Product Startup

Bob Christopher is the founder of Pleo, a massively successful robot dinosaur kids toy with hundreds of parts. This is one of his many products and product companies over a long and successful history in the product innovation world. He was also the director of innovation at Panasonic, and sits on a number of advisory boards at hardware accelerators. Today Bob is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand what it takes to design and develop complicated mechanical and/or electronic consumer products, with many development lessons he has learned along the way.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Being close with your design and development team
• Engineering for half full, not half empty
• Define what the end experience should be
• Test and refine
• Prove your worth to the manufacturers
• Ensure your different types of designers work together
• Be willing to learn, both the founder, and the designers
• Build and break your prototypes
• Listen to your stakeholders, especially further down the development process before you go to market.
• The journey is part of the fun

EPISODE LINKS

Bob Christopher / Pleo Links:

• Website: https://www.pleoworld.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugobe2/

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/

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics which supports the innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. She has headed up Venture Capital rounds, is a fellow lecturer, TedX speaker, and an XPrize judge. Her office is also just down the hall from our Mako Design California office at CircuitLaunch. Today Andra is going to share some valuable knowledge to help inventors, startups, and small manufacturers understand how robotics is becoming a mainstream part of new electronic mechanical products, the future of the consumer robotics industry, and tips for anyone thinking about a robotic product or even incorporating basic robotics into their new hardware product.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Robotics industry today
• Robotics 2.0
• A lot of hardware development is included in this topic
• Commercialization of robotics
• Robotics founders are slow to commercialize because they spend too much time researching, but then slow to execute
• Three stools of robotics hardware companies going to market
• Funding, product-market fit, manufacturing
• People underestimate the value of spreading hardware to the world
• Hardware is long-lasting, takes a while, but has profound value when done well

EPISODE LINKS

Andra Keay / Silicon Valley Robotics Links:

• Website: https://svrobo.org/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andra-keay/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRT4z1I9fAn8LUgUaOQACA
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobotLaunch

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/

Yohan Jacob is the Founder and President of RetailBound, an agency that helps emerging hardware brands get into major retail stores and sales channels. RetailBound has been around for 14 years and has worked with over 4,000 product companies. Yohan himself has spent 30 years in the industry, including being a major buyer for Sears and Office Max. The last episode we talked about how to get into retail store chains, and today Yohan is going to give best practices on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can scale up their product sales once they land a retailer by building a buyer relationship, enhancing product exposure, reviewing your placements, and more.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Buyers want three main KPIs:
• 1. Drive sales
• 2. Improve profits
• 3. Turn more times in the store
• Three ways to increase sales:
• 1. Marketing / PR / Influencers
• 2. Training
• 3. Ensure the product is on the shelf
• Marketing calendar of the retailers
• Tools the retailers have to help drive sales
• Adding value as you grow
• Push hard for sales in the early days, worry less about cash flow or profit
• How profits grow as you scale your product

EPISODE LINKS

Yohan Jacob / RetailBound Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yohanjacob/
• Website: https://retailbound.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retailbound
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/retailbound

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/

Tim Uys has spent 25 years as a senior leader and lecturer in the industrial design and mechanical engineering world. He has worked for Nike Golf, Dell, Qualcomm, Ironman, and many other prominent companies as the Director of Design for ID-ONE, which was one of the top Austin design firms before it was acquired. For the past 6 years, Tim has been the head of design at MAKO Design + Invent out of our Austin, Texas office. Today, Tim is going to share his extensive knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can better understand the importance of design for manufacturing, 3 big tips on how to succeed in doing it, and where DFM fits into the overall product development process.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Concept design
• Engineering
• Prototyping
• Design for Manufacturing
• Keep positive and think nimbly about your project going into production
• Have a clear idea of what is important to your product, in priority
• Speed, quality, cost, features
• Perfection is the enemy of success
• How to communicate from final engineering and prototyping to the manufacturer
• Bill of materials
• Materials specifications
• CAD
• Prototype
• 2D drawings
• Animations

EPISODE LINKS

Tim Uys Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-uys-382b934/

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/

Marco Torres has been selling online for clients for 25 years and has sold over a billion dollars through direct-to-consumer internet marketing. He has 75,000 followers on his two Facebook Groups dedicated to online selling and affiliate marketing, and is the owner of Marketing Boost, a company which helps thousands of clients with free upsell coupons to their customers. Today Marco is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use a single landing page sales funnel to launch a new invention product or to improve an existing product’s online sales, and some tips and tricks to best optimize conversions.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Landing page / sales funnel
• Different sections
• Remove navigation and unnecessary stuff
• Adding credibility to the page
• Sell benefits, not features. How does it solve the customer’s problem?
• Testimonials
• Overcome their objections
• Add a guarantee to remove risk
• Don’t have too much to get them distracted
• FAQs - Frequently asked questions
• Affiliate marketing
• Putting an incentive in addition

