Hailey entrepreneur Dane Scarborough is an interesting individual and a hard man to categorize.
Part businessman, part artist, part inventor and part philosopher—no matter what you call him you'll likely fall short of capturing just who he is and what makes him tick.
Perhaps the most obvious of Scarborough's attributes is a kind of youthful intensity that translates into a deep interest in many things.
Such inquisitiveness has led Scarborough—a 48-year-old father of two who grew up in Los Angeles—to try his hand at numerous activities throughout the years, including stints as a functional art designer, professional musician and tool designer for the building trade.
Scarborough's latest role is that of president and CEO of Uberstix, a unique Hailey-based toy company that is set to launch its first product sometime early this month.
Similar to long-standing favorites like LEGOs and Erector sets, Uberstix is a building system designed to appeal to the budding engineer. But that's where the similarities end.
Scarborough passionately explains why Uberstix was designed with nearly limitless possibilities in mind.
"We want to inspire creativity," he said.
In Uberstix's recent infancy—it was only conceived of in July 2004—the building system was nothing more than Popsicle sticks joined together by clay hubs.
Today, Uberstix is made up of eight highly engineered and uniquely distinct parts with interesting names like I-Stix, Piratestix, Birdhub and Quark. Together, the parts and each of their numerous connection points can be combined to create an endless array of objects like skyscrapers, bridges and catapults.
Uberstix also has an educational component, Scarborough said.
"You learn basic engineering, you learn physics," he said.
Uberstix can be an aid for teaching concepts related to the trades of construction and architecture, too.
"You learn what makes a building sound," Scarborough said.
Uberstix also has something of an ethic at its core, Scarborough said. The building system is designed to allow items like straws, egg cartons and other recyclable materials to be incorporated into structures, thereby expanding the design possibilities.
Adding this capacity not only saves everyday materials from being needlessly thrown into landfills, but it also gives children in families with limited funds the same opportunities as other kids, he said.
As youthful as his ambitions are, Scarborough hasn't relied entirely on his own ingenuity to push Uberstix from conception to realization. In translation, this means he's had the benefit of having a readily available, full-time toy tester at his disposal: his 7-year-old son, Dashel.
"He's my primary product tester and builder," he said.
The doting father proudly shows off a more than six-foot-tall Uberstix tower his son constructed on his own.
"And he's this big," Scarborough said, indicating his son's height, which falls several feet short of the tower's impressive overall height.
"There's something that happens when a kid builds something bigger than themselves," Scarborough said. "It makes other things seem possible."
Such a grand transition from Popsicle sticks and clay hubs to highly engineered parts didn't happen in a place that you might expect. Uberstix headquarters is nothing more than a small, unassuming building in north Hailey just behind McDonald's.
Scarborough moved to Hailey in 1993 with his wife, Leslie, and then 3-year-old son, Hunter.
In the ensuing years, Scarborough has found success in a number of personal ventures.
Uberstix isn't Scarborough's only experience with product designing. His most successful venture to date is with a company called Levelution, which he personally launched in 1995.
The company's primary product was the Levelution System, an ultra-precision level designed with craftsman and builders in mind.
Levelution eventually attracted the interest of larger toolmakers who were concerned with the company's success.
Scarborough sold Levelution to Newell/Rubbermaid in July of 2003. After the sale, he continued to work as a consultant to Newell/Rubbermaid for about a year.
Counting his consulting work with Newell/Rubbermaid, Scarborough has 28 patents or patents pending to his name.
Scarborough's interest and capacity for engineering emerged early in life. In seventh grade he designed a motorcycle, and in eighth and ninth grades he built it, he said.
Offering advice to his fellow aspiring inventors, Scarborough recommends that they not immediately rush into hiring a patent attorney for new product ideas. Instead, he said those with potentially marketable ideas should first do research on the U.S. patent Web site to find out if their idea already exists.
"Find out if there is a lot of competition out there," Scarborough said.
This month Scarborough will have the opportunity to speak on such topics at the Second Annual Manufacturing and Innovation Conference at the Boise Centre on the Grove, in Boise, on Oct. 13 and 14.
Scarborough said he will challenge conference participants to look at how they can better their own products.
"I'm really excited about this conference," he said.
Scarborough has transferred the manufacturing side of the Uberstix business to China.
This was done primarily from a practical cost standpoint, he said. Scarborough also designed the molds for Uberstix parts to be as simple as possible.
"My number one goal was simple design, thereby keeping the cost of the parts down," Scarborough said.
Scarborough is aware of the negative perceptions some have towards companies that ship manufacturing jobs overseas.
For business and to learn more about China's manufacturing businesses, Scarborough has made a number of trips to the country. He currently maintains an office in the busy economic hub of Hong Kong.
Based on his experiences in China, Scarborough said he doesn't view the country as the direct economic threat to the United States that some do.
"They're not this ominous evil empire," he said.
Scarborough said the U.S. economy can see benefits when businesses like Uberstix send manufacturing jobs overseas to places like China.
Scarborough said that in the current ultra-competitive marketplace, many U.S. companies simply couldn't survive if they had to pay domestic wages for manufacturing. Companies that are able to compete because they send manufacturing jobs overseas also create higher paying jobs at home, he said.
"High-end executive jobs," Scarborough said.
Creating a trade partnership between the U.S. and China can benefit both countries, Scarborough said. Not only can it benefit their economies, but it can also help ease misplaced tensions between the two countries, he said.
"They're people with the same hopes and dreams we have," Scarborough said. "The Chinese threat, I just don't see it that way."
More information on Uberstix can be found at the company's Web site, www.uberstix.com.
Dane Scarborough and his dog Blitzen pose in front of numerous Uberstix creations. Similar to long-standing favorites like LEGOs and Erector sets, Uberstix is a building system designed to appeal to the budding engineer. Photo by David N. Seelig
