Richard Thalheimer

After graduating from law school in 1974, Thalheimer passed the California bar exam and practiced law in San Francisco for a year. While still studying law, Thalheimer at the age of 24 started a part-time office supply business, named Thalheimer Business Systems.[3] Based in San Francisco he started the supply business with $500 worth of copier paper. He later renamed his venture The Sharper Image. The rebrand was to help promote the quality of the copier paper and toner sold by his business.[4]

After rebranding to The Sharper Image, Thalheimer stated in interviews that he had a desire to transform the business into a mail-order retail empire. He then began to study tech products that could be supplied by the business. His first idea was digital watches, after seeing a $300 Seiko watch. He spotted that some wealthy runners were using the Seiko, but many everyday runners would never have been able to afford the price tag. He took a flight to Las Vegas to visit a trade show, where he came across his first product, a wholesale digital watch. The watch manufacturer was based in Taiwan and was looking to distribute their product in the United States. Thalheimer purchased a watch and gave it to the head of his run club. He tested it running, cycling and swimming. The watch held up to the challenge and Thalheimer decided to start distributing the watch.[5] He believed it could be marketed as a similar product to the more expensive Seiko. The product was marketed directly to runners in Runner's World, with a full-page ad offering the watch at $69. The ad contained a large photo of the famous San Francisco runner Walt Stack. He generated $5k in profits from the watch and marketing campaign and began to repeat the process with other products and became a millionaire aged 27. The process became successful enough for Thalheimer to decide to launch his own catalog in 1979. He stated to The Hustle magazine, it was a high tech catalog of devices no one knew they needed.[6]

Over the coming years, Thalheimer promoted products through magazine ads and catalog mailings. The Sharper Image regularly introduced new products to its line, and they were often seen as innovative.[7] In the 1980s, Thalheimer introduced many products to the mass market, including the first cordless telephone.[8] Other products included the first telephone answering machine, the first hand-held microcomputer, the first children's two-wheel Razor Scooter, and the Ionic Breeze Air Purifier.[9]

By the mid-1990s, the company became known for selling "quirky gadgets" and with the rise in electronic devices in homes, the company grew exponentially.[10] During the opening of a Sharper Image store on Sutter Street in San Francisco in 1996, Thalheimer gave a presentation with NeXT Computer founder, Steve Jobs. Thalheimer spoke about how he witnessed Jobs' presentation earlier that year at WebMania, where he presented NeXt's dynamic web page builder.[11] Thalheimer during his speech stated that at the time he thought "I gotta have this." Two months later, The Sharper Image launched its online catalog, which was built in partnership with NeXT Computers. Jobs presented The Sharper Image website to a select group of people in the store, explaining that thousands of webpages could be built depending on information about that user stored in a database. While NeXT Computer was using dynamic webpages with other clients, it is believed this is the first time it was used on this scale within retail. Job explained during the presentation that he and Thalheimer would "continue to enhance it, but it’s already way ahead of anything else that is out there."[12]

Later, Jobs presented the software at a number of expos, using The Sharper Image's website as an example. In some cases, Thalheimer also presented a short segment on how the website had allowed the company to transition from a traditional catalog model to online. At Internet World expo in 1996, Thalheimer presented a segment during Steve Jobs' speech about dynamic web pages.[13] Thalheimer stated that The Sharper Image spent $35 million in 1995 in order to distribute 2 million catalogs each month to its clients. He explained that the web catalog would completely transform how they did business.[14] The partnership established between Thalheimer and Jobs went onto become what today is seen as modern-day eCommerce.[15] At the time, some magazines such as Wired spoke about the technology used by The Sharper Image and how Jobs' innovations were likely to change the retail sector forever.[16] In the coming years, the model worked on with Thalheimer was offered and reproduced at other large retailers across the United States.[15]

Thalheimer announced that The Sharper Image was introducing a device called the Ionic Breeze in 1998. The device was an air purifier which made numerous innovations in the market. At the time, while air purifiers were available on the retail market, it was the first time After the 3.0 version was released in 2003, The Times newspaper reported "unlike most air purifiers it is silent," which was seen as a revolutionary step in the market at the time.[17]

In 1999, Thalheimer's vision for eCommerce saw The Sharper Image increase its online revenues 243% in a single year.[18] The strong online performance allowed the business to continue expanding and launch new innovative products. Thalheimer moved from managing the day to day operations that year to spending 4 days a week with the design-time coming up with new concepts and products.[19] The company also focused on their store offerings during this period, and were one of the first United States retailers to offer the Razor scooter.[20] According to an interview in CNN, Thalheimer first saw the scooter at a Hong Kong trade show and signed a distribution deal 7 months before any other retailers in the United States stocked the scooter.[5]

In 2006, Thalheimer left the business after 29 years at the helm.[21] Thalheimer remained on the board until 2007 when he sold his remaining shares in the business.[22] Thalheimer appeared on numerous prime time television shows including Late Night with David Letterman and The Joan Rivers Show.[23][24] He was featured in the Citibank Diner’s Club network commercial.[25]

After leaving The Sharper Image, Thalheimer founded RichardSolo in 2007.[1][3] As soon as he founded the business, he continued where he left off with Sharper Image and began to invent and distribute useful gadgets. It began in 2007 when he signed a exclusivity agreement to distribute a backup battery pack for smart devices, such as iPhones. By 2008, the company had grown to a turnover of $4 million, simply by offering a single product.[1] Thalheimer recognized that the success wasn't only the charging of a phone on the go, but also the notoriously poor battery life of the iPhone.[26] RichardSolo also launched other products, such as the Back-Up, which was a back support.[27]