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

Steven Julian: How many great inventions have never seen the light of day? How many great inventions have fallen off the back of the bus? What if you had access to any or all of the pieces of the puzzle that you need to succeed as an inventor and entrepreneur? What if we had someone who’s trying to solve all of those problems? We do. Mike Ryan from Pronto Launch, next on Product Genius.

Mike Ryan: 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. Yeah, that’s my line.

Steven Julian: Yes, welcome to another, hopefully one day soon, award-winning edition of the fantastic show you just can’t miss, Product Genius. Seated to my right is the intrepid producer Jody Smith. Seated across the table is the genius who got it all started or the. genius who picked up the ball and ran with it a couple years ago and is doing a great job from deep inside his lair in product quick start. It is the host of Product Genius, the genius behind Product Genius. It is he who is known as Noah McNeely.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, I took over the show just so I could be called genius.

Steven Julian: Yes, that’s exactly right. So self-entitled or self-titlement. I don’t know. Self what? Proclaimed. Thank you to our producer who’s not on microphone. He just wanted to correct me. I talked a little faster because I want to get into the topic and the guest pronto. That won’t be my last bad joke of the day. We are excited to welcome the CEO of Pronto Launch. Mike Ryan is here today. Pronto Launch, I am not going to read the description. I’m going to let you describe it. Tell everybody about Pronto Launch and what you guys do.

Mike Ryan: Pronto Launch is a unique company that we’ve felt is badly needed in the industry for so many years. Anyone who’s invented a product has found all the trials or tribulations that they’ve had to deal with. It’s unfortunate. that there’s so many great products that should have hit the market, just simply never did.

Steven Julian: Yeah, and you guys kind of come at it from a lot of different angles or can help people with a lot of different angles. What are the main… What divisions or what are the main things that Pronto Launch kind of works with? What are the areas that an inventor entrepreneur who’s listening to this show, as you list them out, probably at least two or three, they’ll be like, oh, I know I need help in that particular area. What are those divisions?

Mike Ryan: Well, there’s two main areas. We have 10 divisions, but there’s two main areas that actually fall into most, covers most of their needs for inventors, startups, businesses, entrepreneurs, et cetera. One of them is what we call our Acquisitions Company. Acquisition Company essentially works for those people who have limited resources, a great product, phenomenal product, may not have the experience, may not have the guidance, don’t have the contacts, certainly don’t have the funding to be able to do it, but they just have a world great product. A lot of times what happens is that they’ll. speak with someone who needs to, you know, Get the product license or something like that. And they always find out quickly that the license deal is not the best option. So that’s our acquisition company. Essentially what that does is that a company approaches us. If we really like the product, we’ll give them a, we’ll essentially acquire the company. In addition, in return, they will essentially get an outstanding royalty. In fact, we’re working on money now, but the guy’s going to end up most likely going to be a multimillionaire in the next couple of years. That’s our acquisition company. The next one is we have the acquisition company, and then they also have an advisory company. We often say in the industry, knowledge is power. All right. But I often say knowledge is having knowledge along with a strong support team plus key influential context gives people superpowers. So we know that we want to give people the ability to give them good guidance, but we feel that you can have the world’s greatest guidance, but at the end of the day, you have to have the contacts. And we put together a strong team of. contacts that could solve a lot of their needs.

Steven Julian: Noah, I want to bring you in here real quick because you had developed a relationship with Mike, which is why he’s here on the show. When you first started talking to Mike, one of the things we’ve learned listening to this episode is people who come to this table that you’ve invited, a lot of the times they’ve helped you and your clients. So what connected you to Mike?

Noah McNeely: Yeah, but we’re not just pulling people off the street here. Not yet. Yeah, well, we’ll see. We’ll get the mailman in.

