Podcasts about popsockets

In this episode of Ecommerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives, Jack Farrell, VP of Ecommerce at PopSockets, takes us behind the scenes of the brand's transformation—from a one-product DTC sensation to a global lifestyle powerhouse. Jack shares eye-opening lessons from APAC's mobile-first, creator-driven markets, breaks down why PopSockets puts profitability before hypergrowth, and dives into how GenAI is reshaping creative strategies for ecommerce teams. If you're focused on scaling smarter, boosting bottom-line results, and staying ahead in a fast-paced digital world, you won't want to miss this one.

I'm diving into some less-popular products in the Amazon Merch catalog: PopSockets and Phone Cases! I think they present a good opportunity to make sales with less competition from other sellers

Reno local Eric Haskell, the founder and CEO of Sagebrush Energy, let's us in on the Reno solar industry and what to do besides hanging out with the brains of the solar industry at the big NABCEP conference in Reno. They cover everything from the booming clean tech scene and solar power in Reno to wild horses and must-visit spots around the city, including the battery Megafactory. Eric shares insightful details about the local solar market, the benefits of Nevada's legislative changes, and even his experiences with international companies like PopSockets and Allbirds. Whether you're attending the conference or simply curious about renewable energy and modern tech in Reno, this episode is packed with valuable information and engaging stories that you won't want to miss! Topics covered: NABCEP Conference Sagebrush Energy www.sagebrushenergy.com Burning Man Solar in RenoEV = Electric Vehicle Tesla Giga Factory Lithium Mine in Nevada Zero State Income Tax Tesla Semi Truck Battery Recycling Red Wood Materials Lithium Mining Solar in RenoCasinos Must-visit Spots of Reno Marriage and Divorce in Reno Elvis Wedding GSR = Grand Sierra Resort Outdoor Activities in Reno Sagebrush Energy Residential Solar Market Net Metering and Time of Use ESS = Energy Storage System Wildfire Risk in Reno PG&E = Pacific Gas and Electric Company Battery Attach Rate in RenoBatteries Wild Horses in Reno Nevada PopSockets Riley Neugebauer of Solar for Women www.solarforwomen.com (listen to her podcast here too) Allbirds California and Nevada SNEC Intersolar in Munich Battle Born Batteries Climate Change Senate Bill 293 Residential SolarDoor to Door Sales New Mission of NorCal SolarSolar Coaster Solar Sales and Install Sagebrush Financial www.sagebrushfinancial.com Reach out Eric Haskell here: Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/erick-haskell Website: www.sagebrushenergy.com Sagebrush Financing: www.sagebrushfinancial.com Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean's classes at www.heatspring.com/sean  

PopSockets is the leader of what its CEO, Jiayu Lin, likes to call the phone grip category. The company is known for small, retractable circles that come in a  wide variety of prints and colors and attach to the back of someone's phone, making it easier to grip. But, the company really wants to be known as a lifestyle brand. It's an inflection point that many accessories brands reach at one point or another, as they want consumers to know them for more than just a single widget. And, Lin is thinking day in and day out about how to position PopSockets as a lifestyle brand through events, collaborations, new product launches and more. “I want to take [PopSockets] to the next level by transitioning the company from a tech accessory to a mobile lifestyle brand,” she said.  Lin joined The Modern Retail Podcast to talk about her vision for PopSockets. She's been with the company since 2022, starting out as its gm of APAC and becoming the company's CEO in September.  PopSockets has been focused on product expansion for the past few years, and it now sells phone cases, wallets and more, in addition to its ubiquitous grips.   One concept Lin is particularly interested in is the idea of the mobile lifestyle — that is, as people carry their phones everywhere, phones are increasingly becoming an extension of people's identity. So, PopSockets is focused on launching a greater variety of products that speak to people's interests and hobbies — for example, a music festival survival kit.  “This idea of a mobile lifestyle – we want to be part of you, and an extension of you, to help you express yourself — whether it's at work, at home or at play,” Lin said.  Creating exclusives for different retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Apple and more is also a big part of this. In addition, PopSockets is looking at more pop-up opportunities and events this year, Lin said.  “It's very important for us that we find the right channels for the different products we carry,” she said. 

Alf and Reilly raw-dog their flight, prepare for their Disney 365 Audition, identify bigfoot, and sink into quicksand on this weeks exciting episode of REVIEW REVUE.>>>>>

听众朋友们大家好，感谢收听Lead Her Way! 今天我们的嘉宾是Jia Yu。我和Jia Yu 认识很多年，刚认识的时候，我们都在自己的职业道路上找“意义”。 她从哈佛商学院毕业，从投资行业跳进了新消费领域。2015、16年的“新消费“ 创意无限，新品牌新玩法层出不穷，加上背后资本追逐，也出了几个“独角兽”。Jia Yu 从加入那时还名不见经传的小红书，到进入中国设计师运动品牌Maia Active (本播客EP#2 采访了Maia Active 创始人Lisa) ，又到了all birds ，一路摸索，一路尝试，就是因为她会被品牌的坚持和背后做品牌的人感动。今天，Jia Yu 是手机配饰品牌PopSockets (泡泡骚)的亚洲主理人。在北美发展了很久的PopSockets, 在中国刚刚起步，Jia Yu 和团队还在WeWork 里“创业“。 认识Jia Yu 8年，我经常会有这个问题， 她选择了一条不太寻常的路，和光鲜亮丽没太大关系，尽管她完全可以选择一条顶级商学院毕业生常规路径，高管，投资，大厂等等，但是她没有。今天的播客聊天，回答了我的问题，Jia Yu 以终为始的思维模式，决定了她现在的每一步选择。作为一个基本走过一个新消费行业周期的从业者，Jia Yu 也讲了她对于这个行业的观察，以及机会点，还想要进入这个领域的年轻人可以得到一些启发。在听这期播客之前，如果我问你，How will you measure your life? 你的答案会是什么呢？Enjoy! 播客中提到的理论：DTC（direct-to-consumer）商业模式，即以消费者为中心，直接接触消费者的品牌商业模式双因素理论（Two-factor theory），也称作激励保健理论（英語：Motivation-Hygiene Theory），是由美国心理学家弗里德里克·赫茨伯格（Frederick Herzberg）于1950年代末所提出1950年代末，赫茨伯格在匹兹堡进行研究发现：属于工作本身或工作内容方面的因素（例如：挑战性的工作、认可、责任）使职工感到覺得满意；属于工作环境或工作关系方面的因素（例如，地位、工作安全感、薪水、福利）使职工感到覺得不满意。前者被赫茨伯格称作激励因素（Motivational Factors），后者被称作保健因素（Hygiene factors）。哈佛商学院教授Clayton M. Christensen《哈佛商业评论》常撰稿人，发明研究Disruptive Innovation理论，哈佛商学院毕业典礼演讲：How will you measure your life？https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life中文：https://36kr.com/p/1601133776276608值得读的著作：《The Innovator‘s Dilemma》Jia Yu推荐的书籍：- 《清醒地活》 （美）迈克·辛格（《臣服实验》的作者）Jia Yu近期看的书：- 《我们何以不同：人格心理学40讲》 王芳对Jia Yu影响深刻的女性：Brene Brown，美国休斯顿大学教授，发表Ted talk《The power of vulnerability》Brene Brown的播客：Unlocking us with Brene BrownJia Yu循环播放的歌曲：Play the world by Lisa Jia Yu的小红书：飞鱼Jia Yu 开篇音乐：Feeling Good by Nina Simone 结尾音乐：Aren't got all, I got life by Nina Simone

Ever wondered how to level up your YouTube content and garner millions of views? This episode is your guide to mastering the YouTube game, courtesy of my report from attending the recent VidSummit 2023 - the mecca for video marketers and video content creators. Together, we'll unlock the following insights: Popular YouTuber Preston Plays, who reveals his strategy of treating content creation as a serious business. He underscores the power of process standardization, freeing up precious time for creativity. Another popular YouTuber, Kimbyrleigha, the pivot queen, divulges how she shifted her channel focus from PopSockets to true crime, drawing in her target avatar. The AI revolution in video production isn't far behind, with popular YouTuber Kwebbelkop sharing a detailed roadmap of his proprietary AI video tool. This tool has the potential to make content creation 200% cheaper and 12,000% faster. We also dive into YouTube's exciting new AI tools that promise to ease video creation, transforming the landscape for creators, from YouTube's creator liaison Rene Richie.Finally, we unravel the secrets of marketing strategies and YouTube growth. Discover how a YouTube-based e-commerce startup hit the nail on the head with its launch strategy. There's no missing out on our discussion of effective thumbnails and intros, and the role of AI in reshaping content creation. Learn how understanding your audience and optimizing for viewer engagement can skyrocket your channel's success. From data and metrics to success stories, there's a treasure trove of insights waiting for you. So don't wait, tune in and elevate your YouTube journey with us.Learn More: Join My Digital First Mastermind: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/ Learn about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/cmo Download My Free Ebooks Here: https://nealschaffer.com/freebies/ Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/nealschaffer All My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com

Nice Try 是一个中文闲聊播客，也是一个游戏。几乎每周，四个朋友隔空聊天，分享过去几天中的「Happy Hour」，提出挑战，随时跑题。在各大播客平台搜索 NiCE TRY 即可收听，也欢迎登陆我们的官方网站 nicetrypod.com，那里可以找到全部往期节目。 我们的邮箱是nicetryconnect@gmail.com，欢迎写信来。

In this new episode of "Embracing Change," I had the privilege of speaking with Eugenio Méndez, Chief Revenue Officer at PopSockets LLC. During our conversation, we explored how PopSockets has implemented omnichannel strategies, prioritizing a digital approach to drive e-commerce and Amazon sales. Eugenio also shares insights into PopSockets' successful global expansion in key markets such as China, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and Colombia, effectively positioning the brand as a premium player. We discussed non-traditional marketing techniques to increase brand exposure, including collaborations with influencers, PR campaigns, and disruptive activations. Join us in this captivating episode as we explore how a simple idea became a global phenomenon and how PopSockets has tackled the challenges and opportunities of an omnichannel strategy.

In this episode of the Earmark Accounting Podcast, Blake talks with Stacey Feldman, CPA, about her experiences in the world of CPG and accounting at PopSockets. They look at the challenges of scaling a startup, from tracking components in a supply chain to accounting for inventory costs. Stacey also reveals insights around simplifying supply and the importance of real-time data for accurate accounting.Sponsor Check our Sponsor LiveFlow — Advanced Financial Reporting on AutopilotSign up to get free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://earmarkcpe.comDownload the Earmark CPE App Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.appChapters (00:00) - Preview: The importance of merging accounting and finance (00:47) - Earn Free CPE (01:08) - Welcome Stacey Feldman to the show (04:09) - Stacey's career path in the CPG industry (11:19) - What was the first big challenge that you had to solve in accounting for Pop Sockets? (15:08) - What did you map with the supply chain? (25:49) - What put PopSockets on the map and scaled the brand? (28:30) - What is FBM? (29:03) - How did you do all the accounting for PopSockets? What tools did you use? (37:08) - PopSockets 14 Million Dollar mistake (42:28) - What lessons have you learned regarding customer discounts? (47:58) - Differences between full manufacturing and light manufacturing (54:11) - What other cutting edge technology or interesting tech is Sunday using? (01:03:59) - Wrap up and how to connect with Stacey Connect with Our Guest, Stacey FeldmanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feldmanstacey/Learn more about Full Send Financehttps://www.fullsendfinance.com/Connect with Blake Oliver, CPALinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaketoliverTwitter: https://twitter.com/blaketoliver/

In his youth, Bobby Africa, business mentor and ultra-endurance athlete, earned his nickname "Too Fast Africa" racing motocross for Kawasaki. Ironically, and perfectly, it was Regina's (his Process teacher) loving invitation to, "Slow it down, Bobby" that opened the door, even wider, to the healing that took place during his Process. In the first few days of his Process, Bobby (Bob's childhood nickname) began to feel safe and content. He realized he didn't have to be anything or anyone but simply himself. It was in this safety that he began to slow things down, feel his feelings, and dig into this profound healing work. Bobby courageously and vulnerably began to shine a bit of light into what was and what is in his words, "very dark." As he shares his story, you can hear, feel, and sense the profound Light within him that he re-discovered through the work of the Process. Bobby goes on to share with us how in his post-Process life he is using the Process tools to heal trauma and the associated patterns. Some of the deep understanding he came to realize at the Process - safety, loveable exactly as he is, and deep contentment - now support him as he heals even more within himself. Content warning: This conversation mentions violence and sexual abuse, and while not explicit in nature, may not be suitable for all audiences." More about Bobby Africa: Bobby Africa has been moving fast most of his life. Born in Pennsylvania as the youngest of three, he spent most of his time outside or playing competitive ice hockey, soccer, and racing motocross. His love for the outdoors took him to Colorado, where he earned degrees in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Planning to attend medical school, Bobby deferred to travel the world for a year, spending nine months climbing, surfing, and working as a mountain guide in Africa and another three months in Europe. While in Europe, he visited Salomon, a company he was product testing for, and, as they say, the rest is history. He moved to France to work for Salomon and race professionally as a mountain athlete finding himself on a new path combining his love for playing in the mountains, product creation, and business. Bobby went on to hold key positions and lead companies such as Pearl Izumi, Kidrobot, Roofnest, and PopSockets. While at PopSockets, he was instrumental in their extraordinary growth from a small garage operation to the second fastest-growing company in the country in 2018. After leaving PopSockets in 2020, he had his “kitchen coffee moment” that ultimately led him to the Hoffman Process. Bobby continues leading businesses, mentoring leaders, and fostering authentic connections through TFA (TooFastAfrica) Strategy Partners. In addition, he co-founded Suffer Better, a Colorado-based nonprofit offering the endurance athlete community opportunities to preserve and protect their natural environment and support local communities. Most importantly, he continues to play in the mountains and be a dad to his daughter Sophia. Discover more about Bobby: Bob Africa on LinkedIn Interview with Bob at PodiumRunner.com Life Lessons with Boulder Athletes at DailyRunner.com Leadville Race Series: Meet your run camp guides with Bob Africa As mentioned in this episode: Leadville Race Series Safety Bobby and other Process graduates talk often about how safe they felt at Hoffman Process. Safety in healing work is absolutely necessary. Often, people haven't ever really felt safe in their lives. Read more about psychological safety here... Contentment A quote from Bobby about the contentment he found... “Contentment is a practice. It's not a feeling of accomplishment from doing something. Contentment is just being complete in the moment. In the moment there is just presence, no future, no past - just happy to be here, in the moment. Contentment is an attitude of the soul.” ~ Ram Dass https://media.blubrry.

The Anker 622 Magnetic Battery (MagGo) with PopSockets Grip is a portable battery pack that can be attached to the back of your phone using magnets. It is designed to work seamlessly with PopSockets, a popular phone accessory that provides a comfortable grip and acts as a stand for your device.Learn more about it in this episode.Follow Us!Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/androidguysTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@androidguysofficialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/androidguysYouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@AndroidGuyscomOfficialPodcast: https://feeds.simplecast.com/Euu8HkMQWebsite: http://www.androidguys.com

