Product Genius, the Podcast for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Startups

Steven Julian: Did you get caught up in all the latest astrological hype around the last eclipse? Maybe somebody found you reading conspiracy theories about it at 2 a.m Well, our show is a little bit like that. I reveal something weird at the opening of the show. Noah reveals his alter ego that I can’t wait for you to hear about. And we learn how inventing is like an eclipse. Next on Product Genius.

Noah McNeely: Do you want to be a successful inventor entrepreneur?

Steven Julian: 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. Hey, that’s my line. Yes, it’s your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian. Welcome to another edition of Product Genius. Seated to my right is the intrepid producer, Jody Smith. Seated across the table is the genius of this show because he is the head of Product Quick. Start and the main host of Product Genius, helping people get their products to market, helping ventures and entrepreneurs walk the road of… Getting their product to market. I just said that already. I’m a little messed up. It’s Noah McNeely. Noah, I have a confession.

Noah McNeely: I’m all ears.

Steven Julian: I was a little distracted in my opening because I have this confession. I listened. I re-listened to our intro, which has done so well. Jody did such a great job as our producer.

Noah McNeely: It’s amazing how he can make his voice sound that feminine.

Steven Julian: It’s so good, isn’t it?

Noah McNeely: It’s very impressive.

Steven Julian: And as it starts, I was wondering if for the person who finds our show for the first time and that wonderful voice comes on and says, Are you an inventor, entrepreneur, looking to get your product to market? And I’m just imagining something like, yeah, uh-huh, yeah. Are you struggling with it? Uh-huh, yeah. Well, Noah McNeely has a, oh, man. And they get their notepad out, they get their laptop, and they’re ready to take notes. I can’t wait. This is going to be great. And then they listen to me, and I’m just shocked that. they’re still here. So that’s my confession.

Noah McNeely: I really don’t know how to respond to that.

Steven Julian: Well, good, because you don’t have to, because I gave that confession because we’re going to kind of talk about once in a lifetime things. I, once in a lifetime, kind of let everybody behind the curtain of my false bravado and loud, obnoxious, slightly annoying co-hosting skills to tell you my thing. And we are going to talk about the eclipse today.

Noah McNeely: Yeah. So I had the… I was able to go see the Total Eclipse with my family, so I packed the kids up and my wife, and we drove up.

Steven Julian: Did you play Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler?

Noah McNeely: You know, it was being played. Every place we were, we went to eat in this restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky the night before, and yeah, it was on. Where we were actually watching, they were playing it on the speakers. There was no need for us to play it.

Steven Julian: I heard it. I did hear a stat that the streaming of that song went up by 4,000%. Yeah.

Noah McNeely: I’m sure their income has doubled.

Steven Julian: Bonnie is doing well. Thank you. Shout out to Bonnie Tyler. It was a great song for my teenage years. So you went to see The Eclipse.

Noah McNeely: Right.

Steven Julian: And you have a story about it.

Noah McNeely: Well, I’ll just… Well, there’s more. So we drove from Atlanta up to a little town called Vincennes, Indiana. And I want to give a special shout out to Vincennes. Beautiful town right there on the Wabash River. And it was the home of, not that this has anything to do with our topic today, but the home of William Henry Harrison, who was the shortest lived American president. He was president for 31 days and very elderly by standards of the 1800s. President when he took office.

Steven Julian: This show is just being full of random, rare, weird facts. I like it.

Noah McNeely: If it weren’t for random stuff, I would be bored. Yeah, absolutely. So anyway, Vincent’s absolutely beautiful town. Kind of out of the way. You probably wouldn’t, you know, it’s not near an interstate. It’s just on the river and it’s absolutely gorgeous. We had, I also want to do a call out to a restaurant where we ate. And I don’t know how to pronounce this and I’m. a little ashamed of that, but it’s. Bobi’s Pizza, B-O-B-E. And people that are fantastic. Pizza was good. But one of the things I found interesting is there was actually two. There’s Bill Bobi’s Pizza and Bobi’s Pizza. And they’re like close to each other.

Steven Julian: They’re in a split.

Noah McNeely: Yeah. So we were talking to the waitress. Hey, what’s the deal here? And she was like, yeah, like 30 years ago, there were these two brothers and they disagreed on the right recipe for the sauce or something. There’s a… Very reasonable chance. she made all this up. I don’t know. But so they split, but now everybody’s friends. So it’s all good. So now there’s just these two restaurants and the, and the recipes are still different, but we went to Bobie’s, just Bobie’s and it was great. So we had a good time, special call out to Vincent’s and all the people there. We had a great time.

