Fingering it out

Fingering it out

T&I Lee/Collier Runner-up

by Jean Gruss | Editor/Lee-Collier

Daniel Didrick put his special effects to work building new mechanical fingers for amputees. He's getting $10,000 a finger.

As a young boy growing up in Ohio, Daniel Didrick dreamed of becoming a special-effects artist. By his teens, he was designing and making monster Halloween masks and other props out of latex.

But it wasn't until a trip to Japan that he realized his skills could be used to change people's lives. His company, Naples-based Didrick Medical, now makes mechanical prosthetic fingers for amputees.

When he moved to Japan in 1992 to seek out work as a special-effects artist, Didrick's home was a hostel for foreigners. One night, a Japanese truck driver came in with three missing fingers and Didrick made three prosthetic fingers for him out of latex.

The Japanese amputee was ecstatic, and not just because he had new digits. Fact is, missing fingers are a sign of weakness in Japan. That's because the mafia cuts the fingers off any of its followers who have strayed.

Word soon spread that Didrick could use his special-effects skills to make fingers. He made more than 100 fingers and sold them for $1,000 a piece, cementing his reputation as the finger repairman.

Didrick moved back to the U.S. in 1999 to help his mother move to Naples. Through his girlfriend, he heard of a man who needed fingers that could move. Until then, Didrick made fingers out of latex that were essentially plastic stubs that could not bend.

One thing Didrick always excelled at was solving visual puzzles such as Rubik's cubes. In school, he scored among the top 2% in the nation in a test of three-dimensional skills and arithmetic reasoning. This even surprised him. "I was never good in math," he laughs.

His unusual background as a special-effects artist also blackballed his efforts to get a job in the medical-device business. Didrick says Arthrex, the large Naples-based medical-device manufacturer, rejected his job application because he didn't have enough experience.

But Didrick, 37, visualized a mechanical finger that could bend just like a human digit. "When I came up with the idea I saw it mentally," he says. He started designing what would eventually become the X-Finger and made the first prototype out of wood.

"My initial investors were friends from Japan," says Didrick, who has $50,000 of his savings invested in the company. So far, Didrick estimates the company has spent $500,000. His first investor was a Japanese man who owns a school that teaches English and he invested $65,000.

Didrick spoke with venture capital firms, but they wanted substantial ownership of the company in return for their investment. Didrick refused and he and partner Scott Zajaczkowski, a Naples attorney, now own 67% of the company.

Didrick went through nine different design engineers, but couldn't get them to design the product the way he wanted. So he bought $7,000 worth of computer-assisted design software and taught himself how to use it in a week. A week later he had perfected the X-Finger on his computer.

A soft plastic skin-colored glove envelops the finger and attaches to the wrist with a strap. The mechanics of the finger lets the user control the movement using the stump. It's patented and registered with the Food & Drug Administration in the U.S. The device also is patented and approved by medical regulators in Europe. The Europeans' strict rules "makes the FDA like child's play," Didrick says. It cost $30,000 to obtain European regulatory approval.

It's taken five years to develop the X-Finger and so far Didrick has sold 100. But the payoff could be big because Didrick estimates there are 20,000 to 40,000 patients who might benefit, though exact figures are hard to come by. The suggested price for a finger is $9,500. Part of the reason it's so costly is that each finger has to be custom-made for the patient. What's more, Didrick says there is no competition.

Didrick acknowledges that it's been tough to invest money in a project for so long. He and Zajaczkowski paid themselves

a modest salary from the investor capital, though neither has taken a vacation in years. "I'm lucky I still have a girlfriend," Didrick chuckles.

The duo keeps overhead low by working out of Didrick's home. "We don't advertise because we can barely keep up now," he says. But he expects the company's growth to be nothing short of stellar: $500,000 a week in orders before long. That's 50 fingers or 10 hands.

Didrick intends to repay his investors by initiating a regular dividend. If his projections are correct, Didrick Medical will pay $1 million in dividends this year and that means the initial investors will already have doubled their original investment without having to sell any stock.

"I never want to argue about money," says Didrick.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Company: Didrick Medical

Innovation: A mechanical finger for amputees

Key: Maintain as much control over ownership of your company and the technology innovation in order to reap the benefits of success.