Advice Line with Jamie Siminoff of Ring (August 2024)

21 Aug 2025 · 52 min

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Podcast Episode Notes: How I Built This with Guy Raz - "Advice Line with Jamie Siminoff of Ring (August 2024)"

Episode Overview In this episode, Guy Raz is joined by Jamie Siminoff, the founder of Ring, to answer questions from three entrepreneurs about balancing short- and long-term goals as they navigate their business challenges.

Key Themes

  • Entrepreneurial Journey: Insights into the struggles and breakthroughs faced by entrepreneurs at different stages of their ventures.
  • Advice on Business Strategy: Practical suggestions on product launch strategies, pricing, and marketing.
  • Importance of Authenticity: Emphasis on creating a genuine connection with customers through storytelling and ethical practices.

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Segment Breakdown

Introduction

  • Guy Raz introduces Jamie Siminoff, who shares an update on his current ventures after leaving Ring.
  • Jamie discusses his new company focused on creating platforms for independent contractors.

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Caller 1

Vico - ErgoFlex Desk

  • Background: Vico is launching a patented ergonomic desk with unique tilt capabilities for various user needs.
  • Question: Seeking advice on preparing for a successful Kickstarter campaign.
  • Key Insights:
  • Niche Targeting: Jamie suggests identifying specific communities (e.g., architects, gamers) to target for the Kickstarter campaign.
  • Influencer Partnerships: Collaborating with influencers in different fields to create buzz and leverage their follower base.
  • Market Research: Understanding customer needs to refine the product and marketing strategy.

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Caller 2

Ian - Luji's Chocolate

  • Background: Ian’s chocolate brand incorporates unique West African ingredients and a commitment to ethical sourcing.
  • Question: Balancing pricing strategy with accessibility without compromising quality.
  • Key Insights:
  • Value Proposition: Discussing the importance of unique flavor offerings over ethical narratives in attracting customers.
  • Pricing Strategy: The advice to start with a premium pricing model to reflect quality while also planning for future cost reductions as volume increases.
  • Brand Story: The importance of authenticity and storytelling in building brand identity.

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Caller 3

Francesca - Thrive 12

  • Background: Francesca provides educational resources and classroom posters focused on diversity.
  • Question: Should she pursue certifications (like women-owned business) to gain visibility on platforms like Amazon?
  • Key Insights:
  • Certification Value: Weighing the cost versus potential visibility benefits for her business on Amazon.
  • Market Scope: Expanding her target market beyond schools to include businesses and nonprofits.
  • Tactical Marketing: The potential of creating partnerships and leveraging local success stories in her marketing.

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Conclusion

  • Jamie reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the perseverance required in the face of uncertainty.
  • Insights are shared on the evolving landscape of marketing and consumer engagement in today's economy.

Final Thoughts

  • The episode highlights the challenges and strategies that entrepreneurs face while launching and scaling their businesses, underscoring the importance of community, authenticity, and adaptability.

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Key Takeaways

  • Niche Focus: Targeting specific communities can enhance marketing efforts and product relevance.
  • Authenticity Matters: Genuine stories resonate more with consumers than generic marketing.
  • Pricing Strategy: Consider the long-term implications of pricing decisions based on volume and market positioning.
  • Leverage Resources: Certifications and partnerships can offer significant advantages in competitive markets.

Call to Action

  • Listeners interested in being featured on a future Advice Line episode can send a voice memo or call to share their business challenges.

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Additional Resources

  • Sign up for Guy Raz’s newsletter for insights from top entrepreneurs.
  • Explore previous episodes of How I Built This for more entrepreneurial stories and lessons.

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These notes aim to encapsulate the essence of the podcast episode, highlighting the discussions, key insights, and practical advice shared among the participants.

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Transcript

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3:16out.

3:24Hello and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week, I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show who will attempt with me to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with. You can also send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wondery.com. And make sure to tell us how to reach you.

4:06And also, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter. It's full of insights and ideas from the world's greatest entrepreneurs. You can sign up for free at gyros.com. And we'll put all this info in the podcast description. All right, let's get to it. Joining me this week is Jamie Siminoff. He's the creator of the Ring video doorbell. Jamie, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me back on. It's great to have you. Jamie, I remember when you were on the show back in 2020 to, of course, tell the story of how you created Ring. You were, you know, you are, were and are a tinkerer. Like you made your first prototype.

