A Slice on Eduardo Del Rio, Founder of Spraycare Band
In the wake of COVID-19, everyone naturally started to air on the side of caution when it came to sanitizing and disinfecting everything. Eduardo Del Rio was not exempt from this, and it was when he was in a restaurant that he noticed how many contaminated surfaces he touched throughout a normal day. Thinking about how just a few drops of hand sanitizer could keep him safe from the virus, Del Rio got to work and started brainstorming how he could create a product for consumers to have easy access to hand sanitizer. After many iterations, Del Rio created Spraycare Band. Spraycare Band is a lightweight wristband atomizer that dispenses a disinfectant at the touch of a button.
Del Rio came to the United States from Mexico City to study English at Brigham Young University. After switching his major to Computer Science, he started his career as a software engineer before making the transition to become an entrepreneur. “Of course, I was always trying different things before going full-time into this adventure, but I decided that I didn’t want to work for a company anymore, and I wanted to have my own company.” As an engineer, Del Rio didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the technology that’s present in our world today.
Going further than the resources available in the United States, Del Rio made connections internationally, in China and Mexico. He built relationships with Chinese manufacturers and even traveled to work with them from time to time. After teaming up with his partner, Harris Taylor, they were inspired by Spiderman’s ability to create webs from his wrist. Knowing that lightweight convenience was a priority, they got to work on the prototype for the wristband disinfectant. “We started creating the design and I started talking to the manufacturers in China about prices and everything… I even went down to Mexico because at one point there was also a tech manufacturer there. I talked to them about the costs of producing this band.”
After producing the first successful prototype of Spraycare Band, Del Rio launched a campaign with Kickstarter. This helped Del Rio and his team get publicity for the new wristband, but some consumers had some mixed feelings. “We launched a campaign on social media, and we got a lot of feedback from people with cool comments. We also got some bad comments telling us that we were ‘building a weapon’, basically saying we could kill people with this wristband.” Understanding the deeper responsibility Del Rio held, he took a step back to take all appropriate steps to pass certifications and testings.
Del Rio made adjustments so he could get his product on the market the right way, and learned that even though it won’t always be easy, it will be worth it.
For Del Rio, it’s important to always listen to consumers and it’s rewarding to hear that people are interested in the product you’re building.
After passing the certification and testing phase, Del Rio received positive feedback from consumers. Now, he can’t help but look ahead to the future. Besides looking to start fundraising, he hopes his product will be a staple to frontline workers in the medical field. Additional advancements including thermometers will come with the future of Spraycare Band, along with changes geared towards consumer goods. With the current technology of the wristband, Del Rio noted that it could also be used as a diffuser for essential oils.
Del Rio is committed to providing consumers with an easy-to-use disinfectant product, and will continue to put his customers’ best interests first. “Our first goal is, of course, make them [customers] happy, make our product work and improve our product so they can be happy and satisfied.” He truly loves the positive feedback he’s received from all over the world and doesn’t take his responsibility to consumers lightly.
Founder Bio
Eduardo Del Rio is an alumni of Brigham Young University, with a background in software engineering. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Del Rio launched Spraycare Band in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
