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TitreDateDurée
233: Raising Money For Scaling Via a Crowdfunding Campaign25 Jul 202400:18:23

Will Ford is one of the world's top crowdfunding experts. As President and Co-Founder of LaunchBoom, the leading crowdfunding agency for hardware startups, he has helped thousands of inventors and entrepreneurs leverage platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo to establish and scale their product empires. Today, he explains in great detail why a successful crowdfunding campaign can lead to significantly higher post-campaign investments and increased sales across multiple channels to enlighten inventors, startups, and small manufacturers. Will also details best practices for raising funds and optimizing crowdfunding efforts, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning, storytelling, and social proof.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/233-raising-money-for-scaling-via-a-crowdfunding-campaign/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • Don’t give away too much equity too early in your entrepreneurial journey!

  • Although it's great to have more money at the start, if you give away equity early, you will erode much of your future potential earnings.

  • Convertible debt is a great pathway for raising money for your future valuation.

  • You can take a prototype and pre-sell it to thousands of people worldwide through a crowdfunding platform.

  • Raise growth capital after you complete your crowdfunding campaign.

  • You will raise far more money if you bootstrap for as long as possible before crowdfunding, and you will give out far less equity.

  • Buyers always want the coolest new products in the market as early as possible. This is why crowdfunding platforms are so powerful for inventors.

  • You can turn backers who support your campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo into investors once the campaign is over.

  • Dr. Squatch is an example of a hundred-thousand-dollar crowdfunding campaign.

  • Prelaunch, test, and then validate the return on ad spend.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, 

232: Video Product Renderings for Your Invention07 Jul 202400:20:11

David Brown, one of our talented industrial designers at MAKO Design, is a true expert in hardware product video renderings. With a rich background in industrial design and design engineering, David has honed his product design skills to an exceptionally refined degree. Today, he's excited to share his expertise with inventors, startups, and small manufacturers. Imagine being able to visualize your product idea in stunning detail before it even exists – like a trailer for a new captivating horror movie. That's the magic of 3D CAD video renderings, and David is here to demystify the process. He'll take you through the creation process of video renderings and how they can be a game-changer at every stage of your product's journey. From the initial spark of inventing to the thrill of making your first sale, David will reveal how these renderings can bring your vision to life for investors or potential consumers and set you on the path to success.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/232-video-product-renderings-for-your-invention/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • Using video renderings is like bringing Hollywood to your product design!

  • Video rendering is essentially taking 3D CAD designs and making a video with that series of images and data.

  • It is like setting up a virtual camera that provides a full-scope view of the product in the setting where you would naturally find it.

  • You must also take into account the environment and lighting!

  • You can create things with video renderings that cannot be done in real life; this is one of its primary advantages.

  • Exploded view renderings show how the product comes apart and all of its pieces.

  • You can use these tools to explain a lot about a product and inform potential consumers.

  • Product demos and tutorials are other uses for video renderings.

  • How can you direct your designers to build a great hardware product rendering video for what you need?

  • The core requirement for making the video is creating a storyboard and ordering the elements to effectively tell the story.

  • Video renderings are standard these days for a great product, but you also need to develop a prototype!

  • There is post-processing of the video as well to refine the story being told and how it is presented.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, 

223: Mechanical Prototype Parts vs. Pre-Production Parts for Plastic Inventions26 Apr 202400:17:34

For nearly a decade, Tim Uys has spearheaded a diverse myriad of design initiatives as the Director of Design at MAKO Design + Invent. During his 25 years in the industrial design and mechanical engineering domains, he has made impactful contributions in senior design leadership and education roles, as well as to renowned companies such as Dell, Nike Golf, Qualcomm, and Ironman. Today, Tim draws from his abundant experience to enlighten modern inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the disparities between mechanical and pre-production prototypes for plastic components. He will divulge the essential design for manufacturing prerequisites and offer insight into optimizing the plastic product design, engineering, and prototyping journey for maximum efficiency.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/223-mechanical-prototype-parts-vs-pre-production-parts-for-plastic-inventions/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • What are the key differences between a mechanical prototype and a pre-production prototype?

  • Most hardware inventions are either entirely or mainly made of plastic or have some plastic components.

  • The mechanical prototype helps validate the primary mechanism of the design and the overall invention idea.

  • The pre-production prototype is the phase in which you put the product design into its intended final format, suitable for mass production, and work on shaping the components to optimize for that format.

  • There is a wide variety of different types of plastic, and they all have different uses.

  • Once you finalize the materials selection, the next step is to choose which processes you will use, such as injection moulding.

  • A lot of hardware startups skip this entire step and choose to proceed to manufacturing with concept CAD. They are missing 3 key prototyping stages: the Rough Prototype, the Mechanical Prototype, and the Pre-Production Prototype.

  • Skipping these stages could cost you money and time down the line if something is missed.

  • The fewer features you have for your starter product as a startup, the easier it is to go through all these steps and the more refined each feature will be. 

  • Keep your feature creep to a minimum. You can add additional features later on!

