I first sold the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich I'd created in a small ice cream/confectionary shop I set up with friends. It soon became the establishment's main draw, but was yet to be called Chipwich. We held a contest, offering a year's supply of the product to the winner. A young Englewood, New Jersey student came up with "Chipwich" and it was a natural. We subsequently put her through college for her most welcome contribution.

Knowing I had a winner on my hands but lacking the means to market it, I set out to raise money for the venture. I approached everyone I knew with one hand grasping a cooler of Chipwiches and the other held out for money. It got to the point where, at my regular job, people started ducking into stairways when they saw me, but I managed to raise enough seed money to get to the next step. If you don't ask, you'll never get anything. It helped immeasurably that the product spoke for itself and that I was able to convey an entrepreneur's vision of the company's potential.

Next step? Why, rolling Chipwich out nationwide through every major supermarket, of course! I consulted some marketing experts in NYC and was informed that it required only $50 million to accomplish this task. Unfortunately, I was well over $49 million shy of this number. I left that meeting and pondered the elusive next step while eating an infamous Big Apple "dirty water" hotdog. Looking at the street vendor's cart, I recalled that many of our nation's foremost retailers got their start with street carts. Though the hotdog was edible, I didn't quite think the vendor's presentation was up to Macy's, Gimbel's or Wanamaker's turn of the century (19th/20th) version. I sat and chewed (and chewed) and then a veil seemed to lift. The twist that made Chipwich a household name appeared to me. "Street carts!?" "That's right," I replied. We'll put a new face on street vending – spruce up the carts, train the vendors and put them in clean, identifiable uniforms.

What transpired was beyond my wildest dreams. The initial 50 carts we rolled out in New York City were selling out in an hour. The chairman of American Home Products called me one afternoon, I assumed to make an offer on our fledgling company. Turns out he was looking for Brad, his local vendor who'd left early, depleted of Chipwiches. Another vendor (I'll withhold the name in this instance) was doubling the price – charging $2 for the first frozen novelty to even sell for $1 – and selling out just as quickly! What I first perceived as an excellent sales medium turned into an incredible trial vehicle. The graphics and vendor were highly visible, you could see the Chipwich street cart umbrellas, with chips around the edges, from blocks away. The fact that there were always lines and you had to hurry to get a Chipwich created an exclusivity that also helped our image. I later learned that that type of trial and exposure would've been impossible for a small company via conventional promotional channels. Fortune 100 food giants were now bidding to use my carts as a trial medium for their own products.

From a business standpoint, another significant accomplishment was creating a new product category: the "premium frozen novelty." Prior to Chipwich, hand-held, packaged ice cream products were low quality and low cost. We were the first to take on that "magic" $1 barrier. Like many other decisions, some advised against it, but the only other option was to cut corners and compromise quality. We had seen the likes of Haägen Dazs charging $2 a pint - the same price as a half-gallon of regular ice cream – and succeed overwhelmingly. Compromise was no option to us, and Chipwich shattered the "buck" barrier as if it never existed. After its New York success, I took Chipwich on the road, setting up street cart operations in major markets all across the U.S. Many of the cities we broke into had never even seen street carts; in others, they were "grandfathered" in and difficult to crack. But we managed. We actually received a summons for operating a street cart on private property in downtown Houston one day while being interviewed for a television broadcast! The spot aired on the news that afternoon and the public response was overwhelmingly positive.

There, and in many other instances, I found out that, along with the obvious disadvantages of being the little guy, there were advantages as well! The public got behind us and yet another tremendous boon to the venture began to materialize – the third party endorsement. Despite a nonexistent advertising budget, we managed to accumulate an estimated $50 million in equivalent advertising exposure via nationwide public relations. Newspaper features in food, lifestyle and business sections; local and national TV spots on news and talk shows; radio interviews (some during morning and afternoon drive time); national magazine feature articles. Thousands of free endorsements. Clearly, both media and consumer appreciated my David vs. Goliath story. The only downside was putting on 30lbs. sharing all those Chipwiches with the media!

With a nationally recognized brand name under my belt (Chipwich became the "generic" for cookie/ice cream novelties), I took what I believed to be the next logical step - approaching the big companies with the goal of having them distribute, market or perhaps even purchase Chipwich from me. I'd learned that giant corporations are slow off the mark introducing new products and that their offerings are often mired for years in the "analysis to paralysis" syndrome. Would that it was so simple. I learned quite a few lessons at the hands of companies trying to put Chipwich under. They nearly put my venture under, but served to strengthen me in the long run. I give freely the advice I myself paid dearly for: If you have an idea for a product that's not protectable, be extremely careful. I can't impress how important it is to have confidentiality or non-compete/non-disclose agreements signed before showing your hand.

Fortunately, there were also some pleasant corporate surprises en route to Chipwich's success, among them Quaker Oats, Keebler, and Nestles. I'll detail all the interesting facets – positive, negative and outrageous - in my upcoming book. At this juncture, 22 years after I slapped some ice cream between two cookies and rolled it in chips, a billion Chipwiches have been sold. My financial success is gratifying, but the experience and fun I've had are what really make the Chipwich days stand out. I got out there, I went for it, persevered through the rough times (there were more than a few!) and met a ton of people, the vast majority of whom were helpful and delightful. Because of my success and desire to give something back, I've made a hobby of relating my experiences and imparting advice to would-be and fledgling entrepreneurs. I've lectured to a wide range of audiences at many universities and organizations and am planning on "hitting the road" again soon. Be sure to look for me at a college near you!

Richard E. LaMotta