Company History
BKFK™

Founder and CEO Norm Goldstein based the company on the premise that young people have never been given the opportunity to be innovative and commercial.

Norm saw this first hand when daughter Cassidy over a period of days turned a plastic holder for roses into a simple device to hold the small or broken end of crayons. This useful product resulted in a United States patent being issued for Cassidy’s invention – The Crayon Holder – at 14 years of age.

From this experience Norm set about researching the topic of young inventors and came up with a large list – people like 14 year old inventor of the television Philo Farnsworth or Abbey Fleck, aged 8 when she thought up the Makin’ Bacon holder. In fact, Norm links the relationship to young people and inventing to the way women were treated half a century ago. For example the story of Patsy Sherman whose invention of water repellent (Scotchguard) was almost ignored because of her gender – “let the men take it from here,” she was told in the 1950s at company 3M.

Norm realized this treatment of women in the past was now happening to kids. He then resolved to set up a company for young innovators to take their great ideas to the commercial marketplace in a way that had never been done before. He likes to call it the “Entrepreneurial Finishing Line." “There are plenty of competitions and events for kids inventions, but not an organized and commercial approach to researching, developing and marketing a kid’s raw invention idea.” says Norm.

As such the BKFK ™ company was born.

Read More About Us and Our Awards

About Us

Our Mission Statement is to inspire, stimulate, and motivate teens while they earn significant self-worth, personal recognition and financial gain, using their imagination and creative expression. The company is committed to becoming the world's leading enterprise that connects teens with industry under the BKFK umbrella. The BKFK Company recognizes the ingenuity and creativity that young people possess. We know that while teens have great ideas, they often have no place to take them. We provide the support needed for teens to create great ideas and inventions for other teens to use. We will even help bring the best ideas into the marketplace! True to our name, all products are invented BY and FOR young people.

Have you ever had a great idea but didn’t know where to go with it? Have you ever wondered if someone already thought of your idea? And, if they did, how would you know? This is where we can help.

There is no charge to youth, parent, or teachers for any of our services. Access to idea development on the web site, idea submission, contest participation, and any resulting further work we do with our members are all free.

BKFK also recognizes the valuable role that parents, teachers, and mentors have in helping teens realize their potential. Your encouragement and support are important ingredients in their creative process and success. As such, BKFK provides support for you as well. We encourage you to register, free of charge, so that we can continue to update you on new resources, competitions, and events that relate to your interests.

Awards

With teachers and administrators  using our program in 30 countries, our work has been recognized by global organizations, Fortune 100 companies, and the United States Government.

BKFK.com was voted as one of the Top 100 Educational Websites of 2007 at Homeschool.com.  BKFK's Norm Goldstein Received the 2006 ET 3 Education Technology Think Tank TEC Champion Leadership Award during Congressional Black Caucus. BKFK was honored with Congressional Award For Empowering Youth through Exemplary Public-Private Partnership. We have received Congressional Recognition via the 2005 ET3 TEC Championship Award.

CEO Norm Goldstein has been named a Purpose Prize fellow. The Purpose Prize is an award for exceptional individuals who are defying expectations by channeling their creativity and talent to address critical social problems at the local, regional, or national level. Cassidy Goldstein, a BKFK Inventor, was named Youth Inventor of the Year by Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation.

BKFK, Xerox have been awarded The Connecticut Economic Development Association and the Connecticut Economic Resource Center's "Eddy" Award for developing "Inventive Thinking" programs for Connecticut children. Each year the "Eddy" goes to outstanding economic development professionals, companies, projects and programs that exemplify the Team Connecticut spirit and positively impact the Connecticut economy.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency dedicated to ensuring the recognition and protection of the rights of inventors and authors worldwide, lists only 6 web sites including M.I.T. as online sources for information on inventive thinking. BKFK is one of those sites.