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Guest: Jennifer Harris, co-founder of Motivo.
Host: Kevin Mako, founder of Product Startup and the leading expert in hardware startup consulting. A hardware entrepreneur since 1999, Kevin has advised more than 1,500 founders and built and scaled MAKO Invent through its acquisition by TriMech in 2024.
Using Hundreds of Customers to Improve a Medical Product
Jennifer Harris explains how the Motivo team challenged the conventional walker and worked with more than 300 users to refine a higher-value alternative. The episode explores user-centered design, testing, pricing confidence, and keeping the customer’s quality of life at the center of development.
Episode transcript
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Filip Valica: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Product Startup Podcast, a podcast that helps bring your product idea to life by chatting with successful inventors, product designers, and other industry professionals. This podcast is run by Mako
Filip Valica: Design + Invent and hosted by Filip Valica. Our goal here is to get to the bottom of what makes a product successful, from initial idea to putting your product on the shelf. We're taking you step by step to build a functional product and scale your product business. Now onto the show.
Filip Valica: We've seen how this design can change and help improve people's lives. And I always try to keep that first and foremost in my mind because that's really why we're doing this. It's not because we need, you know, an office space that fits our staff.
Filip Valica: It's about the product and what we think it can do and what it can be and how it can help change folks' lives. The Product Startup Podcast, episode 18.
Filip Valica: Welcome to the Product Startup Podcast, helping you turn ideas into successful products step by step. With your host,
Filip Valica: Filip Valica. Hi everyone and welcome to the Product Startup Podcast. I want to apologize a little for sounding like Skeletor this week. I lost my voice last week and I'm still recovering from that. So
Filip Valica: fortunately, all of our guest interviews are pre-recorded. In the last episode, we talked with Damian Lee of Mr. Lee's noodles for a truly inspirational episode. He served in
Filip Valica: the Australian Special Forces. He was a city headhunter and is a single dad of two and stage four cancer surveillance.
Filip Valica: We talked about how he created his own healthy gluten-free pot noodle and started selling it to universities through custom-designed high-tech noodle kiosks.
Filip Valica: So check out episode 17 if you want to hear more about Damien. Recently, the product startup podcast broke through the top 200 and then the iTunes business management and marketing category coming in at number 189. This is huge.
Filip Valica: It shows me that a lot of people are interested in physical products and the people who build businesses around them. So thank you, everyone listening, and those of you who've shared the show with your friends for helping to make that possible. So now on to the episode.
Filip Valica: Today I'm joined by Jennifer Harris with Motivo. Jennifer and her design partner, Jermie, reinvented the Walker for an aging generation. In addition to creating this recently patented product, they're also running the business and bringing their very very,
Filip Valica: very first Motivo tour off the production line this month. She talks to us about her journey of problem identification and why updating a decades-old unchanged design was no easy task. So let's get started.
Filip Valica: Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for coming on the show today.
Jennifer Harris: Hi, Philip. Thank you so much for having me. So please just tell us how you got involved with Motivo and how it got started. Well, Motivo is a company that I co-founded with a colleague of mine.
Jennifer Harris: We were working as designers for a large multi-billion dollar company developing products for them and new businesses.
Jennifer Harris: And the two of us got together a few years into the time that we were working there and just had a casual conversation, a what-if.
Jennifer Harris: And we both had a passion for potentially going out on our own and developing products ourselves. We had been in the industry for each of us probably about 20 years at that point developing
Jennifer Harris: products and thought that there's no great time to venture out on your own. And so we decided that we were just going to make the leap. And we felt that we had enough professional experience.
Jennifer Harris: We had a broad enough network that we wanted to go out and see if we could make it on our own. And so that's what we did. And Motivo was the name of the company that we developed. But first we needed to figure out what we wanted to do.
Jennifer Harris: We had been developing all sorts of products for many, many different industries over our careers. And we got together and created a list. We probably had hundreds of things on our list of areas that we could explore.
Jennifer Harris: And some of the key criteria for us were things that, of course, we were very passionate about, things that we felt that our skills and competencies could most benefit in terms of innovation.
Jennifer Harris: and as we as we talked, both of us had experience with our family members needing to use mobility devices. My mom had just recently broken her ankle and my grandparents had to use mobility devices.
Jennifer Harris: Jeremy's father had ALS and needed to use one as well as his grandmother and his father-in-law. And as designers,
Jennifer Harris: you come across certain products that when you see them in use and you experience some of the pitfalls of them. You just can't help but want to do something and want to change them.
Jennifer Harris: And for us, that that mobility space was something that we found was something we shared and were very passionate about and thought we could really help to change people's lives if we
Jennifer Harris: could develop something better, which I think we both agreed we thought we could. And so we narrowed our scope then down to to that specific line of products. But at the same time, we had to
Jennifer Harris: had to consider, you know, the business side of things. You know, if we are starting our own company, you know, we need to find something in a space that we felt, you know, would be of interest to
Jennifer Harris: folks. And since the boomer generation is a very large segment of our population and retirees
Filip Valica: are by the tens of thousands turning 65 every day, and we felt that then this was probably an area that that would work from a business perspective as well so it wasn't just passion we had to have
Jennifer Harris: the practicality side of things as well yes that's very interesting actually you said a lot there that i might just take a couple steps back and touch on you said that you were a designer working on
Jennifer Harris: products before were you an industrial designer yes um yes so i i am a industrial designer i also have
Filip Valica: a degree in jewelry metal smithing and um i've been teaching design i have worked and everything from soft goods, so things for your laptops and your mobile phones
Jennifer Harris: all the way to cleaning products, so a diverse range. Very cool. That's exciting. So you must see all sorts of equipment. You worked on anything from consumer products to
Filip Valica: industrial type stuff or just, did you focus on anything in specific?
