# 023: Making Personal Connections to Customers with the Cheerbox, Tamar Lucien of Mental Happy

- Show: [Product Startup](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup)
- Published: 2016-10-18
- Length: 59m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m
- Listen: http://theproductstartup.com/tps023-tamar-lucien-with-mental-happy/

## Summary

Tamar Lucien, founder of Mental Happy, explains how she launched the Cheerbox, a personalized care package, starting with a $250 credit card charge and validating demand through a simple LaunchRock page. She details the pivot from a vague concept to a highly personalized product, sourcing items from local crafters to avoid inventory risk, and the critical decision to keep fulfillment in-house to preserve the emotional connection with customers. Lucien also discusses the operational challenges of scaling, including the failure of early outsourced production teams and the importance of maintaining empathy in customer service and product design.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=0) Introduction: Tamar Lucien and Mental Happy
- [2:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=122) Validating the Cheerbox with LaunchRock and Pre-orders
- [6:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=380) Iterating Product Content and Personalization
- [13:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=827) Sourcing from Local Crafters and Managing Inventory
- [15:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=957) Branding, Packaging, and Customer Education
- [24:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=1440) Fulfillment Strategy and In-House Production
- [27:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=1623) Hiring, Firing, and Maintaining Empathy in Operations
- [35:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=2138) Bootstrapping Finances and Securing Investment
- [43:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m#t=2636) Founder Superpowers and Future Product Ideas

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Mental Happy (company)
- Cheerbox (product)
- LaunchRock (tool)
- PayPal (tool)
- QuickBooks (tool)
- Stripe (tool)
- Braintree (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Parachute Home: Ariel Kaye](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-02-05-parachute-home-ariel-kaye) (How I Built This)
- [KiwiCo: Sandra Oh Lin](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-12-25-kiwico-sandra-oh-lin) (How I Built This)
- [Kickstarter, Copycats, and Comebacks: RiutBag’s Rise](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-07-01-kickstarter-copycats-and-comebacks-riutbags-rise) (It's Only a Prototype)
- [Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-02-26-advice-line-with-alexa-hirschfeld-of-paperless-post) (How I Built This)
- [Boxed: Chieh Huang](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2021-02-22-boxed-chieh-huang) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-18-023-making-personal-connections-to-customers-with-the-cheerbox-tamar-lucien-of-m. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Product Startup.