Chloe Sweden is the Founder and CEO of Plants and Perks, a service for rewarding employees with sustainable perks. Chad talks to Chloe about supporting employees on plant-based sustainability journies by gifting free samples and high-value prizes, choosing a co-founder, and being strategic with the types of businesses they've approached. Plants and Perks (https://www.plantsandperks.com/) Follow Plants and Perks on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/@plantsandperks/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/plantsandperks), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/plantsandperks/). Follow Chloe on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-sweden-014/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is Chloe Sweden, the Founder, and CEO of Plants and Perks, a service for rewarding employees with sustainable perks. Chloe, thank you so much for joining me. CHLOE: Thank you for having me. CHAD: So you officially started Plants and Perks, at least according to your LinkedIn, in July of 2020. But I'm sure, like many entrepreneurs, you incubated the idea. The idea was in your head for longer than that. So, where does the idea from Plants and Perks come from? And when did you start to noodle it? CHLOE: It's a really, really good question. I also think that the LinkedIn algorithm isn't 100% correct. CHAD: [laughs] CHLOE: And it always seems to add time. I always get this sort of like, "Oh my God, you've been doing this for like two years?" I'm like, "No, I'm sure it can't be. It must be shorter than that." So Plants and Perks, Plants and Perks originally started out life as the Green Shoot Institute, which, I think, if you Google us, still there's remnants of the Green Shoot Institute that exists. That is still our company holding name. And that was kind of, I guess, the first thought of the idea. I was at the time heading up commercial relationships at a large parenting platform in the UK. And we had started to go on our own plant-based journey, so thinking about cutting back on meat and dairy consumption. I guess that was sort of my own personal journey that started to make me, as a parent, and as a consumer, and as a senior leader within business to, start to think about things outside of myself, and my family, and my business. And really, that was kind of the spark of thinking about how we, as employers, don't really do much to support employees on the plant-based sustainability journey. That was the sort of the embryo of the idea. And that came from the fact that I had spent 20 years of my life in advertising, marketing, and then ten years within that in talent as a former head of talent and culture really thinking about how we embed talent and how we help employees, and how culture is so important to businesses, and how we get employees really to be the face of our brands. But we don't really do much to invest in people beyond the kind of traditional benefits that exist but also in terms of training and things like that. That was kind of where things were coming together, sort of thinking about the future of work and thinking about how people go through these huge life moments and how the businesses really support them. So that was kind of the start. I won't give the whole game away, but that was, I guess, the beginning of a kind of, hmm, there's something there. And I didn't really know what it was at the time. But yeah, I guess it wasn't so much before I actually incorporated the company. I incorporated in September 2020. That's what it says on my Company's House printout that I have on the wall just to remind me of when that momentous day happened. But pretty quickly, from coming up with an idea, I incorporated the business and just went, this is something I have to do. CHAD: Yeah, the feeling of this is something I have to do is something that I've felt myself and that I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs and guests of the show. You were working at Mumsnet at the time. How did you start while also having another job? CHLOE: Not just having another job, running a large sales team, and homeschooling two children during a pandemic. CHAD: Oh, homeschooling. Okay, yeah. CHLOE: And my son was definitely diagnosed with having additional needs at the time as well. I guess it was all of those things that kind of came together that made me realize, I mean, I had joined Mumsnet actually to head up Mumsnet's talent function, which was all about creating a flexible working product platform for parents and those looking for flexible jobs to bring them together in a marketplace. But Mumsnet wasn't going to actually continue to invest in that product, and I moved to a more commercial role. But I moved there to build a product. And that's what really triggered it for me. I realized in that moment when I'm homeschooling, and I'm running a large sales team, and I'm doing all of these things, that wasn't why I moved to this role. I actually moved because I'm at the point in my career where I want to build something, that I have it in me to create something, and build, and connect people, and do something bigger than myself and bigger than a day-to-day job. And so that itch was there. I was also, as part of that role, going out and speaking to heads of HR in large enterprise organizations and talking to them about what was troubling them. And funny enough, looking after their working parents was not troubling them, but sustainability came up a lot, and general well-being came up a lot. And so that was kind of, I guess, it started the percolation. But really, I guess with most things, the idea came about in its most embryonic stage, and then I took it to market really quickly. I basically gave it a name and then just reached out on LinkedIn to anybody I knew and people I didn't know as well just literally reached out to those people. And I spoke to one person who I won't name her or the company but probably one of the largest global companies in the world and at a very senior level. And she was actually working out of the States. And she said to me, you know, "This is new. [laughs] You need to do this. Nobody is doing this. We need this in our lives. And I haven't heard of anybody doing this in the States. You need to go and build this." And that was, I guess, the impetus to do it. And so I worked weekends. I actually was working four days a week at Mumsnet. But my fifth day, I was working full time for Mumsnet but not being paid. And so I clawed back my fifth day where I wasn't being paid, and I worked all weekends, and I worked all evenings. And I just worked and worked, and I haven't stopped until this conversation. [laughs] CHAD: To actually work on it, did you start to gather a team, a group of people? Who were the first people that you brought on to help you? CHLOE: So my co-founder, Ellen, we were on the senior leadership team of a creative agency. I was the head of talent and culture. She was the head of operation. So we had worked side by side in this organization. So we kept in touch. And she had contacted me about some health issues. And we were talking about cutting back on meat and dairy as one of the things that she could look at, given my own experiences with it. And that really bonded us. And because I am marketing, sales, creative, and she is digital, tech, product, it kind of made sense, in the beginning, to bring her on. And I just said to her like, "I'd really like you on this journey with me." And she resisted it for quite some time. [laughs] We are very different personality-wise, very, very different. I'm yes, she's no, and so in that way, we're very much yin and yang. CHAD: Oh, but I think that that can be the perfect combination for a co-founder team. I know that I've needed that in the past for myself. Someone who balances the risk-taking with reality can be very helpful. CHLOE: Yeah, absolutely. And I think I'm actually not a risk taker, but I am a natural optimist. And so I'll have a meeting, and I'll be like, "It's amazing. It's solved all of our problems." And she'll be just like, "No, it hasn't. What's changed? Nothing's changed. There's no contract, nothing signed," [laughs] which I think in the moment is really not helpful. [laughs] But it's really helpful as we grow the business. It really is a good balance. I bring all of that energy and drive to get us very quickly to the next level. And she brings all of the understanding, all of the pauses, all of the rigor, all of the data, all the things that are just the complete opposite of me. So I brought her on pretty quickly. And then we had a bit of a false start around getting a CTO on board. But we knew we needed to build the product quickly. And in the end, we built the product ourselves on a no-code/low-code platform, just the two of us. And I recommend any entrepreneur to do that because you learn a lot. [laughs] CHAD: Is that the reason...so you learning...because I think that that is super important, whether it be someone like yourself actually building the product or just being very close to it. When I've seen entrepreneurs get too far away from the product too soon, they end up regretting it later on. CHLOE: Yeah, I think -- CHAD: Or building the wrong thing. CHLOE: Or building the wrong thing. I do really believe in you've got to do every job in order to then understand who you need to hire and to then have an appreciation of that role. So obviously the product evolved very much and very quickly. We were very lucky that one of our first clients was Lacoste, who we launched to here in the UK with our MVP. But we also did some other paid consultancy work with Uber and with other clients as well. And then PopSockets came on in the States as well. We weren't ready to launch in the States, but they really wanted us to. So we're like, you know, let's do it. [laughs] CHAD: I noticed those three names on your website. And I do think that social...being able to have those testimonials there with names people recognize lends a lot of credibility to the product. CHLOE: And they were my first three clients, [laughs] genuinely my first three clients. CHAD: So, did you seek that out, or did it just happen? How did that work out? CHLOE: Obviously, my background is commercial sales, so it's not something that I shy away from. It was connections; it was talking to people. And we were recommended to PopSockets, which was amazing. They came on as an early investor as well, which was phenomenal. Again, having clients who love what you do so much they want to invest is brilliant because you get to have some really interesting conversations and backers in your corner. But yeah, of course, we've been quite strategic with the types of businesses that we've approached, but we are very lucky that we are attracting the right type of businesses as well, which is lovely. I mean, talk a little bit more about what Plants and Perks does, but the way in which we have evolved the product and evolved the types of clients that we're talking to is not an accident. And I think it goes back to the conversation we were just having about building the product yourself. Really being in the weeds, I think, is really important. Now, it's going to be a challenge to me as a founder moving forward to make sure I'm extricating myself from the weeds as time goes on, although I'm pretty happy to step away when needed. [laughs] But knowing that and being able to talk to your clients and being really clear, well, this is what this client likes; this is what's happening here; this is what's working well here, I think is really important. You've got to know your product. You've got to know your audience. We've got two...actually, we have three clients, technically. We have clients; we have employees; we have client employers; we have employees; and we also have Perks' partners. We have sustainable...we promote sustainable products and services on our platform. So we also have partners as well as our clients. And I think you've got to know them all really well. Now, I was a head of talent and culture, so I know the employee piece quite well because I was always advocating for the employee. I spent 20 years downsizing, so I ran client accounts. So I know how to look after clients, I guess, from that perspective and work in large organizations. I also used to literally do the marketing for PepsiCo and Wrigley's and big brands. So I can do the partner piece quite well. And I think it's really important that you've done that and you've lived through it. And I've never built a tech product, but I did literally roll my sleeves up and get stuck in to build the MVP, which was kind of the bit that I was missing. Now, I haven't built the app; that is beyond me. [laughs] But luckily, we've got a brilliant team around us now, which we've built up since our last raise that's enabled us to get that talent in. And yeah, and it's just been an amazing team effort to get us to where we are now. CHAD: That's great. I want to dig into more about what the product actually is. But you've already alluded a couple of times -- CHLOE: No, let's keep it mysterious. [laughter] CHAD: You've alluded a few times to the evolution. And one thing that's stuck out to me as you were talking about that is that going to the website now; it's not specifically about eating less meat and dairy. You're talking more about sustainability. CHLOE: Yes. CHAD: I'm sure that's still a component of it. CHLOE: 100%. CHAD: But what drove that change? CHLOE: Oh my God, [laughs] about a two-week period where we had an existential crisis. I think this is really interesting, I think, for our journey, and I think us as founders as well. So we ideologically always believed in the reduction of meat and dairy as the number one thing you can do for personal and planetary health. That's it. Like, that was it. We were all about eat plants, get perks. We encourage employees to cut back on their meat and dairy consumption, and we reward them with plant-based perks. That was the product. That was the concept. Tested really well. People really bought into it. People liked that they were being rewarded with perks. They absolutely understood that it is unsustainable to consume meat and dairy in the way that we are moving forward for the planet and also for personal health. So when we're having these conversations, everyone was like, thumbs up, get it, love it, buy into it, it's all great. And then what was happening is that I kind of got to a point where I was like, we've had all these really positive conversations, but no one's biting. Everyone's sort of saying yes to me and then nothing. I'm actually really proud of us as a team for very, very quickly going and identifying the problem and fixing it because we could have stuck to our ideological guns and gone, no, no, no, but we are all about the reduction of meat and dairy consumption as the number one thing. But no one was telling us that it was that that was the problem. What we had to do was read between the lines because nobody would ever tell us that. But what they would say was, "Well, how would it land with a 58-year-old man working in our distribution center?" And we're like, "Really well, why?" [laughter] But I had to understand what was coming behind that question. And what was coming behind the question was I don't want to launch a benefit where I feel like we're judging somebody's life choices. Like, that's not going to wash. So the people we were talking to were super keen on it, then when they took it up the line, they were essentially saying, "Well, this is a plant-based benefit, Plants and Perks." And I think that's where the sort of record scratched, and it didn't go any further. But no one was feeding this back to us. This we had to discover ourselves. And so we had this kind of existential crisis where we're like, well, we've always been about sustainability, like, absolutely the reduction in meat and dairy is all because it's unsustainable for us to consume meat and dairy and fish in the way that we are. So why don't we broaden ourselves out to more? We already held sustainable products and services on our platform anyway. It was just the language; it really was. It wasn't actually as big a pivot as it sounded. It really was just softening the language. So we don't talk about plant-based; we talk about planet-friendly. And we just kind of expanded out some of the articles and content that we contained anyway. And that unblocked everything, like genuinely overnight unblocked everything. So it became something that what we were hearing was that companies wanted to introduce a new green benefit, and now they felt that they could because there wasn't the kind of...and we always said that this is non-judgmental. This is completely supportive. These are very small changes that you could make. You don't have to sort of introduce me to it. But now it makes sense to everybody. And I think we as a business just needed to go through that moment where we were like, is this the type of business that we want to be running? Is this the business that we want to be owning? And we were like, absolutely, because this is still...our mission actually didn't change at all. Our mission is to help a million employees live healthier, more sustainable lives. That has not changed. And so the fact that our mission hadn't changed, it was just some of the language needed to change to make it more palatable to a wider audience, that's fine. We could live with that. CHAD: Yeah, that's great. So now, what does that actually mean in terms of what the product is? Companies sign up. CHLOE: Yep. CHAD: And what do employees do? CHLOE: Yeah, so it's a really good question. So the other sort of big moment, I guess, inflection point that we had is that we introduced a freemium model. And that, from a product perspective, was quite a big thing because I started realizing in conversations as well we were giving too much value away. And actually, some of the value that we were giving away clients didn't necessarily want. Some clients really wanted it, and some clients didn't need it. And so we introduced three different products. So we introduced free, so we now have a completely free Plants and Perks app that any employer can take on for their employee base. And it will give them discounts of sustainable products and services. It will give them article content on how to live more sustainably, embrace more sustainable living. And it will give them planet-friendly recipes on essentially more sustainable, healthy ways to eat. And that's the core free product that we've created. CHAD: And are you still making revenue on that through partner relationship? CHLOE: Yeah, absolutely. So, although, you know, we're not about excess consumption. What we are about is...I think what we really realized is with Plants and Perks; we are bang smack in the middle of a cost of living crisis. And actually, what we can do is level the playing field when it comes to green and sustainable products. There's kind of like this green tax that gets applied. And what we're trying to do is very much look at price parity. So what we talk about is it's harder than ever to make the most sensible choices when costs are spiraling all around us. And so what the reductions of planet-friendly products does is enables you to just try things that you might not have tried before because of cost, and it mitigates against that. So we do go into relationship with partners, and they can promote their products through the platform. But there are also chances for employees to put their reviews and tell them what they think. So it isn't just set up for advertisers in that way at all. But what we found is there's an amazing thing which is that brands need to connect with a new, wider audience. They don't just want to talk to early adopters within the sustainability or plant-based space. And we are talking to every man and every woman in large-scale organizations. So it's actually quite difficult to access those people if you're these niche brands who may not even have listings necessarily in large retailers yet. Or if you do have distribution, it's really difficult to get a sell-through. So we enable those partners to offer sampling, to offer freebies, to offer significant discounts, and to offer in-store redemptions as well. So we are offering quite a significant route to market for sustainable and plant-based products and services. CHAD: That's great. Okay, and so what is the second tier up? CHLOE: The second tier is plus and what that gives you is we start to give employees plant points, and you collect plant points. It's incredibly gamified. You can collect badges. Every action you do basically has a reaction. So when you read an article, you basically can answer some questions on the article, and you'll be rewarded with points. You can rate a recipe; you can like a recipe, try a recipe. You can buy a product or a service. You can also get a free...in the UK, at the moment, you'll be able to get a free meal once a week, like a free lunch through one of our partners, and loads of freebies as well. So the value is much more significant in the plus model. That's kind of our core offering. And we talk about rewarding employees with sustainable perks. And during the time at the moment, employers are really looking for ways in which they can support their employees through the cost of living crisis. How can we give our employees free stuff, interesting stuff, whilst also helping them on the sustainability journey? And so therefore, this is something that genuinely really works for both employers and employees. So that's the plus model. CHAD: One thing I noticed as you lay out the benefits that you get under this model, I'm surprised then by the per-employee cost. It seemed very low to me [laughs] when I saw it. Can you talk more about that? CHLOE: Yeah, so that is a from price. And I do think I need to make it; I mean, I do say it's from, and I think I do say there's a bit of an asterisk. I do think I need to potentially change it as well. So it's good [laughs] feedback because I think quite a few people say that. So that is for large-scale employers. So we are talking to large retailers with 20,000, 30,000 40,000 employees. So that is the cost that they would pay. It is a sliding scale back from that cost. But, I mean, we've purposely priced ourselves to be reasonable. We are a mission-led company, and for any investors listening, don't worry; we are also revenue-generating. CHAD: [laughs] CHLOE: But for us, it's really important that we are an affordable benefit. We're very aware of the costs on everyone. So, for sure, that price is pretty low. But we think that it represents quite good value, incredible value for the client. But it's something that makes sense for them to bring on. It should be a no-brainer; that's basically what we say. Like, it's a no-brainer. In terms of the amount of freebies that you're getting for your employee, it's certainly a no-brainer in terms of the return on investment. On the pro version, by the way, the added value on the pro version is that it's fully ring-fenced for that organization. So it's fully branded. They get full account management. It looks like their platform, essentially. And employees can talk and access the information together. So it might be that Bob in IT in Denver has uploaded a photo of himself cycling to work, and somebody else can comment on it. Somebody else has uploaded a curry recipe in Scotland, and someone else has gone, "Well, I tried that recipe." "But, you know, how was it? How much chili did you put in it?" So people are kind of joining together and really creating that space to talk about sustainability in a much more accessible way. So that's the pro version. And also we're then building on sustainability metrics and also sustainability reporting. So we'll be able to talk about employees' own carbon footprint and also how that scales up to the overall company's sustainability goals. CHAD: You mentioned that the mission is to help one million employees on their sustainability journey. Can you tell me where you are [laughs] along that metric? CHLOE: Yeah. So, look, the app launch is tomorrow, so [laughs] ask me in a couple of months. And we're really...actually; we're genuinely new. CHAD: You've been in private beta, I guess, is the way to describe it. CHLOE: Yeah. We're basically with the MVP. We've been helping a couple of thousand employees up until this point. We got around 25,000. About 30-plus companies join our waiting list, which was then around 25,000-30,000 employees that represented. We've just confirmed that we're going to be launching with a very large retailer in the UK as well, so that will then -- CHAD: Congratulations. CHLOE: Thank you. That will then double, so it will be about 50,000 employees that we'll be hitting this year. And then we are in quite far down the line talks with quite a few other companies that would take us to potentially just under our target, which, by the way, the million employees is not like it's a target for 2022. It's like a...it's our ongoing mission. [laughs] CHAD: Right, a long-term vision. CHLOE: It's a long-term vision. So we're significantly further ahead than I thought we would be on that. I mean, look, what we've said from the start is the million is a sort of fairly arbitrary number but what it is is it's scale. So we're not here just to look after, you know, we're not here just to help very, very small companies; we can now with our free product, which is great, but it gives us that scale. And it shows that we, as a business, want to be global, want to be talking to enterprise clients and then helping them live healthier, more sustainable lives. For us, it's both of those things. You can't just live a healthy life, and you can't just live a sustainable life. It needs to be a life of purpose. And so the mission really keeps us true to those things. MID-ROLL AD: Now that you have funding, it's time to design, build and ship the most impactful MVP that wows customers now and can scale in the future. thoughtbot Lift Off brings you the most reliable cross-functional team of product experts to mitigate risk and set you up for long-term success. As your trusted, experienced technical partner, we'll help launch your new product and guide you into a future-forward business that takes advantage of today's new technologies and agile best practices. Make the right decisions for tomorrow, today. Get in touch at: thoughtbot.com/liftoff. CHAD: You mentioned you have essentially three client bases: you have the employers, the employees, and the partners, which essentially means you have a multi-sided marketplace. CHLOE: Yes. CHAD: And one of the challenges of building any marketplace, especially the more sides you have, is bootstrapping it, you know, creating a momentum. The partners want to know, hey, how many people are on the platform that we're going to be bringing into? And in the early days, you don't have much to offer there. So how have you made that work? CHLOE: Well, so firstly, we don't see ourselves as a marketplace, which we should. [laughter] We should see ourselves as a marketplace. Secondly, I learned all about building a marketplace because, in 2010, I launched a dating app before there were apps. Actually, it was a dating website...and completely on my own. It was complete madness. And I totally did not understand the power of a network. I didn't understand the marketplace dynamic. I didn't understand that you needed buyers and you needed sellers. You needed, in this case, men seeking women and women seeking men. [laughs] You needed both sides of the equation. And you needed volume on both sides straight out of the gate. I just didn't get that. I was like, build it, and they will come. [laughs] And so I was fully burnt from that experience. So that was still ringing in my head. So I think what was important was building up, firstly, building up our partners. So it was really, really important to build up the number of partners that we have on the platform. And for them, it's a completely low-risk strategy. It's like, come on the platform and offer discounts and people who are interested in sustainability. Like, that's really easy. We can do that. And then for the companies, we've got everything...beyond the partners, we still have loads and loads of value. We still have value in the articles. We still have value in the gamification. We have value in the recipe. So there's still value even if there wasn't value in the perks. But what we've done is we've been able to build up both sides. So actually, we've got over 200 brands, which represents about 45,000-plus individual discounts on the platform. And now we're building up the number of employees. Now we're able to revenue generate more off the partners because we've got the volume on the other side. CHAD: You mentioned that you are primarily focused on the UK now. But you've had interest from the U.S. and demand that you've not rejected. What does that look like for you now? And how do you balance that going forward? CHLOE: Yeah, I have got quite a lot of interest from the States. And it's really hard not to be pulled over there. And we see a lot of interest from there. We have to -- CHAD: Why are you holding back? CHLOE: Because we just don't have the team size at the moment, and we need to get the...there's two things really. Well, there are a number of things. There are about 22 things. [laughter] I know I said there are two things; there are like a million reasons. We need to make sure that we've got the best product possible; that's number one. We need to test in our home market. We need to make sure that we've got the robust mechanic with the Perk's partners and with the employees. We need to get all of that working really well because the States is a completely different market because of the nature of the products and services. We're not on the ground there. So it's easier for us to have really good relationships with partners now. There's going to be a conference on Wednesday in London, so I'm going to be meeting a lot of our partners there; super easy. It's like 20 minutes on the train for me. Harder to go to the States and make sure that we have really robust relationships with partners there; not impossible, just it would be time and effort to be able to build it in the States. I think we'd be able to find the clients actually more easily or, I guess, quicker if that makes sense because I think there's a need in the States. And then there are just cultural nuances. So we just need to make sure that all of our content is really relevant culturally. So PopSockets, we are with PopSockets in the States, and I think they're quite fairly near you in Boulder. So we are already aware of some of those cultural nuances. And our editorial teams are quite good at making sure that we're representing that. So, yeah, so I think it's just about making sure that we do a good job of it. The hard thing, I think, is actually launching across Europe because of the language barrier and because of the very different cultural nuances when it comes to sustainability, local government policy. CHAD: Also, expectations around employee benefits and how they work. CHLOE: Exactly. Expectations around employee benefits and also attitudes to food as well because obviously food is still a part of what we do, and so all of those things actually make Europe slightly harder. So I think, for us, it would be a launch to the U.S. before we would go to continental Europe, but, again, not impossible. Interestingly, our clients massively want us to be global quickly because they are all looking for global benefits. They want to be able to homogenize their benefits offerings globally. They do not want to have one thing being offered in the UK, something being offered in the States, especially when it comes to benefits. Things like pensions, things like healthcare are so different in those countries, and they won't change. Just in terms of how many holiday days you guys have versus us, they can't make it a level playing field on many things. So if they could have a level playing field when it comes to sustainable benefits, they would love to do that. So there is a real need driving us to go global very quickly. And, look, going right back to the conversation we had at the beginning, I'd do it tomorrow. I'd move my family to the U.S. and just start building it. But my very kind advisors are like, slow down. [laughs] Get it right in the UK. CHAD: Well, I think that is a good indicator that you do have a marketplace business because all of the pressures around scaling are the same ones that marketplaces have. CHLOE: Yeah. [laughs] CHAD: And marketplace businesses very often benefit from in the early days focusing on specific markets. CHLOE: No, you're 100% right. I think I've had an epiphany on this podcast [laughter] that I'm running a marketplace. CHAD: I want to come back to the actual tech of the product as we wrap up here. I'm super impressed that you used a low-code platform to build the MVP yourself, and that has taken you through today. So how did you go about moving beyond that? CHLOE: [laughs] So we always knew we'd have to ditch it, so we were very aware. And that's the beauty of doing an MVP which is you don't fall in love with it. So that was great because we knew we were going to ditch it. We didn't fall in love with it. So how did we go about it? So we've got ourselves...we got a CTO on board that Ellen had worked with before. And we've got an amazing UX-UI designer. And we've got some devs. And we just ran at it. We just said, right, what are we taking from the MVP that we want to put into...and we knew it had to be an app really quickly. We actually weren't going to develop the app this year, but then it was sort of, you know, the demand there was all for the app. So we've gone app first. So we just said, "What's important from the MVP that we want to be taking here?" We knew that perks was going to be the first thing that we wanted to launch with because of the cost of living crisis. And we wanted to make it really about perks, which is why I know it sounds silly when it's obvious to you that we're a marketplace. It actually isn't that obvious to us because before perks, none of those things are marketplace. All of the other products and services that we offer aren't marketplace. CHAD: You mean the content and that kind of thing. CHLOE: The content, the gamification. We've got a whole thing coming down the line all about how to calculate your carbon footprint. Like, none of that is marketplace. But because we've really leant heavily on the perks because we know that there's a massive need for that, I guess that's why it's a surprise to me [laughs] that we're a marketplace. But yeah, so we knew we wanted to get perks out first. So then we built a product with perks at the heart because that was testing really well. And then yeah, and then we've just kind of literally just gone hell for leather head down. The team has been in build mode. We've been in sell mode and creation mode. And, yeah, we've just gone really, really fast. It's not in our natures to sort of go slow on these things. And we just need to be out there. People love what we're doing. And now it's the real test. Now it's literally employees now getting access to it, and that's the scary time. CHAD: Has it been what you expected actually, you know, building custom software in terms of time, and cost, and that kind of thing? Or has it been different than what you expected? CHLOE: Yeah, that's a good question. So I guess over the years, I've had the opportunity to build products internally in companies. You're always in a waiting list for other people that need other stuff. So in a way, it's been quicker because it's my team, and they've got nothing else to concentrate on except this. I'm really open with what I don't know. So I'm like, okay, could I do, just out of interest, how easy is it for us to switch off that function and launch this? Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it like a year? Like, I just have no idea on timings and scale on that. So I try to work that out quite quickly. But I think it's been quicker than I thought it might be. And if you've got an internal team, then it's cheaper. As soon as we started to look at external teams, it was prohibitively expensive and no control. And I think we knew quite early on that we wanted to build it internally. CHAD: How has it compared to the process of using the low-code tool to get started? CHLOE: [laughs] In a way, if I had an idea, it was up and live an hour later...[laughs] and, you know, I guess there's much more pushback now. It's like, "Do you really need that feature?" And I'm like, "Yeah, you know, just do it. What's so difficult?" So I guess I've had to put more rigor and thinking behind some of the features and functions that we now have versus just sticking it up there. I mean, look, we were really, really frustrated with low-code. We were really frustrated with what it could do. It is so limited really in what we were trying to do, but it got us to a certain point. I'll always be forever grateful to it. [laughs] And my partner and I were able to completely tag team on it. So I would do all of the front end, and she'd do all the back end. It worked really well from that perspective. But we've got a great team now who are really engaged in what we're trying to do and trying to achieve. I guess I want everything yesterday. So as with most things, I'm getting updates going, "This is broken, and I'm having to turn this off for the launch." And I'm like, "No, I want it there. I want it in there." CHAD: So, on that note, why do you have a specific launch date? CHLOE: We've got a client we're launching to next week. [laughter] So we're launching -- CHAD: So you've made a commitment to launch for a particular client, and so you need to hit that date. CHLOE: Yeah. We are. We're launching it to...yeah, we've got quite a lot of clients, actually. We've got launches almost every day from next week. So this week is friends and family launch. So we need to get it out and get it tested. And then it goes into the hands of real-life users, which is scary and interesting. CHAD: I wish you all the best with that. I really appreciate you taking the time. CHLOE: Any advice? CHAD: Well, what I was going to say is a question I often like to ask. And I'm curious, before launch, is there something that you wish you could have done differently or realized sooner? I'm sure this question might be different post-launch. The answer to this question might be different post-launch. But from where you sit today, is there something that you wish you would have done differently? CHLOE: Oh my God. I almost want to say everything and nothing. I don't want to go, no, I don't regret anything; everything's been a learning experience, [laughs] so there's nothing I would have done differently because it's all led me to this point. But then, on the other hand, I think we've made the right decisions with the data that we've had. I think we need to...there's stuff that we need to be doing much more rigorously now moving forwards, which is making sure that we are very, very data-driven with what's coming back. Now we're in the hands of real users in a meaningful way with the app. We need to be taking all of that feedback on and not just relying on the gut instinct with a lot of things. It needs to be much more data-driven now that we've got the data coming in. So I don't think that's a regret necessarily because I think you've got to kind of go with your gut to get a product out the door because you could be completely hamstrung by research. And that would have taken us into a whole nother territory. So I think...does that make sense? So whilst I'm not regretting but like -- CHAD: It does make sense. And you asked me for any advice that I have. And this is a very small piece of advice, but it's one thing that I've made the mistake of myself and seen many other teams do. If you want to seek metrics on something and you don't instrument it, you don't set up those metrics; then you don't have them. CHLOE: So true. CHAD: And you realize, oh, we should have been tracking this click, or that click, or this flow. And then you put it in place once you realize that it's not there, and you have to wait 30-60 days in order to get the data. And that time feels terrible while you're waiting for that data to accrue. And so my general advice is to instrument basically everything. Instrument as much as possible, even if you think you're not going to need it. Track as many clicks as possible in the app so that you can really then say, oh, we didn't know we wanted to track this flow. And you already have the data where you can piece it together instead of waiting. CHLOE: Yeah, 100%. So we were challenged by...so we're backed by sustainable ventures on the accelerator program. And we were challenged by them to make sure that we've got all of our KPI metrics in place for the product. Of course, we've just been head down building it. And actually, it was a great moment where it's kind of like, but how many points do you want your users to collect in a day? Maybe there's an upper limit that you want, which we hadn't really thought about. Well, I don't know; we just want them to collect points. Like, you know, we want them to live their best life. And so in setting the KPIs, we've also had to set what we're measuring, but it was like two pages long. [laughs] There are so many things that we're trying to...what our KPIs are. And I think we can also...I think a learning is that maybe we need to be a little bit more focused with also what we're trying to measure and also what we were trying to see because we, again, can't focus on everything. We can't update and upgrade and iterate absolutely everything as a priority. What's going to shift the dial the most? What's going to have the biggest impact? Yes, we can change the color of that, or we can make that button bigger. But actually, if that's not going to lead to the KPI that we're trying to measure, then actually, there's no point. So yeah, so I think that's been a learning as well. I mean, there are so many thousands, billion learnings on this whole journey. [laughs] I could write a book. I don't think anyone will read it, but I could definitely write a book. [laughter] And I don't have time to write it. If I had time to write it and if anyone wants to read it, I'll do it. [laughs] CHAD: Okay. Well, maybe a few years from now, you can write that book. CHLOE: Yeah. CHAD: And, Chloe, thank you so much for joining the show and for telling us all about your journey. I really wish you and Plants and Perks the best over these important next couple of months. CHLOE: Thank you. We're raising, by the way. We're just about to go into our seed round, so yeah. CHAD: Seed round. CHLOE: Yeah. CHAD: Perfect. CHLOE: I know, perfect for Plants and Perks. That's the next inflection point whilst obviously also launching an app. And we don't do things by halves, so that will be the next learning journey. CHAD: If folks want to find out more, to follow along with you, to get in touch with the company, where are all the different places that they can do that? CHLOE: Don't look at the website because we're in the process of updating that. [laughter] And, frankly, now I'm going to change the pricing after this conversation. [laughs] But yeah, no, don't do that. Just email me; it's the easiest way. Or find me on LinkedIn; LinkedIn is probably the number one way. Or email chloe@plantsandperks.com. I love; literally, I love hearing feedback: negative, positive, anything. I love having conversations. I love doing partnerships. I love helping people on their journeys; just reach out. CHAD: Wonderful. And you can subscribe to the show and find notes for this episode along with a complete transcript at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks so much for listening, and see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guest: Chloe Sweden.

