Steven Julian: You can’t afford perfect product development, which is why you can’t afford to miss this episode of Product Genius. Intro Lady: Do you want to be a successful inventor entrepreneur? Struggling to get your product from idea to market? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Product Genius, the down-to-earth podcast that explores important topics about inventing and launching new products. Noah McNeely is your trusted guide. With more than 20 years of product launch experience, he’s here to help you on your journey to become a product genius. Let’s get started. Here’s your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian. Steven Julian: That’s my line. Yes, it is your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian. Welcome to Product Genius with Noah McNeely. Coming to you almost live from the fantastic studios, The Lair. Of innovation and development inside Product Quick Start. Noah, you’re sitting by my side. Noah McNeely: I am. I am live. Steven Julian: You were just going to let me keep going. Noah McNeely: Well, I didn’t know how far you were going to go, but I do love the word lair. I’m going to totally do some superheroes. Steven Julian: Absolutely. I think that every time I walk back here now, we do broadcast from Noah’s Product Quick. Start location and behind the wonderful offices. There’s a layer. It’s a layer of innovation. Noah McNeely: My new design paradigm here is going to be the bat cave. Steven Julian: I love it. I love it there. All we need is a little light symbol with, I don’t know if you’d have the bat. There isn’t a bat symbol. You got to figure out what symbol, as I sit here looking at a toilet seat that you’re developing. So that’s probably not it. There’s probably something else. Noah McNeely: We’re going to not use that in symbology. Maybe a gear or a light bulb. A light bulb. I think that’ll work. Steven Julian: Just like the title of our show. So Product Genius. We come to you thanks to Opu Probiotics. We just had a fantastic guest in studio. Tiffany Crumans was here for another recording, and we are now going to talk about a very interesting, almost philosophical thought, but we won’t stay on the philosophical. We’ll get into the esoteric, and then we might circle back around. Noah, you gave me this idea, so let me just… Say it with as much dramatic flair as I can muster on this podcast, and then we’ll get. into it. You are more important than your invention. Noah McNeely: That was full on William Shatner right there. Steven Julian: Thank you. I love that. That is a compliment. I appreciate that. There was definitely pause acting. that was happening in that. So you are more important than your invention. It almost sounds like a platitude, but there’s a lot in there. There’s a lot of meat in that phrase. I believe there’s a double meaning, so break it down for us. Noah McNeely: There’s a bit of double entendre here, and one is deep and philosophical. We’re not going to spend a whole lot of time there because this is not a philosophy. Well, it’s not intended to be a philosophy podcast, though I’m sure we ramble in that direction occasionally. But the first meaning is that your invention, your business, your professional life, your quasi-professional life. That’s only one part of life. It’s not even the most important part. And I bring this up because I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve met people that have become estranged from their family because they so focus on their invention or their business. I’ve met people that, you know, they’ve ended up divorced because. they became obsessed with getting a product to the market rather than balancing that out with everything else going on in their lives. Steven Julian: And I, you know, one of my, my first career that I got involved in was in, and I’m going to stop right now. I’m going to just take a moment because when we, I opened the show by talking about Tiffany was in and we had a train come through right at the beginning, which you had told us when we first started in this studio that, Hey, we might occasionally hear a train. Noah McNeely: Now any good layer needs to have background noise. Absolutely. Steven Julian: And so for this show. We’ve got a wonderful spring shower happening right outside. Noah McNeely: It’s the waterfall in the Batcave. Steven Julian: Yes. Right. Right. So where’s the? where’s the? you can do the Batcycle and I’ll be on the Batsegue and it’ll be. it’ll be fantastic. So and so the point I was going to make. just to go back to the philosophical, you know, don’t don’t sacrifice your whole life. Don’t sacrifice other things that are just as important, if not more important, especially more important than any business. My first career, I worked in church ministry, actually, and same kind of thing. The ministry can get something that’s a good cause, things that can swallow up your entire life and ruin relationships and ruin families and ruin your health. Noah McNeely: Yeah, it’s important not to become ridiculously focused on any one thing like that. You need to keep balance. With your time, with your energy, with your finances, I’ve told people don’t mortgage the house to, and we’ve talked about this, don’t mortgage the house to produce an invention. There are other ways to get that done. If you have to go to that extreme, maybe you’re putting a little too much emphasis on one pillar of your life. Steven Julian: And before we go to the other meaning, because we’re not going to spend a ton of time here, but this is the most obvious point, but it’s still a very important point. So I guess you are not saying don’t be excited. Don’t be engaged. I mean, you’re not saying that, oh, well, your business and your product, just give it a little bit of time. I mean, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t do the work. There’s work to be done. It’s going to take a lot of time. It’s going to take a lot of sweat. It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice. Quick advice, any off the cuff, if you’re… Noah McNeely: Yeah, I would say just don’t lose yourself in your invention or in your business. You know, take that time to go to your kid’s game, to go on a date with your spouse, to, you know, to take a day off from it and whatever hobby you like, do that. If you keep putting those things off, you’re going to lose those opportunities and you’re just going to. ultimately, you may be successful as an inventor. But you may look back at the end of that and say, what did it cost me? It cost me way more than I anticipated. Steven Julian: I’m going to make a big stretch because I don’t even know if they’re going to be able to hear this in post-production. Jody does such a great job producing, but maybe keep a little bit of the rain noise in the background because this podcast is very important to us. You want to present ideas to help people become more of a genius in developing. their product. But even in the midst of this, we stopped and we’re listening to the rain. We didn’t lose ourselves. I, as the slightly annoying co-host, just made sure and point out, hey, it’s really raining outside. And we actually set off air. It’s one of the things I love doing is just stopping and listening to the rainfall. Noah McNeely: So, Jody, if you could add some really deep sound, a little instrumental music right now, that would be perfect. Steven Julian: Yes. A little background. You know what? Right now, when we get done with this show, I’m going to go watch Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy from Saturday Night Live and just watch them over and over again because I’m going to enjoy that. All right, so that’s the first meaning. Let’s talk about the