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, 

133: Using Email Marketing to Sell Physical Products20 Jul 202200:20:37

Jacob Anson is the CoFounder of AgencyJR, a firm that has helped sell tens of millions of dollars worth of product for product companies. Today Jacob is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand email marketing, learn the different types within, and know how to use email marketing effectively.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • What is email marketing
  • How does it fit into overall digital advertising
  • Email lists from buyers, email lists from almost buyers, and email lists from cold lead generation
  • How do you do email marketing well
  • Cold leads need to be advertised harder and more aggressively
  • Warm leads need to be nurtured as a community
  • Paid ads are the key to generating leads and their emails
  • For products that are repeat purchases, keep the profit low
  • For one-time buy products, add more value
  • Simplicity is key to promoting value
  • Think of 3 tips to solve a problem, then promote the product
  • There are a variety of offers you can provide
  • The "Value-value-sale" system
  • List segmentation
  • Focus on paid ads to get those emails, then ensure to use automation.
  • The two easiest automation programs are checkout abandonment and a popup on your online sales channel.


EPISODE LINKS

Jacob Anson / Agency JR Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

132: Invention Success in the Construction Industry13 Jul 202200:21:56

Todd Drouillard is the Science and Technology Business leader at HED, which is one of the world’s leading architecture firms for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution center buildings. Todd has been in architecture for 25 years, has his Masters in Architecture, is an AIA director, and is on the Construction Code Commission Board of Directors in Michigan. Today Todd is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers are changing the way they move products to their end customers, and what inventors with construction-related inventions can do to succeed in getting their innovations to market.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Warehousing innovation is becoming increasingly more important to the success of a scaling hardware product business
  • Construction inventions and innovations are happening very quickly in new building design, fabrication, and maintenance.
  • How do you get your construction product into the market to get into new or renovated buildings.
  • Less labour, more product. This is prefabrication, and there is a lot of room for new construction inventions in this space.
  • Product manufacturing and architecture are merging
  • To pitch your construction innovation, show that it reduces risk, increases quality, is more reliable, is easy to install.
  • A big advantage when designing your product, is to either make it easy to work with other products, or include what used to be multiple products into one
  • There are lots of problems on a construction site, solve them with your construction inventions.


EPISODE LINKS

Todd Drouillard / HED Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

131: Why Doing Good with Your Hardware Product Matters06 Jul 202200:28:05

Jos Harrison is the Global Head of Design and Brand Experience at Reckitt, the firm which owns many big brands including Lysol, Veet, Finish, Durex, and more. He has been in the design industry for over 25 years. Today Jos is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can learn what ESG is, why doing good for the world is beneficial for an emerging hardware product, and how to start with implementing ESG in your emerging or scaling business.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Defining ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
  • Why ESG is important for a small hardware business
  • Why ESG is important for the world.
  • How hardware startups can do ESG well, and how to do it early on
  • What can hardware startups and scaleups learn from big organizations that do this well.
  • The idea of a consumer is old, that is changing.
  • Manufacturing options, packaging, materials all can be done smart for sustainability and environmental reasons
  • Think about iterative design to become more and more ESG friendly over time
  • Educate your users
  • Buyers are willing to pay more now, for a product that lasts longer; however, there is a caveat in selling
  • Small business have a huge benefit over big corporate, as society believes that startups were there to solve a core problem.


EPISODE LINKS

Jos Harrison / Reckitt Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

  • Instagram:...
130: Choosing an eCommerce Platform for your Hardware Product22 Jun 202200:22:32

Tim Bucciarelli is a Director at IronPlane, an eCommerce agency that works with many large product brands. Tim has been a leader in the eCommerce space for almost 30 years. Today Tim is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand what eCommerce is, how to choose a great eCommerce platform for your current and future product needs, and how to do a good job of building out your platform, especially around business to business sales.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • What is eCommerce
  • How do you choose the right platform to sell online
  • Back end platforms explained, and how they connect to front end
  • How do you do it well
  • Understand your customer
  • Understand investment
  • Wordpress and WooCommerce is an easy way to get started online
  • Shopify is a SaaS, a central piece of software
  • BitCommerce is a SaaS that is a bit more opened up
  • Adobe Commerce / Magento is larger and more customizable


EPISODE LINKS

Tim Bucciarelli / IronPlane Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

129: The Best Hardware Product Development Processes15 Jun 202200:20:50

John Carter was the Chief Engineer for Bose for over 12 years, most notably being the name behind noise-canceling headphones.  After that, he founded TCGen, and has spent 22 years working with some of the biggest hardware brands in the world on improving their product development processes.  He is also a fellow writer with me at Forbes. Today John is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use best practices from the leading hardware development teams in the world to improve your product design, launch, and scaling journey by understanding what it takes to succeed in the long run, utilizing customer feedback, getting to market fast, and many other development secrets.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • To figure out how to make a great product, he worked all around the world to find out how the best in the world did hardware product development.
  • How do you know what areas you should focus on for innovation
  • Innovation is not free, it takes a tremendous amount of work, sustained effort, and a budget.
  • Focus on one key innovation.
  • Don’t share with customers too early, design through the concept first.
  • How do you reduce risk that is out there.
  • Don’t feature creep
  • Get to market, then reiterate and improve.
  • Principles of agile development and how it applies to hardware consumer products.
  • Empower your team
  • The importance of industrial design
  • Try rotating feedback in hardware