PopSocket was started in 2012 by a college professor that initially wanted a way to wrap his headphones around his cell phone without it being an issue. His simple idea led to a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, which rocketed the company out of his garage and into the mainstream. Today, the brand generates over a billion dollars in sales through its unique sales & marketing strategies that we will dive into this episode.Every week we will take a deep dive into a business and share with you some of the marketing & business strategies that helped these businesses scale. Timestamps:00:45 How The Founder Started The Company & Raised Money w/ a Kickstarter Campaign4:16 How PopSocket Piggy Backed On Another Business To Invent A New Product.6:12 Q&A Tactic w Influencers & Using That As A Series To Tell A Story8:50 Identify Your Proof of Concept39:12 How PopSocket Dominates with their Personalization Features & Why That Is Important In Today's World10:05 Other eCommerce Brands That We Seen Implement Personalization Features11:31 The Power of Word Of Mouth MarketingABOUT MATT SKOPAK:An adventure and fitness addict with a passion for entrepreneurship and numbers. Lead Investor in Sweetberry Bowls and CFO of Sugar & Kush CBD. Rutgers MBA 2020 in Entrepreneurship & Accounting. Follow Matt Skopak's Twitter.ABOUT SEAN AZARI:In 2015, I started a creative ad agency called Breakthrough Social that has helped over 50+ businesses build their brand & increase sales mainly through content development & distribution, influencer marketing, paid media campaigns, and other developing techniques. Brands that I have worked with: Rebhorn, Safavieh, Rugs USA, SoJo Spa Club, Muscle Maker Grill, Kat Burki, Sweetberry Bowls, & many others.

Some of the most amazing, forward-thinking product innovations are people just solving their own problems. From Elon Musk's Boring Co to Smores to PopSockets, solve your own problem and build a business around it. --- https://ideateandexecute.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thinkfuture/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thinkfuture/support