Jennifer Harris: Primarily consumer products.
Jennifer Harris: Not as much in the industrial, primarily consumer products, things that were designed for users based on their needs.
Jennifer Harris: Perfect. So this has been basically right up your alley then to start up a new company based on your experience. Yeah, well, absolutely. And I mean, that's why that's very much why we did this is that, you know, a design process
Jennifer Harris: where you start with the user, you understand what their needs are, you involve them
Filip Valica: in the process of the design development. It's what Jeremy and I have been doing for our whole careers and knew that if we applied that knowledge and to this product that we should have something successful.
Filip Valica: Yeah, so that makes almost a perfect recipe for success.
Jennifer Harris: When you were looking to design this product specifically, can you talk about maybe some of the ideas that didn't work out or some markets that you thought that you weren't
Jennifer Harris: suited for, or at least kind of explain your thought process behind choosing this one versus maybe some of the others? Mm-hmm. Well,
Jennifer Harris: the walker,
Jennifer Harris: as most of us, when we think of a walker, we think of gray bent tubes with tennis balls at the bottom.
Jennifer Harris: And that's become somewhat of an icon, if you will, for old age. And it's very stigmatizing.
Jennifer Harris: And the device itself was developed probably now over 80 years ago, 70 to 80 years.
Jennifer Harris: ago. And it was designed primarily as a utilitarian object. So it was designed to just basically help people get around in the hospital. And slowly it worked its way out of the hospital.
Jennifer Harris: And the space hadn't seen much innovation over the years. And one of the primary factors contributing to that is that
Jennifer Harris: manufacturers weren't necessarily motivated to innovate. They were motivated to cost reduce. And so as
Jennifer Harris: as two designers who love innovation and love thinking, you know, outside of kind of the norm, for us, it was an exciting space to work in because there's very few consumer product
Jennifer Harris: categories that you can go into that hasn't seen much innovation in 70 plus years. And so that for us was also a motivating factor, besides our passion for, you know,
Filip Valica: helping people, you know, with a better product. It was also the exciting factor of a space that hasn't seen innovation in a long, long time, and that's what we love to do.
Filip Valica: So those are many of the contributing factors to why we picked mobility, and specifically starting with the walker because it is so iconic.
Filip Valica: You know, that's really great that you shared that. My wife is a physical therapist and works with the geriatric population, actually for some of the same problems that they have after surgeries and things like that where they need to relearn how to walk.
Filip Valica: And so a lot of her patients will have walkers and things like that. And I picked up on that that basically the design hasn't really changed in a long time. I just assumed that that's the result of driving costs as low as they can,
Jennifer Harris: especially now in this day and age of Medicare and things like that. So that's, I guess, good on you to see that problem. Why did you think that it was something that you could solve or that people would buy the finished product?
Jennifer Harris: I'm assuming that it's going to be more expensive than what's on the market today. So, and that's usually a really hard, I guess, an internal debate that you might have to say, well, why will people pay more for my product?
Jennifer Harris: Yeah,
Jennifer Harris: well, as I mentioned before, we started with the user and we spent probably 300 to 400 hours with consumers, starting with very, very low fidelity
Jennifer Harris: prototypes that we would take in and get feedback on. And over time, we worked with them to develop essentially the recipe for what this product would be, the features, the benefits.
Jennifer Harris: And so it wasn't as if my co-founder, Jeremy Canopo, and I went, you know, went into a workshop and just developed this independent of any feedback.
Jennifer Harris: We applied that user-centered design and worked with users to develop something that they needed. And the prior walkers, as I mentioned, were essentially.
Jennifer Harris: just to help people, you know, get around in the hospital, you know, they didn't factor in
Jennifer Harris: lifestyle, daily needs. And when we were working with folks,
Jennifer Harris: you know, what Jeremy and I had seen with our relatives,
Jennifer Harris: when they used these walkers, we was, you know, reconfirmed and when we started working with other folks in this design development process. And so, so your question is
Jennifer Harris: to, you know, what gives us confidence that folks will be interested or want to purchase or buy these products, it really comes down to, you know, we are developing what they asked us for. I mean, we aren't just developing it for ourselves.
Jennifer Harris: We were developing it with them for them. And so, you know, at price point, you know, sure, our product is going to be, you know, more expensive than the bent aluminum tubes, but we have a number of benefits and value-added
Jennifer Harris: features. Probably our primary one is an ergonomic benefit where there are walkers that have seats and often the seat gets in the way of people's strides. And so they're punched over and
Jennifer Harris: behind the walker as they're using it and you've probably seen folks out and about who are kind of leaning over trying to walk with their walker. And unfortunately, it's inherent in the design
Jennifer Harris: that they can't walk upright, even though they should. It's better for their posture. It's better for their health.
Jennifer Harris: And so one of the benefits of the Motivo tour is that folks are able to walk inside the tour, which then means that they can walk upright. And we do that by having a seat that stows away to the side.
