What It's About
A resourceful business major finds pain relief in a unique laptop stand.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
After running a successful Kickstarter campaign, James has plenty of advice for those wanting to do the same. His biggest piece of advice though, is to work backward using the math. By working backward from the funds he knew he needed, he was able to figure out the rough numbers of people he should be emailing and how much he should charge.
Fun Fact
When James first launched The Roost Stand on Kickstarter, he had a modest goal of $9,300 set. Little did he know, he would blow past that on the very first day. After being featured in several popular media outlets, he ended up with pre-orders totaling $189,983.
Notes from Chris
Episode 898
James Olander was working as a Product Manager when he first started experiencing back pain. The cause? Spending hours every day hunched over a laptop at his work desk. This was 2012, and James was far too young to accept the problem as a part of his life. So, he sought professional advice. After a string of disappointing doctors appointments, he was close to giving up. The doctors were able to tell him what was wrong, but they weren’t really able to do anything about it. They described the situation using a garden hose as a metaphor. If you start pinching one end of the hose, it cuts off the water flow further down the hose. Taking that concept to the spine and nervous system, if you’re pinching nerves with poor posture, it’s going to start having an effect on other nerves down the line, which exacerbates everything else. The problem was brought on by that dreaded hunching, caused by a laptop sitting so low that James had to constantly look down to see it. His back was to the wall and he needed a solution. Around the same time, he was also close to turning his back on his full-time job. He planned to get his Masters in Business with the goal of one day running his own company. While mulling this over, he began looking for ways to ease his back pain. With the low laptop being the obvious cause, he searched for adjustable laptop stands that would lift the screen, making things easier on his neck and spine. To his surprise, there was nothing on the market suitable to his needs. He was struck by inspiration—it was time to take a stand! (Or, you know, perhaps invent one…) James decided to make business school his back-up plan. Instead of becoming a full-time student again, he’d create the very laptop stand he was looking for. One that was portable, lightweight, and capable of lifting any laptop up to eye level. A few weeks later, James created his Kickstarter campaign and emailed that list of five hundred eager recipients. Within 24 hours, he flew through his initial funding goal. Much to his excitement, that flurry of activity attracted the attention of a lot of media outlets, including Techcrunch, one of the internet's most popular technology blogs. Within days, The Roost Stand was being talked about all over the internet and funding kept flowing through Kickstarter. James puts a lot of his success with the media down to having actual prototypes for them to test. Many crowdfunding campaigns are raising funds off nothing more than a concept. For James, since he had a working product he was able to send them to many of the bigger outlets so they could do extensive writeups and reviews of the product. This helped immensely. It helped so much, in fact, that by the end of his fundraising he’d generated more than twenty times his initial goal, for a total of $189,000. His business idea was standing on its own two legs. since James started in 2014, he’s sold over one hundred thousand units and is consistently bringing in multiple six-figures annually. A lot of this is reinvested into the brand, but James is most definitely paying himself well—he’s more than replaced the income he was making working as a product manager. Best of all, he’s done this without having to go to business school, instead choosing to learn from the school of life. At this point, James is never turning back.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- The Roost Stand: If working at your laptop is a real pain, take a stand—or, you know, buy one over on James' website!
- TechCrunch | This Tiny, Portable Laptop Stand Will Finally Fix Your Posture: Check out the article written about James and The Roost Stand over on TechCrunch
- Kickstarter | The Roost Stand Version 1 & Version 2: Check out the Kickstarter campaign that started it all
- Shopify: James used Shopify to set up his site for The Roost Stand, and they're offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
SEE ALSO:
- This Standing Desk Costs Just $37: It turns out you can stand around all day and make things happen, as two side hustlers from London prove with their standing desk contraption
- Getting Charged Up: Man Creates One Adaptor to Rule Them All: Tired of a road warrior’s tangle of cables and plugs, a Hong-Kong-based entrepreneur makes chargers and adapters truly current
- Getting Investors Amped Just Takes a Little Jamming: A Toronto science teacher creates an attachable guitar amplifier that pairs with a smartphone, raising more than $250,000 and appearing on Dragon’s Den
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Resources
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