4:46It would become the Ring doorbell like in your garage, right? That's exactly. Yeah. I was in my garage and couldn't hear the doorbell and just got an iPhone. And, you know, like anyone, just build your own Wi-Fi doorbell. Yeah. And, of course, you pursued that idea, which was a bet that would eventually pay off in spades when Ring was acquired by Amazon. But there was a lot of false starts. It was a – you were on Shark Tank and that didn't work out. And you shipped thousands of doorbells that didn't work initially. Yeah. Since you've been on the show, give us an update of what's going on in your life right now.

5:18So I ended up leaving Amazon and Ring about a year ago. I started a company called Honest Days Work, which the idea was that there's better ways to build platforms for independent contractors, especially the ones that really care about the job, which we call the Honest Days Worker. I then merged that into a public company that had a lot of trouble that was doing door locks and systems for apartments. So if you think about it, apartment buildings are amazing places for independent contractors because there's a lot of scale right there. So we kind of merged that in and then we bought another company called HelloTech and kind of put this whole thing together and we're trying to build a new way of doing property management.

5:59And we're rebranding the company to Door and door.com. You know, I do love a four letter domain name. And so I've been in the process for like the last year of kind of turning something around. And it's really, you know, a lot of ways with these callers, you know, thinking about it, like I'm kind of back with them in a lot of ways, you know. You're back in square one. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. All right. Well, let's bring in our first caller, Jamie, and see if we can help him out. Yeah. Hello, caller. Hi, guy. Hi, Jamie. Thank you for having me on. Hello, hello. Please tell us your name. Tell me where you're calling from and a little bit about your business.

6:33My name is Victor Hugo Hernandez, or as my friends and family like to call me, Vico. I am calling in from Orange County, California. And tell me a little bit about your business. I am the inventor of the ErgoFlex desk, a smart desk that's about to launch into the market later this year. Got it. Okay. We're going to ask you about this in a moment. And what's your question that you brought for us today, Victor? Well, my question is, since we're looking to launch in a couple months here, we are looking to launch a Kickstarter campaign, a crowdfunding campaign, And we'd like to get some insight on how to best prepare and complete a successful campaign.

7:10Cool. All right. Well, you're in the right place, Victor. Let's start with a little bit about what you're creating. So these are ergonomic desks. I'm assuming this is like what you mean by that. These are like standing desks or sitting desks, or they're designed to make sure your posture is right and you're not going to get carpal tunnel syndrome and all that stuff? Yes, exactly. It's actually a sit and stand desk that I recently got a patent for late last year for its tilt capabilities. So in addition to sit and stand, it tilts up to 70 degrees. Oh, nice. Originally for my purpose was for it to turn into an artist easel.

7:44And now everything's motorized, controlled through an app, and soon you'll be able to control it through a voice command for people with disabilities. Oh, so you can control it through an app. So it's all electronic. And how did you, are you an artist? Tell me how you came up with this whole thing. My background was visual arts. I studied in Cal Poly Humboldt, and mainly my focus was sculpture, graphic design. And I started my career up there doing that kind of work, and I wanted to get a desk. And the sit-and-stand desk had just come onto the market, so I went to purchase one, but I couldn't find anything that was really suiting to what I was needing.

8:22So I decided to create my own desk, and that has been a seven-year journey now. Wow. From a very hands-on mobile desk unit to now pretty much a robot desk that can sit, stand, tilt. And then I also added omnidirectional ground movement powered wheels at the bottom so that the desk can be driven, kind of like an RC car. It's all connected through Wi-Fi. But it doesn't do the work for you. It doesn't do the work for you. You still have to do the work, Jamie. Still have to do the work. Okay, I just want to make sure. I don't know where the autonomy stops. I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, you still got it.

8:58But wow, it's like the coolest remote control car. Can I ask you a question, Victor, about who do you imagine using this desk? Artists, drafts people, or just anybody in an office? Yeah. So, I mean, because it tilts up to 70 degrees, it can really be used for pretty much most applications. So like a drafter for architecture is about 35 to 40 degrees. And then just for your ergonomics, as far as your shoulders and your neck and strains, right and also for people with disabilities um uh i have somebody in our family who has a disability and that's something that is important to me to be able to serve that underserved community um and so i soon realized that this actually would uh benefit a lot of people and increase their creativity as well so to your question of the pre-sale kickstarter what's worrying me right now is that you have a lot of customers but fringe on each one like i'm a stand up i mean i'm standing now i don't actually even own a chair in any office that i have so you don't own a chair in any of your offices i don't good for you and and i and i could buy one i mean i just want to like just so you know i mean i could if you need me to send you one jamie let me know i appreciate it but i but i i'm a so i'm a standing person but the tilt for me wouldn't help me like like the way i work what I'm doing like that wouldn't be like I'm not doing artist things and so I think on each one of these categories you're like in sort of a piece and so the thing about Kickstarter is you need to get like obviously groups into it so how do you find what are the other like top three somewhat niche small communities that you could enter into to get to sort of buy this that's how I'd be looking at it you know because niches can be still big it doesn't mean they're small yeah but how do I find them?