second meaning, not quite as philosophical. What do you mean, what’s the other meaning to you are more important than your invention? Noah McNeely: So the practical, less esoteric, more, you know, I can do something about it. in my invention business side is, you know, a lot of people think their invention, their idea, that’s it. That’s the main thing that they’ve got going on. From. the outside looking in, anyone that you are talking to about your invention, be there investors, potential partners, me, your customers, we’re going to be looking at you and evaluating you as much, if not more, than your idea, than your invention. Steven Julian: Which a lot of people who start their product and start their invention, they miss that point, right? They think it’s all just about what. What it looks like and how it acts. So talk a little bit more about that because I think there are people who are listening are like, what? You’re crazy. They don’t care about me. Noah McNeely: I’ll give actually a real world example going on right now. I’m going to change the names because they might listen and at least one of them will be offended by what I’m going to say. So let’s call them Mickey and Donald. So Mickey actually has a… He’s an investor. He invests in companies and inventors. He loves working with inventors. His whole thing is he knows how to sell. He can sell anything to anyone. So he loves taking on inventor partners and helping them get their product funded and then selling the heck out of. it, basically growing their business. Donald has this fantastic idea. It’s actually one of the best invention ideas I’ve ever seen. And I actually introduced Mickey and Donald. And I warned Mickey, you know, Donald’s a little bit, he’s a lot to handle. And so I was like, okay, well, you guys meet, you guys talk, see if you can work out together. Mickey, he loved Donald’s idea. He’s like, I want to do this. Let’s make it happen. Three weeks later, I get a call from Mickey. He’s like, it’s just not worth it. This guy. Yeah. This guy, any deal with this guy is just, it’s, it’s, he’s driving me nuts. He’s calling me four times a day and just wants to talk, talk, talk about stuff that’s irrelevant. I keep trying to say, Hey, let’s, let’s focus on what we have to do. I think I’m going to pull out of the deal, not because of the idea, not because of the invention, not even because of the business potential, but because of the guy. So that’s a clear case where that individual. In this deal scenario is more important than the invention. Steven Julian: Interesting. So I guess. part of the advice, the first major piece of advice based on that story and based on the point you’re trying to make is as you’re developing your product and doing your invention and wanting to start something, it’s good to have a pretty good idea of who you are, your strengths, your weaknesses, your personality traits. Even if Donald in that scenario. Had been willing to go, I know I can be a little bit of a handful. I want you to feel comfortable telling me to tone down a little bit. So is, is that the advice you would start with?

Noah McNeely: Why? I started out and ended up in engineering school, but I’ve worked on it. I recognize it as a shortcoming. But I think that self-awareness, that becoming aware of what your deficiencies are helps. That’s the first step in trying to work around them or to deal with them. I mean, it could be you’re too shy. It could be the opposite. You’re too talkative or you’re too confident or you lack confidence or any number of other things that we as human beings. Have his flaws in our characters. Steven Julian: I, uh, I was going to. start another podcast for myself. that, that just focused on my flaws, but I, there was only one episode, right? Well, see, that’s what you thought I was going to go with, but I was going to say, I realized I wouldn’t have enough time to do anything else in my life. And I am more important than my, I am more important than my invention. I didn’t want to lose my family and doing unending episodes that went on forever. So you like that? Noah McNeely: I do. That was great. You were self-aware. Steven Julian: I’m self-aware. So you’ve got to be talking about more than just character flaws or more than just very annoying habits and things like that. So as someone is, and I guess you can kind of go almost anything. You’ve talked about an inventor. You’ve talked about the person investing in the company. What are some of the other things about people being more important? Other than self-aware, is relationships kind of knowing how to build a good relationship? Because when you’re building this product, you’ve got to develop some relationships with you doing product quick start with investors. Noah McNeely: Talk a little bit about that. Well, I. mean, relationship building is another one of those skills, or maybe it’s even a personality trait. In some cases, it could be a little bit of both. I’ve met a guy I worked with for many years. And he’s like probably the best sales guy I’ve ever met. This is when I ran a different company. We had a sales department. And literally, he could get on the phone with someone who’s never heard of him, never talked to him before. And he’s their best friend within five minutes. And they’re like, hey, when you call him back? That was a great relationship builder. I’m not in that category. I think he’s at one extreme. On the other end of the extreme, you’ve got people that, you know, they just can’t, you know, they’re not going to have a relationship with you no matter what. But that’s, again, one of those things they can become self-aware of. They have to do some introspections like, why don’t I build these relationships? Maybe it’s not something I can fix, in which case we need to look at other ways to get around it. Steven Julian: I did a lot of coaching. I did various. coaching at various levels. And I remember one time a coach that I coached with told a team, you guys don’t have to be friends to work together well and to achieve things on the court. I came to believe that the more a team got along and built relationships with each other, the better, that’s the best operation of any team. You can get the most out of a team, but you’re someone who’s a little prickly, a little hard to be around, a little icy or cold or whatever. You just got to know how to, I mean, at least just let some people in or at least figure out how to make it work. Noah McNeely: Even if you’re a very prickly person, it’s very difficult. There’s probably one person you could find that you could get along with. And then that person could become your window to everybody else. You know, I’ve had to tell another anecdote. I had a client once that was that he was prickly like that. And, you know, I worked around, you know, I’m easy enough to get along with. I dealt with him. But the problem came when he went to, he. actually went to visit the factory in China and he started telling them how to do their job. Which is never a good idea for anybody, really. And the factory called me up and said, we’re discontinuing this project. We’re refunding his money. You’re going to have to take him somewhere else. So, you know, even with people that you’re paying a lot of money to, sometimes it’s not worth it to them if you’re just that difficult to deal with. So I think had that particular individual recognized that about himself, he would have taken someone with him. Or sent in his place to be sort of that mediator, that friendlier face on his personality. Again, he had a lot of great skills. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that wasn’t one of them. Steven Julian: He was important, but he needed to figure out how to be even more important than the invention, and he got in the way of it. And I think, again, in this topic of relationships, maybe relationships is too… Too wishy-washy of a word or people are like, that’s not business-like. So I think it’s also who you surround yourself with. Are you building a? team? People bring you into an equation and you become part of the team of helping that product get to market. You don’t become an owner in the business. You don’t become an investor. You’re helping them develop the product. And whereas someone else helping with marketing, someone else helping with the concept of patents or various things like that. So it’s also kind of who you surround yourself with. You were telling a story, and I’m going to ask you to tell it now, about when you’ve been working with people and they had people on their team or in their relationship that helped them immensely in working with you. Noah McNeely: Yeah. Sometimes the response to this topic is, well, I am who I am. I can’t change that. Okay, fine. I’ll grant you that. Maybe you can’t change. Your personality is what it is. We’re not going to try to fix that. You do need probably to get someone else to fill in the gaps you have in your personality. I’ve got this one client. He’s, you ever had one of the, well, this is going to be sound offensive, but he wouldn’t mind. You ever had one of. these little dogs that you come home and that dog’s so excited to see you that he’s just running around the house. He’s yipping. He’s like, he hadn’t seen you in months. You were gone 10 minutes, but now he’s like, he hadn’t seen you in months. That’s how he acts. Well, this client is so excited about his business. That’s kind of what he reminds me of. He’s just, he’s just. When he starts talking, he’s just yap, yap, yap, yap, yap. All good stuff, but so fast and so excited, I can barely keep up. He recognizes he has this issue, which is fantastic. Again, that’s the first big step. So he brings his wife to every meeting and she keeps him in check. She knows how to get him, hey, just calm down. Let me talk the business stuff about this project with Noah or whoever. It’s a beautiful partnership. It works really, really well, but it all started with him realizing, and maybe she’s the one who told him, I don’t know, but realizing that he had some challenges there that were not necessarily flaws so much as he was just wired really strong in one. strength, and that’s being super excited, super driven to succeed, but he was so strong in that strength that it kind of bled over into becoming a flaw in other areas. Steven Julian: In breaking down the, again, our main topic of you are more important than your invention, you kind of said in the email exchange that we did, I saw the word obsess a couple of times. So I’m going to head down this rabbit trail for just a second and you can cut it off if you want. I’d like to obsess over obsessing. And the idea is, again, you’re more important than your invention. People obsess. About so many different parts of their invention. is, is obsessing making the invention more important than themselves because they’re getting caught up in the littlest thing. Do you see that a lot? Noah McNeely: Well, it can be. And it often relates to, again, their, their personality type. You know, some people will get so obsessed with some of the, you know, the, the physical details, like we will go back and forth over the particular shade of red for two or three weeks. When at the end of the day, your customers, they’re not even going to know. you looked at 25 different shades of red. They’re all going to be kind of the same. You’re going to have the same impact at the end of the day with that. Some people obsess on things like that or, you know, every feature being on it that they dreamed up. Other people obsess on the marketing. People that will, they’ll go out and they’ll do the whole logo and website and everything before we’ve even designed the product because that’s what they obsess on. So yeah, I think people will tend to obsess on things that they enjoy doing sometimes because that’s what’s fun to them. They kind of let everything else go to the wayside. Steven Julian: Ladies and gentlemen of the audience of Product Genius, I just put Noah through his own advice because longtime listeners of this show will know that there is an Easter egg yet to be revealed of Noah’s obsession with screws. And he could spend all of his time. You could spend so much time with clients about what screw to use and what screws the right one. But you are more important than… Noah McNeely: Well, screws are very. important. They’ve changed civilization. But I think you were obsessed with my obsession with screws. Absolutely. Steven Julian: I’m very self-aware about that. I am incredibly self-aware about that. I was also just trying to show that I am more important than… Well, I’m not more important than this show. Noah McNeely: Yes, you are. Steven Julian: Well, I am more than this show, but in bringing this show, I was just trying to. Noah McNeely: You’re good enough. Oh, stop. Steven Julian: No, no. People love you. Oh, so now I got jack handy. I’m going to go watch Stuart Smalley. We’re getting near the. I have ground this show to a halt and I want to try and get it back on track and finish strong. Let’s finish strong about being more important than your invention. We kind of started philosophical and then we went esoteric. Can we bring it back to philosophical one more time? As people are going through this process that can take years to go from idea to other things, this process can take so long. What’s the advice of not getting lost? What’s the advice of someone who it’s almost impossible to not get mired into obsession, to not find yourself stuck? In? the mud of trying to get this to market, give us, you know, talk to us, encourage us, give us some advice. Noah McNeely: So I think the key there is having people around you, advisors, not, you know, it could be someone like me that you’re, you know, you’re paying to do something with it. Again, it could be your spouse. It could be your mom. It could be your kid. It could be your neighbor. Someone that respects you well enough to be honest with you. And they’re going to help you find your, hopefully in a very constructive way, they will help you find, you know, your flaws. You know, you’re kind of really focused on this shade of red. Maybe, maybe we shouldn’t spend the next six months on it. Or, you know, when you talk, nobody else can get a word in because, so the people you’re hiring to give you advice, how are they advising you if you don’t ever shut up? You know, so people like that, that can give you that honest. Truthful, sometimes painful advice are important. Steven Julian: We are not a religious show, but there is a scripture reference that says, speak the. truth in love. It’s good to have people who can speak the truth in love. And sometimes we need to hear that truth. So I can relate it to my own. I do not develop products. I’m an independent financial advisor. And there are times where I’ve come home. And my wonderful wife, I’ll be going, oh, you can’t believe what happened. And I’ll talk about a client that frustrated me. And I get done with the story and she’s like, I don’t really see what they did wrong. And I’m like, but they did. And then the more I think about it, the more I realize, ooh, I think I got obsessed. And when you get obsessed, sometimes you focus on. Things that you think are so important, but really aren’t. Noah McNeely: Yeah, the small things start to seem very big, and they’re still small things. Steven Julian: And you mentioned people. If I may add a piece of advice, even