Steven Julian: I like that. And you are telling us your eclipse story because inventing can sometimes be like an eclipse.

Noah McNeely: Yes, because I analogize everything. That’s one of your secret gifts. It is. If I were a Avengers villain, I’d be. the analogizer or something like that. Destroying the universe with the power of analogy.

Steven Julian: And actually, so it’s…

Noah McNeely: Thanos is like a glove.

Steven Julian: So instead of… So instead of monologuing as the villain so that the hero can recover, you would just continue to- Analogy after analogy until they just crumpled into a ball. Until they’re like, I can’t take it anymore. And you’re like, you’ve won. Just like- Okay.

Noah McNeely: Yes. So to get back, or actually to get to the subject of today’s podcast- I just want to thank our listeners for hanging with us.

Steven Julian: It will pay off in the end, I swear.

Noah McNeely: I’m going to- It will be like a good lesson. I’m going to relate inventing to an eclipse in a couple of different or three different ways. So one, you know, we had to make some sacrifices to get to the right spot at the right time. You know, there was this, you know, we could drive all the way there. You know, I had to get up early. You know, actually friends of ours, we actually drove up the day before, but some friends of ours actually got up at four o’clock in the. morning. And drove from Atlanta to Indiana. So they made that sacrifice. So it was like a little vacation for us. So when I’m on vacation, I like to sleep in. I like to have a leisurely, slow breakfast. And who doesn’t like to do things like that?

Steven Julian: But we had to get up early.

Noah McNeely: I had to get everything packed, get in the car, go get all set up, drive, hurry, yada, yada, yada. All the sacrifices, drive for hours to get there and set up and be ready. It occurs to me that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get to the right place at the right time with your invention process as well. And sacrifices can sometimes be what you give up in terms of the invention. So we can all remember the pandemic, I’m sure, unless, you know, that’s…

Steven Julian: I don’t like to speak of it.

Noah McNeely: Unless you’ve dug this tape out of some sort of archaeological file thousands of years from now, you remember the pandemic. During the pandemic, I and a lot of people in my industry, we just got inundated with people who had products related to the pandemic. I saw more. ideas for face masks than I can possibly remember. And almost all of them were pretty much just a face mask. But with some unique, it’s got this, it’s got that.

Steven Julian: It uses spaghetti as the loops, so it’s also a food source.

Noah McNeely: Right, right. So you never know. So in any event, having the right idea at the right time was what these ideas were all about. So I want to talk about two separate inventors. I’m not going to say specifically what they came up with. This one lady had this face mask idea, and she wanted all these things on it. And I was like, you know, these types of things. Some of the things you want, they’re going to take a long time to develop. But the core of your idea is this part over here. That’s real easy. So we were actually, I was able to convince her that, you know, now’s the time to strike. You know, the eclipse is coming. Got to be at the right place at the right time. When that moment of totality occurs, when everything goes, you know, when everything’s perfect, everything’s lined up and the world goes dark. Bad analogy, but. During the middle of the pandemic, you can get your product out really quick. So we did that in her case, and she was at the right spot at the right time.

Steven Julian: And was willing to make the sacrifices of some of the features that she may have wanted, but she put those aside so she could get it to market at a time when everybody wanted to buy face masks. And of course, she didn’t know that a year and a half later, no one would care about, or 99% of the people then would go back to not caring about face masks because they didn’t need them.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, well, she actually does, you know. Of course, you do still see people in face masks. So she actually does still sell this product, just in not as many as she sold at first, which she expected. So she’s like, yeah, it’s a good, healthy little business.

Steven Julian: Yeah, I like that.

Noah McNeely: Good. And she got on the market. She did it quick. Right spot, right time. She was ready for that eclipse. Another gentleman. Okay.

Steven Julian: Same time frame.

Noah McNeely: Same time frame. However, he had this idea for, let’s call it a sanitation, a piece of sanitation equipment. And he also wanted all these bells and whistles on it. I’m using examples that aren’t really what was there because I don’t want him to call me up and yell at me for talking about him on the air. But it’s got to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and this and that and the other.

Steven Julian: And a cheese hammer attached to the side.

