll it around in a circular motion with the palm of your hand, adjusting pressure accordingly. It will leave you with a perfect circular base, at the thickness you require. You can use the PiZZa Ball with the dough already on the oven tray, which means no transferring the dough base – and even better, it means a lot less mess and washing up!”

You can see the product for yourself and read what other people say about PiZZa Ball on Dan's website, www.pizzaball.co.uk; with recommendations from Dragon's Den as well as customers, you can't fail to be impressed by the achievement of this young entrepreneur. From inspiration to inception, Dan is proof that anyone can bring a product to market if they really want to. So the next time you have an inspired product idea, why not act on it and bring out the entrepreneur in you? It could be your turn to visit the Dragon's Den next.... if you dare...

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