This Standing Desk Costs Just $37

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

How would you like a standing desk for just $37? This is not an ad and it's not a joke. It's a product developed by today's featured side hustlers. You probably know that standing desks are more than just a trend. They're becoming mandatory furniture at wellness-minded companies.

But what about everyone who works on the go? Starbucks doesn't have standing desks and neither do most hotel rooms, co-working spaces, or open offices. Well, enter The Deskmate, a cardboard accessory that can be flattened and carried with you, then transformed into a makeshift standing desk. Two guys in London team up to make it, but not everything goes according to plan. In fact, when they first try to market their invention, they make a big mistake in understanding their customers.

Oh, by the way, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I'm going to say a quick thank you to our sponsor, and I'm going to tell you all about these standout side hustlers. [Music]

We've heard that sitting at work all day is linked to a whole host of negative consequences for our bodies, but can we help it? JP Lockwood and his business partner, Arthur Maisonnier, seemed to think so.

JP met Arthur at Escape the City in London in the fall of 2016. They bonded over their shared love of tea and side hustling as they continued to work on their individual projects. JP was consulting with a financial technology company while Arthur was in the private equity field. The two friends have different personalities. JP says he's the big picture, macro-level thinker, while Arthur balances him out by bringing the micro-level financial know-how to the team.

It was this balance that brought them together as friends and cemented their as-yet-unknown side hustle. You see, they knew they wanted to create a project together. They just didn't know what it would be. By January 2017, they had both moved to working out of London's Google campus, a free co-working space that anyone can use. They were both working on their respective projects but would get together to brainstorm ideas over coffee or lunch.

Or wait, was it tea? I thought they liked tea. Okay, well, tea or coffee or whatever, they were brainstorming ideas, that's the point. Inspiration struck when they got tired of sitting at their desks but had nowhere else to work. Between hours sitting down together and even more hours trying to find a high enough table that would be a comfortable workspace to stand at, their side hustle idea was just waiting to unfold.

When I say unfold, I mean unfold, keep listening. According to the National Health Service, in a cumulative 31 million days of work are lost each year through back, neck, and muscle problems. Poor posture and working conditions are the second highest reason for sickness at work and it costs the UK economy something like $14 billion a year. Where all those figures come from, I have no idea. How is it 31 million days of work and not 30?

Who knows, but again, the point. Standing desks are pricey. They can run anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars. And most models out there aren't portable enough to take with you to a co-working space or to wherever you work. There simply wasn't a good, portable, cost-effective solution on the market.

Well, enter The Deskmate, a foldable platform that turns any table into a standing desk. After three days of coffee-filled brainstorming, or was it tea, the duo realized that a solution to this problem could be easily realized if they could just design something that was light enough for a daily commute, but sturdy enough to hold a desktop. Arthur's background in engineering helped them create a blueprint for an easy foldable platform, but it didn't solve the problem of what they would make their product from. It wasn't until JP lamented to his family about his search for a lightweight material that could withstand a laptop, mouse, hot beverage, and anything else that people might need on their desk that his parents nicely pointed out that his uncle ran a cardboard factory. Perhaps he could try there.

JP ran it by Arthur, picked up the phone and called the factory to inquire about a sample. As soon as that prototype came back, JP turned into the human equivalent of the heart eye emoji. He knew that there was nothing like it. It was light, portable, and easy to use, all the things that he and deskmates potential customers loved. The best part was that since the material used to make the desk was just an incredibly sturdy cardboard, they could price their product at a 10th of the cheapest standing desks available on the market.

And they chose the price of 29 pounds, which is approximately $37. Three weeks and one serendipitous event later, JP and Arthur launched their side hustle. They negotiated with the factory to do a trial run of 50 deskmates. But it wasn't until they learned of a potential pop-up-esque event at a co-working space called WeWork that they had an idea of where they could start selling this minimum viable product. The timing for a deskmate to hit the remote work scene could not have worked out better.

They did the pop-up without a website, without any branding, without any endorsements, or any of the collateral that you're supposed to have. There were just two guys at a table with a product hoping that their idea would reach someone. That day, they sold 10 units and felt that their idea was validated. Once they had proven the market, they then built a website using Shopify, roped in a friend to help them do some design work, and started reaching out to potential customers. And this is where they hit their first big snafu.

Dun, dun, dun. JP thought this product would be an easy sell on Facebook. With the right ad layouts and engagement, they were certain they'd be able to attract the interest of their target audience, millennials, college students, and young professionals. While they tested those Facebook ads, and the response they got was amazing, wait, not amazing, it says awful. Okay, awful response, didn't work.

The concept behind their innovative product was completely lost in translation. In fact, some people were mad, they were outraged, that someone would try to sell them what was essentially a cardboard box for $37. So what went wrong? Well, they thought that since what they were offering was affordable, that college students were going to naturally gravitate toward their product, but it was quite the opposite. Meanwhile, WeWork loved having them at their popups, and they invited them to sell the deskmates at WeWork spaces all over Europe, in Paris, Milan, and elsewhere.

JP and Arthur discovered that the deskmate was more of a B2B business instead. So selling to businesses instead of consumers. Since the deskmate is a highly low cost alternative to your standard standing desk, it's made a perfect fit for businesses looking for a cost effective option for a large team. Just a couple weeks ago, they had a marketing firm in Barcelona request an order for 2,000 units. That turns out to be twice the number of deskmates that they sold for the entirety of 2017, their first year.

So lesson learned to sell to businesses, not consumers. Just because Arthur and JP have startup backgrounds, it doesn't mean everything was seamless. JP says we've made some big mistakes, we've learned a lot, but we always knew we had a product that would sell. And it's so important to get a product out there, even if it's not perfect, because as soon as you can release your product, you can start getting feedback on it. They started this side hustle from the desk up, with a mission to create something simple, easy to use, and most important, that didn't cost an arm and a leg, or a back or a neck to use the old expression.

Since then, they've already elevated the deskmate by adding other products to their site, like a carrying case and a single level desk, spurred by customer feedback from people who said they wanted a laptop specific option. They're not exactly sure what the future holds, but JP and Arthur know it probably doesn't involve a lot of sitting around. When they're not working at their day job or selling the deskmate, they'll be too busy coming up with their next product. These guys deserve a standing desk ovation. Well, how about that for a lesson learned in marketing?

You think, hey, I've got this standing desk, it's super cheap, it's made out of cardboard, but it still works, it costs $37, surely college students and young professionals and millennials are the market for this. I mean, it makes good sense, it sounds logical. They'd had good feedback from the people they'd shown it to, but when they actually go out and market it to that intended market, it doesn't work so well. They start getting negative feedback, mostly from people who haven't actually seen the desk, like they've only seen a picture on Facebook. So technically it is a mistake, potentially a big mistake, but it's also the kind of thing where if you don't do it, you're not really gonna know.

In hindsight, it makes sense that this would be a more successful project marketed to businesses and corporations like what they're doing now. But again, they didn't know that until they experimented. They started with a strong product, they really believed in the product. And there was a question of, okay, where do I find the right audience for that product? As opposed to starting with an audience and then thinking about the product.

There's a couple of different ways you can do it, and it really just depends on what you're making and who you are and what your goals are. So congratulations to the Standing Desk team. It really is a standout success. And to our listeners, thank you for being part of Side Hustle School. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Don't forget, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes, including a feature on the $37 Standing Desk are at sidehustleschool.com/569. If you have a comment or question for the show, give me a call on the Hustle Hotline that number is 8449 Hustle or 8449487853. You can also send me an email at podcast@sidehustleschool.com. I'll be back again tomorrow with another story.

My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School.