EPISODE LINKS

Marco Torres / Marketing Boost Links:

• Website: https://marketingboost.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/6101960marcotorres/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marketingboostofficial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/144488025586731

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/

Kapil Kane is the Director of Innovation at Intel and founded Intel’s internal hardware invention incubator. Prior to that he was a Product Design Lead and Manager at Apple. He is also a fellow keynote speaker, and he has done two TedX talks. Today Kapil is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can learn from how the biggest hardware companies in the world prioritize and qualify new invention ideas. He is even going to walk through the step-by-step pillars that all Intel incubator innovations go through to prepare their idea for market success.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Developing engineers to think in the business way
• Think about the market value
• Business model canvas
• Look for assumptions in your plan
• Identify pain points
• Validation plan
• Testing MVP / Prototypes
• Customer discussions (get out of the building)
• Financial case
• You need to have a lot of conviction to the product you are building.
• Think about solving problems, not saying it cannot be done
• 3 things you need to succeed: Technology, User experience, Business model
• In hardware, when pitching, don’t just talk, show what you have built
• Are you coachable or not.

EPISODE LINKS

Kapil Kane Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kapilkane/

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/

Alex Dantas is CEO of CircuitLaunch, one of California’s top hardware accelerator facilities. CircuitLaunch is an almost 40,000 square foot hardware innovation space and makerspace for inventors, hardware startups, and hardware companies. Mako Design is also a long-standing partner in the space. Today Alex is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can utilize facilities like Circuitlaunch to develop their invention product ideas, then scale them to the big leagues. He is also going to give his advice on what really works to ensure startup success given the hundreds of startups he has watched come through their doors.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Alex’s background of persistence in the USA
• The power of hardware incubation facilities for hardware startups
• Makerspaces are evolving into co-facturing
• The value of hardware labs for product startups
• The value of education around hardware communities
• Short-run manufacturing for North American hardware startups

EPISODE LINKS

Alex Dantas / CircuitLaunch Links:

• Website: https://circuitlaunch.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrfdantas/

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/

EA Csolkovits has founded multiple product businesses, which in total, brought 75 new products to the market in the health and wellness space. He has been in the business of building hardware teams for 40 years, is the founder of GIVERS University, is a radio host, is an author, and is even a fellow plane private pilot. Today EA is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, product startups, and small manufacturers on the importance of building great product business teams early on, and how specifically to choose great product team members for building and scaling your hardware business.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Categories of team members
• The importance of mentorship
• The importance of the inner circle
• Get a mentor that has been successful
• Relationships are the most important in a fast-moving world
• The single most important thing you can do to succeed is to develop a great team
• Don’t listen to what people say, see what they do.
• There are 3 different categories of team members
• Key points to develop your inner team
• Decide, Invite, Seed, Convene, Establish, Rotate, and Numbers

EPISODE LINKS

EA Csolkovits / GIVERS University Links:

• Website: https://www.giversuniversity.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giversuniversity/
• YouTube: https://YouTube.com/GIVERSuniversity

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/

Rich Goldstein is the Founder of Goldstein Patent Law. He has landed over 2,000 patents for his clients over the last 25 years. He is also the author of the book the ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent. Today, Rich is going to share his wealth of knowledge with inventors, hardware startups, and small product manufacturers regarding the types of patents you can obtain for an invention, tips and tricks that optimize the process, and how to continue to protect your intellectual property as your hardware product evolves over the years.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Utility vs Design vs Provisional
• Time constraints of each type of patent
• Steps that you need to take to preserve your rights
• Over time, what do you do to protect with your ongoing development?
• You want to make your claims specific enough, that it is still relevant to the marketplace
• Filing a continuation in part to an improvement to your product over time
• Filing a continuation, slightly different than a continuation in part

EPISODE LINKS

Rich Goldstein / Goldstein Patent Law Links:

• Website: https://goldsteinpatentlaw.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardwgoldstein/
• Podcast: https://goldsteinpatentlaw.com/podcasts/

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/

Bryon Bhagwandin is a 20-year medical device entrepreneur with over a half dozen products in the market. He has won a number of awards, including the Top100 in R&D Magazine. He also has a PhD from the University of Washington in Medical Devices and Hardware. Today Bryon is going to share some valuable knowledge for hardware startups, inventors, and small manufacturers on the difference between a medical device and a wellness device, and if going the medical device route, what are the steps and best practices to get certified.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• The difference between medical devices and a wellness device
• What are the benefits of a medical device (you can’t market into the clinical space without FDA approval)
• Benefits of a wellness device over a medical device
• What are the steps to get cleared as a medical device
• Safety
• Efficacy processes / user data of the prototypes
• Manufacturing process
• If you are already in the market with a wellness device, create a new improved medical version of the device.

EPISODE LINKS

Bryon Bhagwandin Link:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryonbhagwandin/

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/