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

Steven Julian: Are you ready for the Product Genius Superhero Crossover Event of the Year? Our special guest star, the inventress, teams up with recovering engineer man Noah, and we find out that the slightly annoying co-host, yours truly, Steven, actually has kryptonite because he has a crippling ineptitude of dancing. Next on Product Genius.
Lisa Ascolese: Do you want to be a successful inventor entrepreneur? Struggling to get your product from idea to market?
Steven Julian: Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Lisa Ascolese: Welcome to Product Genius, the down-to-earth podcast that explores important topics about inventing and launching new products. Noah McNeely is your trusted guide. With more than 20 years of product launch experience, he’s here to help you on your journey to become a product genius. Let’s get started. Here’s your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian.
Steven Julian: Hey, that’s my line. Yes, it is another fantastic edition of… Product Genius. From deep inside the conference room, Noah, is this the conference room or the front room or the brainstorming area? Where are we at Product QuickStart?
Noah: This is the round table room. How about we do that? Even though it’s got a square table.
Steven Julian: No, it’s actually a…
Noah: Squarish.
Steven Julian: It’s rectangular.
Noah: It’s a rectangular. table. As an engineer, it’s not a perfect rectangle.
Steven Julian: No, it’s not a perfect rectangle.
Noah: Nothing is.
Steven Julian: No, nothing. Oh, boy. That’s another show. All right. Marking it down. Rectangle. Perfect rectangle show to go along with the different, was it screws? Anyway. Yes, we are at a rectangular-ish or rectangular-roid table in the front room of Product Quick Start. And this is the podcast known as Product Genius. I am your slightly annoying host. Steven Julian, you can tell by the way I’ve already derailed the show. I’m seated next to the intrepid producer Jody Smith. I am seated across from the genius who brings the other geniuses to the table. His name is Noah McNeely. And Noah, we have a fantastic guest today.
Noah: We do. And when I first heard about her, I was really intrigued by the name she goes by because it sounds like a superhero name. It does. So since you and I love superhero movies, I thought, you know. This would be one more good reason to have her on, but seriously, she does a lot for inventors, and that’s why I was excited to bring her on.
Steven Julian: She is the author of the. book, The Inventress’s Guide to Inventing the Right Way. So I guess she is known as the inventress. It is Lisa Ascolese. Lisa, welcome to Product Genius.
Lisa Ascolese: Well, good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for having me.
Steven Julian: Glad to be here. Yeah, thrilled to have you here. So you’re known as The Inventress, and your website is inventingatoz.com. So tell everybody about more than the book. Tell everybody about what it is you do, what your business is, what your consultation is.
Lisa Ascolese: Sure. So my business is Inventing A to Z. You said it right. And Inventing A to Z, I help inventors take their product ideas or their napkin ideas. From that napkin idea all the way to the marketplace and everything in between. Because there’s a lot of in-betweens and a lot of mistakes that people make along the way if they’re not guided or mentored. So my consultation address is just that. So you talk about my consultation. So when I sit down with a client, I walk them through all of the steps necessary. However, we start with a non-disclosure agreement. Very important. Starting with a non-disclosure agreement or an NDA. To assure them that I’m not. taking their idea and sharing it with anybody else.
Steven Julian: So what is the spectrum of businesses or products or inventors and entrepreneurs that you’ve helped? Because Noah’s big thing is specific products you can kind of hold in your hands. He plays an engineer, recovering engineer, all the different jokes we’ve made.
Noah: Yeah, I’m an engineer who actually likes to talk to people.
Steven Julian: So is it simply products or is it also other business types and business ideas that you help people get off the ground?

Lisa Ascolese: So businesses as well, Steven, anywhere from if they have a tangible business idea, a physical business idea that they’re looking to get started, I walk them through those steps as well. In addition to having napkin ideas. Physical invention. Again, as I said, coming with a literally with a napkin idea, something on paper to developing it from that spot all the way to the marketplace, from QVC to HSN, helping them get on Shark Tank and on my show, Inventors Spotlight TV. In addition to this, my inventors podcast. So it varies from, I mean, I’ve done everything from kitchen organizers, electronics. Right now we’re working on a, the electronic piece that. we’re working on is a. It’s a sort of radar detector. Of course, you can’t say exactly what it is, but something like that. Just something as simple as a slicer for a kitchen.

