Creating a buzz
Article Date: Aug 08 2008
Paul Telford, Emotional Bliss
Paul Telford describes himself as a ‘normal guy with two kids’. He’s also the founder of Emotional Bliss, a manufacturer of female sex toys designed to maximise the likelihood of orgasm.
‘I’m not into sex toys,’ explains Telford, who ran a business making electrical components before getting into vibrators. ‘I just couldn’t understand why products intended for women were being marketed to men.’
Telford had spotted a gap in the market for a high-quality device that catered to women of all ages, including those with physical conditions or illnesses making it harder for them to achieve orgasm. He aimed to provide an alternative to the crude penile-shaped gadgets available in sex shops, marketing his products in emotional rather than visual terms.
That was the summer of 1999. It’s taken Emotional Bliss eight years to get a product to market after extensive research and development work aided by sexual psychotherapist Julia Cole. In the meantime, Telford says an imitation has been launched by a much larger manufacturer, but is confident the quality of his product is superior.
'British people find things like this very difficult'
‘We haven’t got the money to fight them in the law courts, so we’ll fight them in the marketplace,’ he says coolly.
It’s not going to be easy, but Telford’s used to overcoming obstacles. The product has been developed ‘on a shoestring’, with all the funding coming either from his personal resources or what he calls ‘the three Fs’ – friends, fools and family.
He tried banks and venture capitalists (VCs), but with no joy. Banks weren’t prepared to take the risk, and though VCs enjoy talking about sexy markets and hot sectors, it seems Emotional Bliss was a bit too steamy for them.
‘They didn’t want to be connected to the sex toy industry,’ says Telford. ‘British people find things like this very difficult. I tried to convey that there was nothing titillating or funny about this, it was designed for a straightforward purpose, but it wasn’t happening.’
That’s all changed now the company has a product and is seeing sales in the US and Hungary. ‘We’re talking to a number of VCs interested in taking this forward with a bigger investment in marketing and a full global launch,’ Telford states.
Telford has a matter-of-fact way of talking about his business that makes you forget the embarrassment the subject usually generates in the UK. For him, it’s simply about solving a problem, like any other business.
‘It’s very difficult to prove, but it’s very likely that a large number of women have never achieved orgasm,’ Telford claims. That’s a big potential market out there.