Steven Julian: TBD, yeah, absolutely.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, so I’ve known Mike probably more than a year now, maybe a year and a half. And people that have listened to this show have heard us talk about some of the big companies that kind of prey on inventors, the ones that I talk about, you see advertised on the late night TV. And I stay away from those companies. But I met Mike and I really liked what he is trying to do or what he is doing with people with his program. And that’s why, in full transparency, I am working with. Mike on Pronto Launch and on some projects right now that we’re very excited about. One that Mike kind of alluded to, we think we’re going to make the inventor of a multimillionaire in a few years, is one of our first launches here. And we’ve been working on that. Frankly, we’re about to pull the trigger on manufacturing, so that’s really exciting. But Mike’s a good guy. In our introduction of the show, we talk about how this is a down-to-earth podcast. One of the things I love about Mike is he’s a down-to-earth guy. Just like me, he’s going to call it like it is. He’s going to tell you the truth. And he’s only going to pull people into his team that are the same way. So that’s… That’s why we seem like a natural fit.

Steven Julian: Mike, as people come to get to know you and as people start to get introduced to Pronto Launch, what are you finding? What are some of the main reasons why inventors come to you or find you? You talk about acquisition, you talk about advisory, but what specific services or why do they need Pronto Launch’s services? If they’re not? working with you, what are they? Who are they working with? or how are they working with someone that it’s not working? or what are they trying to do on their own that honestly you can really help them find greater success?

Mike Ryan: Yeah, an inventor, the first thing an inventor needs is they need to make sure that the product is properly designed. We have spoken with hundreds of design companies out there and that’s what brought me to Noah at Product Quickstart. Unfortunately, what happens is that when inventors, Get a product design. It’s not designed for manufacturing. A lot of times there’s programs out there that will design it, but they don’t have the contacts in the manufacturing industry. Product Quickstart is, in my opinion, the best company in the country. The number one company, in my opinion. That’s why I chose to work with Noah.

Noah McNeely: Well, thank you, Mike. Appreciate that.

Mike Ryan: There’s no company in the country that can give them the ability that Product Quickstart can do where they cannot invent a product. Design the product, but also give them an opportunity to get it manufactured. And what happens is that a lot of design companies don’t have the manufacturing contacts. And even once they say that they do have the manufacturing contacts, they go through middlemen. And all that does is just drive up the product cost. Product Quickstart, you know, I have worked with a couple of different, no one knows, there’s a couple of different design companies that I initially started with this. Product that we’re referring to called Magic Peck, it was clear that Noah was just hitting shores above it because he could not only design it, because this was a very difficult design, and he clearly just was hitting shores in terms of, it was very delicate, detailed, oriented, and he just, like a champ, just came through big time. And just as importantly, he deals directly with the manufacturing companies to get this product designed, and it allowed us to not only give us a high-quality product, But he was able to do it in a very less expensive way. That’s one option. The other issue is that a lot of companies out there, they have a product. You can have, and I often make this phrase on a personal event, you can have the world’s greatest bus, even. if you have a product design. How are you going to get manufactured? How are you going to ship it? How are you going to get it fulfilled? Most people don’t have all those contacts or the knowledge to be able to do that. So we can, for our team, We get a product designed for them, manufactured for them. We have social media contacts. We can get the product. We can do shipping for them. We can do a fulfillment for them. We work with trade shows, some of the largest trade show companies in the country I have a relationship with. We just did, over the last little over a year, we did two videos with Instagram, Stanley Dirt Monkey, who’s known as one of the most influential influencers in the country. We did two videos for him on one of my other companies called the Original Safety Siphon. that garnered over 25 million views and generated a tremendous amount of revenue for us.

Noah McNeely: Just the breadth and depth of contacts that this entity brings together. And I’m very proud to be one of those contacts now in the design and manufacturing space. But, you know, I look. at what I do. and yeah, I’ve got manufacturing contacts, but there’s like so many other things I have no idea how to do. So I would have to go out and find those for my clients. Sometimes I wouldn’t know where to look, but Mike’s almost like a single, Mike’s like a connector. He’s like the Nexus, Pronto Launch is like the Nexus of all these things. Patent work or trademark work or, like you said, fulfillment, shipping, design a box, design a logo, all these things, lots of accounting, setting up your website, all the stuff which I have, I wouldn’t even think about necessarily at the beginning. Mike’s been there. He’s done that in his other companies and now he’s rolling that over into making that available to everybody. Yeah, it’s fantastic.