Steven Julian: Nice. So what is your, let me ask kind of how you got involved, how the story of getting you to this point of becoming the inventress, was this something you did in a previous life, previous career? Long-time listeners of this podcast kind of know Noah’s story of how he got into this. So how do you find yourself now being the superhero, the inventress, and helping people get their products to market?

Lisa Ascolese: And believe me, I seriously do feel like a superhero, especially when I’m on the phone at 4 a.m. talking overseas with overseas manufacturers. Take the superhero to do that.

Noah: It takes a special person to do that. I’ve had to be that special person myself. So yes.

Steven Julian: Yeah. The old Shazam character had the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of, yeah. So you need that when you’re 4 a.m The patience of Job is important.

Lisa Ascolese: Right. So I started developing as a kid. I mean, I say born in London, raised in Brooklyn by West Indian parents, right? So that gives you the creativity. The Brooklyn thing, you’re just creative. You’re outside playing all day long and your brain is going a mile a minute. Being from the West Indies, as you know, we West Indian people are constantly developing and creating and working 100 jobs. So as a child, it was a natural thing for me to just create. I played handball outside after school and my shoelaces came untied. So with shoelaces coming untied, I would create something to keep my shoelaces together, okay, and on and on and on. And then I would come to school with a new hairstyle or a new headpiece. Or a new necklace or different types of shoelaces. And my peers would say, where’d you get those from? And I say, I made them. So I would create products and of course sell them to classmates. And that’s how that started. And then moving forward as an adult, I had a child very young. And my first product that I actually sold out to the general public was a breastfeeding cape. It was called the Bosom Buddy Breastfeeding Cape. So that I. had manufactured and literally marketed. Everybody across the United States, different stores across the United States and Canada, I should say. And in those days, it was snail mail. Literally had to get prototypes and mail them. Couldn’t email somebody. We would write, I wrote letters back in those days, physical letters, and ask companies to take a look. And they’d say, sure, send a sample.

Noah: For those people in the audience that are younger, a letter is like an email on paper that you take to the mailbox and it takes a few days to get to its destination.

Steven Julian: Not quite the Pony Express where it was taken by horse, but you did have an infrastructure of people that carried things around. Anyway, sorry for Noah interrupting in the middle of your story. I can’t help it. I know, I know. Yeah, it was good.

Noah: Topics of bad habits.

Steven Julian: Yeah, that was well done. That was well done. All right. Yeah, exactly. So you start as a child. You have your first product that you bring to market, the Bosom Buddy Breastfeeding Cape. I guess, were there other products along the way? And at what point did you go? Did you say, you know, I need to consult and help and I can help other people. So kind of get us to that point.

Lisa Ascolese: Well, yeah, sure. So, I mean, when I saw people buying it, when people started purchasing a product that I made, yeah, and I was very successful at pushing it out myself, but I did need help. I needed help from a patent attorney. I needed help from, you know, I needed direction. So I asked for guidance from people who I thought were, you know, who knew more, obviously. And I mean, for me, all I had back then was a patent attorney. And the patent attorney really didn’t know much about marketing or manufacturing. So, you know, I really had to trip over things and learn it as I went. And as soon as I understood the terrain, I said, I’m going to help every single inventor. I’m going to build a program and help inventors to do the hardest thing that I ever did. Because when you’re an inventor, you both probably know, you’re very passionate, right? You’re developing a product, you’re very passionate, but how do I do it? Who do? I trust? How do I get it out there? So mentorship is very important. I didn’t have a lot of it, but the ones I did have were solid people.

Noah: Yeah, I think just to play off the superhero theme slightly more, you know, I think Lisa’s origin story is really interesting. I mean, she and I both have very different origin stories, but we kind of ended up in the same. Which is one of the reasons I loved when I talked to Elisa earlier meeting you, is we both have the same kind of heart to help people, to help inventors, because we’ve both either been through the experience of not knowing where to get help or not knowing where to get good help, or we’ve seen people that have suffered through that. I mean, you came from London and Brooklyn, which is about as far away from where I came from, which was on a dirt road here in Georgia, as is possible. But we both kind of ended up… With that same passion and love for people that are creative, that are trying to make businesses. So I think it’s interesting how we both kind of. got here.

Steven Julian: Nice.

Lisa Ascolese: Yeah, it really is. It’s pretty amazing.

Steven Julian: So you’ve got these mentors. You’ve kind of been seeing some success with your product. Can you give us the first time that you helped someone else or especially… I guess specifically, maybe it wasn’t yet called inventing A to Z, but what was that transition for you? where you went from, not only can I develop products, but I’m going to help other people and bring them along?

