Design and Development by 
© 2009 Spongeshoe
Raymond J. Puzio, the brain behind the Spongeshoe™, a fun new way to share your messages, came up with the idea for this brilliant little item while finishing up his EMBA program at the University of Southern California. An entrepreneurship classroom theme got his wheels turning. He was supposed to apply his entrepreneurial spirit to a feasibility analysis of feeling pain and how we can release it in positive ways. He was to find a solution to this problem and funnel it through to a product people can use to diffuse and process that pain in an effective, non-violent way. The result? Spongeshoe™!
Coincidence also played into the creation of Spongeshoe™ and the accompanying Boot You! IPhone application that allows users to say “BOOT YOU!” to other people. As Puzio watched President Bush dodge a shoe thrown by a Middle Eastern journalist, an idea came to him. While it is acceptable in the Middle East to throw shoes as an insult or make a statement, it isn’t in the U.S., especially not at top political figureheads! But what if we were to come up with a way in which to do it safely and to make a statement, thereby practicing our free will and right to free speech? Viola! The idea for the Spongeshoe™ was born.
Puzio started thinking. The shoe could be made of a light spongy material and there could be a place on the bottom where we could write our messages, good and bad. Now, that’s an idea that could pack a punch and give people a lot of smiles! So, that’s just what Puzio did. He developed the Spongeshoe™, a cool new way of expressing feelings that has mass appeal.
Through his Spongeshoe™, Puzio gives us a way to “throw our message” in a socially acceptable manner, whether in a social, political, sports, entertainment or personal platform, we can say “BOOT YOU!” to people we don’t like or “throw” a message of encouragement to friends who might need a little kick in the butt to get moving. There is no end to the way the Spongeshoe™ can be used to spread a message. It’s a sticky marketing ploy, because everyone can identify with the idea behind throwing the shoe, and it can be applied by every age group and demographic.
In the virtual world, the Boot You! IPhone application was developed as a natural extension to the Spongeshoe™ ideal. People love to play games and they love their iPhones, so Puzio decided iPhone was the way to go to let players virtually say “BOOT YOU!” to other individuals. Puzio gives us a little head start by giving us a few specific targets from the public domain in the political and entertainment arenas. What we do from there is up to our imaginations and address books! Puzio says it’s a peaceful, creative way to achieve social change. It’s sure to be a hit with gamers and anyone with an iPhone who would like to see a little change in this world.
Puzio was born in Brooklyn in 1951. He runs his own general contractor business in Orange County, Calif., which he plans to continue, no matter what, because he loves the industry. However, there is more to Puzio than meets the eye. His education is diverse. He attended Taylor Business Institute at the age of 18, and then New York City College, where he earned a degree in early childhood education. Later, he earned his business degree in leadership from Concordia University in California and went on to earn his EMBA from USC in 2009. He was 58 when he graduated.
When asked why he went back to school so late in the game, Puzio says that no one should let age stop them from doing something they want to do. He wanted to have the real university experience and gain more business knowledge, so he could run his company more efficiently, with greater creativity and innovation. Puzio adds that if he hadn’t gone back to school he might never have come up with the idea for Spongeshoe™ and the Boot You! IPhone application.
Puzio has one more important goal to achieve. He wants to open a non-profit business to provide education and mentoring programs to those who would not normally have a chance to participate in such life-altering experiences. He believes in entrepreneurship, and wants to see more people setting up businesses and running them productively.
Puzio lives in Orange County with his wife. He has two grown children and one granddaughter on whom he dotes.
© 2009 Spongeshoe