Some thoughts on the launch of our first product

This week, which saw the launch of Athlerus's first athletic brace--a reflective patellar tendon support strap—has gotten me thinking an awful lot about the value of perseverance, of not giving up when obstacles are thrown in your way. When you set your mind on a goal, any goal at all, you are bound to encounter difficulties both large and small. Whether you succeed or not depends largely on your reaction to setbacks and hardship. Do you shrink from the challenge, or do you persevere? 

We all know we "should" choose to persevere, to push on, but that often sounds a lot better than it feels at the time. There have been more obstacles and hardships than I'd care to list as we sought to design the very best patella tendon support straps available on the market today. But all that effort, those late nights, the research sessions and email correspondence, all of it has led up to our launch this week, and I couldn't be prouder. As a sufferer of knee pain, I iterated these patella tendon straps and tested each version myself. If it wasn't good enough for me, it certainly wasn't good enough for our customers. 

In that way, launching Athlerus has been a lot like the refusal to accept knee pain as "the way things are." Our improved, best-of-breed patella tendon support straps have enabled me to become active in spite of patellar tendonitis that would otherwise prevent me from going on the runs that keep me sane, fit, and (mostly) clear-headed. 

Here's to what's next.

---