Lisa Ascolese: Yeah, sure. So as people saw my success, I’m going to move forward to QVC. So when I first launched a product on QVC, which was a hair accessory, of course, then people saw me, they saw my products, and of course, they started reaching out and asking. You know, how I could help them. And yeah, so the first person, I’m trying to think of the first person who I actually brought along with me to QVC. And actually so many after that, probably 15 to 20 people after that first, when I knew I could help. So I started doing classes, inventing agency classes. And people, I saw the passion and the interest that people had. And I started. signing them up for consultations, helping them build products, and just getting them off the ground. And that was back in probably 2001. 2001 was the first time I helped the first person with a physical product. Wow. And it was pretty amazing. Really good feeling.

Steven Julian: So when we were kind of getting this show ready, one of the things, and one of these days, Noah, I’m going to stop thinking this way. But I think it’s almost natural in a competitive, you’re a business person, you’re always thinking of your competition and you’re always dealing with stuff like that. So as we started looking at this show, I went, well, wait a minute, Lisa does what Noah does. I mean, it’s not just one section, it’s like almost the entire thing. But what I love is she is coming at this as an inventor entrepreneur, whereas you have come at this. Of being an engineer product designer who helped, you know, went in again, past story, the large companies, things like that.

Noah: So, yeah, I mean, I think she and I certainly have some crossover and we do the same thing in the sense that we are advising, trying. to advise inventors to avoid big mistakes and do the right things. But she can give advice in areas I know nothing about. Exactly. And, you know, vice versa. So I would view us less as competitors, more as.

Steven Julian: Well, I think what I would say is the whole–so as the outsider, as the slightly annoying host who just does independent financial advising, and that’s all compliance allows me to say, I would say that you guys–the whole world of bringing your product to market, there’s 972 things. And while people like you and–well, at least people like you and people like Noah who are–Have done it a lot, have seen all the different angles and know a lot. You also know what your specialty is and you know what you’re really good at. And then you know how to introduce people to the right. To the other right people they need to know. Lisa, you said in your origin, I’m going to use Noah’s words, origin story, you know, the comic book episode or issue one when I was reading about the inventress, you talked about, you know, when you were. kind of starting out, like all you had was the patent attorney and they’re very good at helping you with patents, but not really good, you know, beyond that or didn’t know a lot beyond that. Who are some of the other? People you’ve come alongside and some of the other people you’ve been able to partner with and some of the other things that as you’re helping people go through your class and your book and the podcast and the other ways that you’re helping people take this journey, what are some of the most important roles or assistants that you can go, hey, somebody really needs help with this particular thing or that particular thing? Or is your consultation like, I’ll take care of all this for you?

Lisa Ascolese: So, I mean, I work a few different ways. I give people the opportunity to get my assistance. So somebody comes to me and says, Lisa, I have this idea, but I really, I can’t afford, I can’t afford the services. I can’t afford you to help me all the way. Is there something else you can do? Can we, can we, can you give me baby steps? I give. people a full picture, my full service program, or I’ll help them with baby steps. If somebody comes to me and says, I’ve gotten this far. I developed this product. Now I need X, Y, Z. Can you help me with this without having me pay $1,000 a month or whatever it is? And I’m not saying that’s the right part, but whatever it is, too much money for them. I do help people. I assist them and I’ll direct them. You know, I will direct people in places where I know that they should possibly get some legal help for little or no cost. Okay. I take a look at their, not that I take a look at their finances. That’s your, that’s your job. But I’ll say. What can you possibly do? I’ll give them some help with some financial aid direction or there’s some grants out there. So yes, I do direct people when they can’t necessarily work and pay for, you know, have me work with them. The other thing is you asked me about mentorship and guidance. I have always gone right to a source. I’m not afraid to ask questions ever, right? I’m not. fearful of asking. Anybody for questions. So now I’m going to go back to a hair accessory I developed. I developed a hair accessory called the Bunti. And it was a hair accessory. So I said, why not go to someone who knows about manufacturing hair products or hair accessories? I reached out to a gentleman by the name of Comer Cottrell. You may know who he is. Google him. You’ll find out. Comer Cottrell was the inventor of ProLine products. He’s a big shot. I think he owned a part of some football team. I’m the worst at stuff like that. But I wasn’t afraid to go to him because I said, this guy is the CEO and founder of ProLine Products. And he mentored me through developing my hair accessory. Dionne Warwick, also a mentor of mine. She said, Lisa, why not get into schools, elementary schools, colleges, and reach out and teach other people? And she mentored me through some of the things I didn’t understand. With getting into school districts. So you’re asking mentorship guidance. I ask for mentorship and guidance in spaces that I don’t know. You don’t know everything. I stay in my lane. I go to Noah for engineering advice. This is where we could work together very, very nicely. You know what I mean? I stay in my lane and I ask questions to people who know more than I do, obviously.

