Alan Kaufman: Nubrella Founder, Liar, and Con Artist
The author of this story has chosen to hide their identity. However, this is a true story based on real events.
Today you’re going to read an incredible story. A story of lies and deception. A story about a wannabe entrepreneur by the name of Alan Kaufman. This guy:
Mr. Kaufman is the inventor of the wacky (and flat out wack) hands-free Nubrella. If you don’t know what Nubrella is, it’s basically a backpack umbrella that you wear. The purpose of this product? To give you two free hands instead of one when it’s raining.
Before we dive into this juicy story, I’m sure you want to know who I am. I mean, how do I know so much about Alan and his lies? What proof do I have? Let’s start with this: in 2020, I had the (opportunity???) to work with Alan Kaufman to design a new website for his product.
Here is a screenshot of an email after our initial conversation:
Long story short, Alan Kaufman cheated me out of half the amount of money he owed me to build his new website. That’s right, Mr. Kaufman, founder of the Nubrella, scammed his web developer. He paid half up front, but then vanished after the project was finished. To top it off, he’s changed the website around so much, that it doesn’t even look like what I built. It looks horrible now!
However, after being cheated, I thought to myself, perhaps I’m not the only one? Maybe there are other people out there who have been cheated by Alan Kaufman… and so I began to search. What I found was unnerving and disturbing. Countless people complaining about Alan Kaufman and his Nubrella. Countless people scammed and cheated down the years. If only I had known who Alan Kaufman really was before I began working with him…
And so the story begins.
Our initial phone conversation lasted nearly 2 hours. Sounds like a productive conversation, right? Wrong. Perhaps 15 minutes of that conversation was about the actual website. The rest of the phone call was spent listening to Alan blabber about how “great” and “revolutionary” his product is. How I should feel honored and privileged to be apart of something this extraordinary. Yes, he literally said that to me.
Alan even went as far as to quote Steve Jobs when he said:
“How does somebody know what they want if they’ve never even seen it before?”
And then proceeded to say about Nubrella:
“We couldn’t agree more. Up to now, no one has ever even thought of or imagined a ‘hands-free’ umbrella.”
My response? “If your product is so extraordinary, why hasn’t it taken off yet after 15 years?”… no, that’s not what I said to him. It’s what I said to myself in my head.
During the almost 2 hour conversation, I listened to Mr. Kaufman ramble on. He revealed a lot of information to me. For example, he planned to rebrand his product, Nubrella, to be called Canope. Why? Because Nubrella has so much bad press, that investors don’t even want to look his way.
Alan mentioned how he is basically broke, and that he’s having to draw from his own money (I assume credit cards and loans) just to keep his product alive. I assume he paid me with a credit card as well, which became maxed out, thus the reason he vanished.
Alan also mentioned that he wanted to put somewhere on his new website that the Nubrella prevents skin cancer? He has zero research to back those claims but still insisted on putting it on the website to trick people who work in the sun into buying his product.
Nubrella Shark Tank Update
Alan and the Nubrella appeared on Shark Tank back in 2010. None of the Sharks invested. In fact, Alan Kaufman made it on the national news with his product because of his Shark Tank appearance. The result? The product was so ridiculous, that the press Nubrella did receive was all press making fun of the product. I mean, look at it:
Alan, being the con-artist that he is, decided to try and sue Shark Tank… TWICE. He failed in both attempts. The first time Kaufman sued the show’s producers and was so desperate for money that he accepted a $20,000 settlement from Sony.
That was back in 2010. Ten years later, Alan is still broke and is betting on his broken product. In fact, Alan is so broke, that he has begun cheating customers and partners.
Alan Kaufman the scammer, the failed entrepreneur, the con artist
But why did Nubrella get so much bad press? Surely, Alan is an upright guy, and his “revolutionary” product is actually bound to take off soon, right?
Wrong. You see, Alan Kaufman is not upright, and his product is a complete disaster. In fact, did you know that the Nubrella is close to 15 years old? And Alan hasn’t even earned seven figures in sales yet.
This has caused him to start cheating those around him, including me. But let’s look at other people, such as customers, for who Alan has cheated.
For example, take this Kickstarter campaign from back in 2013. Alan got 86 pledgers to pledge over $10,000 to redesign the Nubrella. Did he ever execute? Let’s take a look at what some of the pledgers had to say about it:
There are hundreds of these comments. Hundreds. So he stole over $10,000 from Kickstarter pledgers. Did Alan Kaufman strike anywhere else? Yes!
