CleanTrek Newsletter - April 11, 2025

Dear Subscriber First Name,

CleanTrek has lots of news to share from this year! Below is a brief summary:

1. CleanTrek’s Kickstarter pre-launch page is now active!

2. CleanTrek plans to launch its Kickstarter on Earth Day, April 22nd, and we need your help spreading the word!

3. An interview with a popular hiking YouTuber brings in 900 new potential customers!

4. CleanTrek makes it to the San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC) quarterfinals!

5. PCT application enables patent-pending status through August, 2026.

1. Kickstarter Pre-launch

The Kickstarter pre-launch page is finally active! If you haven’t already done so, please make a Kickstarter account so you can follow CleanTrek’s campaign, which you can do by clicking the “Notify me on launch” button. I want to get as many campaign followers as possible to make it really stand out!

Along with the pre-launch, I’ve got a slick new video for you to watch! It includes the latest and greatest design, which has new features too. You can watch it from the pre-launch page, my website, or from YouTube directly.

2. Kickstarter Launch Date

I’m aiming to launch the Kickstarter on Earth Day, April 22. This is an ambitious goal, so to make it happen, I really need your help in spreading the word to find more potential customers! Remember, this project is run only by me, which means I don’t have a marketing team to do this for me. BUT I do have a strong following (you) who can maybe help me out. So, here’s my favor to ask:

1. Between now and Earth Day, please share our website, Kickstarter page, etc. with at least 5 people (friends, family, etc.) who you think would be interested in CleanTrek’s litter cleanup tools.

2. If you have time, please help me by spreading the word across the internet. This includes Facebook groups, subreddits, Discord, hiking forums, etc. Before posting to a group, please check the community guidelines to make sure you’re following them. I’ve uploaded some content to this Google Drive Folder, which contains official CleanTrek photos, videos, and GIFs for you to include in your posts. If you do post on Reddit, you can mention the r/CleanTrek subreddit.

3. Follow CleanTrek on social media, and when you see a post, please help by liking, commenting, and sharing! CleanTrek’s social links can be found on the main website.

At the end of the day, even if you just find one more person to back this Kickstarter, it’ll make a huge difference to me!

3. Hiking Guy YouTube Interview

A few months back, Cris Hazzard (a.k.a. Hiking Guy) reached out asking to do an interview with me to help reach a wider audience. Cris really believes in CleanTrek’s mission has offered to help in any way he can.

On February 26th, I met Cris at a trailhead up a place called Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park to do an interview, which was then posted on March 14th. You can watch the interview by clicking the button below:

Cris’s video brought in about 940 email signups in just a few weeks, bringing us up to over 1,100 potential customers! Woohoo!

4. The San Diego Angel Conference

Earlier this year, I took a free entrepreneurship class through The Brink SBDC, which is a San Diego resource that provides free business advising and training. Through this class, I wrote my business plan and crafted my business pitch.

The most exciting part of all this is that I was talked into applying to the San Diego Angel Conference. Of 125 applicants, CleanTrek was selected as one of the 29 companies to move on to the quarterfinals! This meant giving my 3-minute pitch to about 50 investors on Tuesday, April 1st, which went really well! If I was smart, I would’ve had someone take a picture for me while I presented so I could share it with you all. Instead, here’s a link to an article about it.

Unfortunately, CleanTrek was not selected to move on to the semifinals, but I did make some new fans along the way! I’ll learn more about the decision in the coming days, but I suspect that most investors wanted to see some actual sales before investing in the business. The good news is that I’ve met several investors who resonate with CleanTrek’s mission and products, so there are still opportunities to get investors on board!

To be honest, I don’t even know if investors are the route I want to go. My plan is to start with the Kickstarter and see how it goes! However, I’m not opposed to taking an extra financial boost if that’s what it takes to get this project off the ground. With enough money, I could get the manufacturing to be much more cost-effective and scalable, meaning better affordability and availability for everyone.

5. Patent Updates

Working with a pro bono patent attorney, I submitted a PCT application this past February! This extends my patent-pending status by another 18 months, giving me until August, 2026 to file patent applications in just about any country. Currently, I’m planning to apply for utility patents in the US, Canada, and the EU.

Another exciting part about this is that within the next few months, I should be receiving an International Search Report, which will tell me which aspects of my inventions are deemed patentable.

In conclusion…

It’s been a crazy year so far, but CleanTrek is making great progress! If you watched our latest video, you might’ve even noticed some design improvements!

Launching this business has been a real challenge, but what keeps me going is seeing all the positive comments and feedback from you all. I’m very excited for this Kickstarter to launch, and I appreciate any help you can offer to make it as successful as possible!

Thank you,

John McShane
Inventor and Founder of CleanTrek
clean-trek.com