Product Startup Kevin Mako of MAKO Design + Invent

Magnus Skold, a seasoned industrial designer with two decades of experience under his belt, has traversed a remarkable journey in the world of design. His career commenced by crafting opulent interiors for private jets exclusively reserved for international royalty. From there, he transitioned to collaborating with major commercial airlines before further honing his skills with renowned brands, including Dell and several others. For the past few years, Magnus has held the distinguished role of senior industrial designer at Mako Design. Today, we are fortunate to have Magnus join us to delve into the art of product sketching, elucidate its profound significance, and explore the diverse realms of ideation sketching crucial for shaping innovative hardware inventions.
Here are the key takeaways from this episode:

The importance of sketch design for new hardware products

Types of sketches: 1) Written hand sketches, 2) Digital sketches, 3) CAD sketches

Product Evolution: Progression through different product elements, emphasizing significant changes at the outset, and refining with smaller changes as the process advances

Design Approach: Pyramid funneled approach for efficiency and cost-effectiveness and consideration of the minimum viable product for inventions


Magnus Skold Links:
LinkedIn

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Andre Tiemann holds the position of Director of Production at Hot Pop Factory, a renowned company specializing in 3D printing, laser cutting, etching, and small-scale consumer product manufacturing. In this episode, Andre will impart invaluable insights aimed at inventors, startups, and small manufacturers. He will cover topics such as the fundamentals of 3D printing, its various types, the diverse materials used in 3D printing, and its significance at three critical stages in the product development journy of hardware startups.
Here are the key takeaways from this episode:

3D printing is a layering additive method.

The majority of 3D printing involves plastic printing, with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) being a common technique.

Stereolithography (SLA) is a resin-based 3D printing process.

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) uses lasers to sinter powder, creating 3D printed parts.

Multi-material printing allows for versatility in materials.

Initially, ABS was the primary material, but now there are numerous material options available.

Three key phases in utilizing 3D printing for new hardware product development: 1) Rough ideation of design, 2) Engineering prototyping and, 3) Short-run low-volume hardware manufacturing for new inventions.

Short-run manufacturing provides an opportunity to alleviate uncertainty and ensure project success through customer feedback.


Andre Tiemann Links:
LinkedIn | Hot Pop Factory

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Lloyed Lobo is the co-founder of Boast.ai & Traction, boasting an impressive $100 million in funding, and the esteemed author of "From Grassroots To Greatness: 13 Rules to Forge Iconic Brands through Community-Led Growth". He is here to impart invaluable insights to inventors, startups, and small-scale manufacturers. In this episode, Lloyed unveils the crucial stages of audience engagement, their profound impact on hardware product sales, and actionable tools to initiate immediate community-building efforts.
Here are the key takeaways from this episode:

Every obscure concept that evolves into a global sensation traverses four distinct phases.

Understand the progression from an audience to a cohesive community and eventually into a dedicated cult brand following.

Discover how to transform an obscure idea into a devoted cult brand by focusing on communication, creation, and unwavering consistency.

Embrace inbound marketing strategies to educate and engage your audience effectively.

Recognize that your audience evolves into a community when they come together around a shared purpose that transcends your product.

Foster an unyielding belief in your mission, as yesterday's innovation can quickly become today's commonplace, as seen by Nike, Harley, and Apple.

Cultivate a feedback loop that transforms customers into brand evangelists, driving organic growth.

Build a thriving community by adhering to six core values that unleash happy "CAMPERs" – Connection, Autonomy, Management, Purpose, Energy, and Recognition.

Identify your ideal customer profile to effectively target your community-building efforts.

Map out your circle of influence to discover the platforms where your potential community members congregate.

Choose the type of community you wish to create, be it a community of practice, product enthusiasts, or playful engagement.

Focus initially on building your audience, subsequently nurturing them into a thriving community.

Concentrate on acquiring email addresses as a key step in your journey to interact and engage with your audience effectively.


Lloyed Lobo Links:
LinkedIn | Boast.AI | Book

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Mark Pecota is the Co-Founder of LaunchBoom, the original and largest crowdfunding agency globally. He's also the author of the top-selling Amazon book "Crowdfunded," a guide covering the end-to-end crowdfunding process, which has held its top spot for over 3 years. Additionally, Mark co-hosts the Crowdfunded Summit, an event I've had the honor of keynoting several times and will be speaking at again from September 12th to 14th.
Mark shares some invaluable insights tailored for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers. He delves into the mechanics of sales growth before and during a crowdfunding campaign for new hardware products. Mark also sheds light on the online advertising tools instrumental in driving sales, while highlighting the best practices to optimize your return on advertising investment when selling your novel invention through platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
Here are some key points from the discussion:

Crowdfunding serves as a potent avenue to bring hardware products to fruition.

The beauty of crowdfunding lies in generating pre-orders, with the funds earmarked for manufacturing.

A crucial misconception is assuming that products on crowdfunding platforms will naturally gain immense traction.

Establishing a robust pre-launch strategy is pivotal to leverage crowdfunding algorithms.

Harness advertising to cultivate email subscriber lists.

Facebook stands out as the primary platform for launching new products, both in pre-launch and during crowdfunding.

The cornerstone is consistent, scalable, and high-quality traffic.

In the pre-launch phase, the focus is on constructing a meticulously curated email list.

During the live campaign, the goal shifts to driving actual sales.

Accurate targeting is vital, with Facebook audiences revolving around user interests.

Utilize Facebook's suggestions to build a comprehensive list of user interests.

The visual content of ads holds paramount importance, with the creative element (photo or video) being particularly critical.

Crafting scroll-stopping ads is a key strategy.

When choosing Facebook objectives, prioritize those yielding tangible ad results over awareness campaigns.


Mark Pecota Links:
LinkedIn | Boast.AI | Book

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Thomas Ask is a Professor of Industrial Design at Penn College, which stands as a sibling institution to Penn State. With extensive experience spanning over three decades in the realm of hardware product development, he has also played pivotal roles in nurturing two hardware startups. Thomas's academic journey culminated in the acquisition of a PhD in Industrial Design, further enhancing his expertise. Today, Thomas is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what ethnocentric design is, why it is valuable for a hardware startup, and the process to ensure you do a great job at getting inside the mind of your customer so that you can best achieve both design and sales success for your invention product.
Today you will hear us talk about:

Defining what ethnocentric design

Different cultures

Different demographics

Subject matter expert

Inventing something and inventing something for someone

A lot of design and invention has ego, but you should take out the ego. Instead, look at data.

Identify the problem.

Develop empathy for the user. What is going on in their life.

Interview your customer, or prospective customer types.

Formal ethnographic techniques.

Processes, understand the user, ideation, feedback.

Ideation is where you create ideas to match and infuse them to what you have learned from your customer.

Cultural consensus questionnaire

First, ensure your end customers are the correct people.

A structured questionnaire.

Human observation.

Many people don’t want radical change from traditional methods, even if it is better.

If it doesn’t work well and it is not intuitive, people will not use it.

A dynamic feedback loop ensures success.


Thomas Ask Links:
LinkedIn | Penn College

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.

Paul McEnroe is the creator, developer, and leader behind UPC barcodes for IBM. The work he did is still the standard over 50 years later on almost all products worldwide. Since then he has been the head of engineering and eventually President for hardware companies, and sits on a number of boards and educational institutions. Today Paul is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on the type of team you need to build for your hardware product, how to manage that team, and how to ensure smooth communication so that your team can make sure your new hardware product is a big success.
Today you will hear us talk about:

When you see someone that has a huge part of the market, and they aren’t doing it well, you know there is lots of opportunity for new innovation.

Innovation and execution does not happen overnight, it can take years to get it built, then to market, then to scale.

The power of team in building a new hardware product

Ensure you have a great technical team in building a hardware product, especially as a hardware.

Have experience in fields that you do not have yourself.

What do you want to do with your product, and how does that bring about a team?

Each team member can not be focusing just on themselves, they need to recognize the power of the whole.

What do you want others to do?

Communicate openly, in both directions

Individual Skills, Whole goal, and communication.

You have your people, the designers and engineers in the shop,

Explain it in simple terms to people that have the money, or are buying the product.

To improve your business communication among your team, learn some of the skills of a college debate team.

Put your mind in the place of the person you are communicating with, not just your own perspective.

Ensure that everyone on your team is in full understanding.

Help out the quieter people in the room, as their insight is potentially just as important.

Make yourself, as the leader, as available as can be.

If someone comes up with an issue, do not let it bubble up, especially interpersonal issues.


Paul McEnroe Links:
LinkedIn | Book

The Product Startup Podcast Links:
https://www.ProductStartup.com/
Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube

Mako Design Links:
https://www.makodesign.com/
YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.