Latest / The MillionaireByMorning‘s Podcast / The Secrets to Product Development
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- David: we got a significant amount of interest internationally, including from some of the I think three out of the five top ice cream Cone companies in the world reached out to us on their own. We had not approached them. Rashad Thirlkill: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the Millionaire by Morning Podcast. I'm your host, Rashad Thurlokiel, and today we're talking about what it takes to turn a creative idea into a product people actually want to buy. My guest is David Beaker, founder and president of a better design company. His career spans entrepreneurship, senior leadership, publishing, and product development. From building a gourmet ice cream cone business in Israel To bring in new games and active play products to market. His company's products include Cornhole Shootout, which combines basketball and cornhole, and mashup sports, which brings familiar sports together in unexpected ways. David is also a husband and father of six with a leadership background that includes serving as a senior executive at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Today, we'll explore how he recognizes. Promising ideas, builds the right team, and navigates the journey from concept to customer. David, welcome to Millionaire Bob. David: Thank you very much. Great to be here and thanks for that great introduction. Rashad Thirlkill: Thanks so much, man. You could have been anywhere in the world today. You're here with myself and my listeners. So we are very grateful for that. Let's jump right into it. The entrepreneurial David: Sounds good. Rashad Thirlkill: journey, your specific entrepreneurial journey. Where did your entrepreneurial instincts begin? Were you always someone who looked at things and thought there's a better way that we could David: That's a great question, actually, because it's not usually the way people phrase it to me at the beginning, but I think that's a much better way to look at it. I did not start as an official entrepreneur. I started off as a social worker. I have a master's in social work. I started off in community work. I started off in fundraising and a whole bunch of non-for-profit stops in my career. That was my that was the bulk. And only after that did I officially move into a more entrepreneurial position. However, I think going to your question, I think all the way through there were elements of entrepreneurial pieces that really helped the whole puzzle come together and lead me towards opening up a couple of different businesses and just Growing to where I am today. Rashad Thirlkill: Great. So you grew up in Minnesota and later relocated to Israel. How did that move change the way you saw opportunity and your own potential? David: Another great question. so yes, I grew up in Minnesota. Very still proud of it today, as you see in all my favorite Minnesota sports teams in the background. and moved to Israel in my twenties. and I think that I guess what I would say in in terms of part of that journey is really the independence that came with it. I had a had this bug within me that sent me there. I had visited there, I had spent some time there and decided to take a leap of faith and went there completely on my own. And I think w anytime you're gonna do undertake an entrepreneurial journey, it requires a big leap of faith. It requires a lot of doing things by yourself, some loneliness along your journey, and building it into where you have a family where you have a community where you have a a purpose in wherever you're you're building towards. So whereas I wouldn't have necessarily thought of it until you asked it, if that was part of my entrepreneurial journey, I think there is a lot of overlap when you when you undertake a dramatic change in your life in that way. I think there is a lot of overlap in in both of those categories, whether it's in your personal life, in your business life, or any other direction you go in. Rashad Thirlkill: Definitely. That's a good answer. And it kind of leads into my next question as well. your career includes humanitarian leadership. A gourmet ice cream car company and product development. What connects all of those dip different chapters for you? David: I think there's a couple of elements. I would say that one is drive, two and passion, two would be creativity, and three would be you know, some form of of indep independent leadership, in certain ways, I think. you know, I started off as I mentioned, in the nonfor-profit world. And I grew within that. I think that that took me from being a kid into being an adult. understanding the world around me in a whole different way, understanding how blessed I am in so many different places in my life, understanding what role I can play in other people's lives, and and growing within that into a senior leadership position, I think was a a major developmental piece in my personal journey. at a certain point I did feel that I w it was time for a change. I was part of a, many hundred million dollar organization. And, you know, I I was looking for something to be a little bit more independent, a little more on my own, and be able to, you know, kind of choose the directions I wanted to go in in that entrepreneurial route at that point. And that's ultimately what led me to the ice cream cone business. I will be quite honest and say that was not the plan. I was looking around, you know, it come it came full circle a little bit and I I I was actually looking around in the toy industry and had done a significant amount of research in the retail market in that at that point in time. And then a good friend of mine came to me and he said, I got an idea. And we started talking, we started playing, we started, you know researching what's out there, what's the market like, is there anything like this? We came to the determination there wasn't and to a large extent there still isn't. And we literally started in our kitchen just developing this thing. And we wound up with a real nice business throughout throughout Israel. we got a significant amount of interest internationally, including from some of the I think three out of the five top ice cream Cone companies in the world reached out to us on their own. We had not approached them. and it was a great lesson because to be quite honest, we weren't ready for it. And, you know, we thought, okay, you know, I got all this experience. My partner also came from a long long line of experience and lots of leadership skills and entrepreneurial and creativity, but it was a little bit above us once it got to a different level. You know, when it was We were selling throughout the country, from the north to the south and everywhere in between. But we're a pretty small country. When suddenly we started getting questions from the big boys internationally, we had to make some decisions. We probably made some wrong decisions, which you learn from and you and you move forward. and probably didn't wind up exactly where we wanted it to. But as I said, it was a great experience and learned a ton and that led us Led me to my next steps from there. Rashad Thirlkill: Okay, man, awesome story. so what I think is is truly or really cool is the fact that you took things that were already on the market. So there's a such thing that a lot of entrepreneurs believe that you have to kind of reinvent the wheel. You have to come up with something that's totally new. but you have made creative businesses from ice cream. and cornhole and basketball and created businesses and business opportunities from rethinking these things. Can you walk us through what what what made you and your partner as well believe that there was a business opportunity? David: So maybe I'll start for a minute with the ice cream. we took a look at it and we said, what's that just to clarify, we were not selling ice cream. We were selling ice cream cones. And we started looking at that and we said you've got this little thing that holds your ice cream. And to be quite honest, yeah, you have some fancy cones with sprinkles on them and this and that, but for the most part, it's a pretty functional object that really, aside from holding the ice cream, doesn't really serve a a major purpose. It's not, it's usually, tastes like cardboard. it's not a major piece. And very often you'll see people just finish their ice cream and throw away the cone. And we said, wait a second, we're missing something here. What's going on? And so we started researching it. And we took this little thing and and along the along the the way we understood that for many ice cream cone companies, the cone is a holy grail that people know it exists, but they're always looking for something more, and suddenly we found something different. We found something more. Just I'll tell you what we did. We we made whole grain, all natural, flavored ice cream cones with something called inclusions. So it means as an integral part of the ice cream cone, it had almonds or dried cherries or coffee or hazelnut, actually as an integral part of the cone. and you could pair them with different flavored ice creams a and this and that. And it really got a lot of excitement from when th I mean, tell you a crazy story, I was driving along one day, dropping off some cones here and some cones there throughout the country, and the phone rings for a funny looking number, and I was like, it's probably, you know, do I answer it? It's probably, you know, some kind of marketing call or something. I said, Okay, whatever, I'll answer it. And it wound up being a call from France, from Hagendas. I was like, okay, let me pull over for a second so I don't get into an accident. And you know, it really made us realize, okay, we took something very basic, looked at it differently, figured out how to do it, because there was a major technical element that many people told us could not be done in terms of how to make the cones themselves with these inclusions. And we figured out how to do it. And We took it from there and as I said, we really grew a very nice business here in Israel. We made some mistakes along the way which limited us going forward. But I think that looking at s at a basic item and thinking how can we do it different and what's missing in the marketplace or what could be unique and what could be fun and what could be, you know, what what might the consumer be interested in trying out differently, was something that really spoke to us. and it's it's interesting. I'm realizing more and more as we develop more products, now in the toy industry, that so much goes back to that goes back to that experience. You know, we just came out with this new It's this new ball. It's a football, right? But footballs in general are pretty standard. But there's a lot of people out there like me who are big sports fans and who love football and who love basketball and who love soccer and who love baseball, etc. Well, why don't we combine them and just have some fun? So suddenly we made a a basketball styled football and a soccer styled football. And we've got a baseball one also. I don't have it here right now. and it's just a different way of looking at something. that can just, A, put a smile on people's face, B is a consumer good that that people want to purchase. and has a a just a different kind of creative look at it. And I think that's a lot of what I've played with, a lot of what I've tried to do. You know, you mentioned Cornhole shootout. Cornhole was actually came to me from from an inventor who who who suggested the idea to us and and then we wound up licensing it from him. but I love the concept. The concept is everybody loves cornhole nowadays. A big game. Well, corn hole already, okay, how can we do cornhole a little differently? And suddenly we added a basketball hoop on it. And now you got two games in one for your backyard and it's a whole different play system and and it's just play pattern. And it's just a lot of fun. So I I think to take something, try to look at it with different eyes and see what can potentially work. It's not always easy. I can't tell you how many ideas I've had that I've thrown out to people, to partners, to other people I've just wanted their opinion from, and they look at me and they're like, David, no. But but a lot of stuff really, if you can take something, it doesn't all need to be brand new. We've got some new things also, but it doesn't all need to be brand new. If you can take something, look at it differently in a way that will bring joy to people's faces and and to their experience. Fantastic. Rashad Thirlkill: Wow. So you mentioned feedback. Feedback from other people. How do you how serious do you take feedback from from others when you are designing or when you're preparing to go to market or even after going to market? How important is that feedback from consumers or even someone that's close to you while you're coming up with these type of ideas? David: Okay, so so I'll I'll take it a step back from consumers. something that I'm very proud of that I've feel like I've succeeded very well for myself in my life at every stop I've been in, if it's in you know, when I was in university and grad school, if it's when I was, you know, in the nonfor profit world, if it's when I entered the business world, are finding mentors. People that you trust, people that you respect their opinion, people that have more experience th than you do, very often people who will look at things differently than you do. I don't just need to s I don't need really to talk to somebody just gonna say, love it, love it, great, great, great, great. No, I need someone to challenge me. I need someone to say, David, I hear where you're going. Don't think it's gonna work, convince me. I need you know, here's why I think there's an issue with it. here's what here's what I think maybe you can do better. Have you looked at it from this perspective? I think that's really, really, really important. So I don't know if that's exactly the direction of feedback that you were talking about, but anybody who wants to go down that entrepreneurial route, anybody who wants to start something, if it's in the nonfor-profit or for profit world, you know, I hope you're passionate about what you're gonna be doing. And very often your passion can convince you to make mistakes. So find those people who you trust, who you want their opinion, who you meet with periodically, and and take that to heart. And then obviously, you know, you want to do your market research also. You want to be sure that the marketplace will be interested as much as you can. You're never gonna know 100%. You know, I I my the first product I did in the toy industry flopped. Can't completely tell you why. I did I evidently did not do enough market research. I still think it's a great idea. I don't know if it was a price point issue or something else. but it didn't work. It didn't work. And I learned from that. I learned from that to be a little more careful before I jump in, you know, and to make sure to get more and more feedback. you know, I'll give you one more story from when I first dipped my toes into the toy industry. I did a lot of reading, a lot of exploring, a lot of looking what's out there and thinking what direction I wanted to go in, what I wanted to do with it. And I heard an interview with this guy. Just stumbled upon it. Heard an interview with this guy who was clearly someone who was someone in the toy industry. I didn't really know or appreciate who he was at the time. But I was like, you know what? This guy sounds like he could be a really interesting conversation. I'm gonna call and I basically cold called him. I sent him an email And I said, I got a bunch of different ideas, heard your interview, would you be willing to talk? And he said, Sure. turns out I'm gonna jump to the end for a second. Turns out he's a really big guy in the toy industry. He's he's somebody who everybody knows and everybody knows him. He works with all the largest toy companies in the world, doing a lot of their design elements. He works with inventors, he works with a whole bunch of different areas. And so we we we set up a Zoom and I I remember I had six ideas. I'm a total rookie in this industry, know nothing. Even though I thought I had done my homework. Six ideas I came with. First idea is like, yeah, here we're going. Other people have done it, doesn't nobody really wants to buy it. Second idea, kinda like the idea, but it'll cost so much to to manufacture it. no one's gonna buy it at that price point, not gonna happen. Third idea, fourth idea, fifth idea. Find the sixth idea, my last idea. He's like, huh, that sounds kinda interesting. Tell me more about that. And one thing led to another. Now we're partners. We've gone a true yeah, we're just con we're constantly growing, not only in our own items that we're developing and selling, but also now we've opened up a distribution wing where we are taking other small companies and we're we're helping them along and distributing