Product Startup Podcast Episode 176: Tell a Stronger Founder Story

00:00:00 Kevin Mako: Hello, product innovators. Today we learned the importance of founders promoting their own invention from a serial product entrepreneur

00:00:05 Kevin Mako: that has done over $500 million in hardware product sales.

00:00:08 Narrator: You're listening to the Product Startup Podcast, a show to learn from top leaders in product development, prototype, manufacturing, product selling, and everything in between.

00:00:16 Narrator: Hosted by Kevin Mako, the leading expert on product development for physical product startups,

00:00:21 Narrator: sponsored by PTC's two best-in-class product development software solutions, Onshape, and Creo, and produced by Mako Design + Invent, the original firm providing world-class,

00:00:30 Narrator: consumer product development services tailored specifically to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors.

00:00:35 Kevin Mako: Welcome back, everyone. Today, I'm very excited to introduce Mike Fata to the show. Mike has done over $500 million in product sales, launching over 25 products to over 16,000

00:00:44 Kevin Mako: retail stores, which thus led to three different nine-figure exits for him.

00:00:48 Kevin Mako: He's also the author of the book Grow, 12 unconventional lessons for becoming an unstoppable entrepreneur.

00:00:54 Kevin Mako: Today, Mike is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, and small manufacturers

00:00:57 Kevin Mako: on the importance of showcasing your passion and your invention idea to be able to maximize success. Now, on to the episode.

00:01:06 Kevin Mako: Hey, Mike, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Excited today to talk to you about founder, product, fit. Now, how does the actual founder and the product itself merge?

00:01:15 Kevin Mako: And how does that actually increase the valuation of your business, the ability to sell, the ability to have organic communities and conversations around that?

00:01:22 Kevin Mako: Give us a bit of a background. How did you get to the point we are today? I know you've had multiple exits in the nine-figure range. you've worked with dozens of products.

00:01:30 Kevin Mako: You're in thousands of retailers. What's the story behind the

00:01:33 Mike Fata: success that you are today? The short story is I was super unhealthy when I was a teenager and I found

00:01:39 Mike Fata: myself weighing 300 pounds and got super interested in changing my health, changing my whole lifestyle, which got me into the health food business.

00:01:45 Mike Fata: So when we founded Antibald Harvest in 1998, I was super passionate and geeking out about all things health. That was my first moment of realizing

00:01:52 Mike Fata: how important the founder product market fit is because my interest in health got me really interested in hemp.

00:01:59 Mike Fata: And that's really what drove our business and allowed me to be all in, all in working and learning every day and becoming a subject matter expert and a global leader in

00:02:07 Kevin Mako: the space. Amazing. Now, let's describe what exactly is founder product market fit. So we know what product market fit is, but the concept of founder is fairly profound.

00:02:16 Kevin Mako: It's something you speak about quite a bit.

00:02:17 Mike Fata: And I think you have a book coming out about this as well. My book grow 12 unconventional lessons from becoming an unstoppable entrepreneur definitely touches on it.

00:02:24 Mike Fata: Yeah, people talk about product market fit all the time, understanding if people want to buy your product, I think the founder product

00:02:29 Mike Fata: fit and founder market fit, or we'd sum up as founder product market fit, is super critical

00:02:33 Mike Fata: because people want to know why the person that founded the business is doing what they're doing. And, you know, Simon Sinek, your power of why would be an example of that, but a

00:02:42 Mike Fata: real life example, if you're super into soccer, I could get into any aspect of the soccer business. You don't need to be a soccer player. You could be making soccer balls or soccer

00:02:50 Mike Fata: jerseys or develop an app that helps people find the nearest soccer game to them, if people would realize like, hey, Kevin's all into soccer all the time.

00:02:59 Mike Fata: It's a natural extension for Kevin to be in the soccer business of some form. And the same is true if you're a plumber and you develop that

00:03:06 Mike Fata: next tool or widget that helps the plumbing lifestyle. And you could proudly say like, of course, I think about water and plumbing all my life.

00:03:12 Mike Fata: My example is health and kind of anything that touches health and health food products is what motivates me and why over 25 years I've been successful as an

00:03:19 Kevin Mako: entrepreneur and continue on with my portfolio of companies. So powerful. We're on the product development side at the very early age.

00:03:26 Kevin Mako: So we've got people coming out to us literally with that sketch on a napkin and through to further stages that are looking to get into design and production and all

00:03:32 Kevin Mako: that sort of stuff. But the interesting thing that I find is most of the time, it's hyper-relevant

00:03:38 Kevin Mako: to either an opportunity that they see in their world that they're passionate about or solving for a pain point that occurs in their world.