Noah: Yeah, from my perspective, people ask me questions. I’m like, I don’t know. You should probably talk to Lisa. And I see that happening in the future.

Steven Julian: Absolutely. And while you developed your own products and brought them to market, clearly one of the things in your story that kind of comes out is that being the face of the product, being the front. Facing salesperson of that product, whether it’s on QVC or getting it into stores and approaching the right people and media, social media, sending out stamped letters and going back to how you started. So clearly getting the buzz around the product is one, but not the only specialty that you have. I do want to ask a little bit about… Because one of the things I think people who work with you and work consultation packages with you will get opportunities to not only have one-on-one consultation, but also some of the connections you have. that you’ve developed and some that you kind of do yourself or help lead at least. So talk a little bit about the Inventor TV. Inventor Spotlight TV. Talk a little bit about that.

Lisa Ascolese: So Inventor Spotlight TV is a musically-inspired television show. Everything I do is musical. It has music around it, surrounding it. So anyway, Inventor Spotlight TV is a musically-inspired show, and I’ll explain why. When you walk on the set, you have to dance on the set, and you have to dance off the set.

Steven Julian: Well, I’m out. I can’t appear. Sorry. I’m already out. That’s part of my backstory that I’m not going to share other than talk right over the guests, and I apologize for doing that, but I’m out. Okay, so you have to dance on the show. You’ve got me. I’m hooked. Yeah, keep going. It has in the air.

Lisa Ascolese: Anyway, so I invite guests on who have products or are looking to get their product license or sold. Looks kind of like a QVC set. And it has a format that gives people the platform to share what the product is, show prototypes where they started and where they are today. And so it’s on YouTube. It’s on my podcast and on my website, inventorsspotlighttv.com. And it’s, again, giving people the opportunity and the platform to showcase and share their product and sell their product on air.

Steven Julian: And when it cuts, so here again, I’m going to just kind of highlight and spotlight one of the differences. While you certainly can help when it comes to, you know, so Noah, again, Noah, longtime listeners of this podcast, like where you get all your energy and where you help people the most is. I’ve got this idea. And then you help them develop the product to where it can go to minimum viable product, all that kind of stuff.

Noah: Yeah. I mean, I’m all about making stuff, not selling stuff, not figuring out how to sell or where to sell or, you know, a lot of the stuff that Lisa does. I mean, she knows about making stuff. Right. Don’t get me wrong. Right. But I do want to correct you. My energy comes from Monster Energy Drinks.

Steven Julian: Oh, OK. What particular brand?

Noah: Monster.

Steven Julian: Oh, Monster. The white ones. They’re not a sponsor of the show.

Noah: The white ones are my favorite. The orange ones are second and the green ones are third place.

Steven Julian: They’re not a sponsor of the show. Yet. Yet.

Lisa Ascolese: I think somebody’s getting paid for that.

Steven Julian: Well, we better. Can you get on that for it? We’ll book a consultation with you and you’ll show us how to get more sponsorship of the show. But we’re still in talks with Frank’s Cheese Hammers. But that’s it. There you go. Threw that in. Got that reference done? There you go. Got it out there, Steve.

Noah: At the risk of interrupting whatever Steven was going to ask next, there’s some questions. When I meet other people that help inventors, there’s a couple of things I like to ask. And if you’re not comfortable answering this with specifics, feel free to change the… The story a little bit to protect the innocent and the guilty. But one of the things I like to ask, what are some of the biggest mistakes or the biggest mistake you’ve seen an inventor make? And what’s one of the smartest things you’ve seen an inventor do as you’ve been through this?

Lisa Ascolese: Biggest mistake, I would have to say, ZZ, hands down, getting a patent for. something that doesn’t exist. Okay. So putting a, rushing to get a patent for something that does not exist.

Noah: Okay, I really like you a lot. You’re already at like nine and a half. You just went to 10. So that’s fantastic.

