Product Startup-logo

Product Startup

Business & Economics Podcasts

The hardware product development industry's #1 podcast. From invention idea to getting onto store shelves, and everything in between. Hear how inventors, product startups, & small manufacturers created their inventions and launched their physical product businesses. Learn from the industry's top industrial designers, mechanical engineers, PCB designers, consumer product managers, manufacturers, patent attorneys, hardware investors, and more. Learn about industrial design / product design, prototyping, 3d printing, additive manufacturing, product manufacturing, marketing, selling, patenting, logistics, and product business scaling. Now hosted by Kevin Mako, one of the keynote leaders of the startup product development industry in North America, founder of Mako Design + Invent, and Masters of Engineering lecturer.

The hardware product development industry's #1 podcast. From invention idea to getting onto store shelves, and everything in between. Hear how inventors, product startups, & small manufacturers created their inventions and launched their physical product businesses. Learn from the industry's top industrial designers, mechanical engineers, PCB designers, consumer product managers, manufacturers, patent attorneys, hardware investors, and more. Learn about industrial design / product design, prototyping, 3d printing, additive manufacturing, product manufacturing, marketing, selling, patenting, logistics, and product business scaling. Now hosted by Kevin Mako, one of the keynote leaders of the startup product development industry in North America, founder of Mako Design + Invent, and Masters of Engineering lecturer.

Location:

United States

Description:

The hardware product development industry's #1 podcast. From invention idea to getting onto store shelves, and everything in between. Hear how inventors, product startups, & small manufacturers created their inventions and launched their physical product businesses. Learn from the industry's top industrial designers, mechanical engineers, PCB designers, consumer product managers, manufacturers, patent attorneys, hardware investors, and more. Learn about industrial design / product design, prototyping, 3d printing, additive manufacturing, product manufacturing, marketing, selling, patenting, logistics, and product business scaling. Now hosted by Kevin Mako, one of the keynote leaders of the startup product development industry in North America, founder of Mako Design + Invent, and Masters of Engineering lecturer.

Language:

English

Episodes

071: Making a Better Product in a Competitive Market

4/14/2021
Jamie Libregts is the Director of Product Marketing for Reliable Corporation, a 65 year old manufacturing company that produces high quality consumer and commercial garment care products all over the world. Today Jamie is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can best compete - both with a new product, and when updating an existing one - Simply put, how do think about the market and scaling your product, right from the product development...

Duration:00:31:13

070: Financing & Acquisition for Product Companies

4/8/2021
Joe is both a CPA and a lawyer from the manufacturing sector. He has worked with many emerging and established manufacturing operations, including a major turnaround of Jefferson Electric, which went on to go public. Since then, Joe has spent the past 10 years research how to financially scale hardware companies and is now working to launch Dream Exchange, a way for small companies to go public. Today Joe is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small...

Duration:00:32:01

069: PhD & Harvard Grad on the 4 Ps of Product Marketing

3/31/2021
James is the author of the book Ramping Your Brand, which helps high-growth consumer product companies accelerate their growth. He also has his Ph.D. in Anthropology aka Human Behaviour from the University of Wisconsin, and was a Harvard Grad before that. Today James is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can use best practices in marketing to rapidly scale their product business - Specifically, we are going through the four Ps of...

Duration:00:33:09

068: Partnership & Funding Legal Considerations for Product Startups

3/23/2021
Brett is the President of Goodlawyer, a law firm tailored specifically to startups. Today Brett is going to share some valuable knowledge on business law considerations for when starting and scaling a hardware startup. There’s two main fields of law for a hardware startup, one, is the intellectual property protection, aka patent law, and the second is business legal issues, things such as partner agreements, Non-disclosures, financing agreements - Today, we’re talking about the latter, legal...

Duration:00:38:46

067: Modern Funding Tools for Hardware Product Startups

3/16/2021
Peter-Paul 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 person to talk to when it comes to crowdfunding capital for a hardware startup. Today, he is going to share...

Duration:00:35:30

066: E-Commerce Platforms for Launching a Consumer Product

3/9/2021
Deirdre is the President of Growth Boss, an e-commerce strategy agency. Her team helps product startups scale to 6 and 7 figure online product businesses. Today Deirdre is going to describe which online digital sales platforms are the best for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers that are looking to sell their product directly to end-customers, along with some best practices on those sales platforms. Today you will hear us talk about: What are the platforms What are one of the...

Duration:00:27:57

065: Hardware Funding from Seed Financing to Millions

3/2/2021
Jefferey is the Founder and President of The Open People Network, an organization that invests in early stage companies, including many hardware startups. OPN simultaneously runs pitch nights, entrepreneurship communities, and expert panels for startup funding education. Jeffery also has been an Angel Investor for many years. Today he is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can fund the growth of their product business - From invention...

