085: Scaling Your Product Up After Crowdfunding

Ben Drury is the Founder of Yoto Play, a connected hardware toy product for kids.  Yoto just recently raised $17 million in Series A financing.  Before that, Yoto launched their physical product via a successful crowdfunding campaign.  Today Ben is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers grow and scale their products after they finish their crowdfunding campaign in order to get to big time worldwide sales.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Going from 750 units to 50,000 units.
• Launching via crowdfunding.
• Start with a starter product as a stepping stone scaling.
• Using crowdfunding success to scale after a campaign.
• Use crowdfunding to learn, it’s far better than traditional test marketing.
• Think about leveraging your hardware to sell secondary add-ons.
• Be connected with your first customers, get a few units out there, then use this traction to raise funding.
• Using the crowdfunding success and feedback to create a better product for your next version, and figure out how to make it cheaper now that you can produce at scale.
• Give a big discount to your Version 1 customers to get them to Version 2.

EPISODE LINKS

Ben Drury / Yoto Play Links:

• Website: www.yotoplay.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bedrury/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yotoplay_us/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/yotoplay
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yotoplayUS

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent

 

Mako Design Links:

• Website: https://www.makodesign.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MakoInvent/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/MakoDesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakoInvent/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MakoInvent/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MakoInvent/

 

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

 

Thanks for tuning in! See you next time.

About: 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. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry’s leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about Mako Design + Invent!