Jennifer Harris: And so that's one of the key benefits. And we had one woman who we worked with with an early prototype who told us, because she was able to walk upright,
Jennifer Harris: she was able to walk further on her block than she'd ever walked in four years. years since she started using a walker and that's awesome yeah and those are those are those are the very
Jennifer Harris: powerful moments when you know you're on to something um and so even beyond beyond that feature because they can stand inside of it they can rotate the tour very closely around them it has a very
Jennifer Harris: tight turning radius which becomes important when you're in a bathroom or you're in a smaller space that that maybe wasn't designed to accommodate walkers um but those are the the experiences that people have in their everyday lives.
Jennifer Harris: We also have a cup holder and tray, and this was something I saw with my mom, you know, where she was trying to just get from the kitchen to the living room, and I had to help carry
Jennifer Harris: her dinner or her glass of water because there was no way that she could hold on to the walker and stay stable while she was moving from one room in her house to the other.
Jennifer Harris: And those are such simple things, but they're so impactful.
Jennifer Harris: when you have to use one of these, you know, just to just to get around. So we've developed that into this walker. And so these are kind of the value add items that, you know,
Jennifer Harris: our price point, you know, maybe is higher than some of those, some of the other walkers, but it's hard to put,
Jennifer Harris: you know, a price on being able to live independently. And that's what we're trying to help folks be able to do. And beyond that, too, at, um,
Jennifer Harris: at, um, at my, Motivolife.com, our website, you can see images of the tour and it is a disruption from what you know as the bent metal tube walker. And that was very intentional because what we saw with
Jennifer Harris: folks was that they didn't want to use a walker because it was very stigmatizing. It communicated to others that they perhaps were old or disabled. And, you know, many of us, I mean,
Jennifer Harris: many of us will have to use one of these someday. And that's absolutely the opposite of what you want to communicate to folks. So we intentionally disrupted that vernacular of what a walker stands for and created a design that sleek, contemporary,
Jennifer Harris: looks nothing like a walker, is more of a vehicle for getting around. And it comes in a number of colors that are high gloss and, um,
Jennifer Harris: It's a material similar to what you might find on an automobile, so it's not a bent metal tube.
Jennifer Harris: And folks can also customize it. We offer graphics that are removable and reusable.
Jennifer Harris: We also have sports teams and everything from your college to NFL to Major League Baseball. So if you're a sports fan, you can also support your team.
Filip Valica: And these are the things that our folks when we talk to them were extremely excited about because it gave them the opportunity to personalize something, make it their own.
Filip Valica: It's similar to the cell phone model where everybody has their own case with their own unique style to it.
Jennifer Harris: And that doesn't change just because you need something to get around. We all desire that kind of that ability to individualize the things around us. and make them reflect who we are. Wow.
Jennifer Harris: So I was going to respond to some of that, but I think we've covered a lot of ground. I definitely want to talk a little bit about the design process.
Jennifer Harris: You said that you were working with a focus group or basically a group of people that you've put together to get feedback on your design. How did you find them? How did you initially approach them?
Jennifer Harris: Well, you know, when you're starting out as a new company,
Jennifer Harris: we went to different retirement. homes. We contacted some local home medical equipment dealers and asked if they could put us in touch with individuals that they knew who used walkers. And we reached out to them and asked them if they
Jennifer Harris: would be interested in talking with us about their current walker and if they were open to us talking to them about some ideas about a new walker.
Jennifer Harris: And fortunately, most people are interested and willing to do that sort of thing because they, I think, with the Walker space, too,
Filip Valica: you know, they saw that there could be improvement in the product that they were using. And so it was basically making phone calls and seeing who would be willing or open to talk to us. And we also did,
Filip Valica: we have a company that we had worked with in some of our prior corporate work,
Jennifer Harris: that we had a contact, and they also helped us to find some folks. who we could talk to, who use these types of products and also individuals who cared for or helped to care for folks who had to use a walker.
Filip Valica: Yeah, so it was basically just a ground-up effort to look for people yourselves, and that way you were making these one-on-one connections personally. Did you have to incentivize anybody to be a participant in the group, or were they just
Filip Valica: that enamored by that fact that someone was looking at a new solution that they were happy to work with anybody just to solve the problem?
Filip Valica: We did a little bit of both based on the situation. Sometimes,
Filip Valica: oftentimes we felt like it was appropriate to incentivize them in some way, simply because we were asking for their time, and we felt that that was the thing to do. Sure.
Jennifer Harris: Yeah, and that's, I think the hardest part is that people just don't have time to give you that feedback whenever you're coming up with new designs and trying to get people to sit down and share their experiences, and especially if you're going back to them over and over with a decision.
Jennifer Harris: I'm not sure how that worked for you guys. For example, if you were considering the shape of something or how something functioned, did you go back to your focus group if you had more than one decision to make to say, hey, would you guys prefer?
Jennifer Harris: Or was it a very much gated design type process where you come out with a concept and you get feedback and then you refine it and you go back to the group after you refined it?
Jennifer Harris: We went back to folks.
Filip Valica: And I think because we were trying to develop something based on individual feedback, We would create something, take it in and show them. And then once we got feedback, then we would revise it, edit it.
Filip Valica: It's kind of like a rough draft of an essay applied to a product where we kept reworking it. We would go back. We would get their thoughts on updates.
Jennifer Harris: And many of them were quite pleased with the progress because they would see something that they had provided feedback on, be changed or modified. and they were very pleased to see that change being made to help accommodate some of their needs. Neat.
Jennifer Harris: No, that must be a pretty good feeling, especially if you, like I said, if you have the pain point in mind and you're not seeing any solutions on the market and here's one person that's willing to listen to you and take your advice. That sounds really exciting.
Jennifer Harris: So while you were working with everybody here, did you, were you at all worried that someone was going to take the idea and run with it faster than you could?
Jennifer Harris: Well, I suppose that's always, always an underlying fear. You know, we filed all of our provisional patents, and we were very due diligent about getting confidentiality agreements in place
Jennifer Harris: with anyone that we talked to. So, and these are processes that we had done many times before, so that wasn't new to us, so we knew what we needed to do.
Filip Valica: to make sure that we were protecting our idea. But that's always a little bit of the fear when you're innovating and trying to come up with something completely new is that someone will beat you to it.
Filip Valica: And Jeremy and I would, every year we'd go to some of the conferences
Jennifer Harris: that the whole medical equipment industry would have just to kind of keep our finger on the pulse of what was happening, look for any new innovation.
Jennifer Harris: And so we made sure that we did. did our own due diligence within the category as well to see what's going on and making sure that we were we were covering what we needed to i really love trade shows for that too because
Jennifer Harris: you can get such a feel for the market just by visiting one or two shows and even if you're not putting up a booth or anything like that you can meet so many interesting people and manufacturers and vendors it's probably the hands down the i think the best use of your time for the one or
Jennifer Harris: two days if you're really looking to connect with a bunch of people in your industry
Jennifer Harris: Yeah, I would agree. And that was something that we did early on, too, even before we started Motivo as we went to these trade shows because we needed to
Jennifer Harris: understand the industry. We had seen our parents and relatives use these products, but we weren't as intimate with the industry as we needed to be. So we needed to educate ourselves on that.
Jennifer Harris: And so we went to the trade shows. And I completely agree, Philip, it is one of, the important ways to immerse yourself and what it is you're about to do and to see
Jennifer Harris: who the key players are and who is innovating who isn't innovating where is the shift what are the trends in the industry and for us and in the home home medical equipment
Filip Valica: space you know we we felt that a a consumer product approach to developing and designing these products that this industry was was ready for that
Filip Valica: They were in many ways asking for it in a way that they hadn't before. And a lot of that has come from changes in the health care industry and Medicare.
Jennifer Harris: And so for us, it felt a little bit like the right place at the right time where we had seen with our parents the challenges that they face.
Jennifer Harris: But then we were able to also see some of the challenges in the industry and how we were able to bridge both of those with the innovation that we had. at a month.
Jennifer Harris: So let's kind of summarize what you've done so far. Then you've had an idea. You've created a design along with the help of some of the focus group that you've put together. You
Filip Valica: have a provisional patent application.
Filip Valica: And now maybe you're looking to start manufacturing. Can you say maybe how long it took to get from the beginning to this point?
Filip Valica: So we started probably about four years ago. And we did get our patent granted. So we do now have
Jennifer Harris: have a patent. We also have, we have design patents, utility patents, we have international patents, and so we've created a whole portfolio to help protect the idea, both in the
Jennifer Harris: U.S. and internationally. And we're probably about a month out from starting to ship product.
Jennifer Harris: So we are in manufacturing right now and looking to have product available here within about a month or so.
Jennifer Harris: Wow. So and you mentioned that you have some international patents. That's probably something that most people haven't looked into just because of the cost. Did you have some funds or
Jennifer Harris: did you raise capital before starting this company? Or was this something that both of you just approached with whatever savings that you had?
Filip Valica: Yeah. So we do have a number of investors and we've kept it to private investors at this point. And we've been able to find a great group of folks who in and of
Filip Valica: themselves have expertise to offer. So as we were looking for investors, we were also looking for
Jennifer Harris: individuals who perhaps could offer some expertise in a space that we didn't necessarily have
Jennifer Harris: ourselves. And so we did raise capital. We have a great group of folks. We also received some loans both from the state and we're in Wisconsin and Milwaukee, which is the area that we're located in.
Jennifer Harris: There are some good programs here to help support innovation, and so we were also able to get some funding through that as well.
Jennifer Harris: That's great for sharing that because I think people get hung up on how it's really hard to get funding for projects like this that are considered maybe startup companies, especially if you don't have a product yet, you might not have an audience yet.
Jennifer Harris: Can you elaborate a little bit on how you're able to pitch to investors or to sell them on the idea, on the dream?
Jennifer Harris: Well,
Filip Valica: that was when Jeremy and I were working at our prior company, that was what we were tasked to do, is essentially put together a skeletal business plan and pitch it into the company.
Jennifer Harris: And so we took that basic framework and applied it here as well. And, you know, we were talking about innovating in a space where there hasn't been much innovation.
Jennifer Harris: And I think it was it's not a hard pitch in terms of, you know. Difficult. Yeah.
Jennifer Harris: Nothing's been happening for 70 years. We want to make something happen in a space where the demographic is increasing exponentially. And so I think, you know, those things kind of coming together were,
Jennifer Harris: have been kind of our keys to raising funds for the company. Great advice for people that are looking to do this on their own. Where did you happen to find the investors? I know you said that you were looking for particular expertise.
Jennifer Harris: Did you basically look for the people that had the skill set or the contacts or the experience that you're looking for and then just pitch them the idea?
Filip Valica: Yes, yes, yes, to some degree. I mean, we started off, you know, when we first started, we, as you mentioned, I mean, we had an idea on paper, and so, you know, we started with probably closer friends and family. And then as the,
Jennifer Harris: as the idea developed, we broadened our kind of investor pool as we had more to share, more to show for our progress. And, you know, sometimes
Jennifer Harris: it was friends of friends. And, you know, we've kind of just through networking, have been able to. able to find folks who are very interested and passionate about what we do. And, you know,
Jennifer Harris: it's been, it's been, it's been a good process. It doesn't mean it's always easy, but,
Filip Valica: but it's definitely been something where we've tapped into the network, tapped into essentially
Jennifer Harris: networking and, and getting folks to, to become part of the Motivo team. Well, I imagine your
Filip Valica: past experiences helped a lot with that because they could see what your track record was. And, So it wasn't just a blind bet. This was basically a bet based on your, you know, your qualifications as well. Yeah.
Jennifer Harris: And that's what many investors are looking for is that they're looking for the people because it's the people that early on they're investing in when it's more the idea, in the idea phase, actual product or business itself.
Jennifer Harris: When that's very young, what they're betting against are the people and their track record and what they've been able to accomplish previous.
Jennifer Harris: and they're essentially betting on the fact that they will they will deliver again with with this with their idea or or business yeah so essentially you just did like a
Jennifer Harris: private Kickstarter yeah yeah I suppose you could you could with a lot more money so congratulations on that were
Filip Valica: you already seeking out manufacturers when you were looking for investment or can you kind of say when when that was relative to one of other things were going on with design or manufacturing?
Filip Valica: Yeah, so very early on in the design process, because we knew we didn't want to get to a point
Jennifer Harris: where we had a design flushed out and not have a way to manufacture it. So very early on, we were talking with manufacturers and potential partners in the development
Jennifer Harris: of components and different features of the product, because we knew that their input early on would only lead to a more successful design later on and help save us money, save us time,
Jennifer Harris: if we could get that input right up front. And we've been very fortunate. We've gotten some great, great partnerships in our manufacturers, both of the main product
Filip Valica: as well as components.
Filip Valica: So that's a great tip, too, is sometimes you finish working on your design or you get something that looks perfect and you start to go out for bids for manufacturing and you realize it's going to cost way more to manufacture than you expected just because you were a little bit unrealistic with the design. Sure.
Filip Valica: So it's good to keep that pulse.
Filip Valica: Well, and some manufacturers are better at innovation as well. Some are very good at here's exactly what I would like you to make. And then others are also very good at this is the idea we have on paper.
Filip Valica: How can you help us improve the design so that they were very much a part of the process, just as the users were, as well.
Jennifer Harris: we as we developed the design to make sure that it could be manufacturable and and you know and take advantage of any any technologies that they had that maybe we weren't aware of and and so that that was
Jennifer Harris: key to to the development of the product itself yeah absolutely because each manufacturer is different and they've got different skill sets with different equipment ways of evaluating projects and
Jennifer Harris: so it's it's always interesting to go out for bid for a particular design and see the prices come back and sometimes the spread is two three hundred percent just because of different
Jennifer Harris: qualifications so can you talk a little bit about your strategy for sourcing some of the parts were you initially looking to have this produced domestically
Jennifer Harris: or for example i know in a lot of businesses i worked in there's a huge drive to have things produced in the states but then the market won't bear the cost of that did you have similar conversations internally and you maybe talk a little bit about how
Jennifer Harris: how that worked out. Yeah. Yeah, I think,
Jennifer Harris: well, fortunately, the the manufacturing process that
Jennifer Harris: that we kind of landed on for the design, the area here in the U.S. that we have our business is
Jennifer Harris: kind of the hotbed of that type of process. And so we were able to find folks close to
Jennifer Harris: home that we could partner with that could successfully create the product and you know we we talked about you know going overseas but because we are a you know a young company just getting started
Jennifer Harris: and we wanted to build a quality product that we knew reflected what it was that we wanted in our design we thought it was very important for us to be able to visit the manufacturer as often as
Jennifer Harris: needed, be it on site for, you know, builds of prototypes, build pilot runs.
Filip Valica: And that was probably something that wasn't going to be extraordinarily feasible if we were having to travel overseas.
Jennifer Harris: So the fact that the manufacturing process is rooted in this region, and we knew it was
Jennifer Harris: important for the development and quality of our product to be able to be part of that,
Jennifer Harris: process of developing this into a fully manufactured product, we very specifically made the choice
Jennifer Harris: to stay here in the States and develop, develop the product. And also for our users, the fact
Jennifer Harris: that the product is made in the USA, which most, if not, almost all of the current walkers that are out there are made overseas. And so that, for instance, as a unique point of difference
Jennifer Harris: as well. And for the older generation that uses these, that becomes very important to them and something that they look for in products too. I'm glad that you touched on that last part
Jennifer Harris: because that definitely depends on what your target market values. I think when you were talking to your focus group and I keep using that term, what did you call your testers?
Filip Valica: Well, we did do some focus groups but for us we um we i guess we would call them users uh that we we went to their homes we went to where they live where they reside because to kind of bring them together into
Jennifer Harris: a kind of artificial scenario and try to observe the challenges that they have in their everyday lives that that wasn't for us going to be the most fruitful scenario to to understand what their
Jennifer Harris: needs are because sometimes they can tell they can articulate a need and sometimes it's something that has to be observed. So we specifically went to their home, where they used their walker, you know, followed them around. If they walked outside, we went outside with them.
Jennifer Harris: If they went to the grocery store, we would take a trip with them because that was for us how we got the most information possible.
Jennifer Harris: So what we call them typically not necessarily a focus group, but we just call them users. and folks that use the product, and that's who we talk to.
Jennifer Harris: So when you talk to your users, did you lead in with any type of price estimates or cost estimates at all,
Jennifer Harris: or was the entire conversation about function, and did they give you any feedback on their expectations about what their buying abilities were or anything to help you make a decision?
Filip Valica: Yeah, I mean, sometimes, you know, we did talk about price.
Filip Valica: Sometimes, though, that's a difficult question to get to until you have a finished product that they can use an experience.
Jennifer Harris: But for the types of features and benefits that we were offering, folks certainly understood that they would likely cost more and that they were
Jennifer Harris: willing to pay more for those features, just like you would, you know, with any product where you're getting added benefits and features. Sure.
Jennifer Harris: But for most of our interviews and research work that we do, the real focus is on the product and developing the best product possible as opposed to, you know, the price point.
Jennifer Harris: I mean, that's not something that you disregard, but oftentimes if you can deliver the need, the price there is one that is often seen as, you know, worth,
Filip Valica: worth it to get those needs satisfied that they do have or to overcome some of the challenges that they're having. Right. You're able to just position it as a premium product and set a high expectation for it from the beginning. Yeah.
Filip Valica: So now you're moving on to, you said manufacturing is going to wrap up pretty soon and you're going to start selling out of a warehouse that you just moved into.
Jennifer Harris: Can you talk a little bit about the process from maybe working out of what was a smaller office to now you've got a small business to run?
Jennifer Harris: Well, the business itself, you know, didn't necessarily change. We changed venues and somewhat in preparation for the product.
Jennifer Harris: And we made a decision, you know, early on that, that for us controlling the shipping experience and that customer service experience was something that was important to our product
Jennifer Harris: and to the whole experience with Motivo and the tour. And so we just this past week moved to a new location that does have shipping and distribution facilities
Jennifer Harris: so that we have the space to do that. Perfect.
Filip Valica: So when you talk about that you wanted to be in charge of shipping, do you do any other value-added function for the product itself? For example, I work for some small businesses that would contract out,
Filip Valica: manufacturing of various components and then do the assembly testing in-house. Do you do that or do you, is the assembly outsourced and you get the product and store it on a shelf and manage to orders?
Filip Valica: Well, we have a manufacturing partner who is manufacturing the product.
Jennifer Harris: Our accessories are something that we develop in-house. We also do all of our quality testing is something that we do in-house or contract.
Jennifer Harris: with somebody to complete any of the things that we aren't able to do in-house. And so we are very much, you know, trying to take on as many things as we can internally
Jennifer Harris: because then we know they're executed in the way that we would want them to be. You know, granted, there are some things we can't do because we don't have the capacity or the facilities to do them.
Jennifer Harris: But where we can, those are things that we are trying to make sure that we are able to do and, you know, all in the interest of having a quality product and a quality experience for our customers.
Jennifer Harris: Yeah, so that's very interesting that you say that because a lot of people will say, hey, you know what, my expertise isn't in blank. It's not in shipping product. It's not in customer service. My expertise is, you know, designing new products or it's in whatever that is.
Jennifer Harris: And I'm going to just focus on that and try to outsource the rest and leave the people that are really good at the other things to do those things. And so now you've kind of, what it looks like is you've taken it this. different tact to say that you want to own as much of the process from beginning to end
Jennifer Harris: as possible, that way you insure a really quality product. Did you have to really sell that to other people?
Jennifer Harris: I guess I wouldn't say that we had to sell it. I think that we are choiceful
Jennifer Harris: in evaluating what we believe we can do well ourselves, even if we aren't the experts. We're also very rigorous at, you know, I think whenever you start a company, you often have to be a jack of all
Jennifer Harris: trades and I do all kinds of things from from designing the product to the finances to
Filip Valica: you know taking out the trash you know and those are just the things that you have to do when you're when you're a newer company a smaller growing company and you have to you have to have
Filip Valica: perseverance and you have to be willing to learn things that maybe you don't know but we are choiceful and the things that we say okay experts this is something you should
Jennifer Harris: handle and then and then other things where we we say you know the the ability to make sure it's done
Jennifer Harris: right is worth maybe as you said a little additional cost or or it's it's you know it's worth us taking the time to learn and become experts in so that we can do it right and you know I think
Jennifer Harris: we we just have to we evaluate that as they come but like you said I mean with shipping you know especially early on, I mean, maybe we'll do something different in the future when we have more products and more things to ship out.
Filip Valica: But for now, I think keeping it close to the vest is something for us that's important for us to do to make sure that the experience is right.
Jennifer Harris: Because when you're a new company and new products, you kind of have one chance of that first impression, and that has a value in and of itself. And so we want to make sure that we get that right from the start.
Jennifer Harris: Absolutely agree with a lot of that, especially with, you know, taking ownership for the customer and making sure that they have that good experience because, like you said, it just takes that one experience.
Jennifer Harris: And people tend to overemphasize on their negative experiences, especially when it comes to online reviews and things. And so you have to be really careful about keeping everybody happy. Can you talk a little bit about how many employees you have helping you do this?
Jennifer Harris: Yeah. Currently,
Filip Valica: we have full-time. We have about seven to nine employees, depending on kind of the work that needs to be done. And then we also do contract out folks as well.
Filip Valica: So we have a strong team that surrounds us that filled in some of the maybe core competencies that are permanent folks don't have. But we certainly have a broad pool of folks that we're working with.
