Crowdfunding Truths

Join us for an eye-opening episode on the world of crowdfunding! We’ll be diving into the nitty-gritty of this innovative funding method, uncovering its upsides, its downsides, and everything in between.

From wild success stories to cautionary tales, we’ll explore the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of crowdfunding. Don’t miss out on this informative and entertaining discussion!

Audio Only Version

Full Show Transcript

0:00 hey everybody Welcome to before you tank
0:05 surviving thriving in an industry
0:07 that we face can suck but we have
0:11 committed you guys again we are
0:13 committing to having success stories of
0:16 people winning even if winning sometimes
0:19 means you only spend 100 bucks but you
0:21 realize you’re fine it doesn’t work or
0:23 it can mean you’re gonna tell us how you
0:25 just sold a purchase order for a hundred
0:27 thousand units so we are pumped and
0:29 ready to hear so having said that I
0:33 brought you into that for a reason
0:34 because we are going to talk the money
0:37 talk let’s talk about crowdfunding you
0:39 guys
0:41 Keith you are the man in that World
0:44 I would love to hear
0:46 I have my issues in that world but I
0:49 want to hear it tell us about it come on
0:51 this will be fun and it’s funny because
0:53 funding is a it’s probably a really big
0:55 topic and we should probably dive into a
0:57 couple areas and next additional shows
0:59 because as you talk to startups you talk
1:01 to inventors right they probably all at
1:03 some point had that question in the back
1:05 their mind am I going to get funding
1:07 right and how am I going to do it so
1:09 that’s a really important topic and
1:11 we’ve worked with a lot of startups that
1:13 have gone down multiple roads there some
1:15 you know great successes so I think
1:18 there’s a lot that we could talk about
1:20 crowdfunding because
1:22 we probably all get this perception
1:24 right we’ve when we all remember like
1:26 look you know 13 million dollar coolest
1:29 cooler yeah all right and then I’m gonna
1:32 make sixty thousand dollars for making
1:33 potato salad right if you if you
1:35 remember the early days of Kickstarter
1:37 there was some phenomenal stories that
1:39 came out of it it was awesome
1:41 the reality is Kickstarter grew up right
1:44 and so there’s this the platform is
1:47 still great there’s still tons of
1:48 products on there but there’s tons of
1:50 products on there which means there’s a
1:52 lot of competition right and competition
1:54 doesn’t even have to be the same exact
1:57 product it’s just there’s only so much
1:59 real estate on that site and so which
2:02 products get featured right oh
2:03 fascinating how do they show it that’s
2:05 the key so just like just like Google
2:08 when you search for something anything
2:10 there’s a million different results
2:12 well when you’re on Kickstarter these
2:14 days there’s tons of different results
2:15 and so immediately it’s like well what
2:18 about the other platforms right because
2:19 it’s crowdfunding not there’s not just
2:21 Kickstarter that’s just a really cool
2:22 yeah Indiegogo many many other great
2:25 platforms
2:26 but a lot of it share common themes and
2:29 that is today they’re mature there’s a
2:32 lot of other people using those
2:33 platforms they still can be very very
2:35 viable and helpful but you’ve got to
2:38 have a strategy and approach for it
2:39 you’ve got to go in knowing oh yeah you
2:42 can’t just do your home video anymore
2:43 can you and just upload it I’m like here
2:45 it is buy my product done you know
2:48 there’s even some themes you’ll see
2:50 on different platforms that you know
2:52 some that kind of stick out more than
2:53 the other one that I thought was
2:55 interesting that a year or so back
2:57 actually the board games were really hot
3:00 on Kickstarter for a while and they were
3:02 they were crushing it oh wow really
3:04 interesting it is interesting but I
3:06 think it goes in phases a little bit so
3:08 that kind of floated to the top yeah it
3:10 was like you know it was really popular
3:11 at that time maybe it had something to
3:14 do with the you know environment we’re
3:16 all in if people were more I don’t know
3:19 but it was definitely a theme for a
3:21 while
3:22 so thinking through that it’s just it’s
3:25 a lot like other things right you really
