Hardware Podcasts

046: Bootstrapping Product Development, Stephanie Cummings & Tal Berke of Shlocker

Product Startup · 28 Mar 2017 · 44m

What this episode covers

Stephanie Cummings and Tal Berke of Shlocker discuss bootstrapping their shower locker business, starting with validating the pain point of shared bathroom theft through surveys and a hardware-store prototype. They navigated complex sourcing for injection-molded plastic components and off-the-shelf locks, ultimately manufacturing overseas to control costs and quality. The founders funded their first 3,800-unit order via Kickstarter, managed fulfillment through Amazon FBA, and are now targeting college bookstores and mass retail while planning product iterations like shower-head mounting options.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Products
Shlocker
Tools
SurveyMonkey
Also
Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Amazon FBA, CAMX, IHA, BuzzFeed

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