Litter Robot
product on 1 show · 10 statements across 1 episodes · said 17 times in 2 episodes since 2025
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How I Built This 17
2025 17 mentions in 2 episodes 9 per episode
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10 statements about Litter Robot, every show
Shipping Litter-Robots overseas cost the same as assembling them locally
“We studied this, and we found out that what it would cost us to ship the product from overseas to our warehouse is what it would cost us to assemble it locally.”
Whisker had sold approximately 50,000 Litter-Robot units by 2010
“By 2010, we had sold probably about 40 to 50,000 units.”
Competitor LitterMaid offered approximately $200,000 to buy the Litter-Robot patents
“One was from our, the competitor litter made. And if I recall, I think it was a number around 200,000 to buy the patents.”
Retailers demanded 50% margins when the Litter-Robot only yielded 30%
“Most of the retailers wanted 50 points on the product and there just wasn't a way that we could Provide that. We were maybe making 30 points at most on the product at the time.”
Whisker crossed $1 million in annual revenue in 2004
“2004 was the first year that we hit a million dollars, and that was a huge milestone for us.”
Baxter financed Litter-Robot retooling via supplier credit and a 12% loan
“Without a bank loan, without, you know, investors, I was actually able to retool the product by amortizing the cost of the tooling with one supplier that I worked with, and then I was able to take out a loan A two-year loan at 12% interest with another supplie…”
Low early sales volume enabled vital product iteration for the Litter-Robot
“I mean, we would have certainly taken more volume if we could have gotten it, but it was kind of a blessing that the volumes were low because it allowed us to kind of take our time and learn and to adjust some things about the product.”
Whisker adopted early e-commerce out of necessity due to low profit margins
“We were into e-commerce very early, just kind of by necessity due to the size of the product, and we didn't have a lot of margin in the product either.”
Baxter was the sole Litter-Robot assembler for its first four months
“You know, the building, the product we did that in Pontiac, Michigan for a while, and I was actually the sole assembler for probably the first three or four months.”
Baxter: Automatic litter boxes require sifting waste rather than mechanical raking
“The litter maid was, and again, not to trash them or anything, but it was a very literal approach to the problem. But, It doesn't really break down into its functions and, you know, how can we best solve this problem? And that's what I tried to do. I tried to …”