3:26 need to have that strategy that
3:28 awareness going in so so that you stand
3:31 out up against everybody else right so
3:33 why give me your money exactly well I
3:36 have an interesting side to that first
3:37 of all one of my clients
3:40 cousin is started
3:43 Kickstarter that was 10 years ago
3:46 now and it was just hitting big and I
3:50 had started to do some work for them and
3:52 they had they didn’t need funding but
3:54 they had talked about Kickstarter
3:55 something came up about Kickstarter and
3:57 they’re like well that’s our cousin
3:58 in college what a cool idea so first of
4:01 all that’s my cool fun story but I also
4:04 a few years back
4:06 I had been in Washington when we were
4:09 all speaking about patent rights and
4:12 Kickstarter with that coolest cooler who
4:14 couldn’t perform because it cost more
4:17 than 185 dollars he sold it’s a thing really did
4:21 bring up a lot of issues and so I’ve
4:23 gotten clients who have done Kickstarter
4:25 they raised their x amount of dollars
4:27 and never sent out what you bought and
4:30 so that had become a real issue so I
4:32 knew they would tightening up things and
4:34 kind of changing things and so I kind of
4:36 shifted away from it a little bit like I
4:38 try to do other things for my clients
4:40 and Kickstart it but I know you’ve had
4:42 some really great success stories so
4:44 that’s a good point so you do have that
4:47 element in the back of a lot of people’s
4:48 mind because if you’ve been around
4:49 Kickstarter enough you’re probably
4:51 backed a product or some idea that
4:54 hasn’t come out you’re still waiting
4:56 right there’s some delay delay so I
4:58 think there’s a I think there’s a real
5:00 risk factor there that people have in
5:02 the back of their minds when they’re
5:03 backing and so interestingly enough I’ve
5:07 been seeing that really successful
5:09 Kickstarter companies do it multiple
5:12 times because they deliver it once and
5:15 they keep delivering the next product
5:16 right so they build this amazing
5:19 audience and then they use the platform
5:21 to redeliver that again and kind of
5:23 build on that same audience I think it’s
5:26 not how launch boom kind of does I think
5:27 isn’t it launch boom that’s really
5:29 successful in helping with kickstarters
5:32 I think it’s called launch boom and
5:33 so that’s kind of what they did they got
5:34 really good at realizing that if I could
5:36 build that
5:38 I call it a focus group I that’s my
5:40 dream I’m like if we could create that
5:42 so you could give people a chance to to
5:45 test their markets without necessarily
5:47 because this is not really what it is
5:49 Kickstarter is kind of not only raising
5:51 money but you’re getting that buyer
5:53 feedback your people are putting their
5:54 dollars where their mouth is which is
5:57 brilliant and so that’s actually a
5:59 really good point I think a lot of
6:00 people think of Kickstarter only as
6:01 funding but there’s a lot of other
6:03 reasons you might use it so a really
6:05 funny example was I saw a major
6:10 faucet manufacturer in the U.S use
6:13 Kickstarter I was like what this company
6:15 has been around forever they’ve got
6:17 hundreds of products all over the place
6:22 but I know two companies that I work
6:24 with for licensing that now that’s their
6:26 requirement if they take on a new
6:28 product they put it through the
6:29 kickstarter route because this is their
6:31 logic it costs 40 to 100 000 to be on
6:34 Kickstarter so let’s just get that out
6:36 there in the world people think it’s
6:38 like I’m gonna take my whole video and
6:39 I’m gonna stick it on but the ones that
6:41 are successful you can assume 40 to 1006:44 is what I’ve been told yeah aside from
6:46 the few that get lucky but yeah but for
6:48 the most part yeah exactly and but
6:51 they say it’s still a better investment
6:53 to get all that feedback and sometimes
6:56 they raise good money yeah big companies
6:58 to back that new product so it’s a win
7:01 for you as the inventor as well but
7:03 there is some risk to it because what
7:05 what if I used to be able to get the
7:07 deal and you took that guy took all the
7:09 risk and you know then if it didn’t work
7:11 you could take it back but now they’re
7:13 going to test you out the first six
7:15 months before you fully sign your