EPISODE LINKS

John Carter / TCGen Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

128: Creating an App for Your Hardware Device08 Jun 202200:20:44

Piotr Zajac is the CEO of Untitled Kingdom, a 55-person mobile app development company that focuses on apps for physical hardware connected devices. They have built and launched over 75 full-scale apps for hardware products. Today Piotr is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand how to best manage the design and development of your hardware device’s app, and what are the best practices for making a connected device’s app great.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • IoT, MedTech, and FemTech
  • Building an app for your hardware product
  • Think about your end-users
  • Onboarding new users with your application
  • Intution takes time to develop to your user base
  • Create a habit in your user
  • Buy their hands, their hearts, and their brains
  • Feedback is key
  • Quality of apps, FDA Certification, ISO Certfication
  • Quality is much more valuable, and far less expensive, in the long term
  • Security
  • Technology protocols
  • Simplicity in your features
  • You can change the world with your product ideas


EPISODE LINKS

Piotr Zajac / Untitled Kingdom Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

127: Benefits of Makerspaces to Product Startups01 Jun 202200:19:17

Tom Pupo is the founder and head of Moonlighter Fab Lab Miami, which Mako Design just partnered with on a new 8,000 square foot hardware makerspace right down Miami Beach. Tom has a Masters Degree in architecture, and been running makerspaces for many years. Today Tom is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what a makerspace is, what makes one great, and how hardware startups can benefit from them in many ways beyond just space and machinery.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • What does a hardware makerspace do
  • What makes a space great
  • What are the benefits
  • Space, tools, people
  • Design, prototype, test, get feedback, and redo
  • Co-working, fabrication lab, and STEAM learning center
  • Learning design thinking in the design process
  • A makerspace is such a pure experience to get to learn about the product development journey


EPISODE LINKS

Tom Pupo / Moonlighter Miami Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

126: What Makes a Consumer Product Invention Great25 May 202200:23:54

Mark Maybury is the Chief Technology Officer at Stanley Black and Decker. He is also a member of the Defense Science Board and was a Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force. Today Mark is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what makes a consumer product great in 2022, and how to consider these things from the design phase, through to production, then onto scaling up.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • What makes a great new product in your industry
  • Innovative, valuable, and scalable
  • Environmentally and socially
  • Big companies look at innovators and inventors to be the change master
  • Scaling a hardware startup business
  • There are many parts to scaling, not just sales.
  • Pitching to Stanley black and decker
  • Genuine need, real value created, and a great team (humility)
  • Secrets of innovation
  • Observe carefully, listen deeply, think outside of the box, experiment with purpose, and collaborate.


EPISODE LINKS

Mark Maybury / Stanley Black and Decker Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

125: Pitching Your Invention to Big Product Businesses11 May 202200:38:22

Dougal Grimes is the Vice President of Innovation and Inventors Relations for SpinMaster Toys. He leads a team of people who review product pitches from inventors just like you. Before this, he worked for over 10 years as a leader in many different roles at Hasbro. Today Dougal is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can best pitch to large product brands like SpinMaster, and what you can do to best prepare for, deliver, and expand your product’s success with this type of partnership.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Developing the toy idea out
  • A great idea can come from anywhere
  • Big ideas come from the mass market, not in-house design teams
  • The process of meeting inventors is quite freeform
  • Pitching the idea well is important, and applies to all type of industries
  • Have a quick pitch, then a proof of concept physically, then prove feasibility of manufacturability, that it is safe, that it is viable, and possibly that it has intellectual property protection.
  • Look for toy fairs, conferences, reach out via LinkedIn, find the invention submission areas of the company.
  • Remember, a product pitch is a promotion.
  • Don’t lead with the technical aspects, lead with the features.
  • Remember, you are bringing a solution to a company when you pitch.
  • The inventors vision and passion can help push a product through to greater success even after a licencing deal is struck
  • Timelines for toy inventors getting to market


EPISODE LINKS

Dougal Grimes / SpinMaster Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

124: Raising $1 Million for a Hardware Startup27 Apr 202200:37:26

Ryan Lewendon is the Co-Founder and Partner at the law firm Giannuzzi Lewendon LLP. They have 30 lawyers, 1,500 product companies they work with, and hundreds of finance deals run by them per year, in addition to a number of other legal and advisory services to scaling product companies. Today Ryan is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can raise their first big fundraising round of 1 million dollars or more, how to plan for it, execute on it, then spend the money smart when it comes in.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • How to prepare for big-league funding
  • Make sure you have a well-vetted product before going to production
  • How to make sure you have the right investors
  • Work on the right terms
  • Explain why this round is so important
  • SAFE agreements or Convertible notes agreements for physical consumer products
  • How to raise that funding
  • How to scale with those funds when you get them
  • Build out your human capital, and start with the people where your weaknesses are.
  • Remember, your investors are very experienced in this.
  • Build out your supply chain
  • Build out your distribution network and partners
  • If you are going to raise more rounds, when do you start planning the next fundraising round


