Balloon Boy Costume: A Lesson in Entrepreneurial Instincts

Still, it was a bit of departure for Kays, who has never operated a Halloween shop before. “We’ve had some nice sales before for Halloween parties, mainly from our flying saucers, but nothing like this,” he said.

Kays knew he had a good idea, but how do you turn an idea into a successful product on such short notice?  If he couldn’t get the product off the ground (no pun intended) at least a few days before Halloween, no one would buy it. According to Kays, the most difficult obstacles for the company were management and resources.

“We have to produce it here in Canada,” he said. Relying on overseas manufacturers would be too timely and too costly. “So we’re doing what we can with the resources we have. Friends of mine are helping out.”

In the beginning, expectations were low. Half a day after launching the product online, he did an interview with a local Colorado newspaper, and estimated that he might sell “dozens and dozens.” At that point, he had fielded 140 orders.

“Since then, our web traffic has gone up 1200% and orders keep pouring in,” he said. He’s been receiving about 250 orders a day and last weekend alone, he planned to produce 1200 new pieces.  Still, there is some limit to how much he and his company can produce. At the start of this venture, he had about 10,000 mylar balloons in stock.

Much of the increased demand is thanks to the viral nature of his product. Kays had the good instinct to release a funny video promoting the costume on YouTube, which continues to gain a lot of interest.  And since his original interview with the local Colorado newspaper, he has been featured on multiple radio shows, as well as in the New York Times and CNBC.

To meet this rising demand, he has brought on extra staff and his company is relying on e-commerce for sales. Kays claims they will be able to handle as much as 400 orders a day, if necessary. That should be enough, but as he admits, “because it’s going viral, we just don’t know where the top of this curve is yet.”

Yet, like any fad, Kays knows this one will pass. So what’s his company’s long term plan?