7:16 contract and you’re like what if it
7:17 flops and it’s publicly known right
7:20 because now you kind of yeah
7:23 and it’s interesting because you bring
7:25 that up and and why would they do that
7:27 right well now we’re getting people to
7:28 put their money where their mouth is
7:29 right so if you grab a group of people
7:32 do a focus group ask them hey what do
7:34 you like this product that product which
7:35 one do you like better would you buy
7:36 this you know it’s very easy in that
7:39 setting to be like yeah I could see
7:40 myself doing that right but you know
7:42 nobody had to put down a credit card for
7:44 it exactly and so interestingly with the
7:47 crowdfunded sources now somebody’s got
7:49 to actually put money on the line even
7:51 if there’s it really is you know there’s
7:53 a little bit of safely net there because
7:55 if you don’t deliver they’ve built in
7:56 some protections for for backers
7:59 but you still have to commit that money
8:01 right so and I but I think that was
8:03 brilliant when he came up with the idea
8:05 because that really is saying not only
8:07 do we
8:08 not only is it cool that you need you
8:10 know because we all have that I I call
8:12 Tom Schoo Theory where Tom’s Shoes gave
8:15 away a shoe I feel like he was the one
8:17 that first one that really did that well
8:18 and so I feel like Kickstarter kind of
8:21 kind of pulled on your heart string that
8:23 said I can help the startup but what
8:25 made it really cool is they validated
8:27 but I will tell you what I think was
8:28 interesting and is that over the
8:32 years when Kickstarter kind of first
8:34 came out in the first couple years I
8:36 would mention to buyers thinking that I
8:38 this is a great sales patch that look
8:40 you know it did great on Kickstarter and
8:43 I hear a buyer go I don’t care that’s
8:45 your friends that’s their friends and
8:46 family and I’d be like serious I thought
8:48 that was a plus they’re like you can’t
8:50 get going without 10 000 friends or
8:52 followers so we didn’t believe it now I
8:55 hear how did it do on Kickstarter and
8:58 I’m like which one is it you know make
8:59 up your mind but I still think
9:02 it’s an opinion of the person it is so
9:04 important too yeah because we have
9:06 helped different companies with
9:07 Kickstarter approach and they’ve had
9:10 some really fascinating feedback
9:12 some some of them they were trying to
9:14 get additional investment after the fact
9:16 some of the investors were like
9:18 okay others you know that was almost
9:20 like a prerequisite of like get that
9:22 validation right get that product Market
9:24 fit so it’s really fascinating to see
9:27 and again you know if you already
9:29 know I’m using this to get to the next
9:32 step explore what that next step is
9:34 right do the buyer’s care do the
9:36 investors care like is this gonna yeah
9:38 which path are you taking so that you
9:39 are selling the same idea as you go so
9:42 I’m curious
9:44 two questions one is what is the cost
9:47 yeah what do you say on an average cost
9:50 is for you to take a company on
9:51 Kickstarter and then number two what is
9:54 the success rate
9:55 oh man success rate I don’t have a
9:58 metric for offhand but I will tell you
10:00 that there are things you can do to
10:02 dramatically increase your chances of
10:03 success come on part of that comes down
10:06 to the cost right and so what we’ve seen
10:08 for Best Practices a lot is that people
10:10 are really starting to bring their own
10:12 audience you’re like hold on isn’t
10:15 Kickstarter isn’t that why I go to
10:16 Kickstarter yeah you know I’m going to
10:18 get exposure to Millions now I’ve heard
10:20 what’s happening we’re seeing over and
10:22 over is that in order to get those big
10:25 breakout wins you really need to get the
10:27 algorithm to like your project right so
10:29 there’s there’s a home page and there’s
10:31 only I don’t know 10 to 12 different
10:32 featured products at any given time okay
10:34 out of the thousands and thousands and
10:36 thousands that are on there right so how
10:38 do you get that featured spot I love
10:40 that everybody is competing for that
10:43 because if you because if you hit that
10:44 right away you get millions of views
10:46 yeah because listen once you invest in
10:47 the first product you’re probably not
