THE PAINT THAT CAPTURES IDEAS

I don’t buy many "things." My favorite things in life are immaterial, like health and precious moments with family. Nevertheless, there are certain things in life—possessions—that have proven to be great investments with surprising returns. They are the random items, tchotchkes, and tools that, unexpectedly, made a profound impact. In most cases, we take these things for granted until they are lost or lent to a friend, or until their batteries run out. And then we miss them.

Lately, I have started to pay closer attention to what I rely on most. It’s been a good exercise.

I met a few guys a couple years ago who were launching a product called Idea Paint. Their product is quite simple; it is a special paint that turns any wall into a dry erase board surface. Upon comparison, I realized that the product is a cheaper alternative than lining an entire room with dry erase boards from an office supply company. I love supporting fellow entrepreneurs. So I gave it a try. I figured that the product would, at the very least, save us money in our early start-up days at Behance. During application, we focused on the large wall in the conference room.

However, once we applied it, we also decided to paint the small corners of our office walls, the “lost space” that wouldn’t fit a standard dry erase board or piece of art, with a layer of Idea Paint. Without realizing it, we suddenly reclaimed the weird angles and hidden corners of our office as functional space. We now use these spaces for "backburner areas" where we jot down ideas that aren’t actionable now but may someday be.

We also use a small sidewall in our conference room to capture memorable quotes and insights from the team. Idea Paint has helped us capture far-flung ideas that would otherwise be erased from our memories. Eventually, we even asked the Idea Paint folks if we could be an official reseller—if only to get a discount on a simple product that has had an unexpected impact.