Filip Valica: on a day-to-day basis, even if they're not, you know, on-site or, you know, specifically a Motivo employee. Right.
Jennifer Harris: And that sounds pretty challenging because you're having to obviously wear different hats, but you're having to change gears. Like you said, one day you're focused on finances and the next day you might be looking at design. How are you able to manage that from a personal perspective?
Jennifer Harris: Yeah. Well, I mean, I have to be honest, it is a challenge every day to kind of put on your many hats. But I think you have to prioritize what's the most important thing for the business that day.
Jennifer Harris: And some things don't get maybe the attention they need that specific day. But you have to prioritize and address the things that are the most important. But yeah, we're constantly wearing many hats.
Jennifer Harris: And I think that's probably the case. If you talk to anyone who's starting a new business, that's just inherent to what it means to run your own business and start your own company.
Jennifer Harris: yeah you're always understaffed until you're overstaffed I guess so some of the people that I speak with will say hey you know what it
Jennifer Harris: sounds really good to have the people on the podcast and they talk about their journey from beginning to end but it sounds like a straight line and we know it's not a straight
Jennifer Harris: line so can you talk a little bit about the times where it's just been a little bit more difficult and you thought man I don't know if we're if this is the right direction or you know they were you must have had some struggles along the way. Sure.
Jennifer Harris: Yeah, I mean,
Jennifer Harris: when I first started this, I thought, you know, I don't understand why more people don't start their own businesses. And as you get into it, more, you start to understand why not everyone starts their own businesses.
Jennifer Harris: But, you know, if you have a vision and you have perseverance, and that's pretty much what, I think what it boils down to what you have to make it work.
Jennifer Harris: But, I mean, every day there are moments, you know, to be quite honest, where you think, my goodness, you know, I couldn't have seen this coming from a million miles away, but you have to, you know, be nimble. You have to be able to readjust.
Jennifer Harris: And, but that's one of the, I guess,
Jennifer Harris: pains and pleasures of a new business is that, you know, you can very quickly make decisions. You can very quickly redirect when need be as things, things come your way.
Jennifer Harris: but you have to be prepared for that and you know we had some some challenges early on with you know
Filip Valica: finding the right partner for our manufacturing and just even finding a space that fits our needs you know from an office perspective it can be challenging so so you know it all depends on the day
Filip Valica: but there are challenges pretty much every day but but you just have to you know keep plugging away
Jennifer Harris: and as long as you kind of have that envision and sight. And, you know, we're reminded by our folks that we've worked with in developing this product. We've seen how this design can change and help improve people's lives.
Jennifer Harris: And I always try to keep that first and foremost in my mind because that's really why we're doing this. It's not because we need, you know, an office space that fits our, you know, our staff.
Jennifer Harris: It's about the product and what we think it can do and what it can be and how it can help. change folks lives. So that's what I always try to keep, keep foremost in my mind.
Jennifer Harris: Somebody that's challenging to do that, but, you know, but we're continuing to plug away. And I think, you know, we'll hopefully one day kind of laugh at some of the experiences
Jennifer Harris: that we've had in challenges that we've been able to overcome. And,
Jennifer Harris: you know, that's, but I think that's probably true of any, any company or any business. I mean, everybody has challenges each and every day no matter whether you're a business of one or you're a business of you know hundreds of
Jennifer Harris: thousands you know there are there are challenges and you just try to work through them and make the best decisions that you can all very good advice you know and it sounds like maybe you're part of your skill set has helped you prepare for this type of challenge before do you feel like you've got
Filip Valica: some sort of unique superpower that maybe you're well and you know i say that in jest but i think everyone's got there there one thing that has that maybe they're better at than anybody else's, do you feel like you have something like that?
Filip Valica: That's a good question, folks.
Filip Valica: You know, I think it's, I think it's, I think it's the, the perspective that we can get through this. We just have to figure out how and what's the best way forward.
Filip Valica: And as opposed to just throwing in the towel and saying, you know, this can't be overcome.
Jennifer Harris: There's no way this is, you know, we're going to be able to do this. I think it's just being able to shift. and change and adapt and trying to stay upbeat. And I try to laugh at things.
Jennifer Harris: Sometimes you think some things are just so ridiculous that you just have to laugh. And I think I find myself laughing maybe more than I should sometimes.
Jennifer Harris: But I think if you can stay upbeat and know that the end of the world isn't coming, you can get through this. I think maybe maybe for me that's that's what that's what I bring and that's why I've been able to
Filip Valica: you know keep keep at this and you know and I also think about others and I'm not just doing this for myself I'm doing this for you know all the people that we've worked with you know my family
Filip Valica: all of our investors and there's a lot of folks that that I want to see this through because it's not for me it's for them and that that's that's also what kind of keeps driving me to you know
Filip Valica: every day, get up and kind of work through anything, anything that might be thrown our way. Yeah, that's a really important quality to have. And I think it's, you know, one of the most understated ones. If you listen to interviews by Elon Musk, he'll, you know, people will say that that's probably
Filip Valica: his number one quality is that he doesn't believe something isn't possible.
Jennifer Harris: He'll, or in other words, everything is possible to him.
Filip Valica: And he'll just continue driving until he reaches that.
Jennifer Harris: I think, like you said, the ability to adjust is huge. Something that you didn't mention probably is that your team or that. the people that work for you really appreciate that, they value that type of leadership.
Jennifer Harris: Well, and to be quite, quite honest, they're able to do that too, which is, which is why they are such a tremendous team. You know, and I, you know, I have to, you know, tip my hat to them as well because it's not
Jennifer Harris: easy to be part of a smaller company because there are so many things that you have to do and take on that you may not be an expert in, but you've got to quickly become one. And we've got a great group of folks around us who are able to do that.
Jennifer Harris: and you know and and we couldn't do it without them and that's that's that's that's important to say to it's it's not just jeremy and i who are are you know motivo it's it's it's everyone who works with us who
Jennifer Harris: who is making this this uh this company grow to what it hopefully will become absolutely i think if you have a really good team they can basically amplify your output or you feel like you're just
Jennifer Harris: getting so much more out of you know what you're producing by being surrounded by other people like you and I think the inverse is true too. They could completely suck the energy out of you if you
Jennifer Harris: don't have the right people that they're working on projects with you. So congrats on being able to do that and attracting those types of people because it's certainly A people want to be
Filip Valica: with other A people and A teams and it's really hard to get everybody on board. In addition to your team, do you think there was any maybe books or tools that you've used recently that have been
Filip Valica: helpful for you to kind of help you take that next step somewhere? Goodness. Books. tools.
Jennifer Harris: What do you guys use for collaboration, for example? We are constantly meeting and, you know, bouncing ideas off of each other and discussing pros and cons of different decisions.
Jennifer Harris: And, you know, I think I think we rely on each other and try to make good decisions.
Jennifer Harris: And collaboration, I mean, it seems like it's a constant, you know, in our old office, we would we would be having conversations through the walls sometimes just to try to get to an answer
Jennifer Harris: on something and you know so so we're just we're all working together and even if you know someone is you know primarily in charge of marketing but you know you have a question about you know
Jennifer Harris: something completely unrelated you know we interface with each other all the time on things that maybe aren't you know what our core job responsibilities are but but we know that the input is valuable. So I'm not sure if that really answers your question, but that's, that's
Jennifer Harris: kind of how,
Filip Valica: at least I see how we work a lot within our office, is that, you know, there aren't there aren't limitations in terms of, well, you know, someone who's doing engineering can only do
Jennifer Harris: engineering. We're all doing all kinds of things, and we rely on each other's input greatly in areas that are very broad and best. Sounds like a really great place to work. So as, as,
Filip Valica: As we wrap up, I always ask people, you know, if you were giving advice to your younger self or somebody else that you're friends with that has, is thinking about bringing their own product to market, what kind of advice would you give them or what would you tell them to kind of take that next step forward?
Filip Valica: Well, I think it's important to have good people to take this, the leap with.
Filip Valica: And telling my younger self, when you're younger, you kind of have idealized visions of what starting your own company would be like. And the grass always seems greener. Oh, if only I start my business, my own business or my own company.
Filip Valica: But, you know, it is very rewarding. And, you know, I think I would tell my younger self to do it sooner when I have more energy. Yeah, yeah. I think there is a time and a place. And this was the right time for me.
Filip Valica: And I think for Jeremy as well. So, but, yeah, I think, you know, it's just you need to find the right people who you can trust and who you can rely. on. And,
Filip Valica: you know, I think that those are probably, those are the core,
Filip Valica: you know, things that I feel
Jennifer Harris: you need to have to be successful no matter what type of business you're starting or what type of industry you're in because at the end of the day, that that's kind of the foundation or roots for whatever you're creating or developing.
Jennifer Harris: Excellent advice. I really appreciate you, you know, coming on the show and sharing your knowledge with us and being so transparent. with everything, Jennifer.
Jennifer Harris: Can you tell everybody how they can find out more about you and Motivo?
Jennifer Harris: Sure, absolutely. You can find out pretty much everything about our company and our products at Motivolife.com.
Jennifer Harris: And that would be a great place to visit to find out about the tour, which is the product that we're launching. Perfect. Well, thanks again, Jennifer. I really appreciate you coming on the show. It's been my pleasure having you on. Thank you, Philip. It was my pleasure as well.
Jennifer Harris: Thank you so much. And that's all I've got for today. Thanks for listening. I put all the links that we've covered onto the show notes posted on the product startup.com.
Filip Valica: So join me next week as I speak with Susanna Stewart and Carol Mania of Fro Butter, a popular line of organic care products that promote optimal hair health, especially for curly textures. Fro butter is quickly becoming a household name within the natural hair community,
Filip Valica: and we talk about how Carol and Susanna differentiate Fro Butter from competitors in such a crowded business category. So tune in next week to hear that episode. Thanks again, everyone that wrote in to share your comments about what you think of the show.
Filip Valica: I really appreciate your support. I read all your comments and questions and I definitely try to incorporate them into future episodes. I'll see you guys next week. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Product Startup podcast with your host, Philip Veletsa.
Filip Valica: For more great content and to stay up today, visit theproduct startup.com.
Filip Valica: your guide to getting there.
Filip Valica: Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Product Startup Podcast, the show that teaches you what it really takes to bring your product to market and turn it into a big success. This podcast series is brought to you by Mako Design + Invent,
Filip Valica: the first firm in North America to provide global caliber, end-to-end physical consumer product development to startups, inventors, and small product businesses. If you're looking for product development help on your invention, head over to Mako-design.com. That's M-A-K-O-D-D-Sign.com.
Filip Valica: for a free consultation from one of Mako Design for design studios from coast to coast. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
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