Product Startup

Don Skaggs founded the manufacturer US Biotex Corporation, which he started on a farm back in 1991 and grew to over 150 products in production over 22 years before being bought out. Don has also been the President of the Inventors Network Kentucky for nearly 20 years now. Today Don is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can start their own manufacturing facility locally for their invention idea, then how to grow and scale, and what benefits there are for taking this production path.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• See if customers would buy samples, and learn from them.
• Bootstrap to find out what works.
• Start with a small batch so that you can test the market.
• It’s easier to manufacture locally than you think, just start with a basic part of the manufacturing process.
• Design using as many Original Equipment Manufactured parts as possible.
• As you scale production, there are a number of benefits from running your own manufacturing operation.
• Your own manufacturing gives you a lot of solutions.
• Find an innovation where it’s common in one industry, but not discovered in another.
• Stay close to R&D and close to marketing and sales, so that you can put the two together.
• Time, money, and wisdom.
• Learn from your mistakes, and from your customers.
• When you’re small, you can connect marketing, sales, R&D, and production.
• Find the intersection of what you are passionate about, and what you are good at.

EPISODE LINKS

Don Skaggs / KY Inventors Network Links:

• Website: https://www.kyinventors.org/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donskaggs/details/experience/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EmpoweredInventing

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Mike Deigan is Vice President at Global Link Sourcing. He has been working for 10 years on sourcing products and consulting on products for 15 years before that. Global Link has helped with manufacturing well over 100 products for hardware companies, leading to tens of millions of their sourced products selling around the world. Today Mike is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand how to prepare your product’s development to get it ready to present to overseas manufacturing partners and the pros and cons of sourcing through an agency and sourcing direct with manufacturers in China and elsewhere.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Preparing your product to work with overseas manufacturing
• Concept design vs design for manufacturing
• A design that you can truly use to go to production with
• Going direct vs through a sourcing company
• Logistics, time, finding a real factory, financial benefits
• The problems with finding a manufacturing partner through Alibaba or similar
• Rectifying issues with a manufacturer.

EPISODE LINKS

Mike Deigan / Global Link Sourcing Links:

• Website: https://www.globallinksourcing.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-deigan-25b02918/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Scott Brogan is the founder of Company Expert, a sales process consultancy that has worked with over 100 emerging brands. He has spent over 30 years in sales, including working for 7 Fortune500 companies in sales capacities. Today Scott is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can start to build a process around identifying partner companies to sell to, preparing how to give your pitch, and how to improve your sales process over time to rinse and repeat.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• How do you start selling a first product to
• A system and a process for sales
• Sales is solving problems for your end-customer
• Leveraged sales partner play
• Start with a goal
• Figure out who specifically you want to call, then how to position yourself to that buyer.
• Write down your sales process and strategy
• Competitors are, distribution, strengths, weaknesses, threats
• Who within a prospective buyer company should you be calling
• What are the buyer’s pain points and opportunities
• 7 people are usually involved in a purchasing process
• The multiple stages of competency in sales
• Start the sales process by learning at the beginning
• Feedback loop in sales.
• Always write down objections that are asked, and how you respond.
• Enthusiasm is powerful and can help you overcome mistakes as a new seller
• Have the personal story of why you made this product ready
• Bringing the science into sales.
• The sales industry is not mature, there are lots of improvements you can capitalize on.

EPISODE LINKS

Scott Brogan / Company Expert Links:

• Website: https://companyexpert.com/
• Tools: https://companyexpert.com/product-sales/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottpbrogan/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Nigel Southway is the author of two books, the most recent is called Take Back Manufacturing, and his original was called Lean Manufacturing. He has spent 55 years in the manufacturing space. He was the chair of a chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, which I was also a part of starting over 10 years ago. Today Nigel en is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can decide between offshore and onshore manufacturing, what the pros and cons are for each choice, explain short-run manufacturing for new products, and how we can bring back manufacturing to local communities.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Look at local vs offshore carefully
• Run the numbers of manufacturing
• Benefits of on-shore manufacturing
• Technology that is enabling local manufacturing for new physical products
• Short run manufacturing
• Take back manufacturing: Political, Educational, and Technology
• The difference, on average, is only about 10%

EPISODE LINKS

Nigel Southway / Take Back Manufacturing Links:

• Website: https://nigelsouthwayauthor.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelsouthway/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Marc Inkol is the President of Explorer Research, a North American shopper research consulting firm that works with emerging physical product brands and massive product companies like Walmart, Kraft, Google, Pepsi, Uniliver, and many others. Mark has spent 30 years in the retail industry including leading divisions at Kraft and Maple Leaf. Today Marc is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can develop and position your product for big success at retail stores, how to captivate buyers while on the shelf, and how to scale your brand via retail stores.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Consumers have the power now
• A consumer buys 200 to 300 products out of a food store per year
• You have to be very clear on what your selling proposition is.
• Products should be both unique and meaningful
• Features are not primary
• Simple design is better
• 15% of a shelf is viewed, package is seen for only 2 seconds
• 5 or 6 words max is what they see
• Constantly innovate on fewer than broader and more
• Packaging, supply chain,
• You only can say three things on your packaging: Who you are, what you sell, and why better
• Color, Shape, and Size for packaging.
• How do you engage people in the product.
• 10-15 seconds once they have actually picked up your product
• Clear seller proposition

EPISODE LINKS

Marc Inkol / Explorer Research Links:

• Website: https://explorerresearch.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-inkol-4944723/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Stew Redwine is Vice President Creative Services at Oxford Road, one of the leading audio advertising agencies in the world. They ran the ads behind unicorn physical product success stories such as Quip Toothbrushes, Theragun, Tommy John, and many more. Today Stew is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what audio platforms are out there to advertise your product on, how to get started in the audio advertising space for hardware products, and how to make a great audio ad to make your product invention the next big success.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• What are audio ads for hardware products?
• The different platforms for audio: Podcasts, radio, XM radio
• Crisp, clear, and clever messaging
• Self serve audio advertising programs (Gumball and Podcorn)
• True Native Media for a more concierge service
• The key things to have in an audio ad
• A person is not fully convinced until they can feelthe product has been demonstrated
• 9 key things for a highly successful audio ad for a new physical product invention
• You don’t have to stress about being perfectly clever.
• 180 word max for a 60 second ad.
• Most podcast consumption happens around the episode drop.

