What's the Buzz?

• Author: TAYLOR, HELEN
• Position: Inventor Alfred Natrasevschi - Brief Article

ROBOCUT SURVIVES SOME HAIRY TIMES AND EMERGES ON THE INTERNET TO MUCH A-DO.

Whether or not Alfred Natrasevschi makes millions on his automatic haircutter, RoboCut, is yet to be seen. But one factor in the Fort Collins inventor's favor is his ability to focus on the task at hand.

Careful not to let disappointments and hard lessons drag him down, nor to become overly buoyed by success, Natrasevschi has nursed his invention through nearly two decades of ups and downs.

Today, the man who long ago escaped Communist Romania on a small raft, remains cautiously optimistic that an e-commerce marketing strategy and continual product improvements will make RoboCut the home hair-styling tool of choice.

Natrasevschi first sheared his own locks with a RoboCut prototype in 1981. Made from plumbing pipe and duct tape, it was a fierce-looking contraption, and it took some fast talking to convince his friends to submit to a haircut. RoboCut draws hair into a plastic tube, cuts it to the desired length and deposits the cut hair into the vacuum cleaner.

But could it go beyond a prototype? Natrasevschi waffled for awhile; on one hand he might have something worth selling, but on the other hand, it just was too different -- no one would ever buy it. In 1984, he patented the device, and by 1985, a pilot was on the market.

Two years later, the first blow hit. A competitor introduced an electric haircutting device nearly identical to the RoboCut. The Flowbee, from Flowbee International, became extremely successful, leaving Natrasevschi in the unenviable position of the also-ran. But he was undeterred.

"It's true that [Flowbee] got very active after they purchased one of our prototypes, and I think it's fair to say that they got heavy inspiration from RoboCut," Natrasevschi said. "But I found that, to this point anyway, [litigation] would be counterproductive to what we're doing," he said. "We need to focus on making a good product and selling it."

Natrasevschi had some success peddling the RoboCut through a series of infomercials. But it was through his wife, Jackie, whom he met and married in the early '90s, that he made inroads with major retailers...