动动手指就能写诗？ 前段时间，一款叫做写首诗吧！的小游戏实现了这个假设，邀请玩家用别人的词语写自己的诗——这样的拼贴诗游戏看似后现代，却也能在中国古诗词的集句传统中找到原型。这个儿童节，跳岛邀请到这款游戏的设计师叶梓涛，和他的播客「落日间」串了个台，邀请到两位格外擅长文字游戏的嘉宾，作家btr以及小说家朱琺，一起聊了聊古今中外让文学好玩起来的种种尝试。 游戏意味着规则。上世纪60年代，一个汇集了作家和数学家的松散团体“乌力波”试图以同样的思路理解文学的生成机制，卡尔维诺、翁贝托·艾柯、乔治·佩雷克都是这个“潜在文学工厂”的成员。他们精巧大胆的实验创作，直到今天还在启发我们：规则会让创作更自由吗？当AI写诗、废话生成器成为当下最有代表性的“文学机器”，我们该如何理解语言的意义？数字时代让我们更容易接受“形式大于内容”的作品了吗？电子书除了无限模拟纸质书的阅读体验之外，还承载怎样的文学想象？作为读者、作为作者，或许我们都是一只乌力波意义上的老鼠，心甘情愿进入文字迷宫，又总在试图凌空而起，召唤着其他玩家一同游戏。 【本期嘉宾】 btr，生活在上海的作家、译者和文化评论人。出版有《迷你》《意思意思》《上海胶囊》。 朱琺，小说家，著有《安南怪谭》《卡尔维诺与计划生育》。执教于上海师范大学古籍研究所。 【本期主播】 何润哲，跳岛FM策划编辑，正在经历社会化的法语人。 叶梓涛，腾讯 NExT Studios 游戏设计师。写作者，译者，「落日间」主理人。 【时间轴】 04:20 玩游戏就是接受一套新规则：奥运会是游戏，抢菜也是 07:46 「写首诗吧！」：用小游戏锻炼自己对词语的敏锐触觉 15:08 重复或押韵，与声音做游戏好玩在哪里？ 23:22 超现实主义vs乌力波：规则会让写作更自由吗？ 34:12 废话生成器的原理：机器会讲人的故事，是因为人类语言越来越像机器 49:23 作家会如何邀请读者走进自己制造的迷宫？——彩蛋和拼图都是线索 65:52 乌力波小说是只靠点子就可以成立的观念艺术吗？ 72:54 在中国文学传统中理解“形式大于内容”的伪命题 78:59 想象数字时代的超文本：线性阅读之外的无限可能 2022年夏天，手机气囊支架品牌泡泡骚Popsockets与国内首家且规模最大的乡村诗歌教育公益组织「是光诗歌」一起，以三首来自乡村诗歌课的作品为灵感，设计出3款晶莹剔透的手机气囊支架。 「是光诗歌」通过为三至八年级当地教师提供系统诗歌课程工具包和培训，已经覆盖到全国27个省份。「是光诗歌」教大山里的孩子写诗，不是为了培育诗人，而是想告诉他们：在只有一次的生命里，要拥有探索的热爱，要保持感受的敏锐，即使愤怒，也可以用一首诗慢慢舒展。 腾讯旗下最年轻的工作室 NExT STUDIOS 也参与到这个企划中来，将「是光诗歌」孩子们的诗剪成了掉落下来的句子，作为小游戏《写首诗吧！》的最新词盘。你可以通过这个游戏收集自己喜欢的句子，和大山里的小诗人们一起合力作诗。 此次联名产品每卖出一份，泡泡骚就会给一个孩子支持一学期的诗歌课。您可以在泡泡骚PopSockets天猫旗舰店里搜索「是光诗歌」参与本次公益活动。 岛民福利：在小宇宙App本期节目的评论区留言参与活动，或转发节目微博，我们将各选出5位幸运的岛民送出「是光诗歌」泡泡骚一个（款式任选）！ 【节目中提到的人名和作品】 播客和文章 落日间｜E31 电子游戏时代的抒情诗人 落日间｜E32 赛博文本中的幽灵作者 《山花》2021 年第 9 期 ||子七 朱琺《游戏 · 写作，或游戏的写作？——关于拼音小说规则加码的八问八答》 人物 罗杰·凯罗瓦 (Roger Caillois，1913-1978)，法国作家、社会学家、文学批评家。 黄庭坚 (1045-1105)，北宋诗人、书法家。节目中提到他的观点“无一字无来处”。 汪曾祺 (1920-1997)，当代作家、散文家、戏剧家。节目中提到他的文章《“揉面”——谈语言》。 乔治·佩雷克 (1936-1982)，法国小说家、电影制片人，“乌力波”代表成员。节目中提到他的作品《消失》《更生》《人生拼图版》。 尼古拉·布尔巴基，20世纪一群法国青年数学家组成的团体的笔名，“乌力波”深受其影响。 卡尔维诺 (1923-1985)，意大利作家，“乌力波”代表成员。节目中提到他的作品《寒冬夜行人》《文学机器》《组合与反组合》。 博尔赫斯 (1899-1986)，阿根廷作家、诗人、翻译家。代表作《小径分叉的花园》。 作品 《风格练习》《一百万亿首诗》[法] 雷蒙·格诺 《开放的作品》《悠游小说林：艾柯哈佛诺顿演讲集 》[意] 安贝托·艾柯 《写作的哲学》[美] 爱伦·坡 《诗云》刘慈欣 《机器人大师》《完美的真空》[波兰] 斯塔尼斯瓦夫·莱姆 《变》[法] 米歇尔·布托尔 《跳房子》[阿根廷] 胡利奥·科塔萨尔 【出品人】蔡欣 【节目编辑】何润哲 Yihang 【后期制作】广岛乱 【音乐】 片头 DTlina - LoFi Chill 片尾 AURA.Pote - Lazy Man 【视觉设计】孙晓曦 李旭照

Can you hear Lady Whistledown's quill quivering? Because this week we are joined by Bridgerton's leading lady, Simone Ashley! Simone first hit our screens in 2019 when she took on the role of Olivia, a key member of Ruby's Untouchables clique in the hit Netflix show, ‘Sex Education' where she starred alongside Reign favoruite, Aimee Lou Wood (scroll back to episode three to listen to her epic episode) and featured in that now iconic bus scene. But Simone truly hit the big time this year when she starred as Kate Sharma, the new leading lady of the ton, in ‘Bridgerton' season two, which had the biggest opening weekend audience figures for an English language show on Netflix, EVER! Like me you may have been OBSESSED with the love triangle between her diamond of the season sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran) and Lord Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and the electric on-screen chemistry between Simone and Jonathan which has had us all fanning ourselves, let's be real! To quote Queen Charlotte herself, Simone has been, “flawless my dear,” and next year she will also appear in the Disney remake of ‘The Little Mermaid' in a yet to be disclosed role. Joining me from the floor of her LA hotel room Simone - amongst the post Bridgerton whirlwind - talks about *THAT* electric chemistry she shared with Jonathan, and how their friendship helped one another during filming. Simone also reveals how the show's sex scenes ultimately empowered her and how she wants to explore the intimate relationship between the two characters through Kate's eyes in season three! Plus Simone talks about the show's game changing representation of the South Asian community.Simone also opens up about how landing the role of Kate helped rebuild herself and her self-worth following a tough period with her mental health and reflects on her journey to the TON - which included moving to LA as a 15 year old, on her own! Simone is the queen of determination and I hope you will be just as inspired by her drive as I was. I also hope you continue to listen and find the power to Reign in your own lives. If you love this episode, please get in touch (follow me across social media @joshsmithhosts), I love hearing from you. Love, Josh xxxP.S. Whilst you are here I have something epic to tell you about which you will have heard about on today's podcast! For a limited time only, get your own life-changing PopGrip from PopSockets with 20% off using code REIGN20 at the checkout. Shop here now: go.popsockets.co.uk/joshsmith I am obsessed with their PopGrip - which simply pops out the back of my phone and helps me hold my phone more comfortably, gives me a steady hand when I'm recording those all-important Insta stories & it's so handy for propping up your phone when you are watching TV shows - like Bridgerton - on the go, too. Don't forget to tag me in those selfies showing off your latest must-have accessory, your PopSockets, too queens! P.P.S I AM SO EXCITED THAT WE ARE PARTNERING WITH ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SKINCARE BRANDS, KIEHL'S, FOR THIS SERIES OF REIGN!I created Reign to celebrate women and start important conversations about equality and I am proud to partner with Kiehl's who have done the same for over 170 years by supporting local communities through multiple charity partnerships.In the spirit of feeling like our best selves, Kiehl's have introduced a new cream formulation of their best selling Midnight Recovery Oil! Say hello to the Midnight Recovery Omega Rich Cloud Cream, which will not only help your skin look plumped, nourished and radiant, it will empower you to feel FABULOUS and take on anything!It's rich in Omegas 3 and 6 which help replenish and rejuvenate skin, and with it only taking 7 nights to younger looking skin - I'll race you to the nearest Kiehl's store! Or you can shop on kiehls.co.uk

"My biggest recommendation is to just start" - Bryan Spunt on how to succeed as an entrepreneurI am thrilled to bring you today's episode with Bryan Spunt who is the CEO of Seek Discomfort, the Chief Smile Officer at the Big Smiles Program, and the third Shareholder at PopSockets. Seek Discomfort is a brand created by Yes Theory. For those of you who don't know, Yes Theory is a YouTube channel with over 7 Million subscribers started by three young guys (Thomas, Matt, and Ammar) who believe that life's greatest moments live outside of your comfort zone. Their goal is to help people get out of their comfort zone by saying yes to opportunity. Bryan is the CEO of their brand Seek Discomfort which is an amazing clothing company creating a tangible calling card to push your boundaries, overcome fear, and live a more vibrant life. Bryan and I met on the beach last summer in Santa Monica when some of my best friends and I spontaneously drove to LA to meet the guys at Yes Theory. We exchanged info and a month later we sat down to record this conversation. In this episode Bryan dives into his come-up story, how he found a love for business in high school, how he became the third shareholder in PopSockets as a Sophomore in college, and how he eventually found his current position as CEO of Seek Discomfort. We specifically discuss:How to succeed as an entrepreneurWhat skills do good entrepreneurs need?How can I become a successful entrepreneur?The importance of giving backLiving in the moment rather than the futureHow to find a career that combines passion, money, and purposeIs going to college actually worth it?Is going to college a waste of time?I am thrilled to share this episode with all of you! Since our conversation nine months ago,  I connected Bryan with SeaTrees, a California based non-profit that I am the Youth Ambassador for, to establish a partnership with Seek Discomfort, through their Seeker Sustainability Program, so that Seek could become an OceanPositive company. OceanPositive is a term given to a company when they partner with SeaTrees. The certification is given when a company calculates their environmental footprint, then wipes it out through planting mangrove trees and reforesting kelp, then changes their practices so they aren't continuing their same ways of production and distribution that led to emissions. So as of NOW, every time you purchase Seek Discomfort, you are also planting mangrove trees and reforesting kelp. Head to the link HERE to shop Seek Discomfort and plant SeaTrees!Connect with Bryan and Seek Discomfort at the following links:Bryan's InstagramSeek Discomfort's Instagram Seek Discomfort's YouTube Yes Theory's YouTube Yes Theory's Instagram

Con 7 años en el mercado colombiano, PopSockets se ha convertido en un producto de constante innovación, con un sin fin de posibilidades, increíbles y creativos diseños, y sobre todo, con una estrategia de marketing sólida y en ascenso. En este AI Rock Show nos acompaña Rafael Latorre, Gerente de Mercadeo LATAM en PopSockets, quien nos habla del monstruo en el que se ha convertido esta empresa y cómo han llevado han marcado tendencias en todos los rincones del mundo.

Podcast Summary In this conversation with David Barnett, Founder and CEO of PopSockets, LLC, you'll hear about David's career before inventing PopSockets, his accidental success, the struggle of protecting the brand, innovating to stay current, PopSockets' strategy and mission, the importance of self-expression, and get David's advice on facing challenges.After spending his childhood as a serial entrepreneur, David's interests led him into a career as an academic, eventually becoming a philosophy professor for around 10 years. In 2014, out of his garage, David invented PopSockets to solve his problem of tangled headset cords. The company has since expanded to over 70 countries and shows no signs of slowing down.David holds a BSc in Philosophy from Emory University, a Degree in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a PhD in Philosophy from New York University.Episode Outline [00:49] About David and PopSockets[03:45] The early days of David Barnett[07:08] Growing into an entrepreneur[08:15] Putting the pieces together[10:39] Protecting the brand[14:24] Keeping innovation alive[18:51] PopSocket's eCommerce strategy[20:30] PopSocket's mission[22:50] Innovating to stay current[28:14] Navigating self-expression[31:24] PopSockets packaging[33:53] Challenges and adviceConnect with DavidLinkedInWebsiteConnect with PatternWebsiteLinkedIn (Pattern)LinkedIn (John LeBaron, CRO, Pattern)

Sandeep Patel, CFO of Popsockets, shares some lessons he has learned over a lifetime of working with food companies and startups of all sizes about what it takes to successfully scale a food CPG company and the importance of incorporating a financial perspective throughout your business.

In this MacVoices Briefing, host Chuck Joiner discusses his transition to using MagSafe iPhone charging options, why he took so long to make the change, and why he wouldn't go back. Find out what products he selected for each of the primary charging locations that assure that the iPhone will never not be charged, and why you should look beyond charging solutions when evaluating the benefits of MagSafe. This edition of MacVoices is brought to you by the MacVoices Dispatch, our weekly newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on any and all MacVoices-related information. Subscribe today and don't miss a thing. Show Notes: Links: Apple MagSafe Charger Spigen Tough Armor Mag ESR HaloLock Magnetic Wireless Car Charger, Compatible with MagSafe elago MS2 Charging Stand Compatible with MagSafe Charger Anker Foldable 3-in-1 Station with Power Adapter, 335 Wireless Charger Anker Wireless Charging Stand, PowerWave 2-in-1 Magnetic Stand Lite Anker USB C Charger 20W, 511 Charger (Nano Pro) myCharge Portable Charger iPhone 13, 12 & Mag Safe Cases - MagLock 6000mAh Wireless Magnetic Power Bank Moment Tripod Mount for MagSafe PopSockets PopGrip for MagSafe: Grip and Stand for Phones and Cases Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss      

The second part of our 7th and final MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide for 2021 features the final picks from Rosemary Orchard, Frank Petrie, Bart Busschots, and Mike Potter. Music to education, organization to function, there are some great picks as we wrap up and head for the holidays. (Part 2)  [embed]http://traffic.libsyn.com/maclevelten/MV21242.mp3[/embed] Today's MacVoices is sponsored by Upstart. Fair and fast personal loans. Go to upstart.com/macvoices and find out how Upstart can lower your monthly payments. Show Notes: Guests: Rosemary Orchard is a nerd, automator, and chocaholic. When she's not making Shortcuts or podcasting about them, you'll frequently find her discussing her love of iPads and other Apple technology on RosemaryOrchard.com, Automators, Nested Folders, The Sweet Setup, and ScreenCastsOnline. She is runs WhenWorks to help you schedule appointments more efficiently. Originally from the UK she now calls Vienna, Austria, home…until she returns to the U.K. Follow her on Twitter.  Frank Petrie is an author and contributor to ScreenCastsOnline Magazine. Follow him on Twitter and check out his web site, ympnow.com. By day, Bart Busschots is a Linux sysadmin and Perl programmer, and a keen amateur photographer when ever he gets the time. Bart hosts and produces the Let's Talk podcast series - a monthly Apple show that takes a big-picture look at the last month in Apple news, and a monthly photography show focusing on the art and craft of photography. Every second week Bart is the guest for the Chit Chat Across the Pond segment on Allison Sheridan's NosillaCast. You can get links to everything Bart gets up including a link to his photography and his personal blog. Michael Potter  is the Executive Producer of For Mac Eyes Only, and the organizer of the annual Macstock Conference and Expo. Mike's love-affair for all things Apple began in his Junior High's Library playing Lemonade Stand on a pair of brand new Apple ][+ computers. His penchant for Apple gear continued to be nurtured by the public school system when, in High School, he was hired as a lab supervisor to help run the Apple ][e lab for his fellow students and their Print Shop needs. Then, further still, in college he often opted to help a friend with her Computer Graphics coursework instead of focusing on his own studies, but only because it helped get him closer to the Mac-lab. Links:   Gift Guide Links: MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide (all picks) on the MacVoices Web site MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide (all picks) on Flipboard (Also available in the Flipboard app)   Rosemary Orchard's picks:  Brother P-touch CUBE Plus PT-P710BT Versatile Label Maker with Bluetooth Wireless Technology  Anker Magnetic Wireless Charger, 633 MagGo 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, Detachable Portable Charger, Only for iPhone 13/13 Pro / 13 Pro Max / 12/12 Pro and AirPods Pro TeeTurtle | The Original Reversible Octopus Plushie SPARTAN INDUSTRIAL - 13inch X 18inch (100 Count) 2 Mil Clear Reclosable Zip Plastic Poly Bags with Resealable Lock Seal Zipper  Anker Magnetic Wireless Charger, 633 MagGo 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, Detachable Portable Charger, Only for iPhone 13/13 Pro / 13 Pro Max / 12/12 Pro and AirPods Pro PopSockets PopGrip for MagSafe: Grip and Stand for Phones and Cases   Frank Petrie's picks: Arturia MicroLab Compact USB-MIDI Controller Take Control Books Bart Busschots's picks: Nomad Card for AirTag Protective Case Compatible for Apple AirTag, 3 Pack Dog Collar Accessories Pet Loop Holder, Silicone Protective Case Lightweight Soft Anti-Scratch Anti-Lost , Easy Attach to Keys, Backpacks llv  Zefal Dooback 2 Bar End Mirror Bodem double-walled coffee mug Beanies CoffeeMike Potter's picks: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (DND Wizards Web Site) Fizban's Treasury of Dragons Alternate Art Cover Elgato Stream Deck XL - Advanced Stream Control with 32 Customizable LCD Keys     Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

Episode 55 comes barreling down the highway doing 95 mph bearing revelations regarding: Popsockets, Tony Robbins, Youtube, roasted potatoes, and Vanessa Hudgens. An update on the highly anticipated succulent sale and lord help us... much more. 

Welcome to week 27. When starting a business, you need to come up with the product and then find an audience. Here's why creators have a leg up—they already have the audience. For them, it's an exercise in deciding what product to sell. It's not all smooth sailing, though. Their challenge is figuring out a plan to build the brand beyond their audience, which is why…This week I'm talking to Bryan Spunt. Bryan is the CEO of Seek Discomfort, the clothing brand started by well-known creators, YES Theory. One thing is clear. Bryan found his perfect role. His background is in eCommerce (Popsockets and Elwood); he's passionate about fashion and believes in the Seek Discomfort mantra. There aren't many brands like Seek Discomfort—their clothing embodies a way of life. It's truly one-of-a-kind. Bryan wants to build the world's biggest family alongside YES Theory, and believe me, you want to be a part of it. So, let's get to the good stuff. Here's my conversation with Bryan Spunt. 