Duration:00:54:13

064: Preparing and Executing Your Product's First Production Run

2/23/2021
Mike ran a design firm in Hong Kong back in the 90s, then was A Senior Design Lead at Sunbeam, then a manager at Hewlett Packard, and then spent 10 years with Dell running their entire business desktops design division. He has made over 50 trips to China for manufacturing sourcing, and has consulted dozens of hardware startups on overseas production. He is also a mentor at Techstars and Capital Factory. Today, Mike is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and...

Duration:00:26:06

063: Hardware Startup Tips from a 22 Year Apple Exec

2/16/2021
Michael spent 22 years with Apple from 1988 to 2010. He is the author of Live from Cupertino, a book about how Apple created their winning messaging. Michael also was the Managing Director of LittleBits, a great hardware startup success story. He is now the Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Indian River State College. Today Michael is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can learn from the best practices of Apple -...

Duration:00:47:11

062: Smoothing the Buying Process When Marketing Your New Product

2/9/2021
Eric is the President of The Five Echelon Group, a full-stack marketing agency. He is also the host of the Virtual CMO Podcast which educates businesses on how to maximize their marketing and messaging efforts. With 30 years as a marketing executive, Eric today is going to tell us how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should market their new product, and how to cut out all potential resistance points along your potential customer’s buying process. You’ll hear Kevin and Eric talk...

Duration:00:35:07

061: 5 Sales Channels a Home Inventor Mom Used to Launch Her Invention

2/2/2021
Alison is the inventor and founder of Clasp Magic, a consumer product to help users with putting on bracelets one-handed. Alison came up with the invention idea, got it developed, and then hit the ground running by using 5 different product sales channels and strategies to really make sure her product succeeded. We explore what those channels were, and how to win in them. Clasp Magic is now sold all over the world. Today’s episode is about how to succeed in launching your new product, from...

Duration:00:20:03

060: How to Professionally Licence Your New Product

1/19/2021
Tom shares valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can licence their inventions and products to get into the market - How licencing is actually done properly and professionally to get into the distributors, retailers, or big product brands with your product. You’ll hear Kevin and Tom talk about: How far do you need to develop your product in order to start talking to potential licencing partners and brands? Protecting your intellectual property, and when to do...

Duration:00:39:38

059: Best Practices for Quality Control on Overseas Production of Your Product

1/5/2021
Today Sajag Agarwal talks about how he went from $0 to $2 Million in eCommerce sales for his products, then back down to $0, all because of failed quality control in manufacturing. Now, Sajag runs a quality control company that ensures overseas production runs smoothly from raw materials all the way through to final product loaded onto a container. Sajag joins Kevin Mako to share valuable insights about how inventors, product startups, small manufacturers, and product developers can ensure...

Duration:00:35:33

058: How to Pitch Your Product to Retail Stores

12/21/2020
Today’s guest on the Product Startup Podcast is Mark Shanahan, a top expert in consumer product distribution and retailers. Previously, Mark had a successful 25 year career at Staples, where he started as a junior product buyer, moved up to running entire product categories, eventually becoming a Vice President. Mark joins Kevin Mako to share valuable insights about how inventors, product startups, and manufacturers can get in the door with buyers at major retail stores, and how they can...

Duration:00:42:04

057: From Invention Idea to $100,000 on Dragon's Den

11/18/2020
Kevin sits down with Jonathan Schloo, the Founder and Inventor of the Car Generator. An ingenious device, Schloo created the first ever car generator when in need of hydro while camping with his family. Soon after, he recognized that there was an opportunity to build a successful business by helping people power their homes during stormy nights with the cars parked right in their driveway. Throughout the episode, the two discuss how Schloo took his initial invention to a product selling on...

Duration:00:39:31

056: Mistakes, Opportunities, & Feedback for a New Product

10/21/2020
In this episode, we’re changing things up a bit. Filip introduces you to your new host and sponsor of the show, Kevin Mako, Founder and President of Mako Design + Invent. The two discuss Kevin’s journey into the startup world and his vision for the future of the Product Startup podcast. They also mention the biggest mistakes, opportunities, and feedback that early-stage product founders can make when building their businesses. EPISODE LINKS The Product Startup Podcast Links: Website:...

Duration:00:29:35

055 - Training Creativity to Get More (and Better) Ideas

6/20/2017
This episode is based on the following article: 6 Methods To Generate New Product Ideas and And Kick-Start Your Creativity Many people assume that they aren’t good at coming up with new or creative ideas. They say,

Duration:00:28:23

054 - Food-safe Children's Products, Dan & Justin with Milton the Mealtime Companion

6/6/2017
We also get into telling a story with your product to increase engagement with consumers.

Duration:00:42:47

053 - Manufacturing, Quality & 3D Printing

5/23/2017
Today we will focus on manufacturing and quality assurance - answering some of the most popular questions that we get asked. Also, how to know when to call it quits, and how much money or time to invest...

Duration:00:49:18

052 - The business model behind custom window coverings, Alice Orozco of Pret-a-Portiere

5/9/2017
Competing with companies much larger than her small business and why success isn't straight line.

Duration:00:47:15

See More