The short version
One meeting did not make the vision smaller. It made the answer sharper: State of Stick, Co. is building a more trustworthy relationship between physical products and the people, companies, and systems that depend on them.
Today, I met with Clay Phillips, Mobility Technology Lead at the Michigan Small Business Development Center.
I went into the meeting hoping to have a meaningful conversation about State of Stick, Co.—what we are building, the problems it can solve, and where it might fit within Michigan’s technology, manufacturing, automotive, mobility, and defense ecosystems.
The meeting was less productive than I had hoped.
Clay suggested that I may want to speak with Michigan APEX if I am serious about pursuing defense-related work. That may ultimately be a useful direction, and I intend to explore it.
Beyond that, however, I did not leave with much. He did not seem to view State of Stick as an automotive or mobility product. I also left with the impression that he did not see it as a strong fit for the technology side of the organization.
That surprised me.
State of Stick is absolutely a technology company.
The physical object may be the entry point, but the system behind it involves digital identity, server-side validation, secure interaction evidence, lifecycle records, controlled digital experiences, analytics, product management, authentication, and software infrastructure.
This is not simply a sticker business. It is not merely a manufacturing business. It is not only a branding service.
It is a technology platform built around the relationship between physical products and managed digital systems.
When I discussed authentication, counterfeit prevention, product identity, and the potential for trusted verification within military-related products or memorabilia—including possible applications involving fraudulent military claims or stolen valor—there was little visible enthusiasm.
The central question seemed to be:
What problem are you actually solving?
My answer is still the same.
State of Stick is building trusted digital identity for physical objects.
That can include authentication, counterfeit deterrence, provenance, lifecycle records, product registration, warranties, ownership transfer, service history, recalls, entitlements, digital content, and controlled product experiences.
The system begins with a physical object and connects it to a managed digital identity that can be evaluated, updated, and governed over time.
That is the problem space. And it is real.
I Have Experienced the Problem Personally
I once purchased a bottle of Juliette Has a Gun perfume that turned out to be fake.
The bottle looked convincing. The packaging looked convincing. The seller appeared legitimate enough for me to spend money on it. Only afterward did I realize that I had not purchased an authentic product.
A system like State of Stick could have changed that experience.
Imagine being able to tap the bottle before purchasing it and receive a response tied directly to the manufacturer or an authorized product program. Imagine being able to determine whether the bottle was recognized, whether its identity was valid, whether the interaction passed verification, or whether the product had already been flagged.
That could have stopped me from wasting my money. It could also have protected the real manufacturer, the retailer, and future customers.
Counterfeit products are not theoretical. They exist in fragrance, cosmetics, luxury goods, replacement parts, electronics, collectibles, food, beverages, medicine, industrial equipment, military memorabilia, and nearly every other market where trust and value are attached to a physical object.
State of Stick does not need to solve every form of counterfeiting immediately to be useful. It needs to make physical products more trustworthy than they are today.
A Large Market Does Not Mean There Is No Market
One challenge I continue to encounter is that State of Stick has applications in many different industries. Some people see that breadth and assume the company lacks focus.
I see a platform.
A bottle of olive oil, a chef collectible, a perfume bottle, an aircraft component, a medical device, a signed piece of sports memorabilia, and a military challenge coin may appear to be completely different products.
But each one can benefit from the same underlying capabilities:
- Persistent physical identity
- Server-controlled verification
- Authentication evidence
- Lifecycle and event history
- Controlled digital experiences
- Product registration
- Provenance
- Warranty or entitlement management
- Ownership transfer
- Recall and service communication
- Customer engagement after the sale
These are not twenty unrelated products. They are potential applications of the same coordinated system.
Having many possible markets does not mean there is no place for State of Stick. It means we have a great deal of work to do. It means we must choose our entry point carefully, focus, test, prove value, and expand intentionally.
That is what I am doing.
Why My Current Focus Is Food
My focus has naturally moved toward food, bottles, chefs, and specialty retail.
That is not because food is the only market for State of Stick. It is because it is the market directly in front of me.
A future host venue could give State of Stick a physical location, a public audience, real products, and an opportunity to show people how connected physical experiences work.
It also led to the development of the Curated Chef Collection concept.
