Pitch to Product

Who owns what gets built when you hire a product development partner? In the episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast's 52U Series, 52Launch's Dan Gonyea and Peter Drakulich break down IP ownership and "work for hire," the one paragraph in your contract that can decide who controls your idea, your brand, and your product. If you're an inventor, founder, or business owner about to sign a development...

Everyone says we should make more products in America. So why doesn't it happen? In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Dan Gonyea and Peter Drakulich walk through a real domestic quote for a molded silicone component, one of the simplest parts you can make. The numbers: - Piece price: $0.60 overseas vs. $3.19 domestic (for a 2,000-unit order) - Tooling: roughly $2,500 oversea...

Most inventors don't read the contract. In Episode 2 of the Pitch to Product Podcast's 52U Series, 52Launch's Dan Gonyea and Peter Drakulich break down exactly what happens inside a product accelerator and why the process is split into two phases. Phase one (the Accelerator) is about truth: real costs, real samples, real pricing, and a brand built around a market you've actually researched. Phase...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Dan Gonyea and Peter Drakulich break down a real conversation with a golf product inventor who has a great product, but is stuck chasing funding, Kickstarter campaigns, and "broader strategic visions" instead of focusing on what really matters: manufacturing and selling. Topics covered include: - Why "design freeze" is a myth that stalls...

Launching a product without knowing your numbers is the fastest way to run out of runway. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down how to build a realistic product budget by working backwards from your retail price, and how to use the "Goldilocks method" to find the cost point that is just right. Key topics covered: - The two parts o...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down the one truth every inventor avoids: The business matters a whole lot more than the idea. They dig into why "will this sell" beats "is this a good idea" every time, how to spot the difference between a product that gets bought once versus one that earns repeat customers, and why chasing a valu...

"I had to go talk to my grandmother to say: I need a check for $1,200." In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch Co-Founder Peter Drakulich breaks down what guerilla marketing means using a story from his own past. Topics covered include: - Why guerrilla marketing is really about hustle, not just tactics - How to reach an audience when there's no traditional way to get to them - B...

An idea has no customer, no price, and no decision behind it. A business has all three. In Day 1 of the Pitch to Product Podcast's 52U Series, Peter Drakulich and Dan Gonyea break down the four gates that turn a product idea into a real business, so you can answer them before you spend a dollar or make a single call. The 4 Gates: - The Customer Gate: Who is this product for? - The Price Gate: What...

Scared to turn your product idea into a real business? The first step is just a conversation. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast,52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down how to walk into a product development meeting without fear of budgets, what it takes to make and launch a product, and why "see it, believe it, achieve it" is the mindset that gets products to market....

Two friends-turned-founders, Jeff and Dan, flew in from Dallas to share how they took an idea with zero engineering background from a 3D-printed garage prototype to a manufacturable product — after a year and a half of failed iterations, a costly pivot, and a $20K bootstrap budget. They break down why they chose 52Launch over a New York firm quoting 5x the price, how a Client Success Manager chang...

AI has taken over the logic side of the old success equation — logic + emotion + critical thinking. But critical thinking? That's on you. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down why so many entrepreneurs are outsourcing their thinking to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude — and why it's backfiring. Clients are submitting four-page AI-g...

No matter where you are in the product development journey, there's always a "what's next." In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, Peter Drakulich breaks down the entire roadmap — from validating a product idea and building a brand, through design, prototyping, and Design for Manufacturing (DFM), all the way to tooling, mass production, 3PL, and go-to-market launch. Peter explains why a...

Every founder thinks their product needs more features, more buttons, more "value." This episode breaks down why that instinct is the fastest way to kill your launch. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero dig into the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) — not as a cliché, but as basic math: every feature you add is another point of failu...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch Product Developer Paige Smith and Industrial Designer Jada-Jane Chapman join us from China as part of their multi-city sourcing trip. Topics covered include: - The day-to-day rhythm of factory visits — trains, translators, back-to-back meetings, and shared meals - Why being face-to-face with manufacturers speeds up sampling and problem-solv...

What exactly is intellectual property, and when should a founder start protecting it? In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Steve Sisto sits down with McKendra Darbey, a registered patent attorney at Caldwell Law, to break down how startups should think about IP strategy from day one. McKendra explains the difference between patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, what it mea...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Sander Reynolds dive into "Just Another Tuesday," a new segment where we pull back the curtain on the everyday obstacles that come with getting a product from factory floor to customer doorstep. We break down what really happens after a product is finished and ready to ship, using a recent Panama Canal delay as the jum...

If you don't have margins, you don't have a business. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down MOAT: The four-part framework we use to evaluate whether a product idea is actually viable before a single unit gets made. We cover: - Margin — why the DFM (Design for Manufacturing) process determines your real price point, and how brand s...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down the exact 7-point checklist they use to decide whether a product idea is actually worth pursuing: 1. Product Confidence — The one question you have to answer honestly before doing anything else 2. Can It Be Made — The difference between building one prototype and building something truly scala...

AI is a phenomenal design and visualization tool, but it can't tell you how to actually build and price your product. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch's Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down why publicly disclosing your AI-generated designs can kill your patent eligibility, and why the "bill of materials" AI gives you is almost always wrong. We dig into the real co...

Should you use AI to file your own patent or trademark? In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch Business Development Manager Jack Dalton sits down with patent attorney Stewart Myers of Cognivito to break down the higher-level IP questions most entrepreneurs don't ask until it's too late. Topics covered include: - Why AI tools can draft a filing but can't catch what's missing &amp...

A product being "patentable" doesn't necessarily mean that it can be manufactured at scale. Invention help companies can design almost anything. But can they manufacture it? In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, Peter Drakulich and Bobby Quintero break down the real difference between idea validation companies and actual manufacturers, and why that distinction can cost inventors hundred...

Social media has become the new storefront. And in 2026, AI-driven algorithms are rewarding organic content over paid ads. In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, Natalia Reese and Leanne Eggimann break down why quantity and quality content is outperforming traditional ad spend for e-commerce brands, how to tell the difference between AI-generated content and UGC that builds real trust, a...

Before you spend a dollar on product development, ask yourself this one question: How many other people need this? In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, 52Launch Co-Founder Peter Drakulich breaks down the "tinker" step that separates founders who validate an idea cheaply from those who burn time and money chasing the wrong path. Prove the concept works, then show it to friends and famil...

In this episode of the Pitch to Product Podcast, Jack Dalton sits down with registered patent attorney Scott Seeley of Eastgate IP to break down the intellectual property basics every entrepreneur and inventor needs before bringing a product to market. Topics include: - TM vs. ® - What each symbol actually means and when you can use them - Why trademarking your name and logo requires separate appl...

In this Pitch to Product Podcast "Business Talk," 52Launch Co-Founder Peter Drakulich goes off about what it actually takes to become a business owner, and why most people never make it past being an "entrepreneur." Peter breaks down the difference between entrepreneurship (the idea phase, where most people get stuck) and actually owning a business (the action phase, where the real work begins). H...