10:48 going to shopping for six more right
10:50 right yeah because I mean you’re you’re
10:52 browsing right you’re not gonna dig 12
10:54 Pages deep for a product so that’s why
10:57 people are starting to bring their own
10:58 audience and so what I mean by that is
11:00 and what’s something we’ve done with
11:02 clients in the past is we’ll actually
11:04 build up an audience of interest and get
11:07 you know whether an email list an online
11:09 following working with influencers
11:11 whatever that be have this whole group
11:13 of folks so this is ready to grow oh
11:15 yeah in advance thousands of people in
11:18 the months preceding that are going to
11:20 be ready to go when that thing Launches
11:22 on Kickstarter because you hit all those
11:25 people and I know we’re getting into
11:26 specifics but I really want people who
11:28 are thinking about this no I love it
11:30 give them some strategy I want them to
11:31 be able to take something actionable
11:32 from this if I’ve got 10 000 people in
11:35 an email list and I know that 20 or so
11:38 are really going to consider making that
11:40 purchase when I launch well now I’ve
11:42 just given myself a huge Advantage
11:45 because if I hit in the first few hours
11:48 I get a ton of funding coming in from
11:51 that audience I brought the algorithm
11:53 says oh shoot look at this one let me
11:55 feature them and then it takes off right
11:57 so okay so let’s talk numbers for that
12:00 though because now you’re doing two
12:02 phases you really are so you are helping
12:04 them yep
12:05 build that following which just out
12:08 of just an interesting note because I
12:10 think you’re spot on
12:12 I do some work with
12:14 a couple of the sharks
12:16 real life sharks
12:18 and
12:20 everybody probably knows Mr Wonderful
12:22 has start engine yep and they say the
12:27 greatest projects that get success are
12:29 the ones that already have 10 000
12:31 followers yeah and so they’re very big
12:34 on you bringing that to it now their
12:36 funding is different it’s more of like
12:37 regulation A and D and we’ll someday
12:39 we’ll talk about that but it is a great
12:42 source to get funding it’s from
12:43 investors put the same thing they want
12:46 to know that you put in work you’ve got
12:48 the potential people are loving you so
12:50 that piece is so important and how
12:53 expensive is that piece and what time
12:55 limit like give us a realistic idea what
12:57 we’re planning on so obviously
12:59 everything is going to depend a little
13:01 bit on the product you’ve got the
13:03 audience you’re going after right are
13:05 you super broad are you very Niche all
13:07 of that will come into play but I think
13:09 if I were to just talk to anybody on the
13:11 street and say Hey I want to do a
13:12 Kickstarter how much should I budget
13:13 right I would say plan for at least 40K
13:16 okay and which is like wait a minute is
13:18 I’m such a money girl is that 40K just
13:22 to get to Kickstarter or is that with
13:25 the pre-prep than the kickstarter I
13:27 would say that’s the minimum for
13:29 pre-prep and the kickstarter okay
13:30 because I really do have two marketing
13:32 that’s what I wanted okay so okay but if
13:34 you can now think about that right
13:37 depending on the other variables it
13:39 could be a lot more expensive to acquire
13:41 and build up a whole audience or it
13:43 could be a lot less depending what
13:44 you’re doing yeah and depending on the
13:46 product okay but that’s still that’s a
13:48 fall apart just yeah because we need to
13:49 put that in our budget plan yeah because
13:50 if you if you want to do and that and
13:54 again you might only be trying to raise
13:56 forty fifty sixty thousand dollars off
13:58 of that right but now you have to raise
14:00 more because yeah now you have to raise
14:01 more of them so you’re now you’re going
14:02 for a hundred thousand or whatever it be
14:04 but again it’s why are you doing this
14:07 right do you need that market validation
14:09 for additional investment or are you
14:11 trying to use this as a funding stream
14:12 and if you’re trying to use this as your
14:14 only funding stream my recommendation
14:16 would certainly be think about this in
14:18 the longer term approach and don’t make
14:20 all that investment for one launch
14:22 that’s what I wonder because it seems