EPISODE LINKS

Stew Redwine / Oxford Road Links:

• WhitePaper: https://soundsprofitable.com/update/copywriting-ads-that-sell
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewredwine/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Matt Selbie is the President of Opiniator, a software platform that collects real-time feedback from product customers. He has spent over 25 years researching, strategizing, and implementing customer feedback programs. Today Matt is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should properly collect customer feedback, when to do it, how to do it, and the importance of it, along with breaking down clear actionable steps you can use for maximizing the right kind of feedback at your product launch.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Companies don’t consider feedback in their corporate strategy for their physical hardware products
• Ask the right people.
• Ask as close to the experience as you possibly can.
• Ask the right product feedback questions, figure out exactly what you specifically want to find out.
• The fallacies in customer feedback.
• Breaking down the feedback into clear actionable questions.
• It is better to focus on clearly data-driven answers rather than general intent open-ended questions.
• Ask two questions about one feature on your product. Vulnerability analysis.
• Think about feedback not just for product development, but also for how to sell.
• Feature creep without consulting customers
• Hardware product feedback at a product launch
• Give the respondents the eventual data
• Qualify the respondents.
• Make the feedback 2 minutes or less.
• Retail store camouflage of your product
• The one thing to make someone consider buying

EPISODE LINKS

Matt Selbie / Opiniator Links:

• Website: https://opiniator.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewselbie/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Jem Bourouh is a Partner at Accelerated, one of Europe’s leading direct-to-consumer e-commerce advertising agencies. Jem has won many awards, and has had 7 products hit 7 figures in sales in just the first 30 days of their campaigns. Today Jem is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the different types of Google advertising for a new hardware product, the structure and tools needed to launch your first campaign, and tips for maximizing the success and growth of your Google ads campaigns to sell directly to end customers.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• The many types of Google ads channels
• How can people sell things via Google ads
• Transactional campaign
• Navigational campaign
• Informational campaign
• Why Google Ads
• Start with keyword recommendations
• What do you need to sell on Google Ads
• Google Quality Score for hardware products
• Landing Page Experience
• Expected Click-Through Rate
• Ad rank for your ad
• Top of funnel, middle of funnel, bottom of funnel
• What are some trends happening today with Google adwords for physical hardware products
• Once you figure out these tools, you have a huge competitive advantage.
• Start with a low budget, experiment, and continue refining.

EPISODE LINKS

Jem Bourouh / Accelerated Agency Links:

• Website: https://www.acceleratedagency.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jem-bourouh/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Jake Schmidt has sold over five hundred million dollars in products online for customers. He is the CEO of Structured Agency, a digital marketing firm that specializes in performance marketing for hardware brands direct to consumer. In his early years, he was the online sales guy behind the fidget spinner, which they ended up leveraging to then get into major retailers like Best Buy. Today Jake is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand the different strategies to marketing online, what platforms are most successful and how that is changing, and how to spin up simple at-home ads that convert into real customers for your new physical product.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Performance marketing agency, which is driving revenue for your brand.
• Paid Media
• Push vs Pull marketing
• Retention marketing: Email and SMS Marketing
• Community building: Content Marketing
• It all starts with a quality product
• Social media likes unique content, meaning new invention ideas are promoted much heavier.
• TikTok is similar to what Instagram was 5 years ago
• Repurpose your content to amplify the digital creative work you are doing.
• Show the value proposition within 2 seconds
• Keep the product simple, so that you can sell it extremely quickly
• Authentic video ads are easy to shoot, and the market loves them right now, and that opportunity may not last.
• Consider coupon websites, affiliate selling programs, etc.

EPISODE LINKS

Jake Schmidt / Structured Agency Links:

• Website: https://www.structured.agency/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-schmidt-a495b513b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamjakeschmidt

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

Bill Dickinson has spent over 35 years selling business to business, building sales teams, and working with CEOs on optimizing their sales processes for many hardware suppliers. From building access machines to communication equipment to IT components, Bill has helped build a number of companies to multi-millions in new sales. Today Bill is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should apply sales to getting your product going, start with your first sales hire or sales partner, and scale your product business through sales teams, especially when selling to other business like retailers, distributors, and wholesalers.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Sales is critical to any hardware start-up or scale-up, from selling yourself, selling the business, selling
• Hiring for personality is better than hiring for product or industry knowledge
• What type of product are you selling
• What methods are you going to use to sell
• Sellers need a quality product, at a fair price, that has great service and/or support.
• Before you start selling, first ensure you have a need.
• Timing, luck, and skill, in that order, when doing cold calling.
• Make sure you have a product that is at least a little bit different, and unique.
• Spend time and effort finding detailed lists.
• Relationship selling. Build credibility and trust early, and in a small way.
• If you can make the purchaser’s life simpler, they will buy a lot more, and more new products
• 3 sales streams - Straight sales, existing customer sales, and business development
• Some new, existing, and future.
• More connections to a buyer, the higher the probability of an eventual sale.

EPISODE LINKS

Bill Dickinson Link:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-dickinson-31678a67/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@productstartup

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/