00:03:45 Kevin Mako: So what better opportunity, especially as a startup, to put yourself and really engage in that product and be behind that brand because this is something

00:03:53 Kevin Mako: that a Fortune 500 company can't compete with. They don't have that founder passion for their next new innovation or whatever else because they're a huge company.

00:04:02 Kevin Mako: And it's the 27th product they're releasing that year. But you as a hardware startup, you've got one product and you're one

00:04:08 Kevin Mako: individual or a partnership of individuals that ideally is personally passionate about the thing that

00:04:13 Kevin Mako: you're making and can transfer that passion through to the actual product you're building

00:04:17 Mike Fata: and taking the market. Yeah, and not only are you going to, I think, if you're super interested in it, just be excellent.

00:04:23 Mike Fata: You're going to make a great product because you're making it for yourself or maybe for your family or friends and then for other people like you.

00:04:29 Mike Fata: That other people like you is the second part. You know, that's what after you have that product, how do you generate sales?

00:04:34 Mike Fata: Well, the best way to generate sales is to have a community of people that see the similar way that you do.

00:04:39 Mike Fata: If you're super passionate about that plumbing widget and you make it and you know that it's going to save you time and you are super excited about it,

00:04:44 Mike Fata: there's a whole plumbing community of people that are also likely interested in the product and you can get to them by being authentically yourself, telling your

00:04:51 Mike Fata: story about why you got into the product. Even some of the dilemmas of creating the product and

00:04:55 Mike Fata: the challenges as an entrepreneur to launch such product is going to entice and inspire people to come and join your community.

00:05:01 Kevin Mako: So it's a natural extension that leads to sales without being salesy. That's powerful. We had Ashley Black on the show and she's got the fascia blaster,

00:05:09 Kevin Mako: $200 million business built around a community of people that she sold direct to consumer still to

00:05:14 Kevin Mako: today. She sells all of her sales, huge amounts of sales direct to consumer, all because she just reached out to people with a similar pain point to herself.

00:05:21 Kevin Mako: She developed a product for herself. And then around that community was able to make massive amounts of sales through that passion

00:05:29 Kevin Mako: that she drove through all of her sales messaging, marketing, the backstory, everything that

00:05:34 Kevin Mako: you're talking about on how you actually take that passion, take your own personal story behind it

00:05:38 Mike Fata: and represent the product you're actually building. Yeah. My example, when I lost the weight, I wanted a no fat diet, which was really popular.

00:05:44 Mike Fata: in the mid-1990s and learn the hard way that your body needs fat, those essential fatty acids, omega-3s. Hemp is really a prime source of omega-3s.

00:05:51 Mike Fata: And so when we got into the hemp business and started selling hemp parts, I thought, I'm just going to look for all the other people that have

00:05:56 Mike Fata: been confused by eating this no-fat diet and we'll wake up and say, no, it's not about no-fat, it's about the right type of fat and then found that community.

00:06:04 Mike Fata: And we had millions of people

00:06:05 Kevin Mako: in our community at the end when we were selling over $100 million dollars a product per year. That's amazing because it also highlights the important of a niche market.

00:06:13 Kevin Mako: You know, typically, you look at big business, they have to make a massive product in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in sales in order for it even to be viable.

00:06:22 Kevin Mako: Whereas a hardware startup, your job is just to kind of get into the market. And of course, yeah, I conquer it eventually. But the

00:06:28 Kevin Mako: reality is as a hardware startup, you've got to get somewhere. Well, with a niche product that

00:06:31 Kevin Mako: serves a niche market, I always tell hardware startups, you'd be surprised how many people around

00:06:35 Kevin Mako: the world have that same pain point that you're going through or see that same opportunity that you

00:06:40 Kevin Mako: see because you're talking a massive planet now, especially now that the marketplace, even if we

00:06:44 Kevin Mako: look at things like crowdfunding or direct to consumer sales, Shopify, etc., all these sorts of avenues allow you to reach the whole world and to get to just that handful

00:06:53 Kevin Mako: of people in each country that have that same pain point or that same opportunity that you see and go after them with that very specific innovation that you've created.

00:07:01 Kevin Mako: I love how you mentioned it. You did basically that and found a massive market, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of

00:07:07 Mike Fata: value in a market that was really a niche. I call it that farmer's market approach, whether you're in a consumable or you're in

00:07:13 Mike Fata: hardware, you want to go out and make your thing and try to get the kind of smallest run that you possibly can, just go out and talk to people.

