Through their persistence and skill, both the founders and co-investors successfully created the first dry-erase paint product for IdeaPaint that showed true commercial promise. Late in 2006 and early 2007 respectively, John invited two other former Babson classmates Jeff Avallon and Morgen Newman to join the company. From then until IdeaPaint’s launch in June of 2008, the three friends and classmates worked together on a plan to commercially launch IdeaPaint’s first commercially successful product, IdeaPaint Pro. IdeaPaint launched in a big way at a Chicago Trade Show, NEOCON, in June of 2008, where IdeaPaint won numerous prestigious awards.

About

IDEAPAINT exists to inspire and encourage everyone, every day to reach their creative and productive potential. IdeaPaint's signature product, a high-performing dry erase paint, transforms virtually any smooth surface into an erasable canvas – giving people the space they need to fully explore their big ideas. The magic of IdeaPaint lies in its ability to transform passive space into active environments — to spur the collaborative spirit that lives within all of us, and accelerate ideation for better, faster results.

IdeaPaint is the creator of the high-performance dry erase paint category. It’s advanced chemistry, but profoundly low-tech, yet transformative, solution. IdeaPaint has brought the human element back to more than 150,000 offices, schools and homes around the world by simply getting people on their feet, working together and exploring their creativity wherever ideas happen. IdeaPaint and their products have been celebrated by the likes of The Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Fast Company and CNBC as a tool that has a profound impact on the process, experience and outcome of bringing ideas to life.

IdeaPaint premium dry erase paint is available in a variety of formulas that cater to commercial, educational and residential customers, and is the gold standard for durability and performance. IdeaPaint products are available in over 50 countries around the world!

Founding Story

IdeaPaint was founded by John Goscha in 2002 as a college freshman. The “idea” for IdeaPaint came out of a brainstorming session in the e-tower, a dorm for entrepreneurs at Babson College (Wellesley, MA). True to the entrepreneurial spirit of the school, the students decided to cover their walls in large sheets of paper to write down their ideas. As their ideas grew the paper became filled with writing and had to be torn down and replaced– writing on the walls was great, but there had to be a better way! Classmate Andrew Foley suggested and looked for a paint that could turn every wall in their dorm into a dry erase writing surface. Surprised to find this paint didn’t already exist, John and a third classmate William Gioielli set out to find one while Andrew began working on the business plan and created the name IdeaPaint. When students and visitors from across campus began stopping by to write on the wall, the team knew they were on to something!

From the earliest days, the founders knew that taking IdeaPaint from a concept to a viable product would be a challenge. In 2003, Babson awarded IdeaPaint with seed funding and the founders began work with an outside lab. After working with a lab for over a year, the lab concluded the concept was technically impossible. In 2005, classmate Alex Galperin revitalized the idea and with the introduction of a second lab, that also concluded that the idea was also technically impossible to engineer and produce.

Through their persistence and skill, both the founders and co-investors successfully created the first dry-erase paint product for IdeaPaint that showed true commercial promise. Late in 2006 and early 2007 respectively, John invited two other former Babson classmates Jeff Avallon and Morgen Newman to join the company. From then until IdeaPaint’s launch in June of 2008, the three friends and classmates worked together on a plan to commercially launch IdeaPaint’s first commercially sucessful product, IdeaPaint Pro. IdeaPaint launched in a big way at a Chicago Trade Show, NEOCON, in June of 2008, where IdeaPaint won numerous prestigious awards.

TODAY

In 2017, IdeaPaint HOME was re-introduced to allow for folks to enjoy the same great features of whiteboard and dry erase surfaces their own homes. By designing the product and application instructions to be more customer and consumer friendly, now anyone and everyone has an IdeaPaint product to help them turn their surfaces into creative spaces!