10:43Like, how do I find this person that wants this? Like an architect or even like a nurse in like a hospital, right? Like you're talking about specific types of people, Jamie, right? Yeah. Yeah. My goal to that effect was I'm going to try to partner up with about five different influencers in different spaces, right? That have a good following, one in the ergonomics field, one in the gaming, one in the cultural celebrity field, one of the visual artists. And we will design a custom unit for them. And then one will go off to the raffle for the crowdfunding campaign so that any follower of theirs can, you know, have a minimum donation of a$1,$5, and then be submitted to the raffle.

11:22Got it. Okay. And tell me how you, and do you have a prototype, a working prototype? Yes, actually it's consumer ready. So it actually, my engineer, I flew him out from the Philippines. We pretty much put the final touches on all the sensors, all the safety. It has collision detection. So if it was to collide with anything on any motors, everything stops. I'm about to meet with him really soon. And we're about to get the code to do the voice control so that you'll be able to tell it to go to a certain height, tilt to a certain angle, maybe rotate certain degrees. And then later down the line, the AI camera also will be available for you to be able to say, hey, Desk, come over here.

11:58And so, you know, I think that really for people with disabilities, that's going to be a really huge benefit if somebody's bedridden or, you know, in a wheelchair. yeah like hey desk bring me my my lunch or or i could be like but if i said hey desk can you go run jamie over it wouldn't do it'll collide it'll stop well actually it'll stop it'll be like oh there it might do it if you ask it to i'm gonna override that hey desk go bug jamie just go bump him i mean and again this is where like it's it's um there's a lot there and it's a like as you talk it's like a little all over the place though i think it's like for example if you maybe just focused on people that are in some ways don't have the capability to move around, like they might be able to access insurance to buy the desk.

12:43And so I think there's like interesting things. It's just the one thing I worry about when I hear something does everything is that it's hard to sell it. And it's like, even in my own, in my new business, I have that problem of like trying to boil things down to focus it. And it's very hard to do that because a lot of things can do a lot of things, but it's really like the magic a lot of times comes from focusing it. Well, right now, Victor's got one issue on his plate, right, which is Kickstarter. You want to launch this on Kickstarter. Jamie, you didn't launch Ring on Kickstarter, but you did a crowdfunding campaign.

13:16Yep. And so Victor's trying to figure out, like, what should he do, right? And so, like, the obvious things are make a video. And I know you've got a video on your website that I'm looking at right now, but you got to make a better video. and how do you like how does he get attention for this thing how does he get people like psyched to be like I want that thing I mean it's like feels so TikTok-y of like the driving to someone who has a disability or like sort of from the emotional side of TikTok to the fun side of doing things like it feels like there's just so many little bites that you could have at that that could go viral yeah I mean I can imagine a video where you've got like you've got like a couple people just like carrying this really heavy desk from one part of a room to another.

13:59And then you come out and you're like, why do you have a heavy desk in one spot? Like the future is a desk that moves for you and that you can stand and sit, something like that. I've referred to this several times on the advice line, which is liquid death. And Jamie, I know you probably know this story, but Mike Cesario didn't have a big budget when he launched that brand. He spent$1 ,500 making a viral video that went truly went viral. I mean, you may have seen it. It's like the last scene is somebody just kind of it's kind of crazy. But he did this somebody being waterboarded with liquid death, right?

14:39Like he was really kind of playing into the absurd. But you can imagine like with a small budget and a couple of iPhones making a really funny video that also shows the functionality. Like to me, that's that's where you got to start. I totally agree. Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, some of those are just amazing as I sit here and drink Liquid Death right now. And so I do think it doesn't have to be outlandish. Outlandish could be in your own way. It doesn't have to just be crazy. It can also be very emotional. And I think you sound like someone also who has grounded in some things that are more emotional about what you built.

