# 015: Becoming the online party supply leader in Australia with Dean Salakas of The Party People

- Show: [Product Startup](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup)
- Published: 2016-08-24
- Length: 55m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th
- Listen: http://theproductstartup.com/tps015-dean-salakas-party-people/

## Summary

Dean Salakas, co-owner of The Party People, explains how the Australian online party supply leader leveraged a Shark Tank appearance to secure a strategic partnership with 3M for custom mounting hooks, which became a best-seller. Salakas details the development of a personalized label range with Avery, highlighting the decision to pivot from a buggy proprietary solution to a Microsoft Word-based template to avoid customer 'teething' issues. He also discusses the company's strategic choice to maintain brick-and-mortar stores alongside its e-commerce platform to gain a competitive advantage in digital advertising and customer experience.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=0) Introduction: Dean Salakas and The Party People
- [3:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=187) Leveraging Shark Tank for Business Growth
- [7:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=472) 3M Partnership and Custom Mounting Hooks
- [12:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=771) Avery Collaboration and Personalization Challenges
- [16:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=995) The Personalization Trend in Party Supplies
- [21:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=1277) Multi-Channel Strategy: Bricks and Mortar vs. Online
- [29:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=1742) Building In-House Tools and Scaling Operations
- [36:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=2197) Operational Tools: Asana and Hootsuite
- [42:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=2524) Lessons from Planning Failures and Bumps
- [48:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-08-24-015-becoming-the-online-party-supply-leader-in-australia-with-dean-salakas-of-th#t=2923) Advice for Startups: Start Niche and Own It

## Topics

- [Retail, wholesale & distribution](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/retail-and-distribution)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- 3M (company)
- Avery (company)
- The Party People (company)
- Shark Tank (product)
- Asana (tool)
- Hootsuite (tool)
- Magento (tool)
- Microsoft Word (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Founder Feature: Marilyn Yang of Popadelics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-04-11-founder-feature-marilyn-yang-of-popadelics) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Max Luthy of Plink!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-04-18-founder-feature-max-luthy-of-plink) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Lindsay Hancock of My Better Batch](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-02-27-founder-feature-lindsay-hancock-of-my-better-batch) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-04-16-advice-line-with-chieh-huang-of-boxed) (How I Built This)
- [Aden + Anais: Raegan Moya-Jones](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-07-17-aden-anais-raegan-moya-jones) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

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