Dental Dreams and Endless Flossibilities
About this episode
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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:
• [01:20] Samantha Coxe’s journey, from growing up as an Irish Twin in Southern California to starting her electric floss brand, Flaus.
• [07:02] Her entrepreneurial tendencies, creative side, and golfing experiences as a child.
• [10:47] What prompted Samantha to study law and her experience working in Mergers and Acquisitions.
• [18:00] Coming up with the idea for ‘Flaus’ after a dentist’s appointment and running with it.
• [21:41] How an Indiegogo Campaign forced her to leave the law firm where she worked.
• [25:33] Choosing to run a crowdfunding campaign despite her doubts.
• [32:16] The role of angel investors in fuelling the manufacturing process.
• [37:35] Manufacturing glitches during the first product run.
• [43:23] Pivoting to a hard launch of the product.
• [44:30] Pros and cons of breaking up the manufacturing process.
• [46:30] Words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs.
• [48:36] What’s next for Flaus; including rolling out the second edition.
To Find Out More:
Quotes:
“I discovered [that] flossing is a massive pain point for most people. It dropped right into my lap. I never thought I was going to work in oral care!” [0:19:25]
“Before I wanted to invest a single dollar into Flaus, I [wanted] to get some external validation into this idea other than my friends and family. So I actually sent out a SurveyMonkey.” [0:20:02]
“Customers on Indiegogo understand that they’re buying the first generation of a product. They understand that they are backing something innovative that’s being created.” [0:26:32]
“Hardware is very much an iterative process so I knew that the first product was not going to be perfect.” [0:26:55]
“Working with a crowdfunding agency is really critical to having a successful campaign.” [0:28:43]
“Crowdfunding is all about the FOMO, you want to start off really strong.” [0:30:48]
“A lot of people get really focused on all [the] features you can add to things, but when you’re coming out with your Beta product, for us, we were so focused on the MVP.” [0:35:57]
“Luckily, because we were so small we could be so nimble. It was such a blessing in disguise.” [0:36:59]
“There’s no better investment than an investment in yourself.” [0:46:30]
“It’s so much more valuable to [build] with customer feedback than to build in secrecy.” [0:47:16]
“Finding mentors is so important.” [0:47:35]
“You can learn from other people’s successes and failures. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.” [0:47:53]
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