15:19And I think if you can try to get that out, that can also be as viral as waterboarding someone with a can of water, which is pretty hysterical, I think. Yeah. I wonder, Jamie, is there a risk, but like given that that Victor is trying to create a mass appeal product, like if initially he's focusing on, you know, folks with disabilities, which obviously this is designed to also appeal to, would it send a signal that this is specifically for folks who have limited mobility or rather than anyone, like just anyone who wants a standing sitting desk? I think for sure what you might want to do is break the brands up.

15:55Like you might want to have a gaming one that's a little bit set up differently under a different brand. It could be like something like, you know, Gamer Extreme Desk by Vico. And then it's like, you know, Healthcare Desk by Vico. It could be like, you know, kind of buy or you could do something to sort of do that, but it doesn't sort of translate over to something else. Yeah, no, that is great advice. That's kind of where I've been working on straddling. I mean, I have my business plan and I know that we can benefit a lot of different sectors. But yes, it's all about how to tailor the message for each sector and not muddy up the waters.

16:28I'm hoping that there's one that's big enough to be a business. Because if you have to do multiple to be a business, I really worry that you're going to have trouble being a business. So hopefully one of those. I don't know how big disability is in general, but it might actually be that just that alone is so big. It might be. That that's a business. And then you can do gaming off of that and all these other things, especially as you get your costs down and you're manufacturing better and all the other sort of pieces solved. Yeah, I also see it as like you will discover this over time. Once you put this out into the world, you'll start to see where you're getting traction and who's interested in the product.

17:07And that often helps people figure out where their market is. They might have been targeting a completely different market only to discover that this group of people uses it this way and that your consumers, they kind of show you the way. And that's what's just so awesome about presale in general and Kickstarter is that you're not surveying. You're getting money votes. And when people vote with their dollars, it's very different than when they're voting with a survey. All right. And when do you hope to launch it? Hopefully in a couple of months. Yeah, so hopefully it'll be live around September so that the holiday season can be a great start for everybody.

17:52Cool. The company's called Ergo FlexDesk. Victor Hernandez, thanks. Good luck, man. Good luck, Victor. Thank you so much, you guys. I really appreciate you guys, and you guys are an inspiration, how I built this. And Jamie, thank you so much for everything, my friend. Awesome. Thanks, Vico. Take care. Thank you. Jamie, you must have had remote control cars, like the Frog and... Frog, everything MRC Tamiya, was it? Yeah, those were so sweet. Remember how fast... That's really what taught me engineering. Yeah, I bet. I remember you talking about that. That's right, we talked about that. Electric, like electric everything, yeah.

18:30We talked about the Frog I remember, but I can hear that on my street where I grew up in the San Fernando Valley that going down the right music to my ears yeah oh my god it was so sweet they went so fast and then they would crash and break and then you'd have to like fix it that was the best part is like when they broke you had to like fix it and you know you learned i kind of now i mean i don't think the ergo desk is gonna do that like to go that i don't know but i mean right eco maybe i mean as vico was talking it's gonna it's gonna like go get food for you and bring it back i mean It's like a door dasher.

19:04It's like your own door dash robot. Yeah. All right, Jamie, we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, luxury Nigerian chocolate that will spice up any dinner party guaranteed. That's after the break. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening to The Advice Line right here on How I Built This Lab.

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22:16Welcome back to the Advice Line on How I Built This Lab. I'm Guy Raz, and my guest today is Ring founder Jamie Siminoff. So, Jamie, let's bring in our next caller. Hi, Jamie. Hi, Guy. I'm so excited to talk to you both. How's it going? Welcome. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business. Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Ian Akilabi Aladumeji. Everyone calls me Ian. I'm calling from Baltimore, Maryland, and I'm the founder of Luji's Chocolate. So we sell delicious chocolate bars made with unique West African ingredients. And for every bar we sell, we actually give back a cocoa tree seedling back to a farmer where we source our cocoa from.

22:58Amazing. Okay, and what's your question for us today? I'd love our bars to be more accessible, But as a bootstrap company, we're priced a little bit higher than I would like right now. So how should we think about our pricing strategy to remain affordable to our customers without compromising our commitment to quality and ethical sourcing and also ensure like the financial health of our business in the short and long term? All right. We'll get your question in a moment. I've got a bunch of questions. Jamie does, I'm sure, as well. Let's start with your product. So you, these are, this is chocolate made and sourced in