Nicole Tedesco

Operations Manager

ChargerLeash

Ridgewood, New Jersey

#651325 UPIC: C651325

How did your company get its start?

My husband Brian, a serial traveler, came up with idea out of need. He was tired of constantly leaving or losing his chargers while on the road and he thought there has to be better way. And today there is—ChargerLeash! We filed our original patent application in the U.S. and Europe in October 2010, and we were granted our first patent by the European patent office in December 2012 with over 73 claims. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. followed suit, granting us our patent in July 2013. We received our second patent with additional claims in April 2015. Japan granted its patent approval in October 2015 with Canada, Brazil, China and Mexico all patent pending.

The technology itself took over two and a half years to develop: an alarm module with our patented idea (the IC module) that we could integrate into cell phone accessories. Our first product to market in January 2014 was our USB charger and sync cable with built-in IC module. This is the product we sell today under the Chargerleash brand.

What led your company to enter the promotional products market?

We launched ChargerLeash cables to the world at CES Las Vegas in 2014. One of the distributors that approached us at the show was in the promotional products industry, and later he called to see if Chargerleash was available as a promo gift and if the cable could be decorated. We had no idea what he was talking about and slowly started asking questions. We decided to make the plunge in the promotional products industry and debuted the Chargerleash 2in1 promotional cable at the ASI New York Show in 2015. We haven’t looked back since!

What’s your favorite thing about being in the promotional products industry?

The people and the distributors. Because Chargerleash is such new technology, it’s a “show and tell” product sale. Nobody does that better than sales reps in the promotional industry.

Why did you join PPAI?

We learned about the Association from distributors, who would ask us for our PPAI member number.