Steven Julian: Noah, I’m going to ask you this because one of the… You know, we’ve joked on the show. We used to joke on the show when Tiffany was on the show about that, you know, the whole thing of genius. You even started this show by kind of, you know, joking. The show is called Product Genius. And one of the interesting things is as. you’ve been doing this show, the way you approach your business, the way you approach your clients, you are bringing the team members and the key relationships that you’ve started. Have had and continue to develop. And so we’re having guests on the show that are doing what the show is all about. And so let me just ask, how specifically did you meet Mike and Pronto Lunch?

Noah McNeely: Well, I got, if I recall correctly, I got a call from one of Mike’s salespeople that was just, I guess, cold calling design companies around the country. Saying, hey, we’re thinking about doing this thing and this is what it’s all about. Are you interested? So he and I had a really good conversation and he was like, yeah, I’m going to introduce you to Mike. Now I get calls, random calls from time to time and there’s never any follow-ups. I was like, okay, well, maybe I’ll hear about this. Maybe I won’t. But then Mike and I got connected and I like to say, think that we hit it off because we said a lot of the same things. You know, we’re here to help people. We’re here to, you know, we’re here to help. Her goal is to help our clients succeed more so than us making money off of it, which that’ll come if our clients succeed. And that’s really his attitude and it was my attitude. So that’s how we got connected. Now, Mike, you may have a different perspective on that story, but that’s how I remember it.

Mike Ryan: Yeah, exactly. That’s pretty much the same thing. One of the things we do is we have one of our key people reach out and make some calls. A cool product or an opportunity or whatever, then we actually have a telemarketing company that actually reached out and that works internally. And we tried to talk to Noah and say, this is a, he’s spoken more highly of Noah. He said, this guy is, he’s the big deal. This is this guy you want to work with.

Steven Julian: And Mike, it sounds to me like Pronto Launch kind of wants to be The quarterback of any inventor entrepreneur during their process, wherever they are in that process of getting them connected to the right people or standing with them and actually, and I guess that’s where we can. kind of talk a little bit about the division of acquisition versus advisory, but whichever path people go down. Pronto Launch is trying to help them take the next step, help them get introduced to the right people so that they don’t go down any rabbit trails or go down any dead ends. Is quarterback the right word? Is it more just, hey, wherever you are in the process, we can walk in and we’ll walk whatever step you want us to walk with you?

Mike Ryan: Yes, that’s a good… Comment, good point. But one of the things that we try, whether it’s a business or personal level, I try to live a very humble life. And I say this very humbly. Probably one of the most, actually gave me a little goosebumps, to be honest with you, is that people, I’ve heard it maybe three or four times that people have shared with me that they feel that what Amazon is to the retail industry. We’re almost like the Amazon to the invention industry.

Noah McNeely: I would actually, Mike, I would say your role here or Pronto Launcher’s role here is really almost more of coach than quarterback. Ooh, I like. that. Well, I guess it depends on if it’s the acquisition or the help model. But it’s almost, I view it more like you’re… You and Pronto Launch is, as the coach and the inventor can be the quarterback, you’re telling them what plays to run and who to throw the ball to and who, you know, when to pass, when to run, you know, all the football stuff. I don’t know, that was just how I thought about it. What do you think about that?

Steven Julian: We’re arguing over the analogy now.

Noah McNeely: We are arguing over analogies. I apologize for that.

Mike Ryan: Most inventors out there, it’s scary. It’s scary for them. They don’t know who to talk to. They may have a friend who’s a relative, whatever, may be focused on marketing. They may have someone who focused on one or two things, but they really don’t have someone who has a wide range of resources for them. That’s number one. The other thing, too, is that no matter what we try to do, what kind of separates us from the coaching programs out there, the advisory programs out there, is that… We just can’t stress enough. It doesn’t matter. how great of advice you may get. It really comes down to contacts. You need to be able to, you can have the prettiest bus in the world, but someone has to drive that bus. And what separates us from any other company is that I’ve put together a program we alluded to a couple of times. is that my team, which also includes Noah. I have people in the trade show industry. We have people with manufacturing. We have people with customer service, shipping, fulfillment. These are industry leaders that actually have a personal stake and they get a piece of everything that I do. I don’t deal with third parties. These guys actually have a literary stake. So every magic pick that I sell, Noah has a vested interest that he gets a piece of everything that I sell. Same thing with my guy who does my shipping, but fulfillment, customer service. I have a right-hand person, Teresa McErdan, who is very, very well-known. She is my right-hand person, handles a lot of my administrative stuff. I’m going to plug another company here, and I highly recommend it. I’m a big Audible guy. I feel that the day. you think you know everything is the day you just quit growing. And Noah and I just recently talked about this. There’s a product out there, a book out there, an audio book, it’s called by Seth Godin, G-O-D-I-N, called Tribes. And it’s absolutely brilliant. I advise anybody to read this book. And what it does, essentially what it says is that, in a nutshell, and it covers a lot of area, but at the end of the day, leaders… The key with leaders is that they know when to get good people. No one, whether it’s me or anybody, has all the answers on everything. Nobody does. It doesn’t matter how big a multi-billion dollar company they are. So what I did was that the key with us is that we want to get key people, influential people that I rely on to help us get to meet our objectives. And that’s what key is that you have to have leaders. Get good people. And that’s what I focus on. And that’s what has turned us to be successful.

