Crowdfunding Truths

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.