I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this great invention from the parent of a college student. Sometimes necessity becomes the mother of invention. And that’s just what happened with this student and her father.

If you are sending your child to college this fall or in the near future, this investment can save you money and heartache over the next four years by keeping your student’s college valuables safe. Read their story and get yourself a BunkTrunk today!

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When our daughter went off to college in the fall of 2015, we were excited for her and she was ready to begin the next chapter in her life. While there are many things that are “known” with respect to the college experience, there are also many “unknowns.”

It turns out, that one of the “unknowns” was the genesis of an idea that led to the start of a small business. It turned out that our daughter had a roommate that grew up not having a need to lock, or even close doors. So when she moved into my daughters dorm room there was some immediate tension.  My daughter was worried about losing her laptop or some of her expensive textbooks, because so many times she would come back to an opened or unlocked dorm room.

After trying to remedy the situation with her roommate and several calls home to express her frustration, I decided she needed a secure storage solution. Since we’re dealing with an 18 year old who’s just moved away for the first time I realized any viable solution would have the following requirements:

• It had to be easy to use or it wouldn’t be use
• It had to be big enough for her laptop and some of her expensive textbooks
• It would be a bonus if she could put her purse, medication, and jewelry in it
• It could not take any desk space or floor space, because she had none to spare
• It could not be ugly because, lets face it, that just would not fly for a girls’ dorm room
• It could not require screws or bolts or other types of fasteners, because the college would not allow anything but command strips for hanging, mounting, or attaching anything to college property / furniture

So, after scratching my head for a while, I realized the best option for locating a storage device was the space above her bed (she was on the top bunk) and the BunkTrunk was born.

After a few revisions, driven by our experience with early prototypes, we finalized a design (see picture below) that met all the requirements and provided additional value.

With her laptop and phone locked up while charging inside, she was feeling much better about her dorm situation. She also had room to lockup her expensive textbooks, purse, medication, jewelry and more. But, with the door to her BunkTrunk opened, it also made a great work surface.  So when she needed to study late into the night, and didn’t want to bother her roommate by studying at her desk with the light on, she could now study on her bed.

Because she was on the top bunk, she didn’t have a nightstand next to her bed and the BunkTrunk makes a pretty good nightstand.

So we went from:

• Fall 2015 – “Dad, I have a problem” & first prototype created
• Winter 2015 – Provisional patent filed, design finalized and website goes live
• Spring 2016 – a new small business is started
• Summer 2016 – Patent filed and BunkTrunks shipped to over 20 colleges

We are now in our second year and expect to ship between 200 and 300 BunkTrunks.

August 2016 marked another milestone for us, as we filed our patent with the U.S. Patent Office.

And there you have it! Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and in our case, led to a new small business too! Who knew…

If your college student is experiencing similar frustrations, have them check out the BunkTrunk.