About Us
Two brothers go into business to challenge the status quo.
Since their childhood, the Dallaire brothers have always wanted to be businessmen. When they were 10 and 12 years old, they would sell chocolate door-to-door so that they could buy candy. At the age of 17 and 19, they each had a student painting franchise, College Pro. This experience enabled them to deepen their knowledge as future entrepreneurs.
“ The experience with College Pro as franchisees made us learn a lot and made us want to start our own business. We had no idea what kind of business we wanted to start. However, our reflection was the following: when facing a problem or situation that was not optimal, we were looking for a solution to solve this problem.”
Simon Dallaire, co-founder of Ibboo.
Thus a board of ideas was created. For almost a year, the brothers put on that board nearly thirty ideas that could improve people’s life while solving a problem. It was then that their father returned from Mexico in October 2015: “Hi boys, I’m glad to see you, I had a great trip. There is just one thing I hated: the discomfort when I was on the plane. I was trying to find a comfortable position to rest, I looked around and everyone seemed to have the same problem. It was impossible to find an ideal position to sleep. There are millions of travelers every year who are in the same situation. Why don’t you boys fix this? ”
This is how Ibboo was born. The idea came not from the board of ideas, but from a real experience that reflected a daily problem for travelers all over the world. The primary goal was to solve the problem of the support for the head since, after their research, no pillow supported the head at 360 degrees.
Made of pieces of wood, towels and rope, the first Ibboo was born in November 2015. It was, difficult to move, not aesthetically attractive and not comfortable. But the idea was to make a new portable device that would allow every user to have quality rest where it is not usually possible.
A few months later, they decided to produce a second prototype. This time their grandmother was on board. This second prototype was much better than the first one. However, the elastics were not very aesthetic. In addition, the cushion was not easy to install.
“ We knew we were on a track, but for the next stage of development we had to call on an expert in the field. During the following months, we searched to find a professional designer. After three meetings, we found the ideal person to push our project further, Ms Josée Proulx. Following our first meeting, she immediately showed enthusiasm for our project and started to launch ideas. “
Philippe Dallaire, president and co-founder
Josée has over 30 years of experience and is an expert in the field of fashion design and accessories. Josée graduated from the E.S.MOD School of Fashion in Paris and was the winner of the public’s favorite prize for her creation at the Salon des Métiers d’Arts de Montréal.
A few hours later, Ms. Proulx had just redesigned the model. The brothers were finally holding something aesthetically beautiful and comfortable while offering a 360-degree support for the head. Their vision became more and more clear. They now had a quality prototype as well as a professional in their team. The momentum was building up.
“After the creation of this last prototype, the project became more and more serious and we knew we were holding something. It was now time to find out who our suppliers would be. The saga began … “,said Simon Dallaire.
Finding a tissue supplier and a memory foam supplier on the other side of the planet is not the simplest task to complete. So they contacted about a hundred different suppliers. Subsequently, they asked for tissue samples from the ten companies that offered the best value for money. They did the same for the memory foam. Following the evaluation of the samples, the brothers were still unable to make an adequate decision. The last option was to go directly to China to visit the various suppliers they had listed. Philippe took the plane in March 2017 to go to Asia. This trip was greatly beneficial for them. They have developed an excellent relationship of trust with their suppliers over the past months. Their new challenge was now to get Ibboo to be known through social media.
During the spring of 2017, the two Dallaire brothers conceived the Ibboo Facebook page. This is a page dedicated to travel fanatics. “Every day, our posts are related to traveling. We want to keep our community informed of the latest news. Every morning we have our quote of the day related to the world of travel.
It’s our little wink of the morning that makes people smile and that grows the flame of adventure that hides in each of us”,said Philippe Dallaire. Soon after, they also launched their Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat and Youtube pages. These platforms allow them to increase their visibility daily.
During the year 2018, the company has grown rapidly. Indeed, the two young founders participated in various trade fairs, including SXSW in Texas and The World Travel Market in London. Last summer, they participated in the TV show Dragons’ Den, French version, and got a deal with Madame Christiane Germain of the Groupe Germain Hôtels.
During this past year, they won various competitions, including the Prix Lauréat Local Mauricie of the Osentreprendre contest. Ibboo was also selected among the 10 Canadian companies to be part of the 2018-2019 cohort of Futurpeneur Canada. In addition, Philippe has been chosen to represent Canada in Fukuoka, Japan from May 14 to 18, 2019 as part of the annual G20 YEA meeting.
Ibboo products are now available in over 20 distribution points across Canada and the United-States including Amazon, Best Buy and all CAA-Quebec stores. For a complete list of distributors, click here: https://ibboo4u.com/en/distributors/
Over the next few years, the company wants to make its products available across the continent by creating different distribution partnerships. The idea is to make Ibboo the new standard of portable pillows in 10 years from now”, said Philippe Dallaire.
Get your Ibboo now: https://ibboo4u.com. See you in the dream zone.💤
Stay informed on the latest news by following us on social media @ibboo4u. Thank you and welcome to the Ibboo family. This is just the beginning!