The idea is to create collectible physical pieces connected to chefs, restaurants, recipes, demonstrations, stories, releases, events, or charitable programs. A customer would not simply purchase an object. They would gain access to an evolving digital experience connected to that object.
That experience could include chef videos, recipes, instructions, release information, provenance, event access, or future benefits.
The physical collectible becomes a persistent relationship between the customer, the chef, the retailer, and the product.
That is not a gimmick. It is a new way to think about products after the initial sale.
Food is where I can demonstrate the system now. It is where I can build relationships. It is where I can create something people can see, tap, understand, and experience.
Proving the system in food does not eliminate its use in manufacturing, mobility, healthcare, defense, retail, or collectibles. It gives the company a starting point.
This Is a Technology Company
One of the clearest takeaways from the meeting was that I may need to explain the technology side of State of Stick more directly.
The product begins with a physical interaction, but the real work happens through software.
The platform evaluates evidence. It applies server-side rules. It determines what experience should be delivered. It records lifecycle events. It manages product state. It can distinguish an ordinary link-opening event from a verified physical interaction.
It can support controlled access, authenticity evidence, product history, customer engagement, entitlement, ownership transfer, and post-sale services.
That is technology.
The fact that it touches food, bottles, retail, manufacturing, collectibles, healthcare, mobility, or defense does not make it less technical. It makes the technology applicable.
State of Stick sits at the intersection of software, connected products, authentication, physical manufacturing, data systems, and customer experience.
I do not believe I should be separated from the technology side of the conversation simply because the platform begins with a physical object.
The physical object is the interface. The technology is the system behind it.
We Did Not Get to the Intellectual Property
The meeting ended before we could discuss some of the most important parts of what I am building.
We did not discuss the State of Stick name or trademark strategy. We did not discuss the patent work I am preparing. We did not discuss the system architecture in depth. We did not discuss the difference between opening an ordinary link and evaluating evidence from a physical interaction.
We did not discuss server-side validation, replay detection, lifecycle state, entitlement, controlled routing, or the coordinated methods that make the platform more than a sticker attached to a webpage.
Those are important distinctions.
State of Stick is not claiming to have invented NFC, databases, cryptography, or websites. The value is in how physical identity, interaction evidence, server-authoritative verification, lifecycle management, digital experience delivery, and auditable outcomes are coordinated into a governed system.
That conversation may happen later with Clay. It may happen with Michigan APEX, a patent attorney, manufacturer, retailer, investor, chef, government contractor, or another person who sees the opportunity more clearly.
Either way, the work continues.
Building in Public Means Being Honest
I am building State of Stick in public. That means I will share the progress, the experiments, the failures, the meetings that open doors, and the meetings that go nowhere.
Building in public does not mean attacking everyone who disagrees with me. It means documenting the real journey.
Clay Phillips did not give me the response I hoped for. He did give me one potential direction through Michigan APEX—and another opportunity to sharpen the answer to a question I will undoubtedly hear again:
What problem does State of Stick solve?
It creates a more trustworthy relationship between physical products and the people, companies, and systems that depend on them.
Authentication is part of it. Counterfeit deterrence is part of it. Persistent Retail is part of it. Connected manufacturing is part of it. Lifecycle management is part of it. Customer experience is part of it.
The platform is broad because the trust problem is broad.
I Do Not Need Everyone to Believe Yet
I am not building this company because every person I meet immediately understands it.
I am building it because my own experiences showed me that physical products are often disconnected, unverifiable, disposable, and difficult to trust.
I am building it because I believe physical objects should have a more useful digital life. I am building it because customers deserve better ways to evaluate what they are buying. I am building it because manufacturers and brands deserve better ways to protect, manage, and extend the value of what they create.
Maybe I am early. Maybe parts of the strategy will change. Maybe certain industries will prove more valuable than others.
That is what building is for.
What I will not do is abandon a meaningful idea because one meeting was not enthusiastic.
State of Stick was not created to impress one person across a table. It is being built to solve real problems for real people.
The market will ultimately decide where it fits. My job is to keep building until it has the opportunity to answer.
Go deeper
The retail relationship does not have to end at checkout.
The Persistent Retail white paper explores how connected physical products can keep serving customers, brands, and retailers after the initial sale.