Noah McNeely: I think it’s fair, Mike, to say you’ve been building this team for years through your safety siphon company and. other venues. And now you’re continuing to grow the team. I mean, you brought me into the team, you know, relatively recently. But this is not just something that you just started making a bunch of random calls and started from. These are a lot of people you have a lot of trust with over the years. And the other comment I would make about all your leaders, all the people get a piece of things they work on. I think that’s a distinct difference between some of the other, quote, invention service type companies, which Pronto Launch is not an invention service. We’re totally different. Is that you don’t know who you’re working with there. It’s just some guy they hired or some person they hired and they’re going to be in a different job in three months. Here, it’s almost like an employee-owned company in a way in the sense that everyone you’re, you as an inventor, the advisors you’re going to work with or in the acquisition company, they’re going to be working with people that feel a sense of ownership of making of that success.

Mike Ryan: Yeah, and that’s really it. I mean, it comes down to. is that contacts is going to separate us from everything. And it’s not just the contacts. Able to help them start, but what about those companies that start to be successful? We also can help them from the beginning phases, get them with the right people. We can help them. What happens if they have 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 items that they need to sell? It’s expensive to get into a warehouse, to tie into a one-year, two-year, three-year, five-year lease. We recommend… Use our services, our shipping fulfillment services for two or three months until you get your feet on the ground and know exactly what you do. What happens if two, three months from now you outgrow your space? It’s expensive to get a lease. You got a lease involved. You got insurances. You have manpower, et cetera. There’s just so many different factors in it that we can actually help them at the beginning while the growth stays. And then what happens down the road? whenever so many times something, so a company goes from my… A zero company to 100,000, half a million, five million. A lot of times what happens, they get to a point where. they have to sell the company because they don’t know how to manage that. We can help them in those areas so they don’t have to prematurely sell their company. Product Genius is brought to you by Opu Probiotics. Pre and probiotics you can pour directly on your tongue in delicious mint and mocha flavors. But the taste is just the beginning. With Opu, you can see improved digestive function, boosted immune system, We’re speaking with Mike Ryan.

Steven Julian: He is the CEO of Pronto Launch. As the slightly annoying co-host, I just have to point out that we were fighting over analogies. I said quarterback, Noah, you said coach, and Mike actually said bus driver. So we had three different analogies. We’ll let the audience decide which one they like.

Noah McNeely: All three of those are necessary for the team to succeed. Oh, well done. You got to get to the football field.

Steven Julian: That’s why he’s the host and I’m just the slightly annoying co-host. I have a very kind of a question, Mike, as someone who’s listening to this for the first time, you and Noah, you obviously have been involved in a long time. Noah is now kind of. part of the team. So as someone who’s just hearing this for the first time, how does it start? Do you start with a conversation? Do you start with a fact-finding? Do you start with an interview? I’m someone who’s got a product. I’m trying to launch it. I’m at whatever phase I’m at. What can I expect if I make that first contact to pronto launch? What is the process like in working with you guys?