though I’m the slightly annoying co-host, so you’ve been talking a lot about people and relationships. I’ll just also say, and I think you kind of said this at the beginning, it doesn’t always have to be other people. Sometimes it’s. put the project down and go take a walk. Go take a day. Noah McNeely: Yeah, sometimes reconnecting with yourself is that’s the advice you need. Absolutely. And, you know, some people are out there going to say, well, I don’t really have anybody that I trust to give me advice. So you can hire, you know, you can hire people. There are coaches out there. You know, you want to make sure you’re hiring someone. that’s not just telling you what you want to hear and that you’re going to have to spend some time ferreting that out. There’s lots of self-help out there. There’s therapists that can help you. If you’ve got something you just can’t get over, it’s like. I go in a conversation and I don’t stop talking. Help me, help me, doctor. Well, there’s people that will help you with that. Steven Julian: So it can be people in your life currently. It can be something you do on your own. You can also pay to get some help. So Noah McNeely, the last piece of advice is you might need to seek help. Noah McNeely: We all do. Steven Julian: We all need to seek help at some way, at some level. And don’t be ashamed of that. I did kind of chuckle. But in all seriousness, it’s… Yeah, I like your idea of kind of seeking some coaching. Maybe it’s counseling. Maybe it’s coaching. Maybe it’s advice. Maybe it’s taking someone out to coffee and picking their brain a little bit. And maybe it’s just binging Star Trek The Next Generation Season 2. I don’t know. Take your pick. Noah McNeely: That was a deep cut, but yeah. You like that? Steven Julian: Can you tell what I’m currently binging at home? Noah McNeely: It really didn’t start to get good until Season 4. I’ll have to. Steven Julian: You know, I’m going to push back slightly. Season one, they were all trying to find their footing. Noah McNeely: The producer’s rolling his eyes. Steven Julian: I think season two, Pulaski replacing Crusher was clearly a mistake, but you could see everybody starting to really develop their characters. So I would, I would think I would meet you halfway and say by season three, they clearly hit their stride. Noah McNeely: All right. Steven Julian: We’ll have to go back. Noah McNeely: I’ll have to go, it’s been a few years. I’ll have to go back. Steven Julian: It’s on Paramount Plus currently. Then they’re not even a sponsor and I. just gave them a shout out, but my. My subscription is ending soon. Anyway, so since I took us into a deep cut, I’m going to pick it back to you since you’re the genius. Is there anything we missed? Is there anything you want to make sure and say? Last parting shots, last parting thoughts before I wrap up the show, which is the worst last question to ask. And I did it again. Noah McNeely: Well, I would just go back to what we said. This is probably the hardest part of self-realization or self-awareness that you have an issue. So how do you discover that? And I think one of the things you do is if things just aren’t working out, if things are just not getting anywhere, take that step back and ask yourself, is it me? You know, maybe there’s something about me. Maybe it’s not you. Maybe you’re just with the wrong people. Who knows? But I usually find in my life that it’s me when there’s something like that going on. Steven Julian: But it’s usually a combination. I would say there’s, there’s, there’s almost always something that you can say, I think I might be doing. this and I need to work. Noah McNeely: Usually it’s, I’m not properly conveying how I’m correct to people. Steven Julian: So it’s me, you know, you’ve been listening to business relationship advice with Dr. Noah here on Product Genius. Noah, thank you so much for bringing up. It is, it’s a very deep question. There’s probably a lot of other trails that we will. Explore later and maybe we’ll refer back to this as the deep cut episode. But I want to remind everybody that if you’re looking to have a conversation with someone who’s going to help you in being speaking some truth with at least some honesty, if not a little bit of a, I don’t want to say you’re speaking it in love when it comes to their business, but. You love to see people succeed in business. How was that? Noah McNeely: Speaking it in respect. Steven Julian: There you go. Speaking truth and respect. Noah McNeely: I’m going to respect you enough to tell you the truth about what I can. I’m not a therapist. I don’t have a couch. you’re going to lay on and tell me all your problems, but we can talk about your product and talk about your business, and. I’ll tell you what I think. Steven Julian: So tell everybody where to go. Noah McNeely: So the best way to reach me is just through the website, productquickstart.com. And there’s a form there. I’d love you to fill that out so that I can prepare for our call. I’d rather you not simply say, call me. I’ve got a great idea because I can’t prepare for that very well. Steven Julian: Because Noah is more important than your badly worded contact us. Noah McNeely: Oftentimes those are, I call the person, it’s like, hey, I want to talk about new vegan options. And I can’t help with that. I don’t do food. Steven Julian: So the more they fill it out, the more they’re showing how important they are and you can show them their importance by taking the detail they’ve given you, helping them take the next step, helping them see what they might not be able to see about their product or development. So make sure to go to productquickstart.com, fill out the contact us form. Noah will get back in touch with you and he can help you take your product to market or be honest with you enough to tell you what’s wrong with taking. your product to market and why you’re going to lose a ton of money. Unless you maybe take some of his advice. So Noah, thank you for that. I want to remind everybody that Product Genius is on all your favorite podcasting platforms. That’s why you’re listening to it now. I also want to remind you that you may have someone in your life. We’ve talked about relationships. Maybe you know other product developers. Maybe you know people who have brought products to market. And you’re listening to this. They can listen to this as well. Tell them about the show. We’d love to hear from them. And you can certainly contact the show as well. Maybe there’s a topic you want us to talk about, or maybe you just want to rant, and we’ll let you do that, and we won’t share it on the air unless you give us permission to. All right, now I’m rambling, and I’m, you know, Jody is more important than my rambling, so Jody is telling me to wrap it up. For Jody Smith, our producer, at JodySmith.com, and for Noah McNeely, this is Steven Julian, your slightly annoying co-host, saying, We will. catch you next time! That was my Kirk Paws on Product Genius.

Steven Julian: Greetings and salutations. Steven Julian: I am your slightly annoying host, Steven Julian. Steven Julian: Welcome to a new edition of Product Genius. Steven Julian: This time… Without Tiffany Crumans, but what we do have is the fantastic Noah McNeely. Steven Julian: Noah, welcome back to the show. Noah McNeely: Yeah, it’s good to be back. Noah McNeely: I feel like it’s been an entire pandemic ago. Steven Julian: Almost. Steven Julian: It’s been at least, it’s been a year, but it does kind of feel like a whole pandemic ago. Steven Julian: So, Product Genius, this might sound a little bit different. Steven Julian: There are some differences. Steven Julian: Why don’t? Steven Julian: we cover all that stuff up front?

Steven Julian: Broadcasting this show almost live from the Plush Palatial Studios that is the worldwide headquarters of Product Quick Start. Steven Julian: Tell everybody about your new digs. Noah McNeely: Yes, so Product Quick Start, we were fortunate enough to move into a new facility, well, new to us facility that we’re renovating in what they call the Depot District of Lawrenceville, Georgia, which is this… Exciting little area where we have some breweries and we have a distillery going in. Noah McNeely: that I think is going to make tequila and I try to remain sober during the day when I’m working here. Steven Julian: Especially when you’re doing the show. Steven Julian: Well, maybe not as much when you do that. Noah McNeely: Probably more important that I remain sober when using the power equipment in the back. Steven Julian: Amen. Steven Julian: The other thing we want to talk about for those people who are coming upon this episode and have listened to past episodes. Steven Julian: In some respects, we’re the same, but in some respects, there are some differences. Steven Julian: This show was always known as Product Genius with Tiffany Krumans. Steven Julian: Tiffany is still with us, but she’s not with us in the studio. Steven Julian: So, Noah, I ask. Steven Julian: you, where in the world is Tiffany Krumans? Noah McNeely: Well, anyone that has listened to more recent shows probably knows Tiffany has a lot of ideas for businesses, and she also has… New children in her life, and she stays very, very busy. Noah McNeely: Her latest company is called Opu Probiotics, and it’s a fabulous product. Noah McNeely: I recommend you try it. Noah McNeely: I particularly like the mocha mint flavor. Noah McNeely: But anyway, we believe that Tiffany is scouring the world looking for the finest ingredients she can for that particular product. Noah McNeely: So you might find her in the Himalayas or the Amazon. Noah McNeely: Probably wearing a baby and a baby Bjorn and with three other kids following her around. Steven Julian: And everybody can go to opuprobiotics.com, opuprobiotics.com, and see all the latest things that Tiffany is doing with that product. Steven Julian: And therefore, she was the creator of Product Genius originally, and you were a fantastic partner and sponsor of the show and would come on and talk about… Developing products through your business, productquickstart.com. Steven Julian: And when Tiffany really launched Opu, she told all of us, Jody Smith, the producer of the show, and myself as the slightly annoying host, hey, I’m going to take a little. Steven Julian: bit of time off. Steven Julian: I got to launch this new business. Steven Julian: And then in the meantime, let me just fast forward a little bit. Steven Julian: And I don’t know how much behind the scenes and unplugged you want to get. Steven Julian: Why are you sitting across the table from me and why are you now kind of leading this ship that Tiffany built up to this point? Noah McNeely: Well, first, we’re going to hope that the Shipley is led in a good direction and not running aground. Steven Julian: Not yet, at least. Steven Julian: We’re five minutes in. Steven Julian: It’s so far so good. Noah McNeely: So, yeah, we’re doing great at the moment. Noah McNeely: Well, I always enjoyed doing the show. Noah McNeely: I mean, I had a lot of fun with you guys and it really hits one of my passions, which… I like talking about this stuff. Noah McNeely: I do what I love. Noah McNeely: I enjoy explaining it to people. Noah McNeely: I think the show is a good way to do that. Noah McNeely: I’ve actually met a number of people through the show. Noah McNeely: Those are all great conversations. Noah McNeely: My hope is as we move forward, Product Genius will be a show that’s useful for inventors, of course. Noah McNeely: Really, I think we’re going to. Noah McNeely: talk about things that relate to all entrepreneurs or most entrepreneurs. Noah McNeely: Even to people that work for bigger companies that want to think more like entrepreneurs. Steven Julian: So here we are after more than a year off. Steven Julian: We’re doing a new show. Steven Julian: Noah McNeely is sitting across the table from me. Steven Julian: Jody Smith from JodySmith.com is still our producer. Steven Julian: I’m still the slightly annoying host. Steven Julian: And here we are still talking about product development. Steven Julian: We’re going to talk about inventing. Steven Julian: And today we’re talking about help. Steven Julian: I’ve got too many ideas. Steven Julian: Which is definitely true of this show after not doing it for a year. Steven Julian: And people who are doing product development and kind of trying to bring their product to market, as they’re bringing one product to market, they have all these other ideas. Steven Julian: That’s the entrepreneurial, that’s the inventor. Steven Julian: There’s a lot of people listening who, number one, are going, okay, yeah, they’re talking about something I need to talk about. Steven Julian: And when you’re listening to this, you might also be thinking, Ooh, I know someone else that needs to hear this. Steven Julian: So listen to this one, invite them to hear the show because we’re going to be talking. Steven Julian: about, I got too many ideas. Steven Julian: So the title of the show, obviously I gave a little bit of a inkling of it.

Steven Julian: You are guilty of this just like anybody else, right? Noah McNeely: Oh, absolutely. Noah McNeely: In fact, the fact that I’m doing this podcast while writing a business and… Engaging in various other hobbies may be an example of where I’m guilty of this, but I’m trying to balance it well. Noah McNeely: And we thought this would be a really good topic for the first show because Tiffany is actually a great example of doing this well. Noah McNeely: She realized at some point that she had too many different things going on. Noah McNeely: So to be successful, she had to push some of them to the back, and that’s why. Noah McNeely: That’s why we’re here. Steven Julian: That’s why she’s out finding those great products or finding those great ingredients to go into the mint mocha. Noah McNeely: That’s why she’s in the Amazon today. Noah McNeely: Exactly. Noah McNeely: So, you know, this is a problem that doesn’t just affect inventors and entrepreneurs. Noah McNeely: It actually affects big companies as well. Noah McNeely: And back when I did a lot of big company work, this was a topic that would come up. Noah McNeely: The big. Noah McNeely: scary corporate name for this is portfolio management. Noah McNeely: As an inventor entrepreneur, you never need to use that phrase again, probably. Noah McNeely: But the idea is even big companies, they have so many things that they want to do or would love to do, but they can’t do them all. Noah McNeely: In a big company, like a Fortune 500 company, I almost said some names there, but I don’t want to be sued or anything by any of my clients from years ago. Noah McNeely: In a big company, you have entire teams of people in many cases. Noah McNeely: Their whole job is to manage and really to do the portfolio management role. Noah McNeely: They’ll have roadmaps of products that the company is going to develop for five, ten years out in some cases, and they have to prioritize those. Steven Julian: So let’s talk about the person who’s listening to this podcast who’s trying to bring one or a couple of products to market or are trying to build their business. Steven Julian: Go from idea to prototype to development.

