Product Startup

Collin Mitchell has been in the sales space for over 15 years, including selling over 5,000 SKUs of product through his first of many companies he founded.  He is currently the Managing Director of Leadium, a full-service selling agency for helping companies scale up their sales efforts.  Today Collin will share valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on how to figure out what types of wholesale buyers there are, which ones are ideal for your particular product, and how to build and manage a list of these buyers so that you can grow your wholesale selling efforts quickly. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Selling direct to wholesale buyers Your ideal customer profile Find the buyers who are best suited to your specific product. Ranking your potential buyers from most important to least important First identify the companies, then identify the specific contacts within your industry Go one step further on your buyer is finding more information about your buyer so that you can set yourself above everyone else reaching out to these high value buyers. The more information you find about your buyers the better. It is competitive to try and get the attention of these buyers. Use one or two sets of databases to find this information. The phone is one of the most powerful tools that you have to reach out. Before you pick up the phone to reach someone, be prepared. Don’t limit yourself to one channel in approaching product buyers. Reach out many times, be persistent. It takes 15 to 20 touch points before a buyer. Don’t take it personally. A no should be looked at as a positive thing, as you are refining your list to put more effort into the best and tightest list of people that could potentially carry your product. As you start to get traction with some buyers, you can use that success to Collin Mitchell Links: LinkedIn | Leadium The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Paul Davis is a senior industrial designer at our very own Mako Design for almost 10 years.  He achieved Honors status in his degree in Product Design Engineering and Industrial Design at Edinburgh University.  Today Paul will share valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the difference between basic CAD and design for manufacturing, why design for manufacturing is so important early in the design process, and best practices for designing a product for manufacturing success. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Designing products for manufacturing Cost effective, good looking, and high quality.  Concept design needs to bake in planning, parts, and logic for how the product will eventually be manufactured. Simplicity of design leads to quality manufacturing. Using manufacturing CAD software to build original CAD models heavily improves the process and reduces cost in both prototyping and manufacturing. Considering how you manufacture your product while building your first full CAD design There are many manufacturing methods that go into a new hardware product. Manufacturing draft angles, tool design, part integration, OEM parts, materials data sets, etc. Industrial design and conceptual mechanical engineering together. Simple products succeed more often than complex products for new hardware startups developing a new invention idea for the first time for manufacturing. Paul Davis Links: LinkedIn | MAKO Design The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Nikki Lindgren is the Founder and Managing Partner of Pennock, a PPC digital advertising agency specifically for consumer product brands.  She has managed hundreds of product sales campaigns online with over twenty million dollars in ad spend per year.  Today Nikki is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the types of content ads to use on TikTok for selling hardware products, how to use the new TikTok store, best practices in the effectiveness of ads, and the structure of specific content in those ads so that you can sell big. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: TikTok is a platform that can be leveraged TikTok shops in the United States User-generated content is valuable on TikTok Low-fi and less fancy assets actually perform well on TikTok It is easy to start a shop on TikTok for your product Most of the effort is on the creative. How many seconds of someone’s TikTok ad are the audience watching Think about remarketing based on how people interacted with your original product TikTok ads. $20 per day is the minimum ad spend on TikTok The bigger players are trying a bunch of different hooks. 4 to 7 different types of assets to try selling, to find out which TikTok ad works best for your hardware product The structure of a good TikTok ad for an invention are the hook, the message, then the offer. Ad rules on TikTok TikTok has a creator platform. Spark ads on organic first, then use the ads to push over to that long organic content. Nikki Lindgren Links: LinkedIn | Pennock The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Robb Green is the founder of Solving Alpha, a company with dozens of products and multiple product brands on Amazon, that also acquires other Amazon brands.  He also hosts the I’m The One Podcast to help people migrate to the world of entrepreneurship.  Today Robb is going to share valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the importance of properly planning for an Amazon product launch, the technical aspects of an Amazon listing, and how to succeed in launching and growing your product sales on the Amazon marketplace platform Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Preparing your listing to have success Amazon wants new products, and they want successful new consumer products. Amazon is just a marketplace / catalogue Prepare for your Amazon listing in advance How do you capture eyeballs. Main image is the most important thing, then title, then a decision to make a click into your listing. Stack images on Amazon, then reviews, then story. Write for the algorithm, but also write for the story to sell the customer. Indexing on Amazon.  Does Amazon find you relevant for a particular keyword. Ranking on Amazon.  This is how to get  Sell-through (conversion rate) and click-through rate. The better you perform than your competitors, the Amazon ads buys you visibility on the platform but it also gives you data. You just need to be slightly better than an alternative product on Amazon. These improvements on your ads will stack onto each other. Search query performance data. Constantly improve your keywords by doing research Product opportunity explorer.  The product matters a lot, especially for reviews, but also quality matters in the long term matter for ratings. There are a lot of garbage products on Amazon, so it is easy to compete quickly. Robb Green Links: LinkedIn | Solving Alpha | Podcast The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Chris Peer is the author of The Great 8 Pillars of ROI-Driven Marketing. He is also the founder of SyncShow, a 20-year-old marketing company specifically for manufacturers and supply chain. Today Chris is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the 8 required pillars of building a great marketing strategy for your product, the importance of those pillars, and best practices on how to build a successful marketing machine for your new hardware brand. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Return on Investment for marketing is critical Investing on marketing early saves you a lot of money down the road. Drive more sales than you spend in marketing. Track and measure. 8 pillars of marketing, in order of importance Goals, KPIs and industry benchmarks. An ROI driven goal for marketing. Value proposition. Nail that ideal customer profile and what pain points you are solving for them. Your marketing strategy. Very few people have it. Where is your target market, channels that your buyers shop,  Your marketing team. Your website Your analytics and reporting. Your technology stack. CRM and marketing automation. Templates and guides. Not a single pillar is a marketing tactic, this is a marketing infrastructure. Build marketing and sales infrastructure early in your hardware startup. Make sure to track first point of contact with your brand all the way through to a sale. Website, marketing, and sales are all linked together. Chris Peer Links: LinkedIn | SyncShow | Book The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Tim Angel is the founder of Zugu, an Amazon eCommerce iPad case that sold millions of units online. They have been perfecting the craft of direct-to-consumer selling on Amazon over the past 13 years, achieving over $30 Million Dollars in sales per year. Today Tim is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the power of Amazon, how to get started in selling a new consumer product on Amazon, and best practices for growing sales quickly and effectively soon after launch. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: When he got the opportunity to build an invention business, he went all in. The only way you can fail is if you stop trying Amazon is an amazing platform for getting the best products a good chance in the market If you’re coming up with one product, it is hard to succeed on your own website, but it is much easier to utilize the Amazon platform Scale, conversion rates, and marketing in general  There are a lot of 4-star products on Amazon, so if you can be a 5-star product, you get a major advantage. Buy products of your competitors and see how to make the best version of the product. Look at competitor reviews, and find out what people dislike about competitors and what they do like. Slowly make more and more progress. Place a small order on the early. On Amazon if you are competing on price, there is a lot of competition, if you are competing on quality, there is little competition right now. Post your personal story is a huge differentiator. Don’t do advertising until you have reviews. There are lots of ways to get early reviews, use those methods. Use your ads to let people know that you have a premium product. Learn the advertising system yourself in Amazon. A low cost product is harder to sell because of shipping, advertising, etc. Focus on one product category and do it well. Don’t do a bunch of things okay, do one or a few great. Tim Angel Links: LinkedIn | Zugu Case The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Will Haire serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Bellavix, a marketing agency dedicated to the strategic growth of emerging hardware brands on Amazon and Walmart.com. With a background in military technology and supply chain management, Will has honed his expertise over a decade in the digital marketing realm. In this presentation, Will will impart invaluable insights tailored for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers. He will elucidate the nuances of the Walmart.com Marketplace, guide you through the product listing process, and illuminate best practices for effectively launching and expanding your hardware product in this competitive space. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Walmart online differs from Walmart Retail Stores. Not all products on the website are available in physical stores. Online sales can demonstrate a product's value effectively. Many Walmart online products catch the attention of retail store buyers. Walmart is aggressively expanding into the e-commerce sector. Walmart possesses a vast infrastructure. There's a substantial opportunity for brands to join Walmart, especially as it's still in its early stages. Getting a new product on Walmart.com is now surprisingly straightforward. Previously, it was challenging to access the platform, but it's now more friendly to emerging product brands. It takes less than a week to list your product on the Walmart marketplace. Avoid simply mirroring listings from other marketplaces; tailor your approach to Walmart's platform. How Walmart presents and promotes your product is crucial. Different online marketplaces have varying sales metrics for the same consumer products. Maintain control over your product brand on Walmart. Walmart Fulfillment Services is akin to Amazon Prime Fulfillment. Transfer reviews from Shopify, if available, to your Walmart listing. Advertising is essential for brand scaling, especially after garnering positive reviews. Carefully design and engineer titles, keywords, descriptions, and bullets to match buyer intent. Experiment with software to find the most effective keywords for traffic and conversions. Utilize Pay Per Click ads and the DSP Programmatic Platform in both on and off-platform advertising on Walmart.com. Will Haire Links: LinkedIn BellaVix The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Roland Siebelink, with a background in scaling companies from 10 to over 1000 employees, started his journey in the 90s with internet hardware. With over 30 years of experience, he's aided numerous hardware startups and tech firms in transitioning from startup to scale-up. As the CEO of Midstage Institute for almost 8 years, he specializes in helping startups grow. Today, Roland will share insights for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the timing of transitioning from startup to scale-up, navigating high-growth transformations, and ensuring success in scale-up hardware companies. Here are the key takeaways from the episode: Transitioning from a startup to a hardware scale-up The growth journey of a new product development company Identifying the right time to stop acting like a startup Shifting focus from exploration to exploitation when traction is visible The potency of a small proof of market for new hardware brands Prioritizing growth and exploitation in scale-ups, not just exploration Recognizing that gaining traction as an inventor is just the beginning of the scaling process Emphasizing the building of a business, not just a product Consider involving someone with a scaling mindset for technical or inventor-focused roles Transition from being the smartest person in the room to hiring even smarter people Acknowledging the non-binary transition from startup to full-scale corporation with a middle stage Implementing processes as a means to scale efficiently Utilizing the 80/20 principle to achieve optimal results Maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit during mid-stage growth Leveraging the competitive advantage of being a lean startup with a strong vision Avoid launching a second business prematurely Identifying opportunities within a small niche in a larger market Initial focus on visionaries and early adopters within the market segment. Roland Siebelink Links: LinkedIn Midstage Institute The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Laura is the President of FORGE, a non-for-profit organization that helps specifically hardware startups in scaling from prototyping to manufacturing growth. They have worked with over 700 physical product startups to ensure that those companies are a commercial success by ensuring new product manufacturing is done right. Today, Laura is going to share valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on how to ensure your product is designed properly and correctly for manufacturing, how to ensure your documentation is complete, and how to best approach contract manufacturers to transition your developed product into a successful first manufacturing run.  Here are the key takeaways from the episode: The importance of building a simplified design for manufacturing Design for manufacturing is required to ensure the product is ready for production, and does not need any more design to complete to what is needed for market or for reliability or for certifications. What to do when you haven’t tested enough the design There is a false assumption that manufacturers are going to fix your design problems. Use design firms to do design for manufacturing specifically The effects of a lack of manufacturing documentation Reaching out to partners too soon Laura Teicher Links: LinkedIn The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality. 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 manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.