EPISODE LINKS

Ryan Lewendon / Giannuzzi Lewendon LLP Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

222: Securing Grants for Scaling Up a Hardware Startup18 Apr 202400:17:57

In addition to amassing 25 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, Micki Vandeloo has dedicated nearly 15 years to assisting manufacturers with securing government grants to propel the growth of their product ventures. Impressively, as the President of Lakeview Consulting, she has collectively secured over $250 million for clients. Today, Micki will offer invaluable guidance for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers by systematically breaking down the requisite steps and nuances of applying for and successfully securing government grants in the USA. She will delineate the various levels as well as categories of grants available for hardware startups and impart essential advice on preparing for and composing the application to maximize your chances of success.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/222-securing-grants-for-scaling-up-a-hardware-startup/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • What are government grants?

  • You have to plan very far ahead before applying for a government grant.

  • What is the difference between state grants and federal grants?

  • Scaling-stage funding is when you are able to prove that you can scale. Most government grants require clear market proof to receive the funding.

  • There are a wide variety of different grant purposes.

  • Project design is key to successfully applying for a government grant.

  • There are 3 core elements to a grant: What are the activities you have to do to make the product business grow? What do you need in order to make the scaling project work? How much money is your product going to cost?

  • Identify the grant you think you can get, develop a compelling project plan in your application, and then ensure you follow the grant requirements after receiving funding.

  • There are a variety of grant requirements you must meet after you get the funding, so be conservative with your estimates.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, 

123: Selling A Hardware Product on B2B Platforms20 Apr 202200:26:08

Gil Bar-Lev is the founder of Homeroots, a North American Business to Business product marketplace that connects new innovative furniture products with furniture stores, distributors, and buyers. Earlier in his career he was the one who brought together Amazon and Toys R Us, back in 2002. Today Gil is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can successfully build a hardware product business, then how to start and scale selling through B2B marketplaces online.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Have passion about what you love in your hardware product startup
  • If you develop a product, go all in.
  • Never give up, if you are passionate about your product
  • Figure out your target audience
  • Create differentiation, or an improvement
  • Willingness to listen
  • Pivot if needed, after listening to customers
  • It’s hard to get feedback
  • The quality of a new hardware product is critical.
  • Stay competitive by keeping quality high
  • The industry in business-to-business sales could be multiple times the size of the sexy sales channels like direct to consumer.
  • The first order is so amazing
  • Don’t price to low originally, as you may lose a lot of interest from bigger buyers as you created too little margin
  • Leverage relationships with these buyers when you start getting connected
  • Encourage a feedback loop and channel
  • Don’t get defensive of feedback, try genuinely to help.


EPISODE LINKS

Gil Bar-Lev / HomeRoots Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

122: Modern Methods for New Product Development13 Apr 202200:32:25

John McEleney is the Co-Founder of OnShape, a leading cloud-based 3D CAD Design software used by almost two million product designers worldwide. He was one of the early innovators at SolidWorks and ended up being CEO there for 7 years before eventually founding OnShape. Today John is going to share some valuable knowledge on what inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can look forward to in modern CAD design tools, and how to best use those tools to get new innovative products to market in an agile way, learning from customers, and thus best ensuring product-market fit.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Building products is all about iteration
  • Cloud-based CAD software is making it far easier
  • Don’t worry about opening and working with it
  • Control your CAD, and control parts of it
  • Everything is saved step by step
  • Continue to test and try
  • Collaborate with peers in real-time
  • Figure out the product-market fit quickly
  • Getting products into customer's hands so that you can observe
  • Does your product solve a problem or delight a user


EPISODE LINKS

John McEleney / OnShape Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

121: Disrupt an Industry with your Hardware Invention06 Apr 202200:25:43

Alexander Manu is the author of many design thinking books, and is a lecturer at OCAD University, where I’ve also had the chance to lecture a few times. He was also the head of a big design studio called Axis for 25 years starting in 1980. Today Alexander is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should attempt to disrupt and capture an industry, all done by identifying, transitioning, and defining the category for yourself so that your product can be unbeatable.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • The iPhone changed everything, but most people misunderstood what the iPhone really was.
  • When you want to be competitive in hardware, you want to define the market yourself.
  • Be courageous, trust your gut, think about the long term.
  • You want to be the first, the best, or the only.
  • Understand what it is
  • You are not designing hardware, you are designing behavior enablers
  • Is it inside out, or outside in.
  • The first step in disruption is Transition
  • You cannot judge disruptors by existing lenses, as it’s new.
  • Every product is a cultural transformation
  • What is the nature of transformation
  • Define the category for yourself
  • As a hardware startup you need to overcome the natural industry baises
  • Think far down the road, what will your disruption change in the future?
  • Makes it very hard to compete (WD-40, Kleenex)
  • When you disrupt, you need to unlearn.
  • Always aspire to be the best, especially these days.
  • Don’t compromise on quality. Price is no longer an issue, both in the product, but also in the cost of designing it right.