He attempted to raise yet another $2,500 on Indiegogo here, and then tried again for $10,000 on Indiegogo here. He managed to scam a total of $1,329 from both those campaigns, leaving innocent pledgers with no product and their money stolen.
After pledgers on Indiegogo began to complain, Alan decided to delete all the comments and only leave the one good comment (which he probably paid to have someone leave). There were a couple of somewhat negative comments that were left on one of the campaigns:
So, who else has Alan Kaufman defrauded?
Here’s a review from Nubrella’s Facebook profile, read the customer’s complaint, then read Alan’s (not so) professional response:
Or how about this. An entire Facebook page created to try and expose Alan Kaufman cheating people out of their hard-earned money:
And these complaints from the Better Business Bureaus official website:
And how could we forget the negative Amazon.com reviews?
And this is just barely scratching the surface. Who knows who else Alan Kaufman has scammed and cheated. How many people like me out there have been cheated by Alan Kaufman but are remaining silent? I’m sure hundreds.
Is Nubrella even an original idea?
Not quite. Before you believe Alan’s lies about his Nubrella product being original, how about you first take a look at the patented Undershield roof jacket.
Here’s the Nubrella with its current “modern” design:
And here is the original patented Undersheild roof jacket.
Ever heard of that product? Likely not. Because even that product failed. The difference? The original inventor actually realized a lot sooner than Alan Kaufman did that his product was simply a stupid idea. And so he is currently selling his patent.
Alan Kaufman on the other hand has convinced himself that his product is so amazing, that one day someone will realize it and share it with the world. The problem? That’s already happened once when he was featured in multiple national news outlets including ABC back in 2008. But they all made fun of the product, and for good reason, it’s absurd.
Should Alan Kaufman be arrested and prosecuted?
Yes, we all wish. However, the laws are not that simple.
Alan has managed to find loopholes and ways to manipulate the system in his favor. For example, when he scammed hundreds of pledgers on both Indiegogo and Kickstarter—both those platforms have inherent risks.
If you pledge to support a campaign, there is no money-back guarantee. It’s all in the terms and conditions. Alan knows this, and my guess is that it was his plan all along to use that to his advantage.
However, I’m sure somehow, somewhere this is a case against Alan. I guess if enough people got together and hired a smart law firm, there could be a real class action lawsuit case again this phony.
Is Nubrella legit?
Yes, Nubrella is a legit company that sells a hands-free umbrella, but Nubrella should not be trusted. You see, the real question is: is Nubrella worth it? Is Nubrella any good? And the answer to those questions is no.
During my time working with Alan Kaufman, I got to work with a lot of his marketing materials. These included videos and images. One of the videos he gave to me to work with was b-roll of a guy walking in the rain wearing a Nubrella.
The video footage actually looked great. It was shot in slow-motion and even had some drone shots. The problem? If you look closely at the video, you’ll notice the guy’s shoulders are SOAKED. I mean completely drenched with rainwater.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, it’s raining, shouldn’t he be wet? No, he was wearing a Nubrella which Alan Kaufman claims will keep you dry. We ended up not using that video because it revealed that the product doesn’t actually work. And who will buy a product that doesn’t work properly? No one of course.
Just take a look at these Amazon.com reviews from real customers complaining about the Nubrella NOT keeping them dry.
Alan even went as far as to claim that Nubrella will prevent skin cancer. What research has he done to back this claim? Will he actually want to lie to his customers and potentially put people’s lives at risk? For Alan Kaufman, the answer is yes. For the sake of a quick buck, he will tell people that Nubrella prevents skin cancer, even though it likely doesn’t.
Should you trust Alan Kaufman?
The answer is a definitive no. Alan Kaufman is a low-life con artist. Someone who manipulates people takes advantage of them and believes too highly in his failed product.
The Nubrella is a scam. So much so that Alan has to try and rebrand it just to trick people into thinking it's actually something new.
Trust Alan Kaufman? I’d rather trust the devil. But wait, maybe Alan Kaufman is the devil…
Thank you for reading my story. If you are reading this and are wary of Alan Kaufman and his Nubrella, let this true story be a warning to you. Avoid Alan Kaufman. And avoid buying the Nubrella, a cheap product that doesn’t even keep you dry in the rain.
Best, The Whistleblower