14:24 like that’s an awful big investment for
14:26 a short
14:27 returns that you can read
14:30 have a successful launch think about the
14:32 other products you can launch later that
14:34 same audience you still got that
14:35 audience right and they already know you
14:36 you’ve delivered once and delivered well
14:39 oh I got a great question yeah can we
14:41 partner people we know my word is
14:44 partnering but I mean seriously so could
14:47 I use that as a resource so if I said to
14:49 you Keith look I got this really cool
14:51 new product
14:52 they would love to do Kickstarter but
14:54 to be real you know they have their
14:56 budget’s very limited but they have a
14:57 really cool product and you say to me I
15:00 should reach out to so and so because
15:01 they just launched a product can we do
15:03 that that’s fascinating because I think
15:05 they’re I think there are opportunities
15:06 right when you build relationships that
15:08 are a win-win I think that that you know
15:10 that’s so important and everywhere you
15:12 go but when you build that kind of
15:14 relationship and someone knows that if
15:16 you bring your product to Bear In Their
15:19 audience that they’ve already
15:20 established and maybe they’re kind of
15:21 getting to the point where they’re like
15:23 I’m running out of steam or ideas
15:24 whatever how do I liven this up how do I
15:26 how do I level this up and you guys can
15:28 partner that might work really wow right
15:31 so then you save a little bit up front
15:33 maybe you share it with the guy that you
15:34 partner with he wins you win because
15:36 you’re bringing him back to life we
15:38 might be onto something we didn’t realize
15:42 i’m serious. Beyond this co-branding is now starting
15:43 to become a very very I just approaching
15:46 all over so I I believe that I mean
15:48 seriously 100 years ago I love Dunkin
15:51 Donuts and I think Baskin Robbins
15:53 connected and I went oh my God coffee
15:56 and that was 100 years ago just to save
15:59 space but you know that works in the
16:01 real world that’s an interesting thought
16:04 I like that find in a place another tip
16:07 on Kickstarter which really gets into
16:09 your world is to know what your
16:12 manufacturing plan is if you have that
16:13 right I was gonna say we have to talk to
16:15 Pawan about that because that is the
16:17 number one biggest problem so this is
16:18 what I love they go on to they save up
16:21 40 000 they go to Keith they’re like
16:24 we’re gonna launch this incredible
16:25 product and we’re gonna sell it for
16:27 12 dollars and 59 cents
16:29 and then they launch it and then they
16:32 bring in all this money and then they go
16:34 and find out it costs
16:36 79.99 going back to this same topic I
16:40 was gonna ask you like when you think is
16:42 the good time to get product in product
16:45 development person involved
16:47 before we start or you don’t even think
16:50 about putting a dollar into it because
16:52 so that’s what we always ask them right
16:54 how much can you make this for and how
16:56 much can you sell it for right because
16:57 if they don’t have that
17:01 can’t but can’t start when you do the
17:03 further go for the kickstarter do you
17:05 want need to have product prototype
17:07 already or you just need to have guns
17:09 how how far you need should be on the
17:11 development yeah especially depending on
17:13 the complexity of the product I think
17:15 the further along it is the better right
17:17 because you have to communicate to your
17:21 audience when it’s going to be delivered
17:22 and if you slip you have to really be on
17:26 top of that otherwise people start
17:27 really getting antsy and worried yeah in
17:30 my opinion it should be manufactured
17:33 ready maybe you haven’t bought inventory
17:35 no don’t buy inventory and don’t tool
17:37 because that’s why you’re doing the
17:39 kickstarters to pay for the tooling and
17:41 the inventory and that is a number they
17:44 need to know because how the heck do
17:46 they know what they’re raising money for
17:48 so how long is that going to be exactly
17:49 so you’re gonna say to them it takes
17:51 four months for tooling you’ll get your
17:53 first inventory three weeks from tooling
17:55 that way they know that answer to tell
17:57 Keith and then number two they know the
17:59 tooling cost is 40 1000 and then
18:02 inventory cost is 60 so they know they
18:04 need a 100. but I can’t tell you how many
18:06 people do not know that in fact I think
18:08 when I was in Washington the statistic
18:09 was one out of 20. are the only ones
18:12 that knew 19 out of 20 that went on
18:15 Kickstarter literally picked a number
18:16 out of their hat and said this is what
18:18 we’re gonna raise and this is what we’re
18:20 selling it for and why like nobody had
18:22 business sense around it and it
18:24 structured a lot different now there’s
18:25 been a lot of things put in place and
18:27 that’s why now they have the start
18:29 engines like you know the other because
18:31 they really had to it was like a
18:34 free-for-all it was like you guys could
18:35 go I’ve got potato salad let’s just see
18:38 if it will sell and now it’s real you
18:40 have to provide so I’m still back with
18:43 the whole what we’ve always said which
18:46 is get all due diligence in place
18:48 and then if you’re ready and you know
18:50 you want to manufacture on your own it’s
18:52 a great way to fundraise but know all
18:55 the answers so you know what you’re
18:56 raising money for it’s a really
18:58 practical applications is if you’re
18:59 working with somebody who you’re getting
19:01 ready for you know manufacturing for
19:03 Kickstarter or marketing company for
19:04 Kickstarter they should be asking you
19:06 those questions right they should be
19:07 asking you do you know how much it costs
19:10 to produce this do you know your
19:11 timeline right because they’re also
19:12 going to be the ones that are going to
19:13 help you tell that story hey we raised
19:15 100 000 or 500 000 or whatever it is and
19:18 then you’re gonna have to tell that
19:20 story all the way through we’ve got our
19:22 tooling we’re ready to go we’ve
19:24 manufactured our first articles we’re
19:26 taking the next steps and if there is a
19:28 delay right you know have enough if
19:30 there’s a delay in one of your parts
19:31 from one of your suppliers you’ve got to
19:34 be upfront about that and manage it so
19:35 if you don’t have that plan from the
19:37 beginning it just gets so uncomfortable
19:39 and you start you know it’s stressful
19:41 and people quit yeah and and like you
19:44 said run a business because you are if
19:47 you’re choosing to manufacture and take
19:48 the money yourself you are a CEO of your
19:51 business period and you need to set
19:53 yourself up respectfully to do that and
19:56 it’s not hard because we’ve given all
19:57 the tips on how to do it and especially
20:00 if you’re in my opinion you’re taking
20:02 people’s money now right so imagine it’s
20:05 your grandfather and you just took
20:06 grandfather’s last hundred thousand
20:08 dollars you’re going to be respectful on
20:09 how you’re going to develop how you’re
20:11 getting it done so so do it right and be
20:13 well and now we’ve created a really cool
20:16 idea once you’ve done really well share
20:19 your list for a theme right
20:22 yeah I mean you really could couldn’t
20:24 you I think I think you’d have to
20:26 balance that with like is it the Right
20:28 audience right no of course it has to be
20:30 the right partnership what are their
20:32 co-branding are is there is there an
20:34 audience yeah where’s their direction do
20:36 that well right like like I’m just gonna
20:38 let’s somebody’s got a wallet and
20:40 somebody’s got a belt right some kind of
20:43 like accessory type product well now if
20:45 there’s a real reason a partnership and
20:46 you are adding value so that’s that’s my
20:48 line for you know if if I’m adding value
20:51 to my audience’s life then I think it’s
20:54 a home run and we we will continue to
20:55 have this conversation yeah I will tell
20:57 you something kind of cool that I feel
20:59 like falls into that
21:01 in my random way but I like to put
21:04 new companies smaller companies on QVC
21:08 which is really weird because I’ve
21:09 hung out with QVC before in my life but
21:11 in the last the last eight months six
21:13 months
21:14 gosh I think we’ve
21:18 nine ten eleven I don’t know I’ve had a
21:21 lot of companies that we’ve gone through
21:22 because QVC is an interesting beast and
21:25 someday we’ll talk about that but the
21:27 interesting part that I wanted to
21:29 mention was that
21:31 as I was discussing with somebody
21:33 else in our industry
21:36 I searched for products out into the
21:38 world and so I’m gonna give away a tip
21:40 like I love faire
21:42 f-a-i-r-e faire and that’s a wholesaling
21:45 site sort of like range me
21:48 r-a-n-g-e me but range me my clients
21:51 have never had any success with but on
21:53 Faire I have my own daughter selling
21:55 it’s called faked it suntan screen oh
21:58 can I do it as a commercial and it’s
22:00 awesome product line that she privately
22:02 labeled and she’s in like 15 locations
22:04 in like three months people buy from her
22:06 and she ships it out so I’m always
22:08 referring people but I find great
22:11 companies that are small that are doing
22:14 great on Faire that fit QVC and so QVC is
22:17 a wholesale platform but you have to
22:19 have your inventory and so but I was
22:21 talking to someone about how I’ve been
22:23 having these great successes and it’s
22:25 really on when you put a company on they
22:27 sell three thousand five thousand units
22:29 a day so it’s like life changing and I
22:32 love it and I like food because they
22:33 don’t have to make it in advance you
22:34 make it once you sell it
22:36 but I was talking to someone who said
22:37 isn’t that fascinating because they just
22:39 took a company that was on QVC and put
22:43 them on infomercial now let me tell you
22:45 what that looks like when you’re on QVC
22:47 and you get lucky and you sell three
22:49 thousand five thousand units when you do
22:51 a deal
22:53 with an infomercial they usually
22:55 guarantee a million to two million units
22:57 that year so we just took that scaling
23:00 growth which I knew Keith would love we
23:02 took a company that was selling like
23:04 tens and twenties over here on Fair we
23:07 moved them to selling you know three
23:09 thousand to five thousand on QVC and now
23:12 there’s a chance to put them in an
23:13 information of course it has to fit so
23:15 anybody out there has a product that
23:17 fits that infomercial world and you
23:20 started little infomercial world has
23:22 also shifted a little bit before they
23:25 you would license you get two to four
23:27 percent and they do everything for you
23:28 but if you’re already Manufacturing
23:31 this gentleman I work with in the
23:33 industry has now where you’re providing
23:35 them at just like you would wholesale
23:37 and so now you get to own it and still
23:39 keep it everywhere else and get this
23:42 huge boost what a cool way to grow right
23:45 because it’s all guaranteed which is
23:46 what I love on a purchase order they’re
23:48 going to pay you
23:49 so you don’t have to worry about how to
23:51 invest and since we’re talking money
23:54 let’s do it there’s factoring money so
23:57 you know I was just talking to an
23:58 accelerator group
24:00 she put this accelerator group to
24:03 help a lot of businesses but her
24:05 background is product
24:06 and she said to me Luanne I’ve never had
24:08 to have investor money we always either
24:10 had cells or we did Factory money and
24:12 that’s kind of the world I come from so
24:15 factoring means I get a purchase order
24:18 from Target on that Target purchase
24:21 order I borrow enough to pay for the
24:22 cost of goods and I pay like three
24:24 percent interest today it’s probably
24:26 seven because interest rates are so bad
24:28 but then you borrow it for the short
24:30 term once you get your check you pay it
24:32 off you don’t need investors which means
24:34 you keep your full amount of your equity
24:36 in your company Isn’t that cool oh yeah
24:38 so so there are other ways to fund so I
24:41 don’t want to take us down any more pass
24:42 but the crowdfunding Keith you’re on it
24:45 I love this I love this and if you can
24:48 do the pre-sale and the other for 40
24:50 that’s impressive because I have looked
24:52 into it for my clients and usually 40s
24:54 just starting on Kickstart and that
24:56 worries me when you go with a company
24:58 that doesn’t do that pre-piece you’re
25:00 just giving away your forty thou in my
25:02 opinion yeah yeah so I think that’s you
25:05 know super important to you know look at
25:06 these things like hey are we ready you
25:08 know for manufacturing wise so that
25:11 would be it’s funny coming for me but
25:12 that would be my tip is to like really
25:14 really know your manufacturing approach
25:16 right your where you’re at what your
25:19 timelines are really know that
25:21 fulfillment piece because once you are
25:23 successful that is like the most
25:25 critical element to build for future
25:27 success perfect yeah I think
25:31 following that and your tip if you
25:33 really need to know understand your
25:34 product where it is on its life cycle
25:36 where how far it is there so just keep
25:39 track of that understand how much life
25:42 cycle you have on the product side
25:43 product to be manufactured really so it
25:46 helps you for the things like
25:48 kickstarters or any investment around if
25:50 you think well you know and that makes
25:52 me think of a tip that I think might be
25:54 valuable is that I think and I think
25:58 this solves two problems inventors tend
26:00 to over invent on the first time out so
26:03 my thought based on what you guys just
26:05 told me and I literally have Goosebumps
26:07 is you have a chance to have two or
26:10 three products because you can sell the
26:12 first one and do it right you build up
26:14 your clientele and now you said you’re
26:16 ready to introduce another product save
26:18 those next features for the second
26:20 product stop overkilling on the first
26:22 let people walk slow they like that they
26:25 really do like you said I I had a drive
26:28 train that got 155 miles to the gallon
26:30 that’s how I got in this industry we got
26:32 in our car and put in the lawn mower
26:33 engine and I was like oh
26:36 to be billionaires I’m gonna retire I
26:39 got it in front of jumbo Motorsport in
26:40 Chrysler but I didn’t sell it
26:42 I sold a pantyhose back that was like
26:44 lipstick to shop with pantyhose and got
26:47 a ton of money so people they need
26:49 simple so maximize your chance from what
26:53 you guys are describing it sounds like
26:55 to me you’ve just grown your company by
26:58 keeping less features less complicated
27:00 then add them and I think that goes back
27:02 to all something that I always say that
27:04 you need to know your why
27:08 what exactly you’re bringing it to the
27:10 market because if you keep adding the
27:12 stuff over time you’re never going to be
27:14 ready for market and you keep saying it
27:17 happens so always so often and then
27:20 sometimes you miss the market I’ve seen
27:22 that happen where they waited so long
27:24 that now it’s not even relevant you know
27:26 or something happens like COVID hits and
27:28 it’s now gone that happened to me we had
27:30 a product that was perfect for hotels I
27:33 was on my way to Marriott and then poof
27:35 I closed down the world do you know how
27:37 painful that is I mean that breaks my
27:40 heart every day so that’s my tip my tip
27:42 is like think it and I guess that’s
27:45 pretty much what you always say is know
27:46 the Big Goal know the big goal and I’m
27:48 going to say one thing that I didn’t
27:50 think I would ever say but it doesn’t
27:52 hurt to ask an expert you know what I mean
27:55 so sometimes you guys when you are
27:57 starting to spend money I hope we’re
27:59 teaching you how to make decisions
28:00 before you have to spend real money but
28:03 don’t hesitate to ask somebody because
28:04 you may not have known to make two
28:06 products out of that but your product
28:08 developer might you know so I think
28:10 that’s really important you guys thank
28:12 you so much I’m sorry I beat on the
28:13 table
28:14 you guys thanks for showing up today
28:15 we have had so much fun getting to know
28:18 this podcasting world and I promise we
28:22 are going to get better so that someday
28:24 we can actually talk to you
28:25 one-on-one but meanwhile if you would be
28:28 kind enough to send us any questions
28:30 give us samples anything that’s really
28:33 important to you and we will hit on
28:35 those topics so obviously we can’t do
28:37 that from the start because we’re still
28:38 building you guys we want you to be part
28:41 of our family so please please please
28:44 and give us always good fun stuff up
28:46 all right so ask a question politely a
28:49 problem and only give us the positive
28:51 feed
28:53 so that we can stay in a happy world all
28:55 right you guys thank you so much we’ll
28:56 see you next time.

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