Hardware Podcasts

UPPAbaby: Bob and Lauren Monahan

How I Built This · 29 Mar 2021 · 53m

What this episode covers

Bob and Lauren Monahan, co-founders of UPPAbaby, explain how they launched a modular stroller company in 2006 by targeting an 'entry-level luxury' price point and appealing to both design-conscious parents and dads. Bob, formerly of Reebok and Safety 1st, leveraged his engineering background to create a high-quality aluminum stroller, while Lauren managed sales and marketing, securing early adoption from celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Brooke Shields. The company scaled rapidly by focusing on specialty retailers, offering favorable margins, and expanding their modular system to accommodate multiple children, eventually growing to over 100 employees and sales in 50 countries.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Reebok, Safety 1st
Products
UPPAbaby, Quinny, Bugaboo, Easy Leaf Hauler
Also
Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Product Startup · 49m

    087: Purpose is a Big Part of Consumer Product Success

    Paul Rowan, Co-Founder of Umbra, explains how he built a global household product brand starting with a single window shade product in 1979. He details the evolution of Umbra’s purpose from a career launch to a strategic mission of 'democratizing design' by creating modern, affordable, and innovative home goods. Rowan emphasizes the importance of professional presentation, stakeholder collaboration with retailers, and diversifying product lines to manage risk while scaling. He also discusses how Umbra leveraged student design collaborations and community engagement to maintain relevance and drive innovation in a competitive market.

    Industrial & consumer product designStarting a product company
    10 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 41m

    Founder Feature: Zoe Levin of Bim Bam Boo

    Zoe Levin, founder and CEO of Bim Bam Boo, discusses building a tree-free paper company from the ground up, leveraging her family's history in the industry to avoid past pitfalls. She details the strategic pivot from a niche vulva-health messaging to a broader sustainability and convenience-focused brand, which enabled expansion into major retailers like Whole Foods and Target. Levin also shares insights on product innovation, specifically designing packaging with handles and cup-holder-friendly formats to solve consumer pain points, and her approach to bootstrapping before securing growth capital.

    Packaging designMarketing & brand
    6 chapters

  • Product Startup · 55m

    018: Re-inventing the walker with Jennifer Harris of Motivo

    Jennifer Harris, co-founder of Motivo, explains how she and her design partner Jeremy Canopo reinvented the mobility walker by applying user-centered design to a stagnant market. They worked with over 300 users to develop the Motivo Tour, a sleek, contemporary walker that addresses the stigma and ergonomic failures of traditional bent-tube models. The episode details their journey from garage prototyping to scaling production, highlighting their decision to manufacture in the USA and maintain control over shipping and quality to ensure a premium customer experience.

    Industrial & consumer product designPrototyping & iteration
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 28m

    Founders Feature: Lucy Dana of One Trick Pony

    Lucy Dana, founder of One Trick Pony, explains how her brand pivoted from a standard jar to an upside-down packaging design that eliminates oil separation in their two-ingredient Argentinian peanut butter. She details the operational headaches of early production, including lid fitment issues and a container shipment disaster, and how solving this customer pain point shifted the brand from fighting for retail placement to receiving inbound interest from major club retailers. Dana discusses leveraging viral social media content to drive this demand, her background at Uber and Blue Bottle Coffee, and her strategy as a solo founder scaling from natural channels to mass retail.

    Industrial & consumer product designValidation & product-market fit
    9 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 30m

    Founder Feature: Tabi and Meena Hoshmand of Tursh

    Tabi and Meena Hoshmand, co-founders of Tursh, discuss bootstrapping their Afghan-inspired green chutney brand from their respective homes in New York and Los Angeles. They detail the product's development based on their mother's recipe, the strategic decision to hire an external designer to translate their cultural vision into commercial packaging, and their cautious, slow-and-steady approach to scaling into boutique retail. The sisters also reflect on the emotional journey of reconnecting with their heritage and the operational realities of running a two-person, side-hustle CPG business.

    Starting a product companyPricing, margins & unit economics
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.