The Product Startup: Recent Episodes

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Dan Rennecker and Justin Peart are two dads who have a passion for well-designed products. They both have young children at home and love spending time with their families. With their backgrounds in product design and development, they decided to take a chance and founded Sixty LLC with the purpose of designing and manufacturing their own products. Milton was their first product to market:
In this episode, we learn about

• Dan's and Justin's prior experience and why they created Milton
• Telling a story with your product to increase engagement with consumers
• Creating the early prototypes of Milton
• Testing the prototypes with kids and for toy safety regulations
• Finding a manufacturer in the USA through references and searching online
• Marketing Milton, and creating the companion book that's engaging for parents too
• Balancing cost in packaging design
• Determining their initial order size
• The timeline to bring their product to market
• Intellectual property protection (provisional patent application and utility patent)
• Dan and Justin believe in helping others, especially children and donate $1 for every Milton made to Feed My Starving Children to help end childhood hunger.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Website: mealswithmilton.com

• Social Media

• Twitter: @mealswithmilton

• Facebook: facebook.com/mealswithmilton
• Instagram: @mealswithmilton

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Today’s show is hosted by Khierstyn Ross of Crowdfunding Uncut, a podcast that dives into the details of successful crowdfunding campaigns. Today we will focus on manufacturing and quality assurance - answering some of the most popular questions that we get asked.
In this episode, we learn about

• What does the prototyping process look like
• Stripping your product back to the most elegant, simple solution
• Sourcing a manufacturer locally or abroad
• Working with third-party quality assurance firms
• The top criteria when selecting the right manufacturer
• Protecting your idea with the manufacturer
• Product packaging
• How to know when to call it quits, and how much money or time to invest
• The importance of 3D printing and incorporating it in your process
• My one piece of advice for entrepreneurs creating their own products

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Guest Host: Khierstyn Ross

• Website: crowdfundinguncut.com

• Social Media

• Twitter: @khierstynross

• Facebook: facebook.com/crowdfundinguncut

• Instagram: instagram.com/khierstyn

• Resources

• Finding Manufacturers

• Trade Show News Network: TSNN.com

• Alibaba: alibaba.com

• Global Sources: globalsources.com

• Manufacturer Background Checks

• China Checkup: chinacheckup.com

• Globis: glo-bis.com

• Freakonomics: The Upside of Quitting

• Find Local 3D Printers: 3DHubs.com

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Alice Orozco sells custom, made to order draperies at Pret-a-Portiere. She started her business in 2012 with the aim to make quality (normally very expensive custom made drapes) highly accessible to most and provide an alternative way of buying these curtains.  
Alice sources fabrics direct from the mills and design some of my fabrics as well. She produces and sells her own designs. Some of her sourced fabrics sell in fabric designer houses for well over $100 per meter wholesale. She's really proud to be able to offer her customers the same product for a quarter or third of the price.
In this episode, we learn about

• How Alice re-started her company
• Competing with companies much larger than her small business
• Success isn't straight line
• Sourcing fabric direct from mills
• Using third-party quality inspection services
• Growing her sales through online marketing
• Alice's sales funnel and how she converts leads into orders
• Her persepctive on failure: "Don't take failure to heart"  

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Website: portiere.com.au

• Social Media

• Facebook: facebook.com/pretaportiere

• Twitter: @pretaportiere
• Instagram: instagram.com/portieredrapes

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Samatha and Elaine are two women from Melbourne running a turmeric superfood blend business. Samatha is a Nutritionist and Food Scientist, while Elaine is a Fashion Stylist with an Advertising background.

The duo developed the blend, designed packaging, sourced materials, and have everything produced in Melbourne, Australia. They've had MANY hiccups along the way, it's been a long road, but an interesting one. Would they do it again? Not sure. Has it been worth it? So far, yes. They're learning so much, and that's invaluable.

The ladies were nominated for The Weekly Review's Startup Stars competition, of which they made the top 8 of 250 businesses. That was tremendously exciting and it's the small wins that keep them motivated.
In this episode, we learn about

• How Samatha and Elaine saw a need in the market
• Testing their product with their target market
• The marketing strategy for a product with so many applications and such a broad audience
• Navigating the federal regulations around food products
• Finding the right suppliers and co-packers for their product
• Expanding into retail and e-commerce
• Picking up PR exposure on a budget

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Website: midascup.com.au

• Social Media

• Twitter: @midascup_

• Facebook: facebook.com/midascup
• Instagram: @midascupofficial
• Pinterest: pinterest.com/midascup

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Tim Christian is a 38-year-old father of 3 boys under 7, airline pilot of 17 yrs and founder of OORR. He lives in Chatswood, a satellite CBD just 10 minutes north of Sydney, Australia. He loves riding his bike and is currently learning how to play guitar. He considers himself a perpetual student of self-improvement. Everything he does tends to be about making this world better for his family, for others, and for future generations.
In this episode, we learn about

• How Tim got started with OORR  
• Looking for manufacturers  
• Going from prototype to manufacturing and validating the market  
• Tim's tips for launching on Kickstarter
• Building an email list using product giveaways and using Facebook to advertise
• Finding and working with influencers on social media
• Managing the Kickstarter campaign
• Using third-party fulfillment to pick, pack and ship product
• Tim's parting tips for anyone just starting out

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Website: oorr.com.au

• Social Media

• Twitter: @OORR

• Instagram: instagram.com/oorr.some

• Resources

• Unifi - Recycled plastic yarn manufacturer  

• Brandsnob - Influencer marketplace
• Adespresso - Facebook ads manager

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Bill McAlister is President of Top Dog Direct, one of the most successful marketers of “As Seen on TV” products. Bill and his team are constantly on the look-out for the next hit consumer product and they meet with at-home inventors regularly.

Bill discusses what direct response television (DRTV) marketers look for in consumer inventions and how an at-home inventor can get a product to market without breaking the bank.
In this episode, we learn about

• The 14-Day JUST START Challenge
• Bill's experience in QVC and HSN
• The essential elements of a good As-Seen-on-TV pitch
• How to determine if your product will be successful
• The role of patents in product development
• How to compete without a patent
• How to know who to trust in the product development space
• The advantages of licensing and downsides to rolling your own product
• The "as-seen-on-TV" audience and the grow of the Millenial generation  
• The positioning of Amazon in ecommerce, and consumer expectations
• The appropriate cost of goods vs the sales price
• Sample royalty rates in as-seen-on-TV products  
• Other reasons for people to pursue licensing

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Website: topdogdirect.com

• Social Media

• Twitter: @TopDogDirect

• Facebook: facebook.com/TopDogDirect
• Instagram: instagram.com/topdogdirect