Sam Zaidspiner, Slingshot's founder, was a lead design engineer involved in the development of NCR's revolutionary "Drop and Load" printer. NCR's goals included merging a receipt printer with a MICR check reader, a revolutionary concept at the time. The company also wanted to make the quietest point-of-sale receipt printer available while making the process of loading paper simpler than ever before.

The resulting product design was groundbreaking in its acoustic performance and simple 'Drop and Load' approach to paper handling. The acoustic breakthrough can be largely attributed to Sam's innovations in a systems approach to acoustic analysis, motor subassembly, platen assembly, and acceleration profiling. The changes both reduced operating noise, and saved in assembly costs.