180: Hardware Startup Tips for Non-Technical Founders

Greame Whitehead is a client of our very own Mako Design who invented the CNCT Cooler, an ultra high-end cooler that has won 3 international product awards including Indigogo, CreativePool and the NY Product Design Awards. He is a corporate Vice President that invented, designed, manufactured, and sold his product as a side-gig, still to today.  Today Graeme is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on how to design a quality consumer product, tips for getting to manufacturing and working with manufacturers, and how to leverage influencers to gain early product exposure and traction in the marketplace for your invention idea.

Today you will hear us talk about:

Identify what you don’t know.

Focus on quality

Know that you are a customer yourself

Ask the right questions from your design team

Manufacturing is a key stakeholder as we get into production

Manufacturers push back because they don’t want to do things.

Talk to multiple different manufacturers

Focus on getting to production

Multiple awards

Manufacturing in the USA

Leveraging influencers

Shipped product for free to influencers and got free coverage

EPISODE LINKS:

Graeme Whitehead Links:

LinkedIn | CNCT Coolers

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

https://www.ProductStartup.com/

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:

https://www.makodesign.com/

YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:

Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.