their products now as well. and it's really growing. But if I just, you know, gotten too discouraged from that first phone call and you know, had ignored his feedback instead of taking it and growing with it, there's no way I would have gotten to where I am now. So feedback from mentors, feedback from the market, feedback from industry experts, crucially important if you want to be able to grow and and develop something, I would say. Rashad Thirlkill: Excellent. Excellent answer. very important answer for anyone that's out there listening. so if a person when this when this begins, when this idea starts, and someone, an entrepreneur would really like to go to the market with one of their ideas, what expense or operational challenge do first-time product entrepreneurs tend to underestimate based off of your experience? David: Okay, so just to clarify one thing very important in terms of the entrepreneurial, my entrepreneurial space. My entrepreneurial space is retail. It's it's hard items. it's probably different for someone who is a tech person who wants to open up a tech company and this and that. it's it's it's probably a different thing. I would say go in with your eyes wide open. A make sure that you got the the passion, the drive, the patience. all of that and more to actually make a run for to actually make a go of it. it's not easy. It's really not easy. It's a lot of this. And ultimately you want to be going like this. As long as you're heading up, okay. But you're gonna have some really good days where really a lot of excitement and some really bad days where you're like, what the hell am I doing? And I thought I was there and I'm so far away still and it can be very frustrating. It could also be very lonely. If you're going on your own make sure that that's something you can handle. Not everybody can. There are moments where I'm not sure if I you know that's that's great for me, you know, and I've got a home office which is fantastic having six kids. On the other hand, it's a challenge. I miss having people around in that way. the all the people I work with, they all work in home offices and that can so on one hand we you know, we're a team. On the other hand it can be it can be a challenge. There can be quite significant financial ramifications. Make sure that you're aware of that, that you're honest with yourself about what I can and cannot handle. Make very clear boundaries for yourself. Because you get passionate and excited about something, you can talk yourself into anything. I know very clearly how what level of risk I'm willing to take. And I've taken a good amount of risk. But there are limits. I'm not gonna lose my house. there are limits of where where I'm gonna go. And I think you need to be have your eyes wide open about that. If you're if you're married, you have a relationship, make sure your family is cool with is cool with all that. it's not an easy business to go and do something in this kind of realm on your own. and just th that that's what I would say. With that. It can be the best, most fun, most exciting thing in the world. I've had so many wow moments and it's been worth every minute of it. even though at times it can be very scary. Rashad Thirlkill: That is the description of entrepreneurship right there. Thank you for that. Thank you for that advice, man. Anyone listening, this is really good. I want to add something to what you said earlier and kind of just having kind of ideas. Some work and some do not. But so I've begin following. This is a little story of mine. I've began following a donkey on TikTok. And the reason being Is because there's a there's the owner and all you can see is the TikTok, but the owner reads where packages are coming in from. So what is happening is people are sending this donkey different toys, and they want to see if the donkey plays with it. And so she'll read it out, you know, this is David from Israel who sent you this particular toy, and she'll throw it over over the fence to the donkey. And he'll actually go play with it. I've never seen this before from a donkey. But they have from that in the comments, people are now wanting to. This this is so much. I'm a marketer. So to me, this is marketing research like to the thousandth degree. So they have came up in the comments section that someone should start a line for donkeys. Who would have ever thought of that? a toy line, you have for dogs, you have for cats, you have for birds. So now it makes sense. There is your marketing research that they will actually pet play with different type of toys. And there's a business born right there. And that's so intriguing. David: First of all, that's a that's a great story. That's incredible. I personally am probably not gonna go into Donkey Toys, but yeah, I I totally hear what you're saying. You know, there's lots of ideas out there and you never know where you're gonna get them from. So that's another thing. Keep your eyes open all the time. If you want to go the entrepreneurial route, you never know where you're gonna find it. I would never imagine that this on this podcast I would have learned that somebody might open up a business of donkey toys. Rashad Thirlkill: Yeah. And I'm actually following it in real time. But I'm I really want to see what becomes of it. But like you say, man, you just have to look for something in the market that just isn't there and it can be created. David: Yep. I'll s I'll add one other piece Rashad Thirlkill: It's a wonderful time to do it. David: also because, you know, sometimes we think this person just started videoing her donkey every day and now she's probably got millions of views and is making a nice amount of money. And we see these things Rashad Thirlkill: Right. David: all the time, in particular on TikTok and Instagram and social media in general, about how easy it is, you know, to make lots of money. Thirty minutes a day and you're gonna so look at what's gonna be on your YouTube thing and whatever. It's really hard. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. It's really fulfilling. It's really exciting. It's really fun. It's really independence has lots of advantages. But don't let anybody think this is the there's an easy way. You gotta work hard and you gotta be willing to work hard to make it happen. Rashad Thirlkill: That's that's a definite. even set setting up a camera, you know, it it seems, these people are these influencers, they they are they are making a lot of money, they have brand deals, but you have to see what they go through every day. Setting up a camera in 10 different shots, it's it's work. All of it is work. So we can't forget that aspect. David: Yep. And very often it's it's elements that you need to learn yourself or be willing to outsource. either if it's marketing, if it's photography and videography. You know, there's things that nowadays, you know, you can do, you can learn it, AI, et cetera, et cetera. But you know, you gotta invest the time and the energy in learning those things or be willing to pay for it. Rashad Thirlkill: That's right. Well, hey man, I want to ask you a few questions in closing. David: Go for it. Rashad Thirlkill: David, what does wealth mean to you at this stage of your life? David: independence and flexibility and opportunity, both for myself as well as for my children and be able to give some of it away as well. Rashad Thirlkill: All right, if you could finish this sentence. A great idea becomes a real business win. Blake. David: When someone is willing to take it, work really hard, be creative with it and flexible with it, to make it happen. Rashad Thirlkill: All right. So David, working listeners. Yeah. Yes, go right ahead. David: can I can I can I add something in c you have a minute for me to add something into that? I don't know. I hope I can say this on on your podcast. there's a person named Gary, I don't know how to say his last name, Vernurchuk or something like that. You may be you may have seen him. He's he's an entrepreneur, he's a high tech guy, he's probably a billionaire. and you know, he's all over the internet and whatever. I stumbled upon him because he did this one or two minute video. Of him talking, and I hope I can say this online. Ideas are shit. That's that's the had just look it up. Gary Vernerchik with that with those three words. And his whole point is ideas don't matter. It's all about execution. It's all about implementation. He said, he says, I'll give you I'll give you all the next big ideas in the world. All the AI, all of this, all I have them all. I know I know everybody's doing them. I'll give them to you. 'Cause the vast majority of you aren't going to execute on it. And that's the key. Idea can be great if you're not going to execute on it. If you're not going to implement it, it doesn't really matter. It'll just stay out there or it'll fail or it won't never happen. Execution. Rashad Thirlkill: Execution. Is the is the guy Gary Vanichel? David: I think so. I don't know how to pronounce this lesson. Yes. Just look up Rashad Thirlkill: Yeah, he's he's a marketing guy. He yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. It sounds like something he'll say that's David: again, just look up ideas or shit. You'll find his video and I don't know if you have a network to share it with. I highly recommend it 'cause it's such a good lesson. Rashad Thirlkill: Right. So where can listeners explore your products and connect with you? And what kinds of connections would be most valuable to you? David: people who have really good and creative ideas that are connected to the toy industry. In particular, I'm looking for things that are active play, indoor or outdoor can be. but there are, you know, there are ma we also have board games, we also have impulse buys. You know, if you got a good idea, you haven't seen it out there, you've done your homework, you think it's ma you think it's market manufacturable at a decent price point, I'm always open to ideas, either in potential licensing opportunities or distribution deals. certainly that and in general I I love talking about this stuff with people. So anybody wants to connect, you know, I I don't know if you have a way to share my my email and website. always happy to talk. Anybody needs advice who wants to talk something through, always happy. Rashad Thirlkill: Okay, definitely. Yes, we will share your email, your website. I know you are on LinkedIn, I've seen you there. Is there any other social media channel? David: we also we're also on Instagram. I would say that's the best other one. it's a better design co. Rashad Thirlkill: design co. Okay. We will put that in the show notes. And David: Right. Rashad Thirlkill: I want to thank thank you a lot for coming on today. There were plenty gems and jewels in this conversation. If anyone entrepreneurial product even service business listening to this, there was a lot of great thoughts and what we're doing what David: Thank you very much for having me. I really enjoyed it as well. And good for you for doing this for everybody. It's an important community Rashad Thirlkill: Thanks, Mayor. David: to be to help out with. Thank you. Rashad Thirlkill: That's right, that's right. We're currently building. And to anyone that's out there, remember the motto, keep making moves, make money, and make meaningful memories. Until next time, we'll talk to you later. David: Thank you. Bye.