Lisa Ascolese: Oh, I appreciate that. Let’s try to keep me at 10, all right? So I’ll try to keep me at 10. Yeah, so people will call me up and say, I need a patent. You need to help me get a patent. So what’s the product? Well, I have this idea about this thing. Is it drawn out? No, but I have it in my head and I need to get it patented. Well, what are you going to do to get it patented? Well, I need your help to get it patented. I’m not helping you to get it patented.

Noah: I was going to say, I get the other end of that story where they’ve already got the patent on something that doesn’t exist. And then they come in my office and they’re like, it’s got to be made just like the patent. In five minutes, I’ve already said, well, here’s 12 different, cheaper, better ways to. make it than what’s in your patent. And they’re like, no, no, it’s still got to be what’s in the patent. I’m like, well, nothing prevents anyone else from doing the 12 other ways I just showed you. You realize that your patent doesn’t protect you at all. So same problem, two different angles.

Lisa Ascolese: For sure. And, you know, now you pay, I don’t know, between $5,000 and $10,000 for the utility patent if you received it. I mean, a patent attorney will give you a patent. They’ll allow you to pay for a patent. Of course. You know, without showing them a functioning product. If it’s drawn on paper and you say it works this way, that’s the way it’s seen by USPTO, right? Okay, that seems like a viable, functioning, working product. But this is where Noah comes in. Noah says, well, it looks good on paper, but it doesn’t function. So that’s the big mistake, spending money on a product that does not exist, spending money on a patent for a product that doesn’t exist. I always say you’ve got to have a functioning prototype for us at least. Right, Noah?

Noah: I agree. And also, not only. that, but also challenge your original idea because a lot of times, like I said, people will get patents on an idea, but that’s not the right idea for their business. And yeah, you can make that, but you just made a $100 product for what’s really a $10 problem. So there’s a whole bunch of stuff wrapped up in there. But on a more positive note, Steven?

Steven Julian: No, no. I thought you were going to forget. Well done.

Noah: On a more positive note, what’s one of the great good things or smart things you’ve seen an inventor do?

Lisa Ascolese: A trial. I mean, doing things, trying things on their own, doing their due diligence, researching, doing their research first. Reading, networking, listening to other inventors, listening to podcasts like this and just being open, having an open mind. You know, many inventors think this is it. This is it. My product is the best. And you know, it’s the best and there’s nothing better. But do your due diligence, take the right step, read and understand that you don’t just ask your mom if it’s a great thing because then, you know. She’ll tell you.

Steven Julian: Yeah. All your mom and. your family and friends will all say you’re the smartest person.

Noah: There’s two things that happen there. One, your mom just tells you how great it is, regardless of how great it is. Or two, you realize you have a bad relationship with your mom.

Lisa Ascolese: That’s right. So the good thing is doing their due diligence, really researching, not jumping into, I won’t name any companies, but not just jumping because somebody says. You know, do this now or by five o’clock, you know, this rate is going to go away. And I can help you invent this product and get it on the market for six weeks, in six weeks. I like people who check out those companies, do their diligence, do their fact checking, and have done everything and appreciate guidance.

Noah: Yeah, I think you and I probably both run into some of the invention development companies out there and engineers and, you know, whatnot. Some of them I think may just not know better, but others are, they do come on with that high pressure sales and it’s like, we got to jump on this now and patent attorneys do that too. And I always viewed that. as if you have to give a high pressure sales, then you’re selling from a place of weakness, not strength. And that’s, so yeah, I agree. I think inventors that have gone out and done a lot of due diligence before they even call me. They have a lot more respect for me just right from the first conversation.

Steven Julian: I’m about to say something that is probably the most simplistic and dumb thing.

Noah: Well, that’s your job.

Steven Julian: That’s one of the things. So, Lisa, I’m allowed to ask one dumb question each show, and I’m not allowed to bank them. I have had a string of shows where I haven’t asked a dumb question. As you’ve sat here and kind of laid out what you do and how you can help, and while you and Noah do some of the same things and are generally both trying to help people get their product to market, I think one of the things that clearly comes through is help does not mean doing the work for the inventor and entrepreneur. And I think a lot of times, like going back to the getting a patent. The person goes, I’ve got this idea. in my head, so I need a patent right away. I think I’m sure you could also tell some stories of, yeah, I’ve got this idea, so you’re going to help me, you know, so get it on QVC right now or get it on your network right now, even though it’s just a napkin sketch. There’s a lot of things you do to help. What you can’t substitute for is the work that is going to go in by the person. Whose idea it is? because of the work you put into the shoelace things when you were a kid and the Bosom Buddy breastfeeding cape and the other products that you brought to market. At some point, it’s on the person inventing it and designing it and the entrepreneur. You’re just helping them focus their effort. Is that a fair way to put it?

Lisa Ascolese: That is fair. And I say to my clients, I cannot, or people before they become my clients, right? So I listen to the passion in their voices. And if they’re not passionate. And they’re not determined to do the work. I cannot work with them. I said, I cannot have more passion about. your product than you do because it makes my job more difficult. I mean, this should be fun together. We should be passionate about it together, but their level should be a lot higher than mine. So yeah, if the client is not willing to put in the work and the effort and, you know, for example, I’ll say, when you come to me, when you start working on this product. Start looking at where you want a seat being sold. Have that vision. Where do you want it being sold? And then start doing some investigating about those places they want to sell the product. So there’s always work to be done during the process. So yes, they have to do the work in order for this whole process to be successful.

Noah: Yeah, and that passion is something that there’s no amount of money that they can pay me or you for us to have more passion than they do or to… Put in passion that doesn’t exist there. And I kind of think about that as along the lines of you can’t go out and pay someone to woo your future spouse for you. You know, that’s never. going to work out.

Steven Julian: I thought I saw a movie about that one time.

Noah: It’ll work out.

Steven Julian: Eventually.

Noah: Yeah, but only because they got around to realizing they had to put the passion in themselves, right? They have to do it.

Lisa Ascolese: They have to put the work in.

Noah: For an inventor, now this is not necessarily for corporate. I’ve done a lot of corporate work too and they’re great and that’s fine, but they’re doing their job. They may not have the same kind of passion, but for an inventor, it really, and we did a whole show on this one time, it really is almost like a dating relationship leading up to marriage. I mean, you have to put so much energy into it. You better have passion for it or you’re going to resent having ever started it. And I think that’s something that the really good, successful inventors, they do that naturally. It’s the ones that are out there that I run into that they’re just driven. I just want to invent something. Well, why? I just want to invent something. Well, why?

Lisa Ascolese: Because I just watched Shark Tank last night. I watched Shark Tank. And they. did it. They were picked. Mark Cuban picked them. And they got a million dollars.

Noah: If their passion is to get on Shark Tank, that’s not it. It’s the passion for the thing that may ultimately get you to Shark Tank, but it’s the thing itself you need to have passion for. Whatever problem you’re solving, who you’re helping, whatever element of that you can have passion around, that’s what’s most important.

Steven Julian: Lisa, I want to ask you if… People go to your website, inventingatoz.com, and we’re going to kind of do the full rundown of how people can work with you in the future. I wanted to ask, on the logo, it says the inventress, inventing A to Z, and then it says lifting each other up two hands at a time. That caught my eye, and I’d like to ask you more about where that phrase comes from and why you used the phrasing two hands at a time.

Lisa Ascolese: And what’s left off is sometimes you got to use your foot. And that’s a part of my whole, a part of the mission statement I use. Because we do need, we need to be listed. You know, you. just, you know, sometimes it’s, you know, they say it takes a village, right? I believe Hillary said that. Takes a village to, in order to succeed at anything you want to do. So I believe in taking two hands to my client and saying, okay, pushing them up. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. And using that foot sometimes too, because it takes a lot of passion, faith, up. People surrounding you who are positive in order to be lifted and inspired. Because sometimes people get down and they can’t lift themselves back up. So it takes two hands to get lifted. It takes two hands at a time to get lifted back up.

Steven Julian: I like that.

Lisa Ascolese: Especially in this industry. You follow me? I mean, when you’re starting a business and it doesn’t go the way you want it to go, you fall down. And just a part of my book, I talk about that. Sometimes you get down on your knees and you can’t. You just can’t get back up. You can’t. That passion doesn’t necessarily come back. That drive doesn’t come back. So you need somebody who’s going to lift you up with two hands. I.

Steven Julian: also like the picture, helping someone up with two hands. There are times where you are standing face to face with them. You’re standing up, they’ve fallen down, and you offer your two hands to help pick them back up. But I also like in your story, I also like in telling that, as you were describing it. I didn’t think of the fact that sometimes you’re behind the person pushing them with two hands. Come on, you got to move forward. You got to take this step. You can do it. You can do it. And then that makes more sense. when you go, sometimes you need your foot because I don’t want to do the, y

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: