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Product Startup
Product Startup episodes
- 093: Selling Products Direct to End-Customer Online
Toccara Karizma is the Founder and President of Karizma Marketing which is Hawaii’s leading digital marketing agency. She has spent 14 years in the industry, building many 7 to 9 figure product brands through online marketing and sales. Today Toccara is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use the internet to sell directly to end-customers. She talks about how an inventor can broadcast your messaging to the world, the types of purchase audiences, how to research other brands around your product, and using video and influencers to increase your invention sales.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Never has it been easier to grow a brand online.
- Ecommerce skyrocketed over COVID
- Paid ads vs organic.
- Sales psychology
- The Cow method. Customer’s own words.
- Research other brands and what they are doing, then use the reviews on those to start using the keywords both positive and negative.
- Using micro-influencers to sell
- Using video to sell
- 4 types of audiences for selling products direct to end-buyers
- Facebook ad library, and getting access to it.
EPISODE LINKS
Toccara Karizma / Karizma Marketing Links:
- Website: https://karizmamarketing.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toccarakarizma/
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/
31 min - 092: Making a Product Video for Your Invention
Taylor Ryan is the founder of Klint Marketing, a mid-size marketing company that has worked with many consumer product companies. He is a six-time startup founder himself as well. Today Taylor is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should use video to showcase their hardware invention, and some best practices when creating your first product showcase video.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- What, why, and how for an invention explainer video.
- The importance of a physical consumer product video.
- Highlighting the founder, team, story, etc.
- The first few seconds of your product video.
- The value of using an invention video for getting to market.
EPISODE LINKS
Taylor Ryan / Klint Marketing Links:
- Website: https://growthsecrets.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorryan/
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/
30 min - 091: Market Testing Prior to a Crowdfunding Launch
Will Ford is the Co-Founder of LaunchBoom, the world’s largest crowdfunding agency. He also has built multiple successful companies prior to LaunchBoom. Today, Will is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use smart testing before launching their product on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and how to use that testing for both marketing feedback and product development feedback. He will also talk about the upcoming Crowdfunded Summit, a completely free online crowdfunding conference with over 20,000 attendees, a conference which I will also be speaking at on Oct. 5.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Mitigating your crowdfunding risk by focusing on pre-launch testing
- Using feedback from testing to make your product launch optimized
- Using feedback from testing to improve your product prior to launch
- The Free Crowdfunding Summit coming up Oct. 5, 2021
EPISODE LINKS
Will Ford / LaunchBoom Links:
- Crowdfunded Summit: https://crowdfundedsummit.com/
- Website: https://www.launchboom.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-ford-6b48a94/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/launchboom/
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/
38 min - 090: Disrupting Industries with AR/VR Technology
Luke Levene got into augmented reality and virtual reality back in 2014. He was an early adopter to build both hardware and software to disrupt the real estate industry. Today, he is the Vice President at XR Applied Technologies, a leader in VR and AR integration. Today Luke is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can think about integrating AR and VR, and how they can educate and sell new technologies in emerging markets. Many of these lessons are relevant for any type of product that is new or disrupting an industry, as most hardware inventions aspire to do.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Using virtual reality and augmented reality in consumer product development for invention ideas.
- VR/AR improves collaboration, experimentation, and imagination
- How to sell disruptive technologies and inventions in established old industries like Luke did with early VR/AR technology.
EPISODE LINKS
Luke Levene / XR Applied Technologies Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-w-levene/
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/
26 min - 089: Selling Your Hardware Product Via Remote Meetings
Joseph Fung is the Founder of Uvaro, one of the leading training platforms in the world on training how to be a great salesperson for your product. He has spent 20 years as a leader in the field, selling everything from small ticket price items to multi-million dollar single transactions. Today Joseph is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use simple processes to ensure highly effective sales pitches, which applies not just to selling your product, but in pitching every part of your product business to all of your different stakeholders. He will then dive into best practices on hiring your first great salesperson to expand your sales capabilities.
EPISODE LINKS
Joseph Fung / Uvaro Links:
- Website: https://uvaro.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfung/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephfung/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/josephfung
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/
37 min - 088: The Importance of Sustainable Product Manufacturing
Jacob Rothman is the CEO of Platform88, a manufacturer that helps startups with their first production runs in Asia. Platform88 is a division of Jacob’s 8 manufacturing conglomerate called Velong Industries, which has 1,500 employees. Today Jacob is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should factor in manufacturing and product sustainability, how to do sustainability well, and what types of sustainable options are out there for your physical product.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Built an 8 factory manufacturing conglomerate in China, now with 1,500 employees.
- Look at the world as a planet, not as individual countries.
- Big companies are being a part of this, not just for sales, but for improving the world. Target, Metro in Germany, Walmart, Woolies. Buyers at these places care, they are getting younger and more actively involved in sustainability, so are the end-buyers.
- Sustainable Materials: Algea/organic materials, ocean plastics, recycled stainless steel, recycled trash.
- Make the manufacturing environment sustainable (power, waste management, education).
EPISODE LINKS
Jacob Rothman / Platform88 Links:
- Website: https://platform88.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/platform88_shanghai/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shanghaiplatform/
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/
28 min - 087: Purpose is a Big Part of Consumer Product Success
Paul Rowan is the Co-Founder of Umbra, a household product company that designs, manufactures, and sells hundreds of consumer products all over the world. You likely have at least one of their products in your home right now. Paul ran Umbra for 37 years, starting the entire company with just one product. Today Paul is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use both strategic purpose and higher purpose to create a great first product and your first product business. From there, how do you leverage those principles to scale into a global product brand as he did with Umbra.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Purpose, and how to find it in your business
- Professionalism - Start early and make it quality.
- Started with one idea, so put everyone in the market.
- Get connected to your first customers.
- The first product doesn’t need to be perfect, it needs to be professional and of reasonable quality.
- Come up with something of a necessity for yourself. It is far easier to come up with an idea that solves a pain point that you have.
- Those customers will want more products from you, especially if you do the first one well.
- Once you get rolling, do more and more products so that you don’t worry about the few products that fail when you have many that succeed.
- As you are scaling, you can work with your vendors, employees, customers to perfect exactly what that purpose and vision for the company is.
- Every person along the line is a stakeholder and involved in your product.
- Look at new technology. That can be a huge advantage to your product
EPISODE LINKS
Paul Rowan / Umbra Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-rowan-976927b/
- TedX Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feoQvELLWRY
- Umbra: https://www.umbra.com/
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/
50 min - 086: Marketing Fundamentals for Consumer Product Startups
Michael Solomon has been teaching marketing for 40 years. He currently is a marketing professor at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He has written almost 30 books including many marketing textbooks. His most recent book is called The New Chameleons, and is all about modern marketing lessons. Today Michael is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can learn the fundamentals of modern-day marketing, and learn how to apply these marketing tactics to your new invention products.
EPISODE LINKS
Michael Solomon Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsolomon/
- Book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Chameleons-Connect-Consumers-Categorization/dp/1398600040/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+New+Chameleons&qid=1627326873&sr=8-1
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/
Thanks for tuning in! See you next time.
52 min - 085: Scaling Your Product Up After Crowdfunding
Ben Drury is the Founder of Yoto Play, a connected hardware toy product for kids. Yoto just recently raised $17 million in Series A financing. Before that, Yoto launched their physical product via a successful crowdfunding campaign. Today Ben is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers grow and scale their products after they finish their crowdfunding campaign in order to get to big time worldwide sales.
Today you will hear us talk about:
- Going from 750 units to 50,000 units.
- Launching via crowdfunding.
- Start with a starter product as a stepping stone scaling.
- Using crowdfunding success to scale after a campaign.
- Use crowdfunding to learn, it’s far better than traditional test marketing.
- Think about leveraging your hardware to sell secondary add-ons.
- Be connected with your first customers, get a few units out there, then use this traction to raise funding.
- Using the crowdfunding success and feedback to create a better product for your next version, and figure out how to make it cheaper now that you can produce at scale.
- Give a big discount to your Version 1 customers to get them to Version 2.
EPISODE LINKS
Ben Drury / Yoto Play Links:
- Website: www.yotoplay.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bedrury/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yotoplay_us/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yotoplayUS
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/
Thanks for tuning in! See you next time.
33 min - 084: How To Raise Big Money for Your Hardware Startup
Brett Fox has a long history of raising millions of dollars for both his own startup and for many other founders. Brett also sat as an entrepreneur in residence for a major Silicon Valley Venture Capital firm. Today Brett is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can raise seed funding and venture capital funding - How to eventually raise millions of dollars to grow and scale your product after you have first got to market.
EPISODE LINKS
Brett Fox Links:
- Website: https://www.brettjfox.com/mako/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/foxbrett/
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/
Thanks for tuning in! See you next time.
28 min
About Product Startup
From the publisher's feed
The Product Startup Podcast is the hardware product development industry's #1 podcast. From invention idea to getting onto store shelves, and everything in between. Hear how inventors, product…
startups, & small manufacturers created their inventions and launched their physical product businesses. Learn from the industry's top industrial designers, mechanical engineers, PCB designers, consumer product managers, manufacturers, patent attorneys, hardware investors, product sellers, wholesalers, retailers and more. Learn about industrial design / product design, prototyping, 3d printing, additive manufacturing, product manufacturing, marketing, selling, patenting, logistics, and product business scaling. Hosted by Kevin Mako, the leading strategy and fundraising consultant for hardware startups at www.productstartup.com. Sponsored by TriMech Group, offering a comprehensive range of design, engineering, and manufacturing solutions backed by expertise that is unrivalled in the industry.