PPB August 2018

Jason Lucash Like A Boss Jason Lucash leads the creative team behind Origaudio’s imaginative products, and Millennials can’t get enough of them. by Terry Ramsay 20 | AUGUST 2018 | INNOVATE A t The PPAI Expo 2018, Jason Lucash, CEO of Origaudio, mistakenly left his phone behind when he stepped away from the company’s booth. Due to the flood of attendees trying to catch a glimpse of the 27 new products being launched at his booth, he couldn’t push past the crowds to get back in. With his wicked sense of humor, Lucash appreciated the irony of the moment. Since he founded the company in 2009 with partner Mike Szymczak, it’s safe to say that Lucash has been on a roll. His first invention, Fold ‘N Play Recycled Speakers, are origami- inspired portable speakers that start out flat and fold open. The company had only been selling them for three months when Time magazine called. “ Time included us on their ‘Top 50 Inventions of 2009’ list,” says Lucash. “After that happened, we went from selling 10 to over 1,000 speakers every day. We sold all our stock. Then we received our first promo order—over 50,000 for the U.S. Marines, which was pretty cool.” What followed was a press whirlwind, with Lucash and Szymczak appearing on The Today Show , CNN and Fox News . That notoriety led to an opportunity to pitch a new product on Shark Tank . “The night that Shark Tank aired, we sold about 50,000 pieces of the product that we took onto the show, which is called the Rock- It™ [a gadget that uses vibration technology to transform anything hollow—like a cup— into a speaker]. Lucash’s entrepreneurial chops come naturally—his mother, grandfather and great- grandfather all started their own businesses. He followed in their footsteps early on, rolling out a candy cart in the afternoons to sell snacks to kids on their way home from elementary school in his hometown of Danville, California. And as a college student at the University of California-Davis, he ran a party/ bartending business that served about 70 events a year, including weddings, bar mitzvahs and awards parties. Following graduation, Lucash directed grassroots marketing and promotional events for Major League Soccer, then joined Jansport, where he managed collegiate and promotional strategies. It was there that he and his coworker, Szymczak, learned the ins and outs of manufacturing backpacks. And, in his role at Jansport, he ordered millions of dollars of promotional products, which was how he was introduced to the industry. “Jansport’s logo is actually a four-color process photo of