Steven Julian: When you say, help, I’ve got too many ideas, can that be true of one product? Noah McNeely: It can be. Noah McNeely: It can be true of one product or it can. Noah McNeely: also just be the nature of the individual. Noah McNeely: So I’ve met people that clients have come in and they get really excited about their product. Noah McNeely: We go through that. Noah McNeely: And then a lot of times on the way out the door, they’re like, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Noah McNeely: I’ve got seven more I’m working on. Noah McNeely: We’re going to talk about them next time. Noah McNeely: And I think they tell me that to get me more excited about working with them, but that’s really often a red flag. Noah McNeely: So on the next meeting, you’re at the next meeting, I usually have to tamp that down a little bit and say, you know, look, that’s great. Noah McNeely: I love all these ideas, but let’s get one on the market first. Noah McNeely: And I think that can be a tough thing for entrepreneurs, even myself, because I have… I have so many things I want to accomplish and want to do, but it’s easy to want to spend all the time in the visionary stage. Noah McNeely: Hey, this is going to be fun. Noah McNeely: I’m going to spend all day thinking about this idea and jotting out what’s it going to be like when. Noah McNeely: I’m done. Noah McNeely: But the problem is there’s a lot of things that have to happen between now and achieving that vision. Steven Julian: And the ideas is the sexy part. Steven Julian: The ideas is the everybody’s. Steven Julian: Had at least one or two ideas. Steven Julian: I actually, I still don’t know why at times I’m the slightly annoying host of the show because I’ve had very few ideas of products. Steven Julian: I’ve never tried to develop anything, but I would relate it. Steven Julian: I, I love the world of comedy and I love listening to comedians, especially them talking about doing jokes. Steven Julian: And it’s one thing to have, Hey, Seinfeld had a book called, is this anything you start with an idea? Steven Julian: Hey, is this anything? Steven Julian: Is this potentially funny? Steven Julian: But from that point to getting it to where it’s a tight bit to be done on stage, there’s this huge, there’s a lot of work that goes in. Steven Julian: So you just mentioned it’s easy to do the ideas. Steven Julian: I got seven more, but they got all this work they got to do to just to get that one. Steven Julian: But I want to drill down and I want to kind of push back and ask even that. Steven Julian: person who’s on that one, I’ve got too many ideas. Steven Julian: Do they get sidetracked with too many things even in that one single idea? Steven Julian: That they’re bringing to market? Noah McNeely: Yeah, that can happen too.

Noah McNeely: I think we may have talked about this a long time ago, but there’s a concept I call minimum viable product or early viable product. Steven Julian: I remember that. Noah McNeely: Yes, it’s a classic. Noah McNeely: You should check it out. Noah McNeely: But the issue there is sometimes maybe it is just one product, but they have all these ideas for that one product. Noah McNeely: Oh, I want it to do this. Noah McNeely: I want it to do that. Noah McNeely: I want it to be Wi-Fi and I want it to levitate and I want it to glow in the dark. Noah McNeely: Sir, it’s a doorknob. Noah McNeely: It doesn’t need to necessarily do all that. Noah McNeely: Those are all great. Noah McNeely: Let’s get one on the market. Noah McNeely: because all that stuff you just talked about, that’s a two-year development program. Noah McNeely: If we just do your basic product, which is already cool and already different than anything out there, you can be on the market in six months. Noah McNeely: You can generate revenue. Noah McNeely: You’ve got a successful business at that. Noah McNeely: point. Noah McNeely: And more importantly, you’ve got money that you can now spend on Gen 2 and Gen 3 and Gen 4. Noah McNeely: But if we start down the path of developing, The super mega colossal product now, you’re never going to get there. Steven Julian: And we titled this show again, Help, but I think probably more often than not your job as the product development guru, as the genius who helps people bring their product to market, you have to tell them you really should be saying, Help, I have too many ideas in this super amazing, stupendous product. Steven Julian: Very rarely do they verbalize that. Steven Julian: You’re helping them verbalize. Noah McNeely: Right. Noah McNeely: Well, sometimes I have to help people realize it is a problem because, like I said, a lot of visionary people and a lot of entrepreneurs, like myself, we do tend to love that visionary phase. Noah McNeely: And we think that’s the most important thing. Noah McNeely: It’s not. Noah McNeely: It’s actually one of the least important and easiest parts of having a successful business.

Noah McNeely: So think about it this way. Noah McNeely: Think about all the little boys who dream about winning a Super Bowl as the quarterback. Noah McNeely: Now, you can’t just keep dreaming about winning a. Super Bowl. Noah McNeely: That’s great. Noah McNeely: That’s a wonderful vision. Noah McNeely: But if you don’t start exercising and training and learning the game, you’ll never play on a team, much less get to the Super Bowl. Steven Julian: So it’s a difference between being a Super Bowl quarterback and being Uncle Rico sitting on the front step saying, if Coach had put me in that game, we would have won the state that year. Noah McNeely: That’s exactly right. Noah McNeely: And there are no time machines that will get you back there. Steven Julian: Exactly. Steven Julian: So portfolio management, to use the term of the Fortune 500 companies, is really them kind of categorizing or siloing or insert other corporate term here. Steven Julian: But really, it’s checking boxes. Steven Julian: It’s laying it out in steps.

Steven Julian: Is that something that you, as the person with Product Quick Start, is trying to help people say, okay, here are the 17 steps that we’re going to have to take? Steven Julian: Or is it just getting them focused on creating the 17 steps? Steven Julian: Kind of talk through that process. Steven Julian: Someone’s got an idea, and then someone starts to spiral into too many ideas. Steven Julian: The portfolio management that you do, not for the Fortune 500, but for the individual. Steven Julian: entrepreneur and inventor, what do you try to bring to the table? Noah McNeely: Yeah, so it’s really launch your product in 375 easy steps. Noah McNeely: No, it’s not. Noah McNeely: There’s really only two questions. Steven Julian: I thought it was 367 steps. Noah McNeely: We revised it last year. Noah McNeely: Oh, okay. Noah McNeely: So there’s really only two. Noah McNeely: Two questions that I ask people to consider when they’re trying to prioritize the features of their product or which product to develop or which product to develop when. Noah McNeely: And with the assumption that inventor entrepreneurs, you probably don’t have five people or 20 people on a team that you’re paying to do all the analysis. Noah McNeely: And yeah, you go to a really big company and they’re going to ask a lot more than these two questions. Noah McNeely: At least they’re going to ask a lot more versions of these two questions. Noah McNeely: But the two questions I tell people to consider is, number one, what can I get to the market with my resources? Noah McNeely: And of course, I can help them try to figure that out. Noah McNeely: This is how much it’s going to take to develop this product, to make the tooling for it, to produce it. Noah McNeely: So we have to be. Noah McNeely: realistic about what resources you have to actually get that to the market. Noah McNeely: And that may mean you can’t launch five at a time. Noah McNeely: Now, I’ve had some clients that are just independently wealthy, and yeah, they can do it. Noah McNeely: They have the resources for that. Noah McNeely: It can still be a bad idea in those cases because a resource that people often overlook is their own time, their own focus, their own ability to strategize and think about their business. Noah McNeely: So the second question is, what can I sell? Noah McNeely: You know, what will I be able to sell? Noah McNeely: So, yeah, this is a great idea. Noah McNeely: I have the funds to develop it. Noah McNeely: I have the resources to develop it. Noah McNeely: But is there a market for it? Noah McNeely: And is it a market that I understand well enough to actually sell? Noah McNeely: And the answer to either of those questions is no. Noah McNeely: Then that’s probably not the product you should develop first. Noah McNeely: You need to focus on the product or the collection of features in your product. Noah McNeely: that both of those answers are yes. Steven Julian: And I know we’ve talked about variations of those questions over past episodes. Steven Julian: Encourage everybody to go back and. Steven Julian: listen to Noah’s past episodes on Product Genius. Noah McNeely: Product Genius is brought to you by Opu Probiotics. Noah McNeely: Pre and probiotics you can pour directly on your tongue in delicious mint and mocha flavors. Steven Julian: But the taste is just the beginning. Noah McNeely: With Opu, you can see improved digestive function, boosted immune system, easier weight management, improved mental health, and much more. Noah McNeely: Try today at GetOpu.com. Steven Julian: That’s GetOpu.com. Steven Julian: Let me focus in on the second question. Steven Julian: first, because I think… The typical inventor entrepreneur who sits down with you, especially with their first idea, and you ask them that question, you know, what can I sell? Steven Julian: Can this sell? Steven Julian: Their answer, bar none, is going to be, well, of course this is going to sell. Steven Julian: It’s a fantastic idea. Steven Julian: I came up with this. Steven Julian: It came in a bolt of lightning. Steven Julian: Everybody who brings you any idea is going to tell you, well, of course it’s going to sell. Steven Julian: It’s fantastic. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I’ve heard variations of, well, why wouldn’t you buy this if you could buy it? Noah McNeely: I’ve probably heard a hundred variations of that throughout the course of my career.