Noah McNeely: Everything you want to do, sir, that’s a three-year development cycle to do all this stuff. you’re trying to put into this thing. The pandemic is going to be over by then. He’s like, no, no, it’s got to do it. It’s got to do it. It’s got to do it. I’m not willing to sacrifice any of this stuff. But look, the core of your idea is this. You can get on the market in three months with this and make a big splash. That’s still a huge improvement over anything that’s out there. No, no, it’s got to have this and this and this and this. So, you know, we went down that path. And sadly, he is still, you know, he’s paid tens of. thousands of dollars to get all these patents on all this stuff. Still not on the market, unfortunately, when he could have been there. He could have made the sacrifices to see the Eclipse, to see his product on the market. Instead, it’s like he showed up in the zone of totality a day late. So where’s the Eclipse? Well, you missed it. Or he almost got there and you could see a partial Eclipse, which is still kind of okay, but it wasn’t what he was shooting for. He’s not on the market now. He may someday make it to the market. I don’t work with him anymore because… Of a variety of reasons, but perhaps because of my honesty. And some people don’t appreciate honesty.

Steven Julian: So I know I clearly get the lesson of possibly needing to make some sacrifices to get your product to market. I think there’s another lesson there of kind of paying attention to what’s going on around you. Your two references that you gave are in the middle of the pandemic. So that’s an extreme example, but every single person who’s getting any kind of product needs to kind of know what’s going. on in the market. I’ll give you a great example. I grew up collecting baseball cards in the early 80s. Baseball cards had this massive spike into the late 80s, early 90s, and then they kind of went away. They were there. There was always cards, but the collection craze stopped. And they went back to being a small niche until… It kind of came back again almost as an investment idea and there was this huge flood. So you got to pay attention to what’s going on in your particular market that you’re trying to get into. And sometimes you can see the eclipse happening in your market, right? That’s kind of what you’re saying.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it’s important to recognize, let’s take your baseball card example here. So in that lull period of… What, a couple of decades, right? Yeah. So maybe you had this great idea for the, it’s the holy grail of baseball card organizers. Never in the history of the world will there ever be a better product for organizing baseball cards. That may not, probably not have been the best time to release that. Whereas now, I don’t know anything about baseball. cards. I’m assuming you’re telling the truth here. Boy, the look of cautious. Well, as I started talking, I began to get a little concerned that, hey, is this really true? Is he pulling my leg with baseball cards?

Steven Julian: Got some trust issues on the show.

Noah McNeely: So a couple of things. One, maybe you did try to launch that idea 20 years ago and got no traction on it. Right. Now the eclipse is here or everything’s starting to line back up. Right. Maybe try it again. Maybe now’s the right time. Maybe now’s when the iron is hot.

Steven Julian: You still have the idea. You kind of shelved it, bring it back out and try again. So yeah, that’s absolutely. All right. So that kind of covers the first thing. Be aware that you might have a right time, right place scenario and pay attention to those and be willing to make sometimes sacrifices, sometimes different decisions.

Noah McNeely: Right. And it could be sacrificing a lot of different things. Maybe you sacrifice some of the amount of margin you can make on that product in order to actually make more money by achieving a bigger market share. You know, sometimes it. can be sacrificing those bells and whistles. Sometimes it can be sacrificing, like in the baseball card thing, some patience. Let’s wait for the time to be right. You know, it could be any number of things, but just be open to that.

Steven Julian: All right. Second lesson you learned from the Eclipse. that applies to inventing.

Noah McNeely: Yes, so the right advice at the wrong time can still be bad advice. So what did everybody tell you leading up to the event, to the eclipse? It’s like, don’t look at the sun, right? Okay, so what if they told you that after you’ve been staring at the sun for 30 minutes? Well, A, still good advice, but now your eyes are already damaged, right? Or what if they told you that with so much emphasis that you’re like, You know, you get to the equips and even in that four minutes when it’s safe to look at the sun and you can see this wonderful thing that’s just remarkable, you still don’t look because you’re like, oh, they told me not to look at the sun, so I’m not going to do it. Those can both be bad. And, you know, I see you’d miss out on that experience if you didn’t look at the sun because of that. Because that is taking that piece of advice in total isolation. You’re missing the except when aspect of the advice. And inventors, I think, will do the same thing, or I don’t think, I know, I’ve seen inventors do the same thing of, you know, they will take a piece of advice. Hey, they may just get it too late or whatever. They listen to it too late. That’s, you know, that can happen. But a lot of times they will take that piece of advice and that will, that one piece, that becomes their driving mantra. It’s like, you got to get a patent. Well, that may well be true. And for a lot of inventions, that is true. And that’s a good idea. However. That’s sort of secondary to developing your product. I mean, you might, you might get, I’ve met people that they go out and they get that patent like right away and they patented the wrong thing. So yes, it was good advice, but they executed that advice at the wrong time. You got to have a. great marketing plan, a great brand, et cetera. I’ve met people that do all that up front before they even really have a product or they know who they can sell that product to or et cetera. So again, great advice, wrong time. You got to find a factory to manufacture this thing. Some people are like, I want to know who I’m going to manufacture this with before we even know what it’s going to be made out of. Again, great advice, wrong time. Now, this next one’s bad on the other end. You’ve got to get product liability insurance. You don’t want to be told that after someone is suing you because they misused your product, which is typically what happens. It’s not because you made an unsafe product. It’s because somebody chose to use it in an incorrect way. You can’t design for stupid. It’s what I tell people sometimes. And, uh, I don’t know if I’ve told this on the show before or not, but, uh, we got a scoop. We may, I may have, I’ve told this to a lot of people. So if I’ve, anyway, I worked with a guy who used to be. a employee of the Electrolux years and years ago. And they once get Electrolux once got sued because this gentleman decided, you know, he was, he was refurbishing a 1960 something Corvette and he decided it would be great. A great idea. To use the Electrolux vacuum cleaner to pull the gasoline out of the engine of the car.