Ali Spagnola is a musician, comedian, and artist. Ali creates outrageous videos including turning her car into a Chia Pet, covering her apartment with fur, or putting 3200 PopSockets on her wall! She also creates "What If" videos where she remixes popular music into the style of another artist. Ali has more than 362,000 subscribers on YouTube, more than 800,000 followers on TikTok, 500,000 followers on Facebook, and more than 2 million followers on Twitter. In this episode, we talk about Ali's beginnings on YouTube, how her first viral success came on what she thought would be her LAST upload to the platform, the frustration of catering to algorithms, and the role of Luck in breaking through. Watch Ali Spagnola on YouTube Follow Ali Spagnola on TikTok Follow Ali Spagnola on Twitter Follow Ali Spagnola on Instagram Visit Ali Spagnola's website Support Ali Spagnola on Patreon Full transcript and show notes *** IF YOU LOVE CREATIVE ELEMENTS Leave me a voicemail Complete our listener survey Subscribe to weekly episode emails Leave a review on Apple Podcasts Buy Me A Coffee *** ABOUT JAY CLOUSE Learn more about me Subscribe to my newsletter, Creative Companion Connect with me on Twitter Connect with me on Instagram Join #Tweet100 *** FOR PODCASTERS Enroll in my podcasting workshop Enroll in my course on podcasting, Podcast Like The Pros Learn more about Podpage *** SPONSORS Try Podia and save 15% for life as a Creative Elements listener Start your free trial of SavvyCal and get your first month free using promo code ELEMENTS Get a free month of Blinkist Premium *** PODGLOMERATE NETWORK This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.  Since you're listening to Creative Elements, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Freelance to Founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we're taking a look at the top 5 best-selling Amazon Merch products, specifically, we'll look at: - T-Shirts - Hoodies - PopSockets - Phone Cases We'll also check out the projected daily sales & calculate how much profit the sellers are collecting in daily royalties, to inform our decisions of whether or not we should focus exclusively on selling these product-types ▬▬▬▬

Envie de personnaliser la coque de protection de ton smartphone, iPhone, iPad (ou la cover de ton Mac) pour la rendre unique et à ton image ? Je te montre comment faire avec un budget allant de 0€ à 40€. Abonne-toi à ma chaîne YouTube ici : http://jbv.ovh/jeanviet --------- Au sommaire : Intro 00:00 Colle un Sticker Vinyle 00:17 Ajoute une PopSocket 01:40 Crée une Coque en bois 03:40 Personnalise ta cover Mac 04:36 --------- Les sites de personnalisation de coque de smartphone iPhone, Samsung, Google Pixel, iPad, MacBook Pro, Mac ... Stickers en Vinyle personnalisés #DIY https://camaloon.fr/ PopSockets personnalisées https://www.popsockets.fr/pages/create-your-own.html?lang=fr_FR Ma vidéo PopSockets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kElDI6D0adM Coque personnalisée Rhinoshield https://rhinoshield.fr/pages/customize Coque en bois https://www.coque-en-bois.fr/ Merci à #CoqueEnBois qui ma offert une coque iPhone SE et une cover MacBook Pro pour les besoins de cette vidéo Soutenez-les en achetant leurs coques en bois #MadeInFrance --------- - Mon Instagram : https://instagram.com/jeanviet - Mon Twitter : https://twitter.com/jeanviet --------- Si tu veux devenir un bon YouTubeur, lis mon livre ici : http://jeanviet.info/youtubeur/ Pour devenir un bon blogueur, j'ai aussi un livre pour ça ;-) https://blogbuster.fr/le-livre --------- Abonne-toi à ma chaîne YouTube ici : http://jbv.ovh/jeanviet --------- Musiques : DJ Quads - It just makes me happy Clouds de Joakim Karud ---------

Today on the show I'm joined by David Barnett, founder and CEO of PopSockets. They were named number two on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list, with a 71,424% percent of sales increase over the last three years. Since then, they've continued to grow and on this episode of the Wavebreak Podcast, he's sharing all of his secrets.This episode is a replay from February 2020.The 5-Minute Ecommerce Email Marketing HackStop leaving money on the table. Without great email marketing, you're missing out on 6-7 figures per year of revenue and profit.Download this checklist, go through it, and in less than 5 minutes you'll know exactly what you need to do to increase your email revenue.This is our secret sauce and we're giving it all away for free, no strings attached.Click here to download the checklist for free.Links:Q4Method.comWavebreakPrivate email list for ecommerce leadersPopsocketBook an intro callLearn more about WavebreakThis episode is sponsored by...Klaviyo — Over 10,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart emails and more.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is David Barnett the inventor and founder of PopSockets, now I know you know what a PopSocket is because they just sold their 200 millionth grip. The brand PopSockets are so much more than just the accordion PopGrips they launched with. PopSockets now have an entire catalogue of products that are all designed to increase the functionality of our devices. In fact, this past March Fast company honored PopSockets as one of the most innovative companies in the world. Now here's the crazy part about the PopSocket story, did you know that it all started while David, who was a philosophy professor at the time, got tired of having his earbud cord get tangled. In fact, he first tried to solve his problem by gluing buttons on the back of his iPhone 3. But before we can even get to the part where he glues buttons on his iPhone 3, we need to start about 20 years earlier to fully understand where his journey begins. In this episode, you'll hear: David shares how he was not raised by entrepreneurs but did take to being an entrepreneur at the early age of 12. How at the end of High school he turned to having fun and had no big plans apart from business in the future. He took philosophy course at collage then went to physics as he enjoyed it. David share that he was working as a Philosophy Professor when he stumbled across a problem with his iPhone earbuds that kept on tangling. This sparked his entrepreneurial flare to start PopSockets. He explains how he first tried to solve this problem by sticking buttons to his phone case. David shares that when he showed the product to people they laughed and dismissed him but this only drove him to want to do it more. David shares how he wanted his Kick Starter Campaign to stand out so he made a dance video. How he launched his company in 2014 and it had a lot of traction. How he had many issues with the manufacturer, who would change the pattern of the design without tell him and deliver the wrong product. He shares how as the company was growing it changed from just being a side business to being his full-time job. How the impact of celebrities and middle school children were pushing the rapid growth of the product. How he didn't have a buyer persona and everyone with an iPhone was his customer. He shares how he did no marketing or advertising and the business at the begining was very scrappy. David shares how he would go to consumer market shows and pitch to everyone walking past. This got his foot in the door with Sam's club,Best Buy and T-Mobile. He shares that his first big break was T-Mobile, which had a huge operational impact of the company. David shares how he sold their 200 millionth grip the 7th year of business and was names the 2nd fasted growing company with a growth of 72,000% David shares how trade shows really helped his success and got him on the map. He shares the positive impact of influencers and the companies first influencer was Jenna Marbels How he hired people in the beginning with no business experience but people who could solve problems David shares how Plant based PopGrips are currently being made. These pop sockets will be 100% decomposable and the ingredients they use to create them are grown by them He shares the technology side of Pop Sockets with their app. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Pop Socket website - https://www.popsockets.com Pop Socket app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/popsockets-make-print-art/id1455513437 Kickstarter video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35CFb9q1rJw Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Check out this biweekly segment which checks in with past guests to see what they have been up to since they were last on the show.  In this week's update, we hear from Morgan with Magical Pop Co.  Her shop features Disney inspired Popsockets, badge holders, earrings and pet tags.Hear her in episode 27 from 2019.Instagram profile for her shop.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission. Khan is an associate law professor at Columbia University. She published a paper at Yale in 2017 that laid out a new approach to antitrust enforcement, focused on how big tech companies use their power as gatekeepers to harm competitors and consumers. The example she used was Amazon. Molly speaks with Dana Mattioli, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Amazon. In a recent piece, she described some of those behaviors. One example: when the CEO of the PopSockets phone accessories company met with Amazon about counterfeiters.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission. Khan is an associate law professor at Columbia University. She published a paper at Yale in 2017 that laid out a new approach to antitrust enforcement, focused on how big tech companies use their power as gatekeepers to harm competitors and consumers. The example she used was Amazon. Molly speaks with Dana Mattioli, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Amazon. In a recent piece, she described some of those behaviors. One example: when the CEO of the PopSockets phone accessories company met with Amazon about counterfeiters.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission. Khan is an associate law professor at Columbia University. She published a paper at Yale in 2017 that laid out a new approach to antitrust enforcement, focused on how big tech companies use their power as gatekeepers to harm competitors and consumers. The example she used was Amazon. Molly speaks with Dana Mattioli, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Amazon. In a recent piece, she described some of those behaviors. One example: when the CEO of the PopSockets phone accessories company met with Amazon about counterfeiters.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission. Khan is an associate law professor at Columbia University. She published a paper at Yale in 2017 that laid out a new approach to antitrust enforcement, focused on how big tech companies use their power as gatekeepers to harm competitors and consumers. The example she used was Amazon. Molly speaks with Dana Mattioli, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Amazon. In a recent piece, she described some of those behaviors. One example: when the CEO of the PopSockets phone accessories company met with Amazon about counterfeiters.

Desiree Robinson, Sr Information Security Manager @ Smarsh, is our feature guest this week and is interviewed by Janelle Hsia and they discuss Bitsbox (https://bitsbox.com). News from Whataburger, Air France, PopSockets, Vizio, Swimlane, Coalfire, Optiv and a lot more! Support us on Patreon! Fun swag available - all proceeds will directly support the Colorado = Security infrastructure. Come join us on the new Colorado = Security Slack channel to meet old and new friends. Sign up for our mailing list on the main site to receive weekly updates - https://www.colorado-security.com/. If you have any questions or comments, or any organizations or events we should highlight, contact Alex and Robb at info@colorado-security.com This week’s news: Join the Colorado = Security Slack channel Whataburger unveils plans for return to Colorado DIA lands new direct flights to Paris via new-to-Denver airline Major network television series shooting pilot in Denver and Durango area In push for increased sustainability, PopSockets launches plant-based phone grip Publicly traded entertainment giant to open Denver office Hackers try to extort University of Colorado in cyberattack Swimlane Expansion Into Six New APAC Countries Leads to 500% Year Over Year Regional Growth Coalfire ramps up for StateRAMP — What you need to know… Improving the Digital Identity Act of 2020 Job Openings: UCCS - Director of IT Security and Compliance and Information Secuirty Officer Arrow - Identity and Access Management Audit Assurance Analyst Lumen - Splunk Enterprise Security Architect Zayo - Cyber Security Analyst III SWIMLANE INC - Professional Services Engineer/Consultant (US West) Centura Health - Security Engineer Terumo BCT - Product Security Analyst RTD - Manager, Cybersecurity Operations Colorado Judicial Branch - Lead Security Architect Paladina Health - Manager, IT Security (Remote) Upcoming Events: This Week and Next: ISSA C.Springs - April Meeting - 4/20 ASIS - A CASE STUDY: WORKFORCE INCLUSION PRESENTED BY DEN - 4/20 CSA - April Meeting - 4/20 ISSA COS Cyberfocus Days - 4/20-22 OWASP - April Meeting - 4/21 ISACA Denver - April General Meeting - 4/21-23 ASIS - YP : HAPPY HOUR WITH TONY YORK - 4/27 ISCs Pikes Peak - April Meeting - 4/28 View our events page for a full list of upcoming events * Thanks to CJ Adams for our intro and exit! If you need any voiceover work, you can contact him here at carrrladams@gmail.com. Check out his other voice work here. * Intro and exit song: "The Language of Blame" by The Agrarians is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Jessica Murphy, the Brand Genius behind Paw Patrol, SpongeBob, and Popsockets joins Zabeen Mirza on Episode 9 of Moms At Work to talk about how companies can practice what they preach when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusivity, and how supporting working mothers goes beyond finding them a comfortable closet to pump in during work hours. From her career at Nickelodeon, to ViacomCBS, to heading up brands at Popsocket, Jessica talks candidly about live in television media, sexual harassment, and honest conversations about issues at work and how managers can navigate those difficult conversations to ensure every voice is heard and respected. Follow Jessica Murphy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-l-murphy/ (here) and on Instagram at @jmurph314 Follow Zabeen Mirza on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/zabeenbahmed/ (here) Moms At Work is the official Jobs.mom podcast, hosted by Zabeen Mirza - you can visit Jobs.mom to subscribe to the podcast and sign up for our weekly newsletter and all updates. To nominate a guest for the Moms At Work podcast, email press@jobs.mom Follow us on social media: Instagram: http://instagram.com/jobsdotmom (instagram.com/jobsdotmom) Facebook: http://fb.me/jobs.mom (f)http://acebook.com/jobs.mom (acebook.com/jobs.mom) Twitter: @jobs_mom Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/jobs-mom (linkedin.com/company/jobs-mom) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/momsatwork/support (https://anchor.fm/momsatwork/support)

This week we talk about UFOs, the Snyder Cut, PopSockets, vaccines, undo buttons, and tomato paste in a tube. Support us on Patreon to keep the podcast going and to gain access to exclusive content at: http://www.patreon.com/theshowsamandjoe Favorite things: Tomato Paste, Adapalene Gel, Pop Socket Pop Grip

Another inspiring conversation on the Zero to 5000 Podcast today. We were joined by David Barnett the Founder and CEO of PopSocketsThanks for Listening. Be sure to join our monthly email. One life-changing email to help you with your mindset, your methods, and your mission each month.

In a loaded episode, the Nats make two major moves, bringing back Mr. National Ryan Zimmerman and signing All-Star reliever Brad Hand... Nick Ashooh and Chase Hughes break down those moves, plus, in a special HeadStrong segment (29:00) Aaron Barrett joins the pod to tell his amazing and emotional story of resilience and recovery from 2 horrible arm injuries to return to the major leagues after 4 years. Stick around for Walk-off discussions about PopSockets and purchasing new cars.

As former anti-MLM (multi-level marketing) creator Kimbyrleigha continues her new journey as a Market Partner for Monat (a haircare and skincare MLM), more people still in the anit-MLM community are speaking out against Kimbyr. Although most are labeling her as this extreme example of a grifter or opportunist, it is clear she has had many rebrands and content shifts over her years on YouTube from lifestyle content to PopSockets reviews to compliment her phone case company. In this video, I give the other side in support of Kimbyrleigha to balance out the available content on this subject as I call out the anti-MLM content creators for not seeing the double standards they appear to hold on leaving an MLM, joining the anti-MLM community and people looking to join an MLM. Join my email list at https://nickzangl.com/ NEW Episode EVERY Monday & Friday at Noon PST! #antimlm #mlm #kimbyrleigha #kimbyr #monat #monatmarketpartner #monatmp

What do you do when you're at your first-ever Grammys, sitting next to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, but too high to speak? In this eye-opening chat with Straight Up, the Grammy and Oscar-winning collaborator to Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Stormzy and Dave reveals some of the most unforgettable moments of his career, from his hilarious Grammys blunder to penning the Oscar-winning Bond song Writing's on the Wall for 2015's Spectre. Also in this episode, over some delicious Old Fashioned cocktails, Jimmy talks about how he first met Sam, and what it was like to co-write their first big hit, Latch, going from singing at empty North London pub nights to becoming world-famous. Plus, Jimmy reveals some of him and Sam's strangest songwriting sessions, why hangovers are brilliant for creativity, and what it was like to work with Dave on Lesley and Stormzy on Crown. Jimmy, Kathleen and Eleanor also get deep into one of the biggest talking points in the music industry right now: the way that Spotify treats musicians, and what needs to change. This episode of Straight Up has two wonderful sponsors. First up, Bar Swift, the London bar with locations in Soho and Shoreditch, which is now offering a brilliant cocktail delivery service, Speakeasy at Home, via which you can order their world-famous Old Fashioned's – including the ones made with Woodford Reserve which we drank with Jimmy – as well as many other delicious cocktails. Head to barswift.com Our second sponsor is Popsockets, the one-stop-shop for all things digital accessories, from their famous PopGrips to their beautiful phone cases and wallets. Fans of Straight Up get an exclusive 25 per cent discount, STRAIGHTUP25. Simply enter it at the check out! Head to popsockets.co.uk Loved this episode of Straight Up? Have any suggestions for our next episode? Are you a brand wanting to chat to us about sponsorship opportunities? We'd love to hear from you: hello@straightuppodcast.co.uk Straight Up's music and editing is by Marlon Percy: @marlonpercy

BGBS 045: David Barnett | Popsockets | Surprisingly Useful From “after-school sports dork” to CEO of Popsockets, David Barnett left a ripple in the world with an invention that revolutionized how we hold phones. And to think it was originally made out of glued clothing buttons. By accomplishing his purpose of increasing people's happiness, even if just a little everyday, David teaches us that no impact is too small. That “doodad” that he built in his living room has reached unimaginable heights, selling well over 200 million units and jump-starting a movement worldwide. Above all, you'll learn in this episode that David has an intuitive mind. You could say that his years enveloped in philosophy and questioning the nature of reality cultivated an inventor's mind. Examining the abstract allowed David to imagine something that didn't exist, and yet, his intention was only to solve an individual problem. Little did he know, there was much more to come, including sharing the wealth with important causes. We admire David's ability to make something surprisingly useful out of a simple annoyance, inspiring us to ask, how can we turn our own frustrations into action? In this episode, you'll learn... 8-15-year-old David was always an entrepreneur, thinking up ideas like a bike repair business and mixtape business David saw his grandfather as the most successful person he knew and therefore wanted to do anything he did to achieve similar success. At the time it was business An epiphany in college led David astray from business for a significant amount of years to delve into philosophy and physics David became completely engrossed in philosophy and became a professor Frustration led to the invention when David created a "Popsocket" out of buttons to prevent tangling his headphones There was no “eureka” moment with the handmade button detangler for a long time until his friends and family made fun of him enough to make a real prototype that got people excited The insurance package from David's house burning down made great funding for Popsockets David's wife contributed the name, “Popsockets” The original Popsockets was a case with two grips that expanded and collapsed When sampling his product with his students, David realized that people were using Popsockets for a different reason than its initial purpose, which led to a standalone grip Although David never wanted to give up, after receiving his third defective shipment of 30,000 grips and exhausting his finances, he felt for the first time that he might be forced to Today, the Poptivism program is a way for you to purchase a grip and send 50% of the profits to a charity of your choice Resources Popsockets Poptivism Original Kickstarter campaign Quotes [29:23] I suppose it was just frustration with wasted time. So when I notice that my time is wasted more than once on the same problem, I tend to take action. [34:08] My friends and family motivated me by making fun of me to start tinkering with mechanisms to get the buttons to expand and collapse so that it would look a little more respectable and also have more functionality. [55:37] One of my original goals, when I decided to commercialize this invention, was to generate wealth for myself so that I could use that wealth for good causes. [59:17] All of our products, we try our best to include the three ingredients which the original product has. One is the empowering quality, so it just makes using a phone so much better. The second is the fun or magical feature—that it's surprisingly fun. And it's surprisingly useful.  Podcast Transcript David Barnett 0:02 When we get right down to it, I was all excited. And they would just contradict themselves, you know, one contradiction after another. And when I pointed out, they'd laugh it off. And I think to myself, I can't laugh that off this is it like this is the foundation of reality and you're contradicting yourself. There's nothing funny about that. We need a real theory here to understand what's going on. And eventually, it just frustrated me so much. So I walked out of a lab, a physics lab, halfway through the lab, I hadn't done any work. And the first half, I was just sitting there looking around at the other students, and looking at my lab book thinking to myself, I can't do this. The rest of my life there. It's so detail-oriented and they don't really want to address the fundamental questions. So halfway through, I walked past my professor waved to him, he didn't know what I was doing, walk straight over to the philosophy department and got an application to apply to their master's program at CU. Marc Gutman 0:56 Podcasting from Boulder, Colorado. This is the Baby Got Backstory Podcast, where we dive into the story behind the story of today's most inspiring storytellers, creators and entrepreneurs. I like big backstories and I cannot lie. I am your host, Marc Gutman, Marc Gutman, and on today's episode of Baby Got Back story. How a philosophy professors frustration with his perpetually tangled headphone cords prompted him to invent what might be the most recognizable mobile phone accessory today. All right. All right now if you like and enjoy the show, please take a minute or two to rate and review us over at Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Apple and Spotify use these ratings as part of their algorithms that determine the ratings on their charts. Ratings help us to build an audience because we get discovered people find out about us, which then helps us to continue to produce this show. If you haven't gone ahead and given us a review and you think that we're deserving please please go ahead and do that that would be greatly appreciated. This is Episode 45. And today's episode is oh, so worthy of 45. I want you to think back to 2012. This is the time of the iPhone three Marvel's The Avengers has just released in the theaters. The Space Shuttle Endeavour has had its final flight. And Barack Obama is elected for his second term. Homeland the TV show is the talk of the watercooler and Facebook goes public among concerns that they'd be able to make money. funny to think about now. It is also the year that David Barnett, philosophy professor at the University of Colorado, launched his Kickstarter campaign for Popsockets. I want to take a moment here and call out his Kickstarter video. I have personally been involved in creating and advising and several Kickstarter videos. And I'm still not sure what his campaign was selling or promising. But what I can tell you is that it's one of the best Kickstarter videos I've ever seen. We'll make sure to link to it in the show notes. And I highly recommend you check it out. But let's get back to popsockets. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you have a mobile phone, which I know you do, little side thought Do you know anyone without a mobile phone today? Anyways, I know you have a mobile phone. So I'm going out on a limb and going to say you have either personally used seen or know someone who has used or seen a popsocket. You know, those little plastic buttons stuck to the back of a phone or case that open accordion style and have that satisfying little pop when extending and collapsing. And there's something magical is David will explain about this piece of plastic and rubber hay and I'm sure it's some sort of advanced material. And I'm using terms like plastic and rubber loosely just bear with me. And there's a draw. That's in explicable the invention started as a way to solve a very real problem. David's headphone wires kept getting all tangled. And as you hear, anything that either frustrates David or cost him time moves him to action. But while the inspiration was tangled headphones, what he found was that most people were using Popsockets as a grip. Today, Popsockets have shipped over 200 million Popsockets all over the globe, and the business has been structured to serve a greater purpose. David Barnett is the founder and operating CEO today and this is his story. So David, you're best known for inventing and running with the company Popsockets. I think at this point, if you don't know what a Popsocket is, you're probably living Under a rock. they're just about ubiquitous I'm sure you were hoping they're they're more ubiquitous but as far as I'm concerned they're they're fairly ubiquitous. When when you were a young kid when you were young boy was like eight year old David like an inventor and into inventing things? David Barnett 5:15 I yeah, he was he was a little hustler. I like to say, so little eight year old through I'd say 15 year old David was an inventor. And I say more generally a hustler because he was just constantly coming up with ways to start a business. So more of an entrepreneur, starting businesses, for instance, a bike repair business, even though I had no idea how to repair a bike, it didn't stop me from opening a bike repair business in my neighborhood. I had a mixtape business in I think fourth grade. Because my sister's boyfriend had a bitchin album collection. I thought I'd take advantage of that by making mixtapes for the other students and selling them. And then I had a string of other businesses. Marc Gutman 6:03 Oh, the irony, if you still had that mixtape business right now, you would have about a billion hipster customers that would be all over I love the idea of a mixtape business. That's like, that's so great. So where'd you grow up? What was that? Like? Where'd you grow up? What would your parents do for a living? David Barnett 6:20 Sure, I grew up southeast of Denver, Colorado, out in out on the outskirts of suburbia. So we were on the edges of suburbia. And then I watched it grow as I grew up, around us. And let's see, my father was a manager of a retail store called medianav. Back in the day, it was eaten up by Macy's, which I don't think exists anymore today, but just a general retail store. And my mom occasionally worked as a secretary for CPA firm, but maybe 50% worked and 50% an at home mom. Marc Gutman 7:00 And so was would you say by all accounts, your upbringing was fairly normal or standard, or was there anything a little bit different about it? And by the way, what do you call the outskirts of suburbia? What was that at that time? David Barnett 7:14 It was unincorporated Arapahoe county at the time. So it wasn't part of any city. We were in a county but not in any city near Cherry Creek Reservoir is as most for those familiar with Colorado. We're right near that reservoir and houses were just popping up left and right. Douglas County, the fastest growing county in Colorado didn't exist yet. I watched it come into existence. Sorry. One point is the fastest growing County. And now there's just miles and miles and miles of development and neighborhood after years of development across fields that I used to play and Marc Gutman 7:55 yeah, I'm imagining a little bit like the scene from a Spielberg movie or like et or like, you know, one of these communities, there's communities sprouting up and there's kids kind of running all over the place and and as people are discovering suburbia and the new sort of the new wave, and you know, when you were in middle school in high school outside of being a hustler, what other interest did you have? Wow, that's a David Barnett 8:19 good question. I was a snake hunter in grade school. So I was in a gang and our gang road, road road little dirt bikes and hunted for snakes. And then in middle school and in middle school and high school I became part of a gang called the after school sports dorks. We did not name ourselves that but that's what one of the jocks on the football team named us in between probably beating me up. He called us the after school sports dorks because my friends and I would get together after school and make up games with basketballs, volleyballs, golf balls, whatever it was. So people would see us around the neighborhood, playing our made up sports games, after school sports dorks. That's really what I was. With my friends after school, I wasn't I wasn't much into school. I have to say. I had a lot of fun. Marc Gutman 9:12 Yeah. And so you mentioned like, you know, kind of you get this nickname the after school sport dorks and you kind of threw in there that maybe you're getting beat up or chased around from time to time it was it was high school tough? Were you a little bit in that, that outcast crowd? David Barnett 9:28 No, it wasn't tough. I wasn't in the, in the I went to large High School. So I had a lot of clicks. But my click was a mix of actually, actually athletes. So they were on some varsity teams just not not the football player, cheerleader crowd, right. So that's who I'm thinking of as the guy who, who might give me a Negi or a Snuggie and put me in an occasional headlock. Maybe give me a nice charley horse. But I cannot I cannot by any means say that I was an outcast and had a tough I had a nice group of friends and and did all right socially. Marc Gutman 10:09 Alright, well when you're in the nice group the after-school sports dorks are hanging out like where do you think you were gonna go like after after high school? Where did you did you you know I have your your bio here and I see that you were a philosophy major at Emory which I find a little bit in contrast when you say you really weren't into school because I don't really think of philosophy majors of not being in the school, but we'll talk about that. But I mean, did you Was that your plan? Did you think you were going to be a philosopher? like How'd you end up at Emory? David Barnett 10:36 I thought I was going to be a business person in high school and grade school and middle school. I looked up to my grandfather, he was a successful businessman. And he was vice president of a company called Chris Kraft. And I just admired him that was what I thought of as success because he was the most successful person around me had thought and business happened to be what he was engaged in. So I figured I'd be a businessman and I had been a hustler, you know, in my life and an entrepreneur. And then I went to Emory, because I checked it, I checked the box off on the common application where you get to choose from a list of colleges to apply to and you didn't have to fill out a separate application for each one. That seemed efficient to me. So I just checked off a bunch of boxes, checked Emory and it was the best school I got into. And that's why I was at Emory. That's why most of my friends at Emory read, it's that we've gotten rejected from the Ivy League schools in the better schools. And so that was our answer. When you asked why we were there. It's a good school Emory, but it was often not people's first choice. And then once I got to Emory, I, I took a big turn away from business, probably from eating hallucinogenic mushrooms, I'm guessing, sitting around with my friends thinking, Wow, I can't be a businessman in my life. What a waste of a life. I've got to do something else I've got to do philosophy or physics or science. So some kind of epiphany in college about the meaning of life led me away from business and onto a pretty significant detour for for many years before I got back to my roots as a hustler. Marc Gutman 12:12 And so your grandfather worked at Chris craft, the motorboat company is that the right company? David Barnett 12:19 that's what they that's what that brand is known for. He he was a executive vice president. So he and somebody else ran that company. But really how they made their money was was in media. So they, they acquired they sold Warner to Time, but in the Time Warner deal. When Time became Time Warner. They sold United Television to Paramount for the UPN network. They own a bunch of TV stations, radio stations, they own Chris craft boats and sold it off and they owned was it paper, some some Aircraft Company? They had their hands in a lot of different businesses. And Marc Gutman 12:59 It's kind of the era of the multinational conglomerate, and doing all those kinds of different businesses where you're like, why is Chris Kraft selling, you know, packaged foods? David Barnett 13:12 Why are they getting in fights with Rupert Murdoch, I remember there are articles when I was a kid about how Chris Kraft was the white knight like saving. I don't know, united television, or maybe was Warner Brothers, I think they save Warner from a hostile takeover from rupert murdoch. And that was all those were the exciting days where there were hostile takeovers, and like you said, multinational conglomerates. Marc Gutman 13:35 And so what was interesting about that to you like when you saw your grandfather, and what was his name, by the way? David Barnett 13:41 Lawrence Barnett Marc Gutman 13:43 Very, very strong vice president name. It's very good. If I was gonna cast at Lawrence Barnett. I think that would be it. But like, what, what do you remember about him? Like, why was that appealing when he had all these other influences around you? David Barnett 13:58 He really was the just, he just seemed successful to me. His wife, by the way, was Broadway, a Broadway star she started in in, she was Sarah Brown, and in Oakley original Oklahoma on Broadway. She was in Guys and Dolls as one of the main characters. And the two of them when I visited them, they just seem successful to me. And it's not that I admired so much what they did, I think just as a child, subconsciously. That was my only option in front of me. Not that not that the rest of my family members were failures or anything, they just seemed exceptionally successful. And they and by the way, they happen to do business. So have they been exceptionally successful, and they were both physicist, I would have been a physicist. I think it was just for me what success was and I was driven to be successful as a kid. Marc Gutman 14:49 And then you got to Emory and you talk a little bit about it. That sounds like you went on a bit of self discovery yourself. I mean, it is a pretty big change I have to imagine from Denver at the time and And you're you're at Emory. And you're your experiment and you're you mentioned some psychedelics, you're, you're deciding what to do with yourself like, like, why philosophy? David Barnett 15:11 Wow, I, I remember, I was taking some economics as an economics major. And one of my classes was full. I don't think I've ever told anybody the story. But I remember standing in front of a wall with schedules and, and lit course listings. And I had to choose a different class because I couldn't take the class that I had signed up for. And there was a beautiful girl standing next to me. And she chose some philosophy class. And I thought, Well, that seems like a good idea. So I ended up enrolling this in this philosophy class. Because she did. And I loved it. It just opened my mind it stimulated me I found is so much more interesting than the other classes I was taking. So I started taking more and more philosophy classes, because I found them just stimulating and intellectually rigorous and lively. So that got me into philosophy. And, and it was a totally different sort of philosophy from the philosophy I ended up doing and getting my PhD. But it's still open my mind to Unknown Speaker 16:15 anything happened with the girl. David Barnett 16:16 I can't really I highly doubt it. So I guess since I don't remember any answers, no. Marc Gutman 16:24 If you can't remember, the answer is always No. So you're, you're at you're at Emory. And you've, you've been turned on by philosophy and you decide to get into that and in put some rigor into philosophy and, and and then what happened? Where'd you go from Emory? David Barnett 16:42 It's an exaggeration to say put some rigor into it, it woke me up, I liked my classes. But I have to say, when I wasn't in class, I was not studying unless it was an all nighter right before an exam. I was having a lot of fun in college, so and I don't regret it, I would do it again, I had so much fun. But when I finished Emory, I thought to myself, okay, now I'm ready to learn and get serious. And I was ready to become a physicist. I wanted to understand the nature of reality, and the nature of the universe. And so I moved back to Colorado where tuition was lower, because I, my grandfather paid for my college, my undergrad, but he was not going to pay for any further school. So I was going to have to pay for my own school, which meant in state tuition, and living in the dorms and being serious. So I went to University of Colorado, put myself in the dorms, I had a lot of friends in Boulder, I stayed away from my friends to be serious. And I took full load of math and physics and chemistry, all the courses i'd need to prepare for a Ph. D. program in physics. And I just immerse myself in it. So I was a serious student there for the year and a half a year and three quarters, preparing for a Ph. D. program in physics. Marc Gutman 17:59 Did you understand your reality? Did you find the answer? David Barnett 18:03 I didn't. So I yeah, I found it stimulating. I enjoyed the classes. But I was sitting in a physics lab, I ended up debating with my physics professors quite a bit and being disappointed with their answers. I felt like we would get, we would start debating, we'd get to the crucial questions about the nature of reality, say the interpretation of quantum physics. And we get right down to it, I was all excited. And they would just contradict themselves, you know, one contradiction after another. And when I pointed out, they'd laugh it off. And I think to myself, can't laugh that off. This is it like this is the foundation of reality, and you're contradicting yourself. There's nothing funny about that. We need a real theory here to understand what's going on. And eventually, it just frustrated me so much. So I walked out of a lab, a physics lab, halfway through the lab, I hadn't done any work in the first half, I was just sitting there looking around at the other students and looking at my lab book thinking to myself, I can't do this, the rest of my life there is so detail oriented, and they don't really want to address the fundamental questions. So halfway through, I walked past my professor waved to him, he didn't know what I was doing, walk straight over to the philosophy department and got an application to apply to their master's program and CU. Marc Gutman 19:18 And did you feel? I mean, it sounds like you felt full of conviction. And hey, like, I'm real confident in this decision, or was there at all a little bit of like, Oh, crap, what did I just do? David Barnett 19:29 No, I was confident. I was happy with the decision, even though I didn't really even know what philosophy was. I had taken an undergrad, gotten an undergrad degree in philosophy, but like I said, it was a totally different sort of philosophy. And so what I was about to immerse myself in here at CU, I really didn't know. And it was totally foreign to me. When I started taking these classes. I had no idea what was going on. What they were talking about why they were talking about these topics, why they mattered. It took me a good couple of years. To really appreciate what the method was, and then why I thought it ended up thinking why, why it was better suited to my interest than the methods of undergrad philosophy. Marc Gutman 20:12 So how the rest of that period of your education go? David Barnett 20:15 It was great. Some of the best years of my life spent my days thinking about really interesting topics, the nature of thoughts, the nature of consciousness, I also did a lot of philosophy of physics. So I ended up being able to address those questions that, that I felt that I wasn't able to address with the physics professors. And so interpretations of quantum physics in general relativity, philosophy of math, even. So I fell in love with it, really, and then ended up pursuing a PhD. I went to Cornell gotten into their Ph. D. program, and then I transferred to NYU, and ended up getting a PhD in philosophy at NYU. Marc Gutman 20:57 And then was that your plan? Did you think hey, like, I'm getting higher education in philosophy, and I'm going to teach it at a university. That's my plan. David Barnett 21:07 That is the plan, though, you'll find people in PhD programs in philosophy, and probably probably a lot of topics would never use the word teach, because it's so the emphasis is so much on research, rather than teaching. It's more, I'm going to devote my life to researching the subject matter. And oh, by the way, I'll teach and that's how I make my money. And that's how you keep your job, of course and get tenures is based on the research, not the teaching. So yeah, I was passionate about the subject matter and passionate about that a career in philosophy as a professor, Marc Gutman 21:42 What was the subject matter that you were so passionate about that you were like, Hey, I'm going to devote my life to this? David Barnett 21:48 So I ended up doing a lot of work in philosophy of language, the fountain, so that's sort of the foundation of, of language, in philosophy of language, you don't ask particular questions about, say, English or Japanese or French, you ask more fun, fundamental questions about the nature of language. So you would ask what, what must any language look like? What are the basic building blocks of a language? And what is meaning? So our sentences, sentences I'm uttering right now means something to you, I'm communicating thoughts to you right now. What are these things the the meanings of my sentences, or I just call them thoughts, they end up the things we're communicating are actually our thoughts, right? So I quickly moved from philosophy of language into philosophy of the mind. And you ask, what is the thought? What sort of thing is it? And it can't be related to humans, either, because you could imagine an alien having a thought or coming down and communicating with us. So it's not, you know, some neural pattern in our brain, it's got to be something more abstract. And that can then lead to more questions about consciousness and what what the nature of conscious being is. So I did philosophy of language, some metaphysics that I hate to say that word on outside the context of philosophy, because it can mean lots of things to different people. But that's generally just the nature of reality, what sorts of things exist and what categories and things exist? So philosophy of mind philosophy of language and metaphysics, were my, my main areas, Marc Gutman 23:20 heavy stuff, I like it. I feel like we could spend hours just talking about that, but we'll spare a little bit maybe some other time. We'll get into that I'd love to. I'd love to dive deeper. But you're, you know, you, you finish up your graduate program at NYU, I'm assuming and correct me if I've got this right or wrong. You come back to your your one of your alma mater, see you and you become a professor in philosophy. Is that is that? David Barnett 23:44 Yes, it was. It was a little more of a circuitous route back to CU. I started as a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. And then I transferred to University of Vermont, which I which I loved. I like Davidson too, but really loved University of Vermont being in Burlington, it was much like boulder and then I did have the opportunity to come back to Colorado, which I did so I took that opportunity I think in around 2006 and came back for a tenure track position here at CU Boulder. Marc Gutman 24:21 Was that at that like at that moment? Are you thinking hey like I'm I've done it like I'm back in Colorado? I'm a professor in the the discipline that I'm that I'm want to be in like are you what's going on for you content? Are you? Are you kind of like getting restless? David Barnett 24:39 No I was very much content even though sad leaving Vermont. I really loved it there. I was happy there. But Colorado was a place. I wanted to end up long term and in academics, you don't typically have the opportunity to choose your, your destination. So for me, I'm getting the opportunity to Come be a tenured professor at Boulder ultimately, be a tenured professor, that was a massive opportunity for me to be back here. And I was very much happy with it. So, and I was still passionate about philosophy to Marc Gutman 25:15 Are you kind of doing what we today call a side hustle is the hustler and you showing up in different ways before kind of like we get to the the big idea, but like, Are you trying other things? David Barnett 25:27 No, not at first, I was still squarely immersed in philosophy. So I spent, I spent my days when she's when I compared to today, they were relatively empty. But in philosophy, you know, I only had one, if I got a great night of sleep, which meant nine and a half 10 hours of sleep, then I had about two hours of good concentration time in me the next day where I could really be productive and solve problems and think through some issues. And then the rest of the day was mountain biking, playing, preparing for a class maybe. So it was a great lifestyle. But it didn't involve subject matter-wise, it didn't involve anything but philosophy. Marc Gutman 26:10 And so you're filling your days with philosophy and you're filling your mind with expansive thoughts. And let's talk about what's going on with your earbud chords. what's what's happening. David Barnett 26:24 So let's see 2006 I think is when I arrived at CU, I might be wrong, but roughly then. And then in 2010, I think by 2010, four years later, I had this right, I think I had secured tenure for myself. So I didn't really have the pressure anymore to to publish, publish, publish. And I also had a lot of papers that I'd written that I just hadn't submitted to journals yet. So pressure was off. In terms of research, I was also starting to burn out. So I just was frustrated spending my days trying to convince these other professors of of things that I thought, I just thought were totally obvious. And that I just asked myself, do I want to spend my life trying to convince these extremely stubborn people of some simple points? Or could I do something else. So it was already in my mind that I that I was I was getting burnt out. And then one day, I got frustrated for the 30th time pulling my tangled headset cords out of my pocket. So I hopped in my car went to a local fabric store, Joanne fabrics, till the first solution ended up gluing a couple of big clothing buttons to the back of my iPhone three, with a couple of little spacer buttons underneath them. So I could wrap my cord around my headset and prevent the tangle. And that was the beginning of the popsockets journey. Marc Gutman 27:54 Well, that's interesting to me. I mean, a lot of times, you know, I say that businesses are started are one of three ways or all three ways frustration, inspiration or desperation. Certainly, that story illustrates some of those. But I'm also sensing in your own life. There's this moment where David gets, you know, you take it, you take it, you take it and then it's just you can't take it anymore, and you're gonna take action, you're going to MIT take a solution, you're not going to allow things to frustrate you. You're going to make a change, right. And I think that's really cool that like you're proactive, you know, you're like, Hey, I'm not just gonna, like let this insanity repeat itself. But like walking me through a little bit like, you know, I love the I love the image of you taking action and going to Joe and fabrics. But yeah, I think we also need to set the stage a little bit. I mean, you know, ear headphones, and earbud headphones, you know, we're becoming quite ubiquitous. They had the long wires. I mean, we're getting to a point, you know, David were probably in like, five years ago to tell the story and kids are gonna be like, what are earbud wires? Like, what? What are those? And, you know, so like, I mean, what's going on? I mean, are you just pulling it out a jumble in your pocket? And you're just like, like, I mean, Are you frustrated? Are you like kind of cursing Apple under your breath thinking like, like, why? Like, why don't they do this better? I mean, what's going on for you before you really take action and get those buttons? David Barnett 29:21 Sure. I suppose it was just a frustration with a waste wasted time. So when I noticed that my time is wasted more than once on the same problem I I tend to take action, whether it's organizing my stuff better in drawers so that I can find it next time and not waste time looking for something. And this had just been too many times where I found myself standing, picking at this at this bundle of wires that were tangled and wasting whatever it was two or three minutes before I could even use the headset. And then something's like you said something just snapped and I thought I can't To deal with this anymore, it's not like I lived right next to the fabric either I lived up in the mountains, so I hopped in my car and drove, you know, 20 minutes to the fabric store without a solution in mind just to kind of walk the aisles and look for a solution for myself. Marc Gutman 30:17 This episode brought to you by Wildstory. Wait, isn't that your company? It is. And without the generous support of Wildstory, this show would not be possible. A brand isn't a logo or a tagline, or even your product. A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product service or company. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. Wildstory helps progressive founders and savvy marketers build purpose-driven brands that connect their business goals with the customers they want to serve. So that both the business and the customer needs are met. This results in crazy, happy, loyal customers that purchase again and again. And this is great for business. If that sounds like something you and your team might want to learn more about, reach out @ www.wildstory.com and we'd be happy to tell you more. Now back to our show. Of all places, why Joann fabric? I mean I think like if I had this, you know and by no means am I a man-man so I'm not going to get guns or like Home Depot, but I'm probably going to like Rei or like I don't know, like I'm thinking of like maybe a you know that that's probably where I would go what what prompted you to go to join fabrics and think of buttons? David Barnett 31:41 Sure, I can't remember exactly. But I'd say putting myself and myself back in those shoes. It would either be macaque ns, which is the the hardware store that has everything under the sun. And it probably has this probably has a Joanne fabric somewhere in the store, or Joanne fabric. I don't know why I started with Julian fabric. And I didn't have buttons in mind. At first, I was just going to walk the aisles to look for something to build, I certainly didn't have in mind that there would already be a pre existing solution. So that's why I didn't go to Rei, or store, you know, mobile accessories store that might already have something, I was going to build my own solution. And fortunately, oh my god, this is some of the best fortune I've had in my life. I did not Google this problem. Had I looked for a solution for this online, I probably would have found a YouTube video showing somebody point sticking out their pointer finger and their pinky finger and holding their two middle fingers down with their thumb, and then wrapping their cord really quickly around the two horns of the bowl that you make when you stick your pointer finger in your your index finger and your pinky finger out. You quickly wrap your cord around the two. And that's what I ended up doing later on after the after I use the invention mark as a grip. It's a great solution to so I would have never been at Popsockets had I seen that video. Marc Gutman 33:06 And so when you're injured when fabrics and you get the button going, was it a bit of a eureka moment? Or was it like oh like okay, this will work. And I'm just gonna do this and move on with my life. David Barnett 33:19 I say the latter. There's just a, I'm happy with a solution for myself. Not really Eureka. Marc Gutman 33:26 Cool. And so you're using the solution you're wrapping your wires and things seem to be going well. When do you start getting a sense that this might be something that other people want? David Barnett 33:40 Not? Well, geez, I'm guessing here, but I'm guessing it was a couple of months. What happened was that my friends and family poked fun at me for having these enormous clothing buttons on the back of my little iPhone three. Remember, the iPhone three was tiny compared to current phone. So it was kind of like the Zoolander phone. And I had these huge inch and a half diameter buttons on the back of it that occupied the entire back side. So it looked absurd. And my friends and family motivated me by making fun of me to start tinkering with mechanisms to get the buttons to expand and collapse. So that it would it would look a little more respectable and also have more functionality. And so it wasn't until after I did that and prototyped the solution I landed on the accordion solution that it occurred to me that I could start selling these because when I prototype that I at one point ran into some kids in the Quad of CU boulder around this big grassy area. I ran into some kids maybe middle school age, and I showed them a prototype and their eyes just bulged out. their jaws dropped open. They went into this trance of I have to have that and that's the moment that that I thought to myself. Oh God, I could sell a ton of these or at least At least a few thousand. Marc Gutman 35:02 Well, I want to thank you for bringing up Zoolander. It's one of my favorite all time movies, I'd say it's a top five comedy of all time. So So thanks for that just a little bonus. But thinking about this, like, how do you go about you're a cu professor, you're not a prototyper? You're not someone that designs, you know, molded plastic goods like how did you go about prototyping this and prototyping that according design? David Barnett 35:28 Sure. So I went into Ali Baba. And I found, I just picked randomly, I don't recommend that people do this. I randomly found a prototyping group and the guy's name was Cade Wu. And this guy, Cade Wu, would accept my files. So I also taught myself 3d CAD software called SolidWorks. And I started making models of these accordions actually first tried hiring an engineering student, but that lasted a couple of weeks, maybe a few weeks, so frustrating having to tell somebody make this little change, make that little change, and then wait a few days for the changes. And so instead of just taught myself and started cranking on the software, and I would send these models off to Cade Wu in China, and I believe, two or three weeks later, in my mailbox, I'd get, I don't know, 30 or 40 prototypes from different models, maybe I'd send him six months, six different models. And he'd send me two or three or four of each of these models. And they were they were terrible. I can tell you, that was terribly disappointing. When I received them, they did not function at all, they didn't expand or collapse. They were nothing close to the final product. Marc Gutman 36:45 And so what do you think? Are you like, this is a wait, like, maybe I'm just wrong is this is this a waste of time, like this is just not? David Barnett 36:51 It's odd, because I have fond thoughts of Cade Wu I really like Cade Wu. And yet, Kate would cause me so much suffering and pain. So I have mixed feelings about Cade Woo. On the one hand, I have fond thoughts of him. On the other hand, he sent me off on the wrong path again, and again, I didn't realize it for at least a year. But he was telling me that he was using certain materials, for instance, polyethylene, or polypropylene. And so I would get these prototypes. And I think, ah, my design is bad. I need to redesign it. And I totally redesigned that accordion, again, and again, and again, based on these prototypes, and after about a year, I figured out he was lying to me about the materials he was using. I'd say you Santa preen eight, nine or five, some material, I'd research he'd say, okay, Santa preen 8905. And he sent it to me. A year later, I realized he couldn't possibly be using these materials. It just doesn't work. You can't use these materials with the process that he had a prototyping process. And so looking back I had, I had just assumed again and again that my design was off. But in fact, the material was wrong. I don't know where I'd be today. If he had been honest with me what what the Popsocket grip would look like today? It might be totally different. The design. Marc Gutman 38:11 How'd you find out he was lying. Like what? You know, what do you know about these materials? David Barnett 38:17 I ended up hiring a design firm. When I had a Kickstarter campaign. In 2012, I hired a design firm called spec design in the Bay Area to help me design the case. So the body of the case, I had worked quite a bit on the accordion. So the main component, and I worked with them, and they started working with Kade Wu, and they were getting these prototypes. We were getting them, you know, every few weeks, and they didn't notice he was lying either. But then at some point, once somebody that the design firm, an engineer made some comment to me. And it all just I had an epiphany, I thought to myself, holy cow, this guy has been lying to me for a year, and they didn't even notice it. You can't use these, you can only use the materials I was requesting injection molding. And that's just not for prototyping, and it takes months and months to build the tooling. And then you inject the hot, you know, molten plastic into these tools. The materials just can't be prototyped the way he claimed to be prototyping, I'm sorry, infer that he was using something called a cast urethane and that that's what made up all the samples he'd been sending me. Marc Gutman 39:26 Did you guys have it out or what happened there? David Barnett 39:28 No, I still like Cade Wu for some reason. I still like Cade Wu to this day. I guess I maybe that's maybe that's one of my faults is that I'm pretty charitable. I thought to myself, okay, what he was doing is he was just trying to find a cast urethane, that mimicked the material I was requesting most closely. So if I asked for a Santa cream at 8220, he would look up the specs of the material and think okay, I'll use this urethane and it will most closely relate Assemble that. And that's what he always did, I'm guessing. Marc Gutman 40:03 So it sounds like you're investing some significant money. I mean, you're you're hiring design students, you then go get a design firm in the Bay Area, which I am assuming just based on what I know about design firms in the Bay Area is not cheap. Like, how much money are you investing in this? And like, why are you investing in this? Like, what's your thought? David Barnett 40:26 Sure. I was burning through cash. By the time I had a Kickstarter campaign, I think I asked for maybe $12,000 in the campaign back then the campaigns were much smaller than they are today, most of them, and maybe I ended up raising 18,000 or something. I burned through that in a few weeks. So it's not as if I hope that that would really fund the whole project. It was mostly a PR activity. But I had, let's see, I had spent my savings and I was starting to go through some of my retirement. And then fortunately, my house had burned down at the end of 2010, in the form of fire here up in Boulder, big fire that took about 240 homes, burned my hometown, and just a couple months before it burned my hometown, I had raised my limits on my insurance suspiciously. But I raised I raised my limits, and it triggered a massive increase in the limits for my contents. So after my house burned down, I was sitting on a really nice insurance package, I use that money for Popsockets instead of replacing the contents of the house. So I lived in an empty house. And then I got married and lived with with my new wife and in the rebuild house. And it was mostly empty for years, until I got some money from the Popsockets business. But I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, ultimately, on this business. When you ask why. And I don't know. I guess I was obsessed. I wanted to see it through and had I lost everything I would have been fine. I would have just tried something else after that. Marc Gutman 42:05 So I cannot be imagined imagine what your fiance's thinking. I mean, she totally cool with this it like is like that going well? Or is there some dissent? like yeah, I'll marry you in live in an empty house while you burn all those gas on a plastic thing for your phone? David Barnett 42:26 It depends on whether she's going to listen to this interview the answer to that question. I'm assuming she's not In which case, the real answer is no, she was not nowhere close to being okay with this. And she said she married a philosophy professor. And then she felt tricked. She got, she got somebody who was obsessed with starting up a business, spending enormous amounts of time starting a business while being a professor. So she didn't get the time that she thought she'd had with me. Since my summers were occupied. On the popsockets business, I spent all of our money on popsockets. And she thought it was a ridiculous product. As did all my friends. They nearly all of them just thought it was silly. So the answer is no, she was she was not with me on that one. Marc Gutman 43:16 Got it. Like I wouldn't think so. But businesses like this a lot of times not. And so when you're doing the Kickstarter is Popsockets. The name at that time? David Barnett 43:25 Wow, that is a good question. I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. It's 95% confident that it was called Popsockets. By that point, it started off as iButtons. And fortunate I never really liked that name, I came up with that name. It was also a term of affection. Ibuttons. So you could say that to somebody, Ibuttons. It's just a sweet thing to say. But then a big company threatened to sue me because they had a product called an iButton. And they did not like the fact that I got the Ibuttons.com URL. So I had them give me about $20,000, which I needed in order in exchange for giving up that name. And using a name that I liked a lot that it was popsockets. Marc Gutman 44:09 Where'd that name come from? David Barnett 44:11 That came straight from my wife, that is her big contribution to Popsockets. Maybe we had toyed around with sockets or pop one at one or the other was in the air and then she put it together. Marc Gutman 44:21 See, she was behind you. She got it like you know, it's like, she came up with the name. David Barnett 44:26 She's good for something for sure. Marc Gutman 44:29 And so you fund your Kickstarter and to the tune of $18,000 and I'm assuming you're just like, Easy Street, you're just moving product and you have no problems. Is that how it goes down? David Barnett 44:44 That's right. Within a year I was a billionaire. I didn't lift a finger. So no, it was it was rough. It is much easier today for sure. I was running out of money. The 18,000 was nowhere close to really fun. I eventually found some investors around town just through through people that I've met. So these were strangers who had faith in the idea when I pitch it to them, I raised a few hundred more thousand dollars. As I was starting the business, I didn't launch until 2014, two years after the Kickstarter campaign, I had massive manufacturing problems. That's partly why I didn't launch until 2014. And the factory just couldn't get the case. Right. It was originally a case with two grips that expanded and collapsed. Marc Gutman 45:33 And pretty much in the original form that will or the the common form that we know it as now which is like the the button with the accordion. Was it just that with the case? David Barnett 45:43 Yeah, it was two of those since the kicks if you look at the Kickstarter campaign, it was that a case with two integrated Popsockets grips that expanded and collapsed. And the factory I chose just couldn't make a case they had an over mold. So a soft material that was molded to a hard, hard plastic. And they they really just didn't know how to do it. And month after month, after month passed by they had to throw away the tools because they had revised them so many times. And so and then version, the version of the iPhone change by the time we had got the case, right? That was an old version of the phone, I think were the iPhone five, by the time I actually launched the company out of my garage in 2014. And I had by that time develop the standalone grip that that has been the popular product. Marc Gutman 46:29 Yeah. And what was the insight on that? Like, what was the big aha moment that less is more? David Barnett 46:34 Sure. It, it likely, likely has its source in in feedback from my students. So when I was a professor, I handed out some cases, some prototypes of the original product to my students. And by the way, they would all when I would ask them, Would any of you use this product to keep your headset tangle free, and nearly all of their hands would go up in the air? So I finally got some samples, I handed them out. And then I watched them over the course of a few weeks to see who would who would stop using the product, how many of them would stop using the product, those who kept using it? What were they using it for? And I noticed the ones who kept it on, we're not using it for headset management, they were using it for the grip function and the stand function, but mostly the grip function. And yet the grip was not in an ideal location, there was one grip that was too high and one grip that was too low, because I had two of them on the back so that you could wrap your headset around them. And that made me think look, I should invent just a standalone product that can be placed ideally for the grip function. And when I launched the Kickstarter campaign, I ended up licensing the original invention with a case to case made out of Atlanta. And thought, well, they can run with this Well, I developed a standalone product that was not under license. So that's what I did. They worked on the case for six months, and then they ended up Never launching a case. And in that time I developed the standalone product. Marc Gutman 48:03 And at that point, did it just take off? I mean, I I have this recollection that, you know, at one point, it was like I didn't know what Popsockets were. And then they were everywhere. Like they were just like, everywhere, like and people had them and they just became they just became part of you know, popular culture. I mean, it was that the way it felt for you? Or was the getting the standalone product to get traction was that was that a challenge? David Barnett 48:29 It certainly took some effort that first year, I mean, we flip the switch and turn on the website. And I had no marketing dollars, I had no experience no connections to retailers. So I just turned on a Shopify website, I hired a couple of, of people who had been doing some landscaping. So they were in my garage, little big hands and war bear these two huge guys that were selling sitting in my garage ready to fulfill orders, I flipped the switch. And nothing happened. Of course, we got no orders, we got no orders the next day or the next day or the next day. And I thought to myself, hmm, somehow we got to get the word out that this exists. And I went to a promotional Trade Show in Las Vegas, just by chance I had a friend who offered to share a booth. And it was a huge hit there. So that was my first break. These are people looking to put logos on products and give them away for free. And it was clear to the distributors at this trade show that the Popsocket grip was a perfect billboard for your for your logo and for getting impressions. So I had a big crowd around my booth. And over the course of the next four or five months, I ended up selling batches of 3000 5000 7000 to T Mobile Yahoo, you know these big brands through distributors that then got them into the hands of thousands of people. And then I started seeing the traffic come to the website because we had a I don't know if it's a critical mass but we had enough of them out there. Public, that word of mouth was spreading. And then two other things were happening at the same time that year celebrities somehow got ahold of them the first year in 2014. To this day, I don't know how but Gigi Hadid, Ryan Seacrest, and remember Woody Harrelson, his wife, somehow, I got word that she was calling it a life changer from somebody that heard that. So they were showing up in People Magazine and on social media using the grip, and we saw a hotspot in LA on our website, customers around Los Angeles. And then third, we were planting these grips in middle schools in Colorado. So we're encouraging these schools to use them as fundraisers. And that started a third flame, you could say, the middle schoolers took to this product and started telling their friends about it. So those three elements came together. And by the end of 2014, we were seeing some really nice growth month over a month, it was starting to you're starting to see that hockey stick growth. And then we saw about 10 times we were selling each month, we were selling about 10 times what we were that month, the prior year, for the next couple years. 1516. And we were named the fast second fastest growing company in the US in 2018, with a growth rate of 72,000% over three years. And it was mostly just a viral phenomenon over those few those first three to four years, I'd say. And then exploded into retail, in I think 2016 and 17. So over the course of a few years, what you described as correct. Marc Gutman 51:31 Yeah, and prior to that, I mean, really before this, this validation moment where you go to the trade show, and and for promo products, and people are like, okay, like, and I have to imagine that, like when you got those first orders, you're like, Alright, I'm on like, I'm not crazy. But so but you know, prior to that, I mean, are you thinking of giving up? Are you thinking of like, hey, like I have sunk enough money into this, I have put enough energy into this, this just may not happen? David Barnett 52:01 No, I hadn't considered giving up. There was one moment that I vividly recall, where, where I did for the first time, I feel that I might that I might be forced to give up. So it was when we had an office on on Pearl Street in Boulder. And we received a shipment of about 30,000 grips and packaging. It was maybe the third major shipment we received. We weren't in any retail stores yet. So we're selling on the website and promo. And they were all defective. This was the third time in a row. So I had never gotten a pure, high quality product, I had always received shipment of defective product that gel was defective on the first 30,000 I received my friends and I had to pull off, it's tough to get gel off these by hand, pull off 30,000 gel stickers and put new gel on the bottoms of them. But this third shipment, the packaging was all just blowing out and the plastic from the accordion was sticking through the gel so far that it wouldn't—it hit the back of the phone before the gel did. So the grip would just fall right off the phone. My stomach just sank when I opened up the shipment and there was $1,000 in the bank account, I probably owed $30,000. And that was it. I had no more cash. I didn't have any investors lined up to give any more money. And we were sitting on defective products. So I remember taking a walk on the street thinking to myself, this is not good. And it could be the end of us. Marc Gutman 53:35 But here you are today. And you're the you're the CEO still have Popsockets and give us a sense of what Popsockets looks like today, like how many employees and like approximately how many units are going out at this point? David Barnett 53:48 Sure. Well, pre COVID, we were about 300 employees headquarters in Boulder. We have a design office in San Francisco with about 20 people. An office in Europe offices in Singapore, Seoul, Korea, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, we now have an office in Colombia in Bogota. So we're a global company now. We've sold well over 200 million units, I'm guessing probably closer to 300 million I haven't checked in recently. But you know, we're going through a high volume of grips each week and post COVID we have fewer people. So we unfortunately did have to lay off quite a few people. For a low quite a few to preserve our cash when COVID hit and the stores all shut down globally. We are coming back from that though we're doing quite well and we're hiring again. So that should give you a sense of the size and we have ambitions to be far bigger mostly so that we can make a more positive impact. We have a poptivism program. It's really important to me and the brand that gives back to Whatever charity our consumers chooses, choose, so you can come design your own group on our website and tag any charity and half of the sale of that grip will go to the charity. And the bigger we are, the more we can invest in programs like that. Marc Gutman 55:14 Yeah, and I was planning on asking about there's anything else that you'd like to talk about? I mean, why? Why poptivism? How do you say that again? Like it's like a tongue twister, David Barnett 55:23 poptivism kind of activism activism with a pop at the beginning. Marc Gutman 55:27 Yeah, I just need to like practice it. Poptivism, poptivism. So, you know, like, why, like, Why use the thing you built for that? David Barnett 55:36 Sure. So my, one of my original goals, when I decided to commercialize this invention, was to generate wealth for myself so that I could use that wealth for good causes. I personally care about animal welfare issues, hoping to end factory farming. And also climate change, particularly as it relates to these the former issues. So those are my personal causes that I would support. But I realized a couple years into business that all of the employees wanted to make a positive impact in the company is probably positioned better than myself to make that impact. And at that point, I created a department of do goods, I hired a director of due goods, her sole responsibility was to do good. she teamed up with some nonprofits that support people with mobility issues, Parkinson's, ALS, arthritis, we raised money for these organizations that support people with these challenges. And then we got 10s of thousands of grips into their hands, because it makes it easier for them to hold their devices and the grip. But we thought we can make a bigger impact if we open this up as a platform to everybody and all charities. And that's positivism, positivism is a platform that encourages people to make a positive impact by designing their own grip. So you can come on you can do right now you just go to our website, you can design your own grip, you tag a charity, a 501, c three, and the grip will go live, maybe in a week, 50% of all the sales will will go to that charity, and you can start seeing the impact you make Marc Gutman 57:16 right away. That's incredible. And do you ever like just like, look around and you know, as I heard you talking about how many employees you are employing and and where you're located globally and poptivism and like, do you ever just look around like, this is a I created this? I don't mean, I don't mean it like in a in a vain way or an arrogant way. But like, I created this out of an idea. And that idea was like these little plastic things that you stick on your phone, you know, like, like, it just must be an incredible feeling. David Barnett 57:51 Yes, It's surreal. It used to be more surreal, I spent a decent amount of time standing in this one office room have one of our offices that had a glass wall overlooking the warehouse, the production facility. And I look out there and think this is just insane. I mean, it's a, it's like a crazy dream. All of these people are working on this little doodad that I created in my living room with all this hard work. And then when I traveled to China, and I'd walk into these factories where there were hundreds of people, just lines and lines of people sitting working on this product, there were huge crates out in the parking lot, just giant stacks and stacks of boxes. With tractors and these trailers coming to pick them up. I thought this is just insane. It's so crazy. Eventually, I came to accept it. So this the surreal nature of it started to fade. But I still have that sensation, especially when we hire really talented people who have these amazing backgrounds, I think to myself, how did we get to this point where we could attract talent like this? All from just messing around on the computer in my living room? So many years ago? Marc Gutman 59:03 What do you think it is about the the grip, the Popsocket that just is that just speaks to people that just says hey, like, I want that because I do think there's something there's something special about that inanimate object. David Barnett 59:16 Sure. All of our products, we we try our best to include three, three ingredients which the original product has. One is the empower empowering, quality, so it just makes using a phone so much better. The second is the fun or magical feature, that it's surprisingly fun, and surprisingly useful. I mean, look, you've got the most valuable company in the world or at least was at one point Apple creating this device that has a massive flaw. You can't hold it and it's just an awful experience. Once you've used a popsocket grip for a couple of weeks if you try to hold an Apple phone It's almost comical. It's just an awful, awful experience. So I think it is sort of a magical experience when you start using this and you think, Oh my God, what a much better experience. This is even if you didn't think you needed it. And then third, it's the expressive feature people love to express themselves. With grips, it's a much easier way than changing up their cases to put a different style on put a different statement on like a bumper sticker, or a different utility piece. So you could have lip balm on one day, or a little storage for, for something that you want to keep with you one day, and we have a bunch of other functional items coming out soon. Marc Gutman 1:00:40 And we'll make sure to link to all that in the show notes. And David, as we come to a close here, we're coming up on our time, I have two final questions for you. The first is, what's the future look like for you and Popsockets? David Barnett 1:00:52 Sure, well, I'm staying with Popsockets for the future, I'll be the CEO. I have been working hard recently to rebuild our teams post COVID. And post a big transition with leadership. And we intend to build a strong, global brand that makes little life changers. So all of our products, we think will will increase people's happiness, even if it's just a little bit every day. And positivism too, these programs we think of as little life changers. We're not curing cancer, but everything we do, we hope makes people just a little bit happier. And you'll see in two to three years, you really see that the brand we have here in the US will start spreading even though we've been international for a few years, our brand strength, I think will will start catching up to the US and will be a significant global brand, making a positive impact every day. Marc Gutman 1:01:51 So David, if that high school version of you that high school, David, that was in the after school sport dork crew ran into you today, what do you think he'd say? David Barnett 1:02:04 That's really funny, I have a video of this that I can share with you. We had sorry, there was an award ceremony for some Entrepreneurship Award, I think that I won, and I couldn't be there. So we made a video, an acceptance video. And we had a boy who looked kind of like me when I was a kid. And after school sports dork, and he accepted the award. And part of what he said was He's like, I think and maybe someday I'll invent something, something kind of useful. Maybe that helps you listen to your music better. So what would he say? He was probably cocky. He probably said, Yeah, I knew this. I'm a little disappointed in you. But I thought this would happen. Marc Gutman 1:02:46 Whoa, whoa. And that is David Barnett, the founder and CEO of Popsockets, I still can't wrap my head around a little plastic extendable button, becoming such a part of our culture, employing 300 people, and continuing a movement all over the world. This is the power of entrepreneurship, literally thinking of an idea, imagining something that never exists, and then making it a reality, putting it out into the world and changing the world. David Barnett and I say this very seriously, is changing the world with popsockets in a way that will have an impact forever. Whether it's bringing joy to someone with mobility issues, assisting in a s

