Product Startup

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

Todd Drouillard is the Science and Technology Business leader at HED, which is one of the world’s leading architecture firms for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution center buildings. Todd has been in architecture for 25 years, has his Masters in Architecture, is an AIA director, and is on the Construction Code Commission Board of Directors in Michigan. Today Todd is going to share some va...

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

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

John Carter was the Chief Engineer for Bose for over 12 years, most notably being the name behind noise-canceling headphones.  After that, he founded TCGen, and has spent 22 years working with some of the biggest hardware brands in the world on improving their product development processes.  He is also a fellow writer with me at Forbes. Today John is going to share some valuable knowledge on how i...

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

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

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

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

Ryan Lewendon is the Co-Founder and Partner at the law firm Giannuzzi Lewendon LLP. They have 30 lawyers, 1,500 product companies they work with, and hundreds of finance deals run by them per year, in addition to a number of other legal and advisory services to scaling product companies. Today Ryan is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can ra...

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

John McEleney is the Co-Founder of OnShape, a leading cloud-based 3D CAD Design software used by almost two million product designers worldwide. He was one of the early innovators at SolidWorks and ended up being CEO there for 7 years before eventually founding OnShape. Today John is going to share some valuable knowledge on what inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can look forward to in...

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

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

Kelly Schmutte is a dual degree graduate and a lecturer at Standford University at d. School.  She has also worked at IDEO and on product development of many hardware products, including designing and running her own product called PerfectFit, one of the world’s leading professional dance shoes, and is the co-author of the design book Navigating Ambiguity.  Today Kelly is going to share some valua...

Leidy Klotz has his PhD in Behavioral Science and is a professor at the University of Virginia. He is the Author of the New York Times bestselling design book called Subtract. His research has been featured in many publications including the front cover of Nature magazine. Today Leidy is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can both understand...

Peter-Paul Van Hoeken is the Founder of FrontFundr, one of North America’s top platforms for equity crowdfunding for startups and small scaling businesses. He is a TEDx speaker on Investment Crowdfunding, is a member of the Securities Commission, and is an advisor to both the Private Capital Markets Association and the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association. Simply put, Peter-Paul is the pe...

Tom Gray is the Founder and Executive Producer of the Make48 TV Show, a show where contestants have 48 hours to come up with an invention idea and build a prototype to showcase it to the judges. The show is on PBS, Amazon Prime, and many other networks around the world. I will actually be one of the judges on the upcoming season, so stay tuned for that release date in coming months! Today Tom is g...

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

Magnus Skold is a 20-year industrial designer.  He started in designing ultra-high-end interiors for private jets for international royalty, then worked with commercial airlines, then worked with Dell and a number of other brands, and then for the past few years, is a senior industrial designer with me at Mako Design.  Today Magnus is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startu...

Bob Christopher is the founder of Pleo, a massively successful robot dinosaur kids toy with hundreds of parts. This is one of his many products and product companies over a long and successful history in the product innovation world. He was also the director of innovation at Panasonic, and sits on a number of advisory boards at hardware accelerators. Today Bob is going to share some valuable knowl...

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics which supports the innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. She has headed up Venture Capital rounds, is a fellow lecturer, TedX speaker, and an XPrize judge. Her office is also just down the hall from our Mako Design California office at CircuitLaunch. Today Andra is going to share some valuable knowledge to help inv...

Yohan Jacob is the Founder and President of RetailBound, an agency that helps emerging hardware brands get into major retail stores and sales channels.  RetailBound has been around for 14 years and has worked with over 4,000 product companies.  Yohan himself has spent 30 years in the industry, including being a major buyer for Sears and Office Max.  The last episode we talked about how to get into...

Tim Uys has spent 25 years as a senior leader and lecturer in the industrial design and mechanical engineering world. He has worked for Nike Golf, Dell, Qualcomm, Ironman, and many other prominent companies as the Director of Design for ID-ONE, which was one of the top Austin design firms before it was acquired. For the past 6 years, Tim has been the head of design at MAKO Design + Invent out of o...

Marco Torres has been selling online for clients for 25 years and has sold over a billion dollars through direct-to-consumer internet marketing. He has 75,000 followers on his two Facebook Groups dedicated to online selling and affiliate marketing, and is the owner of Marketing Boost, a company which helps thousands of clients with free upsell coupons to their customers. Today Marco is going to sh...