Steven Julian: No, he did not.

Noah McNeely: He absolutely did. It’s a terrible idea because the vacuum cleaner has sparks and et cetera. So, and you’re aerosolizing gasoline. So, unfortunately, the gentleman did not survive. Neither did the car. Neither did the garage. Neither did the house. So, in any event, you got to have product liability insurance to cover things like that. that really is not your fault. So, anyway, sidebar. Good advice, but that’s the advice you want to take before you start selling product.

Steven Julian: So I think you’ve committed a podcast sin here. That is a great story to illustrate your point, but I will forget the point because that is such a fantastic story and fantastic in the way of fantastical. Like seriously, that really happened?

Noah McNeely: I’m going to put, well, I will be honest. The person who told me. the story did drink a lot. So it may have been embellished and or slightly untrue, but it sounds–It wasn’t the–Sadly, it blew up.

Steven Julian: It was only the garage.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, so the entire state of Ohio is gone. You know, it may have been exaggerated a little bit.

Steven Julian: Well, and also the Electrolex reference does tell us that this probably happened, you know, 80s, 70s, somewhere around. So it’s been around.

Noah McNeely: If it happened at all.

Steven Julian: And if you have told that story on this show, then I apologize because I don’t remember it. And if one of our listeners can find it and reference it on a show and put it–Get in the contact us form at productquickstart.com.

Noah McNeely: First person who knew that, I’ll give you a free t-shirt.

Steven Julian: Yeah. Yes. Yes. Speaking of which, our team t-shirts, which may be in the merch store at some point.

Noah McNeely: Possibly. I was imagining.

Steven Julian: We got to get a good marketing plan and we got to get that in place and a business plan. You’re right. Sorry. I was giving the good advice at the bad time.

Noah McNeely: I’m going to correct for the sin, the. podcast. sin there and use another analogy.

Steven Julian: The analogizer strikes again.

Noah McNeely: Good advice at the wrong time. So let’s say you got a kid and you tell your kid, you’ve got to wear pants. Good advice, right? Well, it’s too late to tell him if he’s walking around McDonald’s in his underwear, right? Yes, correct. So you missed it. No shorts, no shoes, no service. That’s what the sign says, but pants are implied. So you should be wearing pants. On the other end, you could tell your kid, you got to wear pants all the time. Maybe he takes it a little too literally, a little too strong, and then you find him wearing pants in the shower. So either side, good advice, wrong time, or too much emphasis. You got to be careful.

Steven Julian: Yeah, we got it. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes you need to clarify the good advice to make it even more.

Noah McNeely: My son, if you’re listening, you never did either of those. So don’t think it’s about you.

Steven Julian: Right. Okay. So inventing like an eclipse, you got to be at the right place. Sometimes you got to be at the right place at the right time, be. willing to make those sacrifices. Right advice can still be bad advice if it’s given at the wrong time. And then. You finished with a car tip, something about alignment. And a cough.

Noah McNeely: Yes, and a cough. So you need to align your air passages with your lungs. Yeah, so what Eclipse is really about? It’s really this sort of kind of almost bizarre cosmic coincidence where these things come into alignment. The sun and the moon and where you’re standing on the Earth is in a direct line for a brief moment of time, three to four minutes, if you’re lucky. It’s just perfect. You know, the moon covers up the sun. It’s like it’s nighttime, except there’s this really bright white ring around the moon. You’re like, yeah, I can only imagine like, you know, if I were a caveman picturing this. and all of a sudden they’re like, what have we done to anger you, son? Please come back. Please come back. And then four minutes later starts to come back and then, you know, whatever they did to try to appease the sun, that kind of becomes their religion for the next hundred years. So we. killed a rabbit and the sun came back. So now we’re killing a rabbit every day.

Steven Julian: I peed behind a different bush and now we have to…

Noah McNeely: Exactly. For us, we ate Skittles and the sun came back. Oh, good. But we’re not making that a spiritual custom.

Steven Julian: Well, and remember, if you ate Skittles while the sun was gone and it came back, you’d have to wait for the sun to be gone again to eat those Skittles.

Noah McNeely: To be fair, we ate Skittles all day.

Steven Julian: Oh, okay. Yeah. And Bobo’s Pizza.

Noah McNeely: And Bobo’s, Bobay, Bobo. I really don’t know, but it was good pizza. Yeah. Okay. So things have to be in alignment in your product development process too, in your invention process. And that, that means a lot of different things. So your product cost and features have to align with the size of the property. I once had a, had this non-client that I’m going to give a metaphor instead of telling exactly what they were doing. Yeah, I know.

Steven Julian: Analogies only analogizer.

Noah McNeely: I know. No. Well, I don’t even know.

Steven Julian: Can you turn a metaphor into it?

Noah McNeely: I don’t even know the difference anymore.

Steven Julian: That’s. another show. Go ahead. Give your illustration.

Noah McNeely: So this had absolutely nothing to do with the thing I’m about to say, but imagine basically they wanted to develop a Ferrari for DoorDash drivers to deliver Big Macs with.

Steven Julian: Got it.

Noah McNeely: Yeah. So would that get the Big Mac there? Absolutely. You get it there fast. Would that DoorDash driver have a great time delivering that Big Mac? Absolutely. Are you willing to pay an extra $100 for your Big Mac to supplement the cost of that Ferrari? No way. No, absolutely no.

Steven Julian: Or would the DoorDash driver be willing to take a loss of $70 per delivery to deliver that? It’s a great experience, but it doesn’t.

Noah McNeely: Either way, yeah. So there’s probably a small group of people that would pay that extra $50 or whatever for that Big Mac, but it’s not enough to justify it. So anyway. So sometimes, you know, you have to align your product costs and features with what the market really needs in terms of the cost of that product. So, you know, all the bells and whistles, and we talked about this earlier, maybe too many for the product’s purpose.

Steven Julian: By the way, just as you’re kind of collecting your thoughts there. to finish your point and your analogy, Mr. Analogizer, I don’t know if I’d say Mr. Analogizer, but…

Noah McNeely: The Analogizer.

Steven Julian: So I would… I would tweak the idea to align it better. I would pay $50 to be picked up by the Ferrari, driven to McDonald’s, get the Big Mac, drive the Big Mac on the way back to my house. That I would pay.

Noah McNeely: See there, now you get into my next point. So what did I tell this guy? is that I told him the truth. It’s like, hey, look, I like what you’re trying to do. I like your idea. You’re trying to solve a problem. Here’s the issues with it from a business plan standpoint. You need to solve these problems. And if you can, then let’s talk again. So that would have been a solution. So, okay, well, I’m changing the business plan instead of selling the Ferrari. I’m selling the experience and the Ferrari becomes a way to make money. Okay, well, that could work. That would have been a different discussion. Unfortunately, and if you listen to this show, you know that I always. try to be honest. I tell people, I call it the way I see it. And people that listen to this show. I think by and large, they would appreciate that. And about half the people I have to give this, you know, bad diagnosis about their product to, they’re very appreciative. And a lot of them, some of them go off, they fix the problem, they come back and we do business together. The other half get really pissed off about it. And they tell me, you know, I don’t know what I’m talking about, which sometimes I don’t. I’ll acknowledge that. And then, you know, I never hear from them again or whatever. And this was one of the cases in this particular instance. I did not work with this person because they did not appreciate what I was telling them. And to the best of my knowledge, they never did anything with it. But to be fair, I don’t always call things right. There are things that are in that gray area of, I don’t know if this can make it or not. I’m still going to tell you that here’s the potential challenges I see here. I’m willing to proceed with you. I’m still willing to work with you, but you need to understand here’s the risks that could happen.

Steven Julian: So in the analogy of the alignment, in order to get your product to market and to build a successful business, everything has to line up to create that totality eclipse that you got to experience in Indiana after enjoying Poe Bay’s pizza. I don’t know why you didn’t go to Bobe’s Pizza House as well to double up. But anyway, the analogy of the eclipse is that total eclipse, that being in totality, that’s like everything lines up perfect. And you bring your product to market and build a successful business. There are also other, there are also, well, we got to a partial, we’re getting something. We got Gen 1 on the market. But if you don’t get right alignment for all that kind of stuff, you’re going to go, well, the eclipse never happened. You didn’t get everything lined up. Right.

Noah McNeely: Or it wasn’t that impressive or whatever. So back to the caveman, if it were only a partial eclipse, he might not even notice. There’s a big difference between a 50% eclipse. and a totality, but there’s not that big a difference between a half eclipse and nothing because it’s just a cloudy day and then you go about your business. But I think that totality zone, that zone of totality, that’s like everything is perfect. That’s your best opportunity. To extend the analogy, you can still have a successful business outside of that zone. It’s just, I think your odds of success, you know, kind of diminish the further from it you get. And there are a lot of, we could talk all day about different things that have to align. So I gave the example of your, really your product cost with what the market can justify for that. Other things, your brand and your target market need to align. You know, you can’t have…

Steven Julian: You can’t sell cheese hammers to people who are lactose intolerant.

Noah McNeely: Well, there’s that. I was going to say, who’s going to buy the…

Steven Julian: By the way, that’s my quota of cheese hammers references. I’m just trying to keep it in the zeitgeist.

Noah McNeely: So no one’s going to buy, probably not many people are going to buy the percussion grenade sippy cup. Now, I wrote. that down earlier, and then I got to thinking about, it’s like, actually, that sounds pretty freaking awesome. I would buy… The Percussion Grenade branded sippy cup just because it’s awesome. So, you know, that may or may not be a good analogy. On the other end of the spectrum, probably not a lot of people would buy the Care Bears branded jackhammer. Although it would be pretty amusing to go by a construction site and see all these big burly people using Care Bears jackhammers. That’s probably not a big market.

Steven Julian: As the furry population rises and gets into the trades.

Noah McNeely: Well, that, you know, exactly. So again, maybe it’s just not the right time like the baseball cards.

Steven Julian: Yeah, getting right. 20 years.

Noah McNeely: Maybe all construction site workers will be wearing furry costumes.

Steven Julian: Yeah. And using CareBear brand.

Noah McNeely: It might even be a mandated law. Yeah. For all we know. Yeah. Who knows? The world can change.

Steven Julian: Not if I can help it.

Noah McNeely: Sorry. So other thing, you know, size of the market to the size of your investment. Now, if you’re, you know, invest $100,000 developing something for a very small market, they can’t afford it. You. know, you know, it’s, there’s so many things that have to align. So that’s really the, the ultimate analogy of. The Eclipse and product development and invention is, you know, the closer you can get things into. alignment is, and it’s more complicated because there are a lot of different ways to slice inventions that have to align. But the more of those you can get in alignment, the greater your chance of success.

Steven Julian: The story behind how this show came about is Noah sent out an email either right before or right after he had had this wonderful experience. He was like, clearly we have to do a show and tie it in with the Eclipse. Because the eclipse doesn’t happen all that often. And what’s interesting is your experience was in Indiana. We experienced it here in Atlanta and my wife and I and our youngest son, we kind of, and my oldest son was around too. And we were like, you know, hey, it’s happening. And so we walked outside. There was a difference. It wasn’t near as much as it had been when we went to the North Georgia mountains a few years ago and experienced. totality. So you’re right. It is a different thing. Okay. So I’m glad you took advantage of this, you know, once in a lifetime, once in a…

Noah McNeely: You almost said Blue Moon, didn’t you?

Steven Julian: I did, but then, yeah, pre-show, you corrected me. And I’m sure there’s an analogy for it, too. But I’m trying to keep the analogizer at bay. So instead, I believe you need to sum up your points today.

Noah McNeely: Yes. So to sum up the invention slash eclipse metaphors, number one, sometimes you have to sacrifice to get to the best opportunity or the best chance of success. Getting to this eclipse, if we missed it, yeah, we’ll have other opportunities. I can wait. I think next 20 years is there’s going to be another one in Montana, but that’s a much bigger sacrifice to drive all the way to Montana. And plus, I might be dead by then. Who knows? H

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: