Jason Greenspan, the founder and CEO of Whoosh!, a screen-cleaning product that’s on track to make over $5 million in sales this year. Listen as Jason and Nathan talk about creating a start-up with a physical product, what good margins look like, and how to convince people they have a problem.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Purple Cow
What CEO do you follow? — Kevin Plank
What is your favorite online tool? — Pipedrive
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely not
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — To start a business then! It’s much easier before you have responsibilities.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
01:44 – Welcoming Jason to the show
01:54 – Whoosh! is a best-selling screen-cleaning spray and wipe
03:05 – Was on the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den
03:40 – Founded in 2009
03:50 – Pivoted in 2012 from making car-cleaning products
04:05 – Knocked a cleaning product onto his iPad by mistake
04:30 – Filled one-ounce bottles and handed them out at CES - never looked back
04:55 – Entirely self-funded and currently profitable
05:10 – Looking to raise $5 million this spring to fund growth
05:30 – Wiped over 1.5 million screens over the last year
06:30 – Total revenue in 2012 just under $1 million
06:39 – Total revenue in 2016 will be $5-10 million
07:00 – The formula is proprietary - they manage a supply chain
07:40 – The Whoosh! Go sells for $10 - what are the margins on that?
07:55 – Retailer takes a 25-50% gross margin
08:20 – A good gross margin on a physical product is 40-50%
09:02 – A good net margin is around 5%
09:35 – Spending very little on acquisitions
10:00 – We’re building through the wholesale channel - probably 90% of sales
10:24 – 10 full-time employees
10:40 – How do you value a product company?
10:50 – Valuation is on topline revenue and growth
12:30 – Whoosh! is a sticky product once people try it
13:20 – Biggest growth opportunity is convincing the market that there’s a problem
15:40 – Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Grab opportunities when you see them. Whoosh! was founded by capitalising on an accident.
Start your business now. Waiting longer isn’t going to make it easier.
If you’re dealing with physical products, you should be making better than 5% margins.
Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives