Product Startup

Product Startup

By Kevin MakoBusinessEntrepreneurshipArtsMarketingDesign
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Product Startup episodes

  • 037: Launching a Minecraft-Inspired Product with Ruth Stone of Boxhead Crafts

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/037-launching-a-minecraft-inspired-product-with-ruth-stone-of-boxhead-crafts-the-product-startup-product-development-for/

    Where Ruth got the inspiration for her first product and how she kicked off her production run of 100 units to test the market. Why she was comfortable creating a product in "someone elses' sandbox."
    34 min
  • 037 - Launching a Minecraft-Inspired Product with Ruth Stone of Boxhead Crafts - The Product Startup: Product development for small business
    Ruth Stone founded BoxHead Craft, the world’s only manufacturer of blank box heads for kids to design and decorate. Kids happily abandon the console to craft and enjoy imaginative play. 
    In this episode, we learn about
    Where Ruth got the inspiration for her first product  
    Ruth's first production run of 100 units to test the market
    Why Ruth was comfortable creating a product in "someone elses' sandbox" 
    Manufacturing a custom box from scratch
    The path to market: Selling Amazon, eBay, and Etsy and using Twitter and Instagram for publicity
    Driving traffic using Instagram, Youtube, Twitter and PR in magazines and competition prizes 
    Scaling from 100 to 30,000 units and the focus forward
    The core benefit of the Boxheads to parents - reducing screen time  
    Making minor changes during development and differentiating from any competitors  
    Ruth's reservations going to market with such a simple product  
    What she would change: Pricing to make room for wholesale orders   
    Why we need to dive into the process headfirst to learn  
    The threat of easy entry by competitors  
    Customer service and growing the number of transactions vs  customer retention  
    How Ruth got started in her other businesses at a young age
    Fulfilling orders herself and why Amazon wasn't worth it
    Ruth's parting tip
    Links and resources mentioned in this episode
    Website: boxheadcraft.co.uk
    Social Media
    Twitter: @boxhead_craft
    Facebook: facebook.com/boxheadcraft
    Instagram: instagram.com/boxheadcraft
    Youtube: youtube.com
    Mentioned
    TPS010 - I have an Idea, Now What?
    33 min
  • 036: Helping Wildlife & Developing Ceramic Products with Gavin Christman of Green&Blue

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/036-helping-wildlife-developing-ceramic-products-with-gavin-christman-of-greenblue-the-product-startup-product/

    Why Green&Blue doesn't use a "one stop shop" approach to manufacturing. Keys to maintaining good relationships with retailers through product quality, customer service, product news, soliciting feedback.
    58 min
  • 036 - Helping Wildlife & Developing Ceramic Products with Gavin Christman of Green&Blue - The Product Startup: Product development for small business
    Gavin Christman is the co-founder of Green&Blue, a product design company based in the South West England. Green&Blue create a beautiful range of innovative, award-winning products for wildlife and nature.
    In this episode, we learn about
    Gavin's experience working for Dyson as an industrial designer and how it helped him setup Green&Blue
    The thought process he took away - understanding a problem and creating a simple yet elegant solution
    Looking at the problem through the eyes of customers
    Why Gavin thought that Green&Blue could compete in the existing market for bird feeders
    Taking things apart and understanding how things are put together to help you come up with new solutions
    Gavin and his wife quitting good jobs to take a leap of faith in a business they believed in
    The advantage of having some ignorance before diving into a market - Gavin and his wife didn't know the details of fulfilling product
    How they presold the product (without using the Internet) to retailers before getting into manufacturing
    Getting a feel for product costs by having conversations with your suppliers and soliciting samples
    Shelving ideas if the profit margin isn't there
    Why they chose to manufacture locally in the UK
    How ceramic products are made - and understanding how our own products are manufactured 
    Forming relationships with manufacturers
    Why Green&Blue  doesn't use a "one stop shop" approach to manufacturing
    Taking care to make and package the best product possible - same as any product we would all love to receive
    The legwork needed in pitching retailers in the beginning - looking at lifestyle magazines and identifying retailers
    The two tradeshows that they attend now and the outreach possible 
    The best part of retail - reorders
    Keys to maintaining good relationships with retailers - product quality, customer service, product news, soliciting feedback
    The advantage of tradeshows and proper follow-up
    Deciding to sell more than one item - the process in designing, manufacturing and getting a product into customer's homes is addicting
    Talking to existing customers and advocates of current products about new designs
    The different types of bees and their role in our environment 
    Selling the Bee Brick to business clients and working within the construction industry
    Realizing that they cannot make a change alone - partnering with concrete casting companies
    Links and resources mentioned in this episode
    Website: Greenandblue.co.uk
    Special: Use the code startup to apply a 15% discount on the entire product range (valid for 2017)
    Social Media
    Twitter: @GreenandBlueUK
    Facebook: facebook.com/GreenandBlueUK
    Instagram: instagram.com/greenandblueuk
    57 min
  • 035: A 90-Day Advertising Strategy on a Budget with Paul Potratz of The Growth Mindset

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/035-a-90-day-advertising-strategy-on-a-budget-with-paul-potratz-of-the-growth-mindset-the-product-startup-product/

    Finding your target audience using social media and asking them questions and what to do if your message isn't resonating with the audience. Using what your target market says about your product to create call to actions and one-liners.
    52 min
  • 035 - Building a 90-Day Advertising Strategy on a Budget with Paul Potratz of The Growth Mindset - The Product Startup: Product development for small business

    Paul began Potratz, a brand experience, engagement, and digital agency, in Schenectady, NY in 2003. Since then, Potratz has grown to have 37 employees and clients across the U.S., Canada, and Denmark. His recent project, The Growth Mindset, is a mentor, marketing, and leadership association for modern day entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs.
    In this episode, we learn about

    * The fist thing that you must do when creating a branding and advertising strategy
    * "How will your product or service improve the consumer's life?"
    * Finding your target audience using social media and asking them questions
    * What to do if your message isn't resonating with the audience
    * Creating a 90-day branding and promotion strategy on a minimal budget
    * Using what your target market says about your product to create call to actions and one-liners
    * Creating a basic website or Facebook page and growing your audience and posting consistently
    * Targeting "Social Lions" in your group and turning them into evangelists 
    * Using a chat box on your website - managed vs self-hosted
    * Using surveys to substitute for two-way communication on our websites
    * Trying A/B testing surveys - messaging and location on the site to optimize the response rate
    * Asking yourself - "Who will the survey benefit?" The response will tell you how long to make it and how to incentivize it
    * How to focus a $1000 budget for advertising - Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
    * Investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool
    * Doing something to help the recipient of emails and newsletters - making them useful
    * The old way of marketing - interruption advertising
    * The new way of marketing - educating and telling stories
    * Using data from your CRM to target Facebook ads and posts


    Links and resources mentioned in this episode

    * Website: paulpotratz.com
    * Social Media

    * Twitter: twitter.com/paulpotratz
    * Facebook: facebook.com/PaulPotratz
    * Instagram: instagram.com/paulpotratz


    * Books

    * The Go-Giver, A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg
    * The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone


    * Tools

    * Hotjar - Site analysis and feedback tool



    Thanks for listening!
    What did you think? Leave me a note in the comments!
    Do you want to see similar episodes or have suggestions for future guests? Please review The Product Startup Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews help me gauge interest in the show and influence the topics I cover. I read them all!
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    51 min
  • 034: Staying Motivated & Overcoming Lack of Money, Time & Skills

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/034-staying-motivated-overcoming-lack-of-money-time-skills-the-product-startup-product-development-for-small-business/

    What are your core motivations for starting a business? This needs to be something that you don’t have to remind yourself of every day – it should be a part of you.
    35 min
  • 033: Top Crowdfunding Mistakes with Khierstyn Ross of Crowdfunding Uncut

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/033-top-crowdfunding-mistakes-with-khierstyn-ross-of-crowdfunding-uncut-the-product-startup-product-development-for/

    Raising money for building a prototype vs raising money for the full production run. An early crowdfunding failure - getting the positioning wrong, and how Khierstyn corrected this to have a $600k funding success.
    39 min
  • 032: Success in Small Niches with Jill Bong of Chicken Armor

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/032-success-in-small-niches-with-jill-bong-of-chicken-armor-the-product-startup-product-development-for-small-business/

    Jill Bong is an entrepreneur, homesteader, and inventor of Chicken Armor - a different chicken saddle. She is also the author of over a dozen books on homesteading and self-reliant living.
    In this episode, we learn about
    * Why Jill and her husband created their product despite established competition in the space
    * Differentiating the product from competitors
    * The design drivers - few components, washable, easy to manufacture, and low cost
    * The process of working with material suppliers
    * Keeping startup costs low - "We almost had no choice, we had to work with a shoestring budget, or almost no budget in this case"
    * Why it's rare to come up with your final product on your first try and the iterative part of product design process
    * Taking a year (multiple seasons) to test the product
    * Jill's experience getting laughed out of a gardening forum - and landing her first user who was also a business owner with a similar experience
    * Selling Chicken Armor on eBay to validate the market
    * Handling customer objections and their perception of quality through money back guarantees and up-front education
    * Why Jill and her husband abandoned pursuit of a patent
    * Why they haven't scaled up to large scale manufacturing and distribution or branched out into other designs and target markets
    * When sales actually picked up and Jill's solution to marketing and outreach (especially for unique products)
    * The product sales as a result of mentions in large broad publications versus small targeted outlets
    * Their most successful marketing tactic - pitching to the editors of publications and appealing to their audience worked better than influential bloggers and magazine ads
    * Some of the other passive income streams that Jill has started
    * How to know when you should continue validating your market, and when to quit
    Links and resources mentioned in this episode
    * Website
    * chickenarmor.com
    * byjillb.com
    * Social Media
    * Twitter: @chickenarmor
    * Facebook: facebook.com/chickenarmor
    * Instagram: 
    * Pinterest: pinterest.com/chickenarmor
    * Google Plus: +Chickenarmorsaddles
    41 min
  • 031: Product Design & Using Nostalgia in Marketing, Elizabeth Versace of Ecococoon

    Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://productstartup.com/podcast/031-product-design-using-nostalgia-in-marketing-elizabeth-versace-of-ecococoon-the-product-startup-product-development/

    The business case behind starting the company with an existing product instead of a new design. We also get into the process of purchasing a one-way valve from a medical company in the USA and incorporating it into new drinkware.
    54 min

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