Today we're talking about transitioning to full remote work for the first time. We have Benjamin Crudo from Diff Agency to talk about their transition, the challenges that came with it, and his thoughts and practices on leadership. Benjamin is the founder and CEO of Diff Agency. With 100+ employees, three offices worldwide, and as one of the world's top Shopify partners, Diff takes a full-service approach to e-commerce: planning, designing, building, integrating, and optimizing e-commerce products to drive success online. While known for his technical expertise, Ben remains passionate about demystifying e-commerce for his customers: communicating clearly in the language of retailers to ensure cooperative and successful projects. Some of his notable clients include Boll&Branch, Popsockets, YM,inc., WWF, Ecobee, and Yellow Shoes. To book a time to chat with Shauna, head on over to www.operateremote.com

David Barnett, a former philosophy professor and the founder and CEO of PopSockets, says his interactions with Amazon have often amounted to “bullying with a smile.” Like many companies, PopSockets, which makes a popular plastic grip that can be attached to smartphones, discovered several years ago counterfeit versions of its products available for sale on Amazon.

The Daily Drive is a podcast for entrepreneurs, marketers, sales people, leaders, and any person seeking success. Listen to Part 2 of The Daily Drive podcast with David Barnett, the CEO of Pop Sockets. Bio: David Barnett is the founder and CEO of PopSockets LLC. He was a philosophy major at Emory, a physics major at CU-Boulder, received his PhD in philosophy from NYU, and from 2005-2015 was a philosophy professor at CU-Boulder. His research specialized in philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, before he reached enlightenment and became an entrepreneur. In 2010, Barnett was looking to stop his earbud cord from getting tangled and achieved this by gluing two buttons to the back of his phone and wrapping the earbud cord around the buttons. As ugly as the buttons were, they worked. In the course of improving on the idea, he developed about 60 different prototypes, making the buttons expand and collapse via an accordion mechanism, so that they could function as both a stand and a grip. In 2012, Barnett launched a Kickstarter campaign for an iPhone case with two PopSockets grips integrated into the case. In addition to getting successfully funded, the KickStarter campaign enabled Barnett to show the world his dancing prowess. Two years later, in 2014, Barnett launched the business out of his garage in Boulder, Colorado, and has subsequently sold over 140 million PopSockets grips around the world. Pop Sockets Social Media: Instagram Twitter

The Daily Drive is a podcast for entrepreneurs, marketers, sales people, leaders, and any person seeking success. Listen to Part 1 of The Daily Drive podcast with David Barnett, the CEO of Pop Sockets. Bio: David Barnett is the founder and CEO of PopSockets LLC. He was a philosophy major at Emory, a physics major at CU-Boulder, received his PhD in philosophy from NYU, and from 2005-2015 was a philosophy professor at CU-Boulder. His research specialized in philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, before he reached enlightenment and became an entrepreneur. In 2010, Barnett was looking to stop his earbud cord from getting tangled and achieved this by gluing two buttons to the back of his phone and wrapping the earbud cord around the buttons. As ugly as the buttons were, they worked. In the course of improving on the idea, he developed about 60 different prototypes, making the buttons expand and collapse via an accordion mechanism, so that they could function as both a stand and a grip. In 2012, Barnett launched a Kickstarter campaign for an iPhone case with two PopSockets grips integrated into the case. In addition to getting successfully funded, the KickStarter campaign enabled Barnett to show the world his dancing prowess. Two years later, in 2014, Barnett launched the business out of his garage in Boulder, Colorado, and has subsequently sold over 140 million PopSockets grips around the world. Pop Sockets Social Media: Instagram Twitter

The first PopSockets gripper I plastered to my phone's rear-end was a freebie gift thing I received from some company's swag bag. Amidst the magnets, notebooks, business cards, and other marketing ephemera, there it was: the circular doodad that has leapfrogged selfie-sticks as the must-have mobile accessory for our smartphone-saturated society. When I fished it out of the tote, I felt secretly delighted. Then I felt sort of dopey.

David Barnett, the CEO & Founder of the wildly popular consumer product, PopSockets, joins Todd Stewart and Bob Calise to discuss why he started PopSockets, how he made the jump from a full-time college philosophy professor to entrepreneur, and what it takes to create a successful consumer product. You'll learn things like: how to grow as a CEO as your company grows, why it pays off to not pay attention to the industry, and what transfers from the field of philosophy over to his business life.

In this episode we look at Popsockets and how they can help your ministry, what is the latest shape to be added to the Lucky Charm Family, and how can you manage the ever growing world of your cell phone and how it tries to take you time from you. Find us on social media:Instagram-@whatitiswhatitmeansEmail-whatitiswhatitmeans@gmail.comLinks Mentioned In The Show:Give Central: https://www.givecentral.org/DYM Podcast Network: https://podcast.downloadyouthministry.com/Popsockets Fundraising: https://www.popsockets.com/pages/fundraisersLucky Charms adds a new shape: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/02/20/lucky-charms-retiring-one-its-marshmallows-add-unicorn/354024002/Moment: https://inthemoment.io/