00:07:19 Mike Fata: And you'll see in your, even your local community of how many people are interested in your product. And then from there, you could just keep in

00:07:24 Mike Fata: expanding that to your region, to your province, to your state, to your nation, and then hopefully

00:07:28 Kevin Mako: globally, if you're tremendously successful. You mentioned a number of things that can really help connect the dot between the founder and your sales messaging, being authentic,

00:07:37 Kevin Mako: telling the story behind it, even identifying some of the pain points you went through to get to that point in the business or in the product.

00:07:44 Kevin Mako: What are some of your tips and tricks or just derivations of that advice that you could give somebody else who wants to be the person behind and the passion behind

00:07:51 Mike Fata: their next hardware startup? Yeah, I think being authentic with your story is the foundation of it.

00:07:56 Mike Fata: From there, it's about telling the story, whether that's in your local community and there's the hardware show that you can go and set up at or a trade show.

00:08:03 Mike Fata: I'm a big believer in trade shows for 20 years. I've done literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of trade shows where you can

00:08:08 Mike Fata: meet other people that are like you in the community and have a chance to one-on-one, talk to them about why you're doing what you're doing and what you're passionate about.

00:08:15 Mike Fata: Obviously, now we could bring that in the more of the digital space with social media. LinkedIn is a great tool where you can go on and tell your founder's story.

00:08:22 Mike Fata: Like, why are you really into this? And then join other like groups of entrepreneurs and ultimately, I think your customers in that kind of same space.

00:08:30 Mike Fata: But, you know, just be authentic. Dial up your elevator pitch or your 30-second pitch and just go out there and keep

00:08:35 Kevin Mako: dreaming it from the mountaintops, literally. Very powerful. What other advice would you have in terms of amplifying that message? Now you're saying screaming it from

00:08:43 Kevin Mako: the rooftops. You've obviously done a lot of different campaigns and a lot of different ways,

00:08:47 Kevin Mako: clearly being the authentic self behind the products and brands that you've built and represented.

00:08:51 Kevin Mako: What are some of the ways that you're seeing in this day and age that really help? You mentioned trade shows, social media, LinkedIn.

00:08:58 Kevin Mako: Are there other things that you're doing that you think are

00:09:00 Mike Fata: up and coming that are really powerful for a hardware startup? Yeah, I think also nonprofit organizations are another great place to network again because you're going to have some

00:09:08 Mike Fata: with people in the community. But it's also a place because of their nonprofit status where you can

00:09:12 Mike Fata: employ another thing that I like to do for building success and business is volunteer, give your time

00:09:17 Mike Fata: back, whether that's volunteering on their board of directors or if they have an event that they're doing, a help there or one of their committees.

00:09:23 Mike Fata: All these organizations usually have an opportunity for people in the industry, even newcomers to the industry. And I use it as a tactic when I

00:09:30 Mike Fata: first joined the health food industry to be able to give back there. But you're going to develop

00:09:33 Mike Fata: very, very strong relationships and then find these opportunities to get your message out there. sometimes it's a talk at one of those events.

00:09:39 Mike Fata: Sometimes it's involved in some of their own social

00:09:42 Kevin Mako: or event networking as well. It's a powerful tool, powerful tactic to use. Especially in the early

00:09:46 Kevin Mako: days of the business, you will have a lot of time to try a bunch of different avenues. And it's very powerful to any kind of hardware startup and any individual, especially a

00:09:56 Kevin Mako: founder, to start reaching out to those communities. Some you're really engaged with. Other ones you'll realize aren't quite the right fit.

00:10:01 Kevin Mako: And that's okay. I think the point here is try a number of these different avenues to start seeing what's really clicking for your business.

00:10:08 Kevin Mako: business and for your community, which of those are really providing, you know, that value,

00:10:12 Mike Fata: that holistic value that you're looking for to build your product brand. Yeah, you're right. It's a volume game over time. You know, another tactic and use LinkedIn an example.

00:10:20 Mike Fata: You can go on to LinkedIn and go and search for other hardware founders. And then just give a simple goal for yourself of like even five other hardware founders a day.

00:10:29 Mike Fata: Reach out to 500 hardware founders a day. If you do that over six months time, even, you're going to have hundreds of other hardware

00:10:35 Mike Fata: founders that are in your community and then pull that. relationship offline, like have a virtual coffee chat with them for 15, 20 minutes. And

00:10:42 Mike Fata: not only are you going to be strengthening your own personal brand and awareness of your

00:10:46 Mike Fata: product, but you're going to be building community with others that are trying or are already creating the same success.

00:10:51 Mike Fata: Yeah, and it's something that you can do for free. Do it at the comfort of your own home and whatever hour of the day really serves you. But it is something that you can

00:10:58 Mike Fata: start to do that. And if you put, again, a focus to six months, 12 months and just be consistent with

00:11:03 Kevin Mako: it every day, you're going to see big results from that. Let's talk a bit about some of the lessons out

00:11:07 Kevin Mako: of your book, 12 unconventional lessons for becoming an unstoppable entrepreneur.

00:11:11 Kevin Mako: What are some of the best practices that you're seeing that you've put into this book just at a high level that can

00:11:17 Mike Fata: help entrepreneurs, especially in the hardware space? Yeah, and we talk to some of it, being your

00:11:21 Mike Fata: authentic self, being loud and proud of your story, what you're trying to do, why you're trying

00:11:25 Mike Fata: to do it, build community around that by networking with other like-minded individuals in the space,

00:11:31 Mike Fata: tell your story, use media, social media to tell your story and get your message out there.

00:11:36 Mike Fata: big believer that if you're so proud of what you're doing, you should literally print it on a t-shirt and wear that t-shirt every day. And that works. And then give back.

00:11:43 Mike Fata: People think that you have to be successful before you give back. And I'm a big believer that you can create success by giving back. If you volunteer

00:11:49 Mike Fata: your time and help others, even if you're just starting out in business, there's people that are

00:11:54 Mike Fata: right behind you that would like to start out in business or they want to know what is potentially like

00:11:58 Mike Fata: to start a business and having some of these conversations and being helpful to those people or in a

00:12:02 Mike Fata: bigger sense, you help your community or help your industry through some of the non-profits are tactics that make you an unstoppable entrepreneur.

00:12:09 Mike Fata: Break that down in the book along with my story, my origin story, you know, growing up with a single mom and dropping out of high school when I was

00:12:15 Mike Fata: 14 and starting working and then finding my passion for health after losing 100 pounds that

00:12:19 Mike Fata: kind of got into the business and how we built subject matter expertise and made ourselves a world-class hemp food processor.

00:12:26 Mike Fata: So talk a lot about quality and the tactics of using a very high standard of quality and certification to become that world-class company for the nine figure,

00:12:34 Kevin Mako: $100 million success, which we were fortunate to build over 20 years. What an amazing story. And I love the fact that you brought quality to the table, because

00:12:42 Kevin Mako: especially when we're talking about hardware, that's something a lot of hardware founders maybe

00:12:46 Kevin Mako: think to sacrifice, especially as they're in the development phase, because quality is expensive.

00:12:50 Kevin Mako: It takes a while to really properly design, engineer, prototype, and most importantly, test and tweak and refine your product to achieve that world caliber quality. The reality,

00:12:59 Kevin Mako: is if you can do that and do that well, that leads to real success. That allows you to get to those serious buyers, to the bigger players, to that market reach that

00:13:08 Kevin Mako: you're looking to grow to over time, especially when you're pairing that with this whole concept of being very passionate and a very powerful brand representative of your own

00:13:16 Mike Fata: product brand to grow. So, Mike, if anyone wants to order the book, where do they find it? Get it at Amazon and anywhere else that find books are sold.

00:13:23 Mike Fata: Yeah, so again, grow 12-unconventional lessons for becoming an unstoppable entrepreneur. You can also everything that's Mike Fata at

00:13:29 Mike Fata: Mike fata.ca, the book, my podcast, my newsletter, and kind of all the other things that I share.

00:13:34 Kevin Mako: Thanks so much for your words of wisdom today. Really appreciate it. You're very welcome.

00:13:38 Narrator: Thanks again for having me. Thank you and take care.

00:13:41 Narrator: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the product startup podcast. If you found some value in the show, please do us a huge favor and leave us a quick five-star review.

00:13:48 Narrator: If you have any questions, guest suggestions, or anything else, feel free to reach out to us any time at our email, podcast at MakoDesign.com.

00:13:55 Narrator: That's podcast at MakoDesign.com. This show is hosted by Kevin Mako, North America's leading expert on product development for physical product startups.

00:14:04 Narrator: Huge thanks to our sponsors, PTC, and their two best-in-class 3D CAD product development software solutions, Onshape and Creo.

00:14:11 Narrator: And Mako designed an invent, the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored specifically to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors.

00:14:19 Narrator: Thanks for joining and see you next time.