EPISODE LINKS

Alexander Manu Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

120: People & Mindset at a Hardware Startup30 Mar 202200:29:10

Karin Lindner is the author of the book Make Manufacturing Sexy. She was also an instructor at Sheridan College, and consults many manufacturers on human resources and performance. Today Karin is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand the the people needed to succeed in building a hardware company, and the critical mindset both you and your team needs to be the best.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Creativity in manufacturing
  • Figure out what you want in a team to start
  • Find out what people are personally interested in
  • Ask lots of questions to all of your hires, stakeholders, vendors, partners, etc.
  • Make people feel special.
  • Build an org chart, but build it upside down, with the President serving everyone else and so on upward.
  • Mindset - Think about what you want, not what you don’t want.
  • Figure out what kind of a team you would like to create
  • Build resilience and grit.


EPISODE LINKS

Karin Lindner / Make Manufacturing Sexy Book Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

119: Planning for the Unexpected in Product Design23 Mar 202200:27:50

Kelly Schmutte is a dual degree graduate and a lecturer at Standford University at d.School.  She has also worked at IDEO and on product development of many hardware products, including designing and running her own product called PerfectFit, one of the world’s leading professional dance shoes, and is the co-author of the design book Navigating Ambiguity.  Today Kelly is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand ambiguity and unexpected circumstances within the product development journey, and how to maximize the value of your product through prototyping and testing before going into manufacturing.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Defining ambiguity - The quality of being open to more than one interpretation
  • How does it apply to hardware product design
  • Framing the problem, then asking why that problem is important
  • How do you then go about solving the problem.
  • What is some of the academic research around ambiguity in design
  • How do you use this in hardware design
  • The importance prototyping
  • Prototype to learn at first, then prototype to figure it out, then prototype to perfect it and validate it.


EPISODE LINKS

Kelly Schmutte / Navigating Ambiguity Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

118: Behavioral Science of Subtraction in Product Design16 Mar 202200:30:30

Leidy Klotz has his PhD in Behavioral Science and is a professor at the University of Virginia. He is the Author of the New York Times bestselling design book called Subtract. His research has been featured in many publications including the front cover of Nature magazine. Today Leidy is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can both understand what it means to think about subtraction in your product development process, and also learn what the best practices are for ensuring world-class subtraction thinking for your product.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Science explains why we don’t think of subtraction
  • This is a problem baked in evolution
  • Simple is hard, and requires improved cognition
  • Balance Bike / Construction Cinder Blocks
  • How do you do Subtraction better
  • Give yourself Reminders
  • Next time you have a design decision to make, try and think just as much about subtraction as you do about addition
  • Build subtraction into your design process
  • Put design rules into play for being great at subtraction
  • First you have to think of it, then you have to choose it.
  • Highlight in your design what is not there


EPISODE LINKS

Leidy Klotz / Subract Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

  • ...
117: Successful Equity Crowdfunding for Hardware Startups09 Mar 202200:26:29

Peter-Paul Van Hoeken is the Founder of FrontFundr, one of North America’s top platforms for equity crowdfunding for startups and small scaling businesses. He is a TEDx speaker on Investment Crowdfunding, is a member of the Securities Commission, and is an advisor to both the Private Capital Markets Association and the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association. Simply put, Peter-Paul is the person to talk to when it comes to crowdfunding capital for a hardware startup. Today, he is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use crowdfunded equity platforms to raise capital to grow a hardware product business.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • The difference between equity crowdfunding and product crowdfunding
  • Equity funding requires work, which starts with prep.
  • Throughout the campaign, continue to talk to your potential updates via updates.
  • Ideally you have a great product to show, but even better, show some sales.
  • Post campaign, it is important to keep your community excited by keeping them up to date with what is going on.
  • Create trust with your audience by being honest with your progress.
  • Reach as many people as possible through a platform
  • Build and leverage your community, be clear on your key messages with your product, choose the right media to amplify your message, organize events, identify influencers within your industry.


EPISODE LINKS

Peter-Paul Van Hoeken / FrontFundr Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

116: How to Turn an Invention into a Product Business02 Mar 202200:37:05

Tom Gray is the Founder and Executive Producer of the Make48 TV Show, a show where contestants have 48 hours to come up with an invention idea and build a prototype to showcase it to the judges. The show is on PBS, Amazon Prime, and many other networks around the world. I will actually be one of the judges on the upcoming season, so stay tuned for that release date in coming months! Today Tom is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can grow from being an inventor, maker, tinkerer, or product ideator into being a real product business success via either product licensing or starting a product manufacturing business.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Two choices: License or build a startup
  • Licensing still requires you to move down the
  • 4 things to present an invention idea
  • Your first prototype is never the final one, do a few to get it right
  • Make sure to have a quick and clean video
  • Sales sheet, just one page
  • Some IP protection, done well
  • Small stepping stones in developing the product


EPISODE LINKS

Tom Gray / Make48 Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

115: How to Successfully Design & Launch a Toy Invention23 Feb 202200:31:32

Dan Klitsner is the inventor of the super-popular toy Bop It, along with over 300 other toy inventions of his that are out on the market. Bop It alone has sold more than 30 million units. Dan has been in the product game for over 25 years with over 500,000 followers on social media. Today Dan is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use best practices from his success in the toy industry to build and launch a successful toy product, and how those lessons can apply to success in any hardware product vertical.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Failures are the best way to lead to success
  • Toys blended with industrial design
  • Toys are generally creating opportunity, where products solve a problem
  • Don’t just think of products as a problem solving tool
  • Everything is RITE (a formula for how to evaluate your idea)
  • Relationship, Idea, Timing, Execution
  • Meetings that are failures, they can be learned from
  • A great idea is only one part of the puzzle
  • Pretend that your idea is only a 5 out of 10, then improve it
  • Timing is not luck, you can gauge this via research
  • Relentless listening to everyone and everything throughout your product journey
  • Knock on the right doors, and enough doors, to find a good fit
  • Listen to your prospective buyers


EPISODE LINKS

Dan Klitsner Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

114: Designing an MVP for a New Consumer Product16 Feb 202200:28:10

Magnus Skold is a 20-year industrial designer.  He started in designing ultra-high-end interiors for private jets for international royalty, then worked with commercial airlines, then worked with Dell and a number of other brands, and then for the past few years, is a senior industrial designer with me at Mako Design.  Today Magnus is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should think about the importance of a minimum viable product when developing their first product for the market.  How MVP is important for cost, simplicity, modern design, production smoothness, and even onto benefits and feedback from end-users.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • MVP design defined
  • Levels of complication
  • Has it been thought through
  • Free vs costly choices
  • Keeping things clean/tidy/elegant
  • Matching the aesthetic of the environment
  • Nothing more, nothing less
  • Purity of purpose
  • The true costs of complexity


EPISODE LINKS

Magnus Skold Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

221: How to Go from Prototype to First Manufacturing Run11 Apr 202400:15:53

With more than two decades of experience in manufacturing, Keenan Wyrobek stands as a highly knowledgeable figure in the industry. He is the Co-Founder and CTO of Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery enterprise boasting a workforce of 1,100 individuals that has secured funding in the hundreds of millions. Today, Keenan will divulge his extensive expertise salient to inventors, startups, and small-scale manufacturers. He will share how to best navigate the intricacies of the design for manufacturing phase, strategies for optimizing the product development and prototyping stages for seamless integration with manufacturing processes, and how to smoothly transition from finalizing your pre-production prototype to your first manufacturing run, thereby laying the groundwork for a triumphant launch.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/221-how-to-go-from-prototype-to-first-manufacturing-run/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • Ensure your product is well-designed and has been prototyped numerous times before going into the production stage.

  • Design for manufacturing is all about hitting optimizations and maximizing manufacturability for each individual component.

  • Don’t change aspects of the product design once you have begun DFM, the design is done at that point!

  • Create at least more than 3 prototypes to make sure you have industriously iterated on everything that matters.

  • You are not done prototyping until you are perfectly happy with your design, and it perfectly aligns with your vision for your product.

  • Manufacturing design is the stage where you start working closely with your manufacturing vendors.

  • Make sure you have a strong manufacturing design package to provide your vendors with.

  • Product reliability is critical, so make sure you have a strong relationship with your manufacturing vendors!

  • Include the customer in the DFM process, as they will identify reliability issues you may have never identified.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent...

113: How Founders Develop Complex Hardware Products09 Feb 202200:20:17

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

112: Designing & Commercializing Robotics Inventions02 Feb 202200:38:44

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

111: Selling & Growing Your Product at Retail Stores26 Jan 202200:26:52

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

110: Design for Manufacturing Consumer Products19 Jan 202200:25:47

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

109: Landing Page Sales Funnels for Consumer Products12 Jan 202200:27:46

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

108: Hardware Design Tips from Apple & Intel Leader05 Jan 202200:28:50

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

107: Using Hardware Incubators for Product Startups22 Dec 202100:28:00

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

106: Building Your Hardware Product Team Early15 Dec 202100:38:35

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

  • Instagram:
105: Patenting Physical Consumer Product Inventions08 Dec 202100:35:36

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

104: Medical Device Certification vs Wellness Device01 Dec 202100:23:42

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

220: How Storytelling Drives Consumer Product Sales05 Apr 202400:18:01

Akeem Shannon is the mastermind behind Flipstik, a consumer product startup that started with a crowdfunding campaign and has achieved resounding success leveraging the immense power of authentic storytelling. In addition to achieving over a million units sold and robust partnerships with over 3,000 resellers, Flipstik has garnered substantial attention from millions of consumers across various social media platforms, including the legendary Snoop Dogg. Today, Akeem will take listeners through his journey in the hardware startup space and impart valuable anecdotes for inventors, startups, and small-scale manufacturers. He will delve into the significance of storytelling in consumer product promotion, emphasizing its dual utility: leveraging personal narrative as a founder and harnessing customer experiences. Moreover, Akeem will elaborate on how to strategically implement these storytelling techniques to propel the growth of your product business.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/220-how-storytelling-drives-consumer-product-sales/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • It always helps to have a genuine love for sales as you are always selling something as a hardware founder.

  • You can recover from failure if you don’t give up!

  • Self-belief will take you further than anything!

  • Most people don’t have big imaginations, so your biggest obstacle is convincing them to buy something they were previously content with living without.

  • Show consumers how your customer's lives were changed by using your product.

  • Sometimes, you are not the right messenger for a specific audience, so utilize the stories of others to get your message across.

  • Find people who love your product and work with them to amplify your message!

  • Authenticity is the most important thing when telling your own story.

  • Your story will get you into rooms and meetings that you may think you are too small for.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, 

103: How to Get a New Product’s First B2B Sales24 Nov 202100:27:11

Patrick Daly is the author of the book Just Start Up. He has built over 20 products from invention idea to market over the past 25 years. Today Patrick is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can get their first products sold by selling directly to other businesses such as wholesalers, retailers, distributors, or other brands, and then how to accelerate your ongoing product development and sales through those channels.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • How do you start selling B2B (Networks and referrals)
  • Watch out for exclusive deals, they are great, but there are ways to protect yourself
  • Speed is critical (startups should be speed boats) Speed boats vs Super Tankers
  • Retain your identity, even with licensing or white label sales
  • Only then, switch to reaching out to cold prospects, but do it via phone
  • Think of innovation at all levels (Different Selling Point)
  • Listening to your buyers
  • Planning forward
  • Connecting engineering with sales


EPISODE LINKS

Patrick Daly / Just Start Up Book Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

102: How Students Start Successful Hardware Businesses17 Nov 202100:26:31

Scott Evans is the Director of Inventionworks at the University of Texas, just a few blocks away from our Mako Design Austin office. Inventionworks is a 23,000 square foot product design and development facility with lots of fun machines and a team of 40 experts to help get student inventions off the ground. In addition, Scott has spent 25 years in the prototyping and product manufacturing industry. Today Scott is going to share some valuable knowledge on how student inventors and startups can start their invention idea journey, and how to maximize the value of what colleges and universities have to offer. And today isn’t just about students, but also how anyone in the industry can get involved with their local schools both to help and to learn from them.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Look around campus (student to student, faculty, entrepreneurial programs)
  • Product development in combination with an entrepreneurial mindset
  • How can people in the community be helpful for universities hardware incubators
  • Continuous learning, regress back to the role of a student to learn
  • Blur the lines between education and professional practice


EPISODE LINKS

Scott Evans / Inventionworks Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

101: Payment Processing for Small Hardware Manufacturers10 Nov 202100:26:03

Nic Beique is the Founder and CEO of Helcim, a North American payment processing company that has over 10,000 small business clients, and processes over four billion dollars of transactions per year. In fact, Mako Design is one of his clients. Today Nic is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should understand the importance of payment processing, and how to best use it to improve the experience for both your end customers and your business-to-business wholesale transactions.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • High level of what payment processing is
  • Why does payment processing matter to small hardware manufacturers?
  • Tips for small new products and existing manufacturers
  • Direct to consumer online, in-store, and B2B
  • The new wave of wholesale direct sales


EPISODE LINKS

Nic Beique / Helcim Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

100: Pitch Deck Storytelling for Hardware Funding03 Nov 202100:32:01

Donna Griffit helps write pitches for hardware startups and small manufacturing companies to raise millions of dollars in funding. Before working with small product businesses, she used to do corporate pitch investment decks for Samsung, Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Visa, and more. She has raised over $300 million for hardware companies alone. Today Donna is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should think about how to write a perfect investor pitch through storytelling, and what specific story model to use to land the big bucks.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • There’s simply a lot of funding activity right now.
  • The importance of telling a story.
  • The formula for a great story.
  • Relevance is key, why should an investor invest today as opposed to later.
  • Find how you fit in three trends: Social, regulatory, and big things happening in or around your space.
  • Bring undeniable value to the potential investors.
  • Stories have both resonance and a structure, both are key.
  • Use your personal story as part of the story.
  • The framework: The pain/need/opportunity, then the hero, then the business potential, then the vision for the future.


EPISODE LINKS

Donna Griffit Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

099: Accounts Receivable Funding for Big Orders27 Oct 202100:21:18

Steven is the Founder and CEO of FundThrough, a North American accounts receivable firm that has provided billions of dollars in bridge financing to help small businesses scale.  His firm is also a fellow recipient of the Best Places to Work Award.  Today Steven is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand how big buyers like wholesalers, distributors, and retailers use credit terms when purchasing your products, and what you can do to bridge the gap between delivering your product and getting paid, something which is quite important for a small and scaling consumer product business.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Bridge Financing, Accounts Receivable financing
  • It allows you to pay your suppliers
  • The clock doesn’t start ticking on you getting paid until the invoice gets through.
  • Get your invoices paid faster
  • How bridge financing helps with scaling
  • Small businesses that land a big sale
  • Larger customers have a lot more control on how they get paid
  • Use Quickbooks Online, makes financing very easy


EPISODE LINKS

Steven Uster / FundThrough Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

098: Expand eCommerce Sales via Product Bundling20 Oct 202100:23:38

Amy is the Founder of Mozzafiato, a large e-commerce health and beauty product store.  She has over 1,000 products on her platform, and it only launched a year ago.  Before this, she spent 20 years as a university executive and an attorney.  Today Amy is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can join with other emerging consumer products to create bundles of products to sell online, thus giving your product much broader market access and bigger potential sales.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • Press launch for a new brand, and for social credibility.
  • Create a group of products that doesn’t compete with anything else.
  • How a new product can get into people’s hands that they never would have been able to on their own.
  • Can market your product in a different way when bundled.
  • Powerful partnerships with other great brands that compliment your product brand.
  • Margins can be good as perceived value is high.
  • Shipping savings.
  • Subscriptions when bundling.