Steven Julian: You’re a communist pig if you don’t buy this, of course. Steven Julian: This is great. Steven Julian: Sorry, that was my insertion, not Noah’s. Steven Julian: My apologies. Noah McNeely: Yeah, so we’re going to remain politically apolitical here as best we can. Noah McNeely: Uh, yeah. Noah McNeely: So a lot of, um, a lot of inventor entrepreneurs, they’re so enamored by their idea. Noah McNeely: They just can’t imagine it not being successful. Noah McNeely: And then they’re like, well, as soon as people see this, they’re going to want it. Noah McNeely: That may be true. Noah McNeely: And that, that in some ways that for most people, that probably is true. Noah McNeely: The question becomes, how do you reach those people? Noah McNeely: And that’s also part of how do you sell it? Noah McNeely: Can you sell it? Noah McNeely: Uh, so if you’ve got a, it’s a product that, oh, everyone would use it. Noah McNeely: Well, that’s almost the worst kind of product for an inventor because. Noah McNeely: You don’t have the marketing budget to reach everybody. Noah McNeely: If it’s more focused, like, well, people that have teenage girls that want to learn how to play golf, you can reach that market a lot easier and in a more forceful way. Noah McNeely: So that’s also part of, you know, what’s it going to take to sell this? Noah McNeely: Not necessarily even, do I have the sales? Noah McNeely: skills? Noah McNeely: You can always hire someone to do that for you, but it’s got to be. Noah McNeely: Do I have the resources not only to design, develop, produce this product, but do I have the resources to sell it? Noah McNeely: What are those resources going to be? Steven Julian: And in your help in answering that question, because I was kind of pushing back against the question, the second question you asked there, what can I sell? Steven Julian: You have to drill down and you have to ask that question more specifically or they have to answer that question more specifically because really what you’re asking is, is there a market for this? Steven Julian: Can the person define the market? Steven Julian: Can you sell it? Steven Julian: Meaning the person who’s got the idea, how would you sell it? Steven Julian: So let me then ask this in helping them answer that question. Steven Julian: How much is it you trying to get them to have their eyes open to all the all that that’s going to entail of selling the product? Steven Julian: or and or how much is it you saying, if you’ll listen to me, I’ve had a lot of experience and I’ve done this for a long time and I’ve done. Steven Julian: this. Steven Julian: On corporate level and individual level, here’s what I believe and I know surrounding what you’ve just told me about this idea. Noah McNeely: It’s a little bit of both. Noah McNeely: It depends on who I’m talking to and how receptive they are. Steven Julian: Ah, there we go. Noah McNeely: Different people with different personalities. Noah McNeely: You know, it’s kind of like the old Aesop’s fables, the way he would teach very powerful people lessons without insulting them, as he would tell a story about someone else who was fictional. Noah McNeely: They would maybe learn a lesson about. Noah McNeely: So sometimes I have to do that. Noah McNeely: And it comes along as, you know, I have to say, you know, look, I’m not into sales. Noah McNeely: I’m not into marketing. Noah McNeely: I design, build, and create stuff. Noah McNeely: I can help you fill a warehouse full of product. Noah McNeely: That’s no problem. Noah McNeely: We got that. Noah McNeely: What I can’t help you do is I can’t help you sell. Noah McNeely: I can’t help you market. Noah McNeely: I can tell you what I’ve seen other people do and what that’s cost them. Noah McNeely: And oftentimes that loan and going through that process is enough to help them realize, oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Noah McNeely: I hadn’t thought about that. Noah McNeely: I am going to need a budget for that. Noah McNeely: And so sometimes I approach it that way. Noah McNeely: Sometimes people come in and they do have a lot of really good business savvy, business knowledge, business experience. Noah McNeely: They understand that right up front. Noah McNeely: I have to do a lot less in those cases. Noah McNeely: Sometimes in those cases, it’s more about explaining why it costs so much to make this product or that product or whatever it is. Steven Julian: So let me just ask Noah McNeely, the Product Quick Start CEO and the guy who’s done this for more than a few years, although you only look like you’ve been doing it for a few years. Noah McNeely: Well, hair dye goes a long way. Steven Julian: Exactly. Steven Julian: And flattery will get me everywhere. Steven Julian: Do you enjoy to an extent when someone who’s just starting out in this, it’s their first idea, they’ve never run a business, but they’re receptive to your kind of expertise and guidance. Steven Julian: There’s that that’s satisfying. Steven Julian: As well as the satisfying of kind of someone with some business savvy who knows the business stuff and you don’t have to spend as much time on that and you can really just focus on. Steven Julian: the product development. Steven Julian: Is there a preference one where this is just a personal question I’m asking at this point? Noah McNeely: That is a very difficult question. Noah McNeely: Exactly. Steven Julian: I’m slightly annoyed. Noah McNeely: It’s very individual based. Steven Julian: This is a relational thing for you, right? Steven Julian: This is a relational business, even for you and this. Noah McNeely: I’ll put you this way. Noah McNeely: I’m at a point in my career, I’ve done this long enough, I don’t usually have to work with people I dislike. Noah McNeely: Now, I will do my best to help anyone. Noah McNeely: Even if I dislike you, I will try to point you in a good direction, sometimes to someone I don’t like, but also. Noah McNeely: They don’t know that. Noah McNeely: Yeah, they don’t know that. Noah McNeely: No, but either can be good. Noah McNeely: I think it’s better for me to answer this from the standpoint of what’s the worst type of relationship. Steven Julian: Oh, there we go. Noah McNeely: That’s where someone comes in and they’ve never developed a product before. Noah McNeely: They don’t know anything about it, but they saw something on TV. Noah McNeely: So now they’re an expert or they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Noah McNeely: So now they’re an expert and they come in and they’re like, this is how you’re going to do it. Noah McNeely: This is how you’re going to do it. Noah McNeely: And I’m like, well, why are you here? Noah McNeely: How am I supposed to help you? Noah McNeely: You know everything already. Noah McNeely: Even though everything you just told me is completely wrong. Noah McNeely: I know you’ve read a book about it that some idiot wrote who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but that’s not how you do it. Noah McNeely: That’s not how the real world works. Noah McNeely: So those are not good relationships. Noah McNeely: Those usually end quickly. Noah McNeely: The other side of that is people that they just cannot accept what I’m telling them. Noah McNeely: So here’s the problem you have. Noah McNeely: And if you cannot solve this problem, You don’t have a business. Noah McNeely: Now, that’s just my opinion, but my opinion is based on a lot of experience, and some people just, they get really irritated about that, and I never hear from them again, and that’s probably for the best for me. Noah McNeely: But unfortunately, they then go out and they find an engineer who’s just happy to take their money, and they’ll spend a year. Noah McNeely: Dumping thousands of dollars into making something that they can never afford to produce or. Noah McNeely: that it’s never going to sell or it’s just the wrong market. Steven Julian: I like the way you answered that question. Steven Julian: Well done. Steven Julian: I asked a difficult question. Steven Julian: Noah gave a great answer to it. Steven Julian: So let me transition from the second question you asked of what can I sell. Steven Julian: And let’s kind of circle back real quick to that first question. Steven Julian: What can I get to the market with my resources? Steven Julian: This is a… Another way of kind of talking about minimum viable products. Steven Julian: So what do you need to know from the person that you’re talking to? Steven Julian: when it comes, because that word resources, let me unpack that just a little bit more. Steven Julian: You know, what can I get to the market with my resources? Steven Julian: You kind of need to know some things. Steven Julian: How much money do you have? Steven Julian: How much time do you have? Steven Julian: Kind of break that down. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I need them to be honest with themselves and with me.

Noah McNeely: Stuff costs what it costs. Noah McNeely: You know, I can’t work for free. Noah McNeely: Most people cannot. Noah McNeely: It doesn’t do you or me any good for you to come in and wear a fancy suit, pretend like you have. Noah McNeely: all this money, and then you don’t. Noah McNeely: Because then you and I are going to talk and go, hey, this is generally what this is going to cost. Noah McNeely: And you’re going to get one or two steps into that and say, oh, I can’t afford to go any further. Noah McNeely: Well, it’s like, well, why did you waste the money on the first two steps? Noah McNeely: I told you what it was going to cost to get this far. Noah McNeely: It’s like, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Well. Noah McNeely: I can’t refund your money. Noah McNeely: All the work is done. Noah McNeely: The prototypes are built. Noah McNeely: Whatever it is, that’s done. Noah McNeely: I’m sorry you can’t take it any further, but I don’t know what you want me to do. Noah McNeely: Go out and raise some money and come back in a few years, I guess. Noah McNeely: So that’s kind of the worst scenario there. Noah McNeely: I think I do need to do my best to explain to them, and I try my very best to this where I can. Noah McNeely: This is generally what it’s going to take. Noah McNeely: Hear what they’re trying to do. Noah McNeely: I’ll lay out a scope. Noah McNeely: Okay, the first phase is to get us to a prototype. Noah McNeely: I can give. Noah McNeely: that a pretty tight number. Noah McNeely: If there’s stuff in there, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Are we going to end up in this material or that material? Noah McNeely: Beyond that, I have to give an estimated range. Noah McNeely: And then I can give my best guess at what the manufacturing is going to cost. Noah McNeely: But I can’t, you know, obviously on day one, nothing’s been designed. Noah McNeely: So I don’t know exactly what that is going to cost at the back end. Noah McNeely: So I do my best to open their eyes to what the costs are going to be. Noah McNeely: And also a little bit, you know, you’re going to have to have money for marketing. Noah McNeely: If you’re going to do a patent, I’ll send them to Brock, who you may know from other shows. Noah McNeely: All that’s going to take money. Noah McNeely: You may have to prioritize what you want to spend your money on and how you want to spend it. Noah McNeely: And I think actually in our next episode, we have some ideas about that. Steven Julian: Ooh, fellow with a tease. Noah McNeely: A slight tease, yes. Noah McNeely: I like that. Steven Julian: Well done. Noah McNeely: I am not a radio professional. Steven Julian: You just played one on this podcast. Steven Julian: So let me just, again, push back slightly on the word resources. Steven Julian: So we are talking about money. Steven Julian: There’s no question. Steven Julian: that is the main. Noah McNeely: Not just money. Steven Julian: Well, that was my question. Steven Julian: Don’t take my question away from me. Steven Julian: You definitely are not a professional when you did that. Noah McNeely: Clearly not. Steven Julian: So apart from money, what other resources can people bring to the table that you need to know about that will help you in helping them develop their products? Steven Julian: See how I did that? Steven Julian: Was that good? Steven Julian: All right. Noah McNeely: Thank you. Noah McNeely: So you may have other resources in terms of people in your network. Noah McNeely: You know, if you come in and say, I have this great idea and it’s for, you know, baseball players and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Noah McNeely: And okay, that’s great. Noah McNeely: But you don’t tell me, oh, and by the way, my cousin plays Major League Baseball. Noah McNeely: Well, you know, that’s a resource that we could know about. Noah McNeely: that can actually change my mind about how you would market this. Noah McNeely: Oh, well, maybe you don’t need all this money for marketing because your cousin can endorse it. Noah McNeely: Well, that may change what I advise you. Noah McNeely: on. Noah McNeely: