Answered raw tape
D 4 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.00
Q So let's start with what you're seeing in terms of hardware. Cause I don't have a lot of people come on this show. And pitch hardware, especially in 20, 24. Um, when capital is, is hard to come by and hardware traditionally is an expensive thing to do. So what's exciting you in hardware and why do you think there's startup ideas in this space?
A So I think. There are kind of orders of magnitude when you consider hardware, like, I don't know if you would consider like books, I eat what I've been doing. I buy bootstrapping audiences and selling a product, which is really an entertainment product as hardware. But most people that get big on a social network, they'll make like a knowledge product or an info product. And then it's like a hundred percent margin. Right. I think I started making stuff for Fun. And then people started asking for a product. And so they started asking for a book specifically. So I made that and it, I mean, the more you order, the cheaper it's going to be. And I think people get really intimidated by the idea of like making a physical object, but the internet is pretty amazing. And Alibaba, I messaged a bunch of different manufacturers. I found a manufacturer that was able to Meet my specification requirements, which was like D boss foil printing, hard cover, like high quality, like gloss pages and went through a couple of rounds of sample testing with them and then got a product that I liked. Meanwhile, I took pre-orders with a payment link and have a new product, right? So I was able to subsidize the initial order cost with the pre-orders that I got. And then from there I was able to scale it up. So I think Even individual people that have an audience and want to do something like that, that you…
AI assessment note: “I think then you look at AI companies that are going all in on hardware.”
Answered raw tape
D 4 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.00
Q know, a lot of people, and you're the master at this, but a lot of people Create a product and then they're like, okay, let me like send it to a bunch of journalists and then they don't get any love and they don't get anyone writing articles and stuff like that. How do you think about creating a physical product that is going to be shared, shared by thousands?
A Yeah, I think, I mean, I think mine is a unique case because I wasn't necessarily like creating a product. I was creating like mimetic content. Um, I think one, Thing that I've seen a lot of people do when they're working on something is they'll throw the idea out there. And if they don't get immediate validation, they kind of mark it as a loss and move on. And the reality of almost anything is it takes a lot of experimentation and a lot of throwing stuff against the wall to figure out what's going to react and get a, get a response. Right. Um, and I think there's, there's ways that you can do that without doing it in a public forum, or you can do that by kind of Creating a brand or a separate entity. If you don't want to attribute your name to it, I will say if you're working on something and you don't want to put your name on it from the beginning, you should probably reconsider whether or not you actually want to be working on it because you should be proud to put your name on stuff you work on. Um, So I think like pure like cycles and getting feedback and refining is something I think a lot of people don't spend enough time doing. And then I think also rather than starting with the question of like, how can I make this thing better? Most of my work starts with like, why does this suck so bad? And like, how could I make it suck more? Um, And it sounds like a pointless exerci…
AI assessment note: “by exacerbating the pain that people feel, you'll often understand parts of the experience”