EPISODE LINKS

Amy Parsons / Mozzafiato Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:

097: How to Overcome Product Buyers’ Objections13 Oct 202100:41:55

Will Russell is the Founder of Russell Marketing, a New York marketing agency that specializes in launching new consumer product inventions. He is also a fellow writer with me for Forbes. Today Will is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers learn to identify the main consumer buyer objections when purchasing your product, then how to overcome those objections when you launch your product to the market for the first time.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • What are the types of buy objections when selling B2C
  • Omnichanel product launch strategies
  • Lots of the strategies today can be used in many sales strategies, including B2B
  • How to create launch systems
  • Cost, positioning, brand, technical, apathy


EPISODE LINKS

Will Russell / Russell Marketing Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

096: How To Launch a Consumer Product at Trade Shows06 Oct 202100:38:10

Jim Cermak is the Founder of Trade Show University, an organization that educates and consults small businesses on winning at trade shows. He has been both in the trade show industry for 30 years, but also in the consumer product development and marketing business for many years. He also is the host of the Trade Show University Podcast. Today Jim is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can first choose a great show to exhibit at, then how to do a great job at landing big sales at the show itself.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • So many big products had their first big hit at a trade show.
  • What is a trade show and how do they work?
  • Figure out which is the right show you should be at.
  • CES, National Hardware Show, etc.
  • The people who are there are really wanting to be there.
  • Trade Show Roadmap


EPISODE LINKS

Jim Cermak / Trade Show University Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

095: Solve End-User Pain for Consumer Product Success29 Sep 202100:31:49

Dan Soviero is the Founder of Signature Athletics, a highly successful sports gear company selling products all over the world. Dan is also a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, and like me, started his business while back in school. Today Dan is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use the power of truly understanding a customer’s pain point, and using that understanding to create and sell highly successful products.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • A popular concept vs a problem-solving concept.
  • Used the process of creating value to create more products
  • Tried whitelabelling to other brands, but couldn’t best solve the end-client’s pain points.
  • Used innovation from the end-client.
  • Use one sentence to solve a pain point for your end-customer.
  • You can come up with an invention idea by focusing on a problem and thinking hard about how to solve it.


EPISODE LINKS

Dan Soviero / Signature Athletics Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

094: How New Startup Products Get Into Big Retailers22 Sep 202100:21:20

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. Today Yohan is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers get into the big retailers, including the 3 major tips on what retailers are looking for these days, and furthermore, how to succeed and scale once you are on the shelves with your invention.

Today you will hear us talk about:

  • The difference between retail and marketplaces
  • Three traits retailers look for: Unique, capitalized, nice people.
  • Three metrics retailers look for:
  • 1. Revenue, profitability, inventory turns
  • 2. Past sales history
  • 3. What are you going to do to build awareness
  • It’s not just about sell-in, but it is about sell-through.


EPISODE LINKS

Yohan Jacob / Retail Bound Links:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

219: Hiring Your First Team Members at a Hardware Startup28 Mar 202400:19:24

Kevin Lavelle, the Co-Founder and CEO of Mizzen + Main, a renowned men's apparel company that has its products distributed in hundreds of outlets and boasts 10 thriving retail stores, has embarked on a new venture: Harbor. Harbor is a pioneering pediatric device startup that recently secured $3.7 million in seed funding. Today, Kevin shares the insight he gained while successfully scaling his product business by imparting modern inventors, startups, and small-scale manufacturers with tips for hiring your very first team members and expounding upon the quintessential attributes to seek in inaugural hires in the hardware startup realm. He delves into discerning characteristics that hold significance, dispelling common misconceptions, and underscores the paramount importance of never sacrificing quality within the consumer product domain.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/219-hiring-your-first-team-members-at-a-hardware-startup/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

  • What foremost principles are the most important to prioritize when hiring?

  • Can your potential hire survive in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment?

  • People from large organizations are not typically great fits for very early-stage hardware startup businesses.

  • Can this hire operate without a team and spearhead decision-making on their own?

  • Get to know a potential hire beyond just one interview.

  • Does your potential hire fundamentally understand what they are getting into in joining a hardware startup?

  • Knowledge gained on the job is an intangible benefit of working for a startup that can also outweigh the compensation.

  • Never sacrifice your quality when developing a hardware product!

  • Avoid feature creep in early-stage startups!

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

 

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and 

093: Selling Products Direct to End-Customer Online15 Sep 202100:30:08

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

092: Making a Product Video for Your Invention08 Sep 202100:29:09

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

091: Market Testing Prior to a Crowdfunding Launch01 Sep 202100:37:22

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:



The Product Startup Podcast Links:



Mako Design Links:



Kevin Mako Links:

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