Mike Ryan: The first step that we do is to contact us. They can reach us by phone or by email. We’ll reach out to them. Just give them the initial phase. What the bottom line is, is that once they give us an idea of what is it that they would like to do, we recommend them to sign a nondisclosure agreement. That way, that protects them. And then once they get going, we’ll get all the different guidelines, what we have to offer, depending on what their needs are, whether it’s shipping, process, and whatever. We’ll send them information on each one of those needs. And then connect them to the proper people. If they have a design product that they, product design. they want to do, we forward that information over to Noah and we go from there. Depending on their needs, there’s a fee involved in that. It’s a slight fee, but we feel that that slight fee involved is minimum compared to the money that will save them and minimize their cost and time.

Steven Julian: So I’m assuming, and please correct my assumption or refine it if you need to, So if someone comes to you and they’re looking for one particular thing, I really am just looking for help with product design. I really am just looking for help with legal, trademark, patent, that kind of stuff. That’s more on the advisory side. The more of these things that they might be looking for, is that when it starts to tilt a little more toward the acquisition or is the acquisition side more where someone goes, I’ve got a good idea, but I absolutely have no idea what to do with it. And I’m willing to potentially have someone. Have part ownership or acquire it to help me get it to the masses to help the masses. Talk a little bit about that.

Mike Ryan: The first thing is we do our. initial call would be as a free consultation. The key would be is to find out what are their needs. I can’t help them unless I know what their needs are. So what we do is we find out what are your needs? Are you looking for someone who just take over the company? Are you looking for someone? Are you need funding? Do you need? Do you need help across the board? Usually the people that need all the above, so to speak, those are people most likely going to be involved in the acquisition program. If they say that, hey, I have a contact in the marketing end, but we’re weak on sales, as we separate sales and marketing as two different components.

Steven Julian: I’m guessing one of the other things that sets Pronto Launch apart, and again, correct me if I’m wrong, but having talked to Noah long enough and kind of being adjacent to the product development space, I would imagine one of the things is you guys are probably about as transparent as you can be or vastly more transparent in pricing and agreements than other companies that won’t be named here but will certainly be. thrown under the bus in concept.

Noah McNeely: If we name them, then Jody will have to bleep them out later.

Steven Julian: We like doing bleeps on this show.

Noah McNeely: We don’t want to be sued.

Steven Julian: But is that right, Mike?

Mike Ryan: Yeah, I don’t want to say we’re a nonprofit company, but we are. But we have bills to pay, too. And we have, in order for us to provide the best service and take care of our team members, they need to be properly compensated as well. We put together a very, very inexpensive way. I have, I can’t tell you how many times someone calls me and say, I spent $5,000, $10,000 with this company out there. If I would have known you, I would have saved a lot of money.

Noah McNeely: Now I can vouch for that. You know, I’m not going to get on my soapbox about all the scammy companies out there.

Steven Julian: The previous episodes of Product Genius.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, I mean, you wake up your $10,000, $20,000, $5,000 in the hole, and you really have a pretty picture, and that’s it a lot of times with these companies. I’ve got a CAD drawing, Noah. Pronto launches charges are, well, frankly, fractionally minuscule compared to what those scammer companies do to you. Yeah.

Steven Julian: And reasonable and well worth what the service is delivered.

Noah McNeely: Well, because they actually deliver something. Right.

Mike Ryan: Jody. And our program is set where it’s not a long-time commitment. They can be with us for one month. They can be over two months. They can be three months. They can be with us for six months. They can go try doing their own. And then if they realize, you know what, I need some more guidance. I need some more help. They can come back. It’s a very… We’re a very low-key, low-pressure company. I mean, we have to, our goal essentially is that in most cases, you’re dealing with people who feel that they came up with the world’s greatest idea. They hear the horror story that people have been burned, ideas have been stolen, and it’s scary. And their idea can change their life. It can change their family life. And we take that personal. We take that very seriously. And I think once people reach out to us and contact us, They’ll see that we’re a very low pressure company. We’ll be very straightforward that. if we feel it’s a good fit, we’ll tell them. If we don’t, then we’ll also tell them as well.

Noah McNeely: Mike, I was, okay, Steven, if I cut you off here, I apologize if you want to come back.

Steven Julian: Listen, I was just, I’m going to cut you off first. I was going to tell Jody I tried to break you before and it didn’t work. But anyway, go ahead.

Noah McNeely: Very good. So I was going to say, Mike, I was wondering if we could. Sort of tell the Magic Pick story a little bit and actually kind of starting with what you told me recently about, I guess you had dinner with the inventor and his wife and I’d love to hear you say what they told you in that meeting and then kind of go back to how it started and where they came from. And I can fill in some pieces there too, but I think it’s a really good story. I think it’s one, it’s a story that had a lot of ups and downs. And like you said, we had another design firm involved and that didn’t work out well. And all, you know, there. was some turmoil there, but we, you know, part of the magic is we saw it through to the end. So could you tell that a little bit?

Mike Ryan: Yeah, it’s gone actually almost two years for this product. Most light inventions don’t necessarily take that long, but this was a very, very long process. But the bottom line is that what happened was that the inventor had a product invented. It was called Funnel Retriever. That’s how he got the patent under Funnel Retriever. Funnel Retriever, he reached out to a lot of people, went from one thing to another. Bring a lot of issues, didn’t know who to trust, didn’t know who to take care of. One thing led to another. And through a contact who knew me, the inventor knew someone who knew someone type thing, who ended up knowing a company called Cardboard Helicopter out of Cleveland, Ohio, who actually said, hey, who reached out to me and said, hey, Mike, I got a product that I think you do great with this product. It’s a great product. I think it can do change, help a lot of people. So one thing, we reached out to one. design company who thought we were going to get some good advice.

Noah McNeely: Don’t name them by name.

Mike Ryan: I promise I won’t do that. But as it turned out, they were not able to manufacture it. And it designed it in a way that was A, manufacturable, and then B, the contact they had for manufacturing was through a middleman, which we knew was going to drive the price up.

Noah McNeely: And Mike, I remember being on the conference call at the time with you, me, and I guess the president of that company, when he just says, that’s it, I’m done, I’m out. And we never heard from him again. So I guess he realized he didn’t know how to take it any further.

Mike Ryan: Unfortunately, yeah, it gets to a point right now where when I start questioning things, it just was not. So the bottom line is, fast forwarding it, we reached out to Noah, and it just became very clear up front that Noah had the ability to manufacture it because it was such a delicate design. It took a lot of tedious work to get done, and it’s just, I mean, we could not have been any more. happier. And then, just as importantly, is that unlike most other design companies, he was able to get it designed, and then his direct contacts with the manufacturing plant has saved us a lot of time and a lot of money.

Noah McNeely: Let me sing your praises a little bit here, too, Mike, is that this particular inventor, great guy. I love him. He’s awesome. But he needed a lot of coaching, and you handled that masterfully. People, well, engineers out in the world really don’t know how to deal with, but you did a fantastic, masterful job with it. And I think that’s a key element of the success here too.

Mike Ryan: Well, inventors are great at inventing products. They’re not manufacturers. They’re not designers and so forth. So the key is that you’re trying to get people who have their passions there. So you’re trying to submit personalities and so forth to get people to, you know. Mesh together to come at the end of the day, come up with one goal. By fast forwarding. where we are right now is that after an incredible job that Noah did, the inventor first saw the first, well, P1 sample is what’s. called as some people may not be familiar with in the industry. He saw it and he said, I mean, he saw, he said he literally got goosebumps on his arms. He said, this is just incredible.

Steven Julian: That might have been an allergic reaction to the manufacturing process, but go on.

Mike Ryan: Absolutely. So then, and the product wasn’t even finished yet. After a few tweaks and so forth, and anybody knows, Noah knows this, Mike knows this, I’m very particular and detail-oriented. I believe that if you’re going to do something, do it right. Don’t, you know, I kind of like solve problems, I guess you can call that. And what I did was between Noah’s help, the inventor’s help, and so forth, we were able to come up with a product just sort of credible. Because you’re dealing with not only manufacturing the product, you’re dealing with not only designing the product. You got put together the box with Noah’s help. In addition to all that, he actually designed a box. that was just unbelievable. I mean, and yesterday, I met with the owner yesterday, the inventor. I should, not the owner, but the inventor of it. His name. is Michael Sapienza. And Michael is just incredibly appreciative and blessed the fact that where things are right now, him and his wife, he was telling me when they saw the final, the last T1 sample, along with the box, I know I say this a couple of times, she says it was just amazing. Both her and I both had goosebumps. And she says that we are. We cannot express how

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: