No Followers Podcast: for Inventors, Builders, Entrepreneurs

In this Episode: * Better Zac * Networking is not a dirty word. * What is a secret shopper? * T needs coffee.* Secret shoppers in the real world. * Focus on relationship building. * Learn from failures. * I can also learn from failures and not let them roll me over. * Emma. * Experiential learning. * Theory vs. Reality. * Accountability and goal setting. * How is this beneficial for your future ca...

In This Episode: * Do you dunk cookies in coffee? * What cookie are you buying? * A rainbow cookie or a heaven dream? * I have never dipped a cookie in coffee. * Customer journey at the idea stage. * Changing habits is very hard. * Talk with potential customers to learn their language and how they buy. * The biggest mistake early on is talking to potential customers and not listening to them. * An...

In this episode: T soaks his Oreos. * The Ciabatta Story. Croissant vs. Hard Roll. * The differences between item and product manufacturing. * You need much more up front information with a product than a one-off item. * Bill of Materials. * You should have an understanding of all the costs involved. * It's a different scope of work for a product vs. a custom item. * Use case considerations. * Is...

They didn't agree with our "tough love" model. * One of their suggestions was to give out gold stickers. * There is a difference between being blunt and being rude. * The faster you cut through the non-truths the better you will be. * Failures are how you learn. * If the market tells you something, you better listen. * That's realism and people aren't realistic. * What do you want to build? What c...

In this Episode: * One of the reasons to have design goals is to rank priorities. * Having your priorities set early on saves you time and money down the road. * Design goals example with the Porsche GT 3RS. * Your design goals should show what your target market values. * Designing for use case scenarios. * Shipping considerations and design. * We have people rank and prioritize their design goal...

Market Intelligence ** Fish. ** Get out of here Long John Silver's. ** The point of market intel is that it takes you out of the equation. ** How do you get market intel? ** First you "google". ** You go into the market and talk with your potential customers. ** Let your customers tell a story. In a story you get a lot of intel, habits, and how they think. ** Develop your customer profile. ** Wher...

In This Episode: ** Ask questions. Get answers, even if you don't like the answers. ** Taking information in is so important. ** Have you ever heard of Sicilian Amnesia? ** How to talk to investors. ** Investors should be bringing more to the table than money. ** Get market intel and ideally sell something. You shouldn't be jumping to investors first. ** Investors can bring in other expertise. **...

Fashion Entrepreneur Shane Kyiretwie Sustainability and Culture in Fashion Design ** I'm Shane Kyiretwie. I created my fashion brand as a hybrid between culture and art. ** How do you use your mission statement to drive your business decisions? ** This is the second highest pollution causing industry. I want to take the ethical path. ** I study and research all companies that I may work with. ** D...

This is going to be another instant traction episode. ** I do like Sbarro Pizza. ** The World's Most Valuable Luxury Brand. ** Louis Vuitton. ** He left home at 13 and arrived in Paris at age 16. ** I'm not a mapmaker. I'm no cartographer. ** Why did it take him 3 years? ** You are destroying the French language. ** Louis didn't have MapQuest on his phone. ** He's not making packing boxes. He's ma...

Learning From your Failures Taking chances you will have some swings and misses. ** A team is the most important part of your business. ** Most people starting out don't have a team. ** Just go on Shark Tank. ** My flagship product took 5 years to get to market. ** No one will work on my idea as good as I will. ** The perfect is the enemy of the good. ** Knowing what you are good at. ** A self-ass...

Customer Feedback, Product Decisions, and Manufacturing with Thompson's Sugar Shack from Schoharie County NY ** What is Thompson's Sugar Shack and what do you do? ** What is the difference between your maple syrup and Mrs. Butterworth's? ** Different grades of maple syrup. ** What is your position on climate change? ** How many trees do you tap? ** How did you create your manufacturing process? **...

In this Spotify Video Episode: We freely share our failures. ** No guarantees of success. ** The point of the podcast is to accompany the incubator. ** Growing an idea into a product. ** Knowing what you bring to the table. ** Mistakes we have made. ** It all starts with an idea. ** Move the needle. ** Coachability. ** Entrepreneurs need to have thick skin. ** Getting the most from conferences and...

HR and Employee Management Solutions Peoplease at the Business and Non-Profit Catalyst Expo. ** What can Peoplease do for me? ** We are so much more than just outsource HR. ** What's most important to them is their insurances and workman's comp. ** How to use outsourcing to grow. ** One of the easiest things to think about with outsourcing is accounting. ** Roles and responsibilities. ** Outsourci...

In this Episode: It's difficult for solo inventors. ** Small networks. ** It's okay to step away and question what you are doing. ** Is it worth it? Is it what you want it to be? ** I go back to the fallacy of the safety net. ** It's important to plan for the future and what that means to you. ** You can literally game theory out some of your decisions. ** You could always go get a regular job. **...

I am a fan of constructive criticism ** You need some level of resilience. ** Isn't the whole point of the inventor journey to figure it out. ** The metric for me isn't necessarily success. It is voice and mission. ** Why did you start on this journey? ** The Pet Rock analogy. ** You need a mission and a purpose. ** Even if I won the lottery, I would still do what I am doing now. ** Criticism is a...

** Thank You, Peoplease. ** Discount Code: PPLSTRIKE. ** Peoplease feel free to send over an HR expert. ** Challenging your comfort zone. ** Why we push people to challenge their comfort zone. ** An incubator pushes you in a safe and nurturing way. ** Most people have incorrect perceptions about themselves and the market. ** It's easy as an individual or small team to get frustrated. ** Our incuba...

** What is your goal for the website? ** A website is like a living document. It takes work to maintain. ** Your website should be driving users to something. ** Why are we talking about this? It is a common topic with new incubator members. ⁠**⁠ What if your actual company name domain is already taken? ** Fabbro Industries web strategy. ** EDA Funding. ** If you can't put up relevant, cogent info...

Weighted Average Cost of Capital In this episode: ** The best way to raise money is to sell something. ** Debt is cheaper than equity. ** It's become common to have a cycle of cap raises. ** They never look at organic revenue and only focus on the raise. ** I want to explain the concept that debt is cheaper than equity. ** Debt is the first thing that has to be paid back. ** Equity stake holders a...

Healthy Conflict, Respectful Disagreeance How do you build a good relationship when you constantly disagree? ** Organizational Behavior 101, Conflict is Good. ** Respectful disagreeance is the cornerstone of democracy. ** We base our relationship on honesty and direct talk. ** We are aligned mission wise but see things from a different pov. That is a strength. ** Healthy conflict is disagreement b...

In this Episode: ** T's gift. ** If you DM us, please follow us too. ** Another instant traction myth. ** Invented the Ballbarrow & Boat Launcher in the 70s. ** It takes time to develop a quality product. ** Vacuums lose suction from a layer of dust clogging the bag. ** Inspired by the centrifugal separator. ** Built a cardboard model and tested it. ** You may be working on one thing but be op...

Something Completely Different, The Great Snack Chip Debate ** Dipping potato chips in ketchup. ** Is ketchup a dip? ** Buying multiple chips at once. ** Guacamole is a dip; ketchup is a condiment. ** Would you dip a potato chip in mustard? ** The way you buy chips is inefficient. ** T hates cheese puffs. ** Doritos. ** Bob hates ranch dressing. ** No one in the world buys snack chips like you. **...

Announcing the First Strike Commercialization Studio Expansion ** We are now going to iterate our incubator into a commercialization studio ** We wanted to build an incubator that was about the real-world issues of getting to market. ** Part of the reason straight incubators don't work is that they are kind of one size fits all. ** How can you really do service to someone who wants to bring a...

In this Episode: Instant Traction is not a real thing for products ** I am going to tell the story of a supposed instant traction product ** The product was invented as a textured wallpaper in 1957 ** This would eventually become Bubble Wrap ** When you get into IP, you learn that you can patent a process ** In trying to create textured wallpaper, they failed horribly ** They came up with 400 uses...

In This Episode: I am going to own my mistakes ** Mistakes are going to happen and are par for the course ** What's important is that you have a system in place to deal with mistakes ** Figure out why the mistake happened in the first place ** There are always mistakes that have to be budgeted for ** Your prototype costs are not your manufacturing costs ** Do you have a process in place for ca...

In this episode: Advice people give all the time that we think is stupid ** Fake it until you make it means setting yourself up for failure and bad relationships in the future ** I hate it for the relationship builds and it sells a dream that isn't reality ** Why are you trying to bring your idea to market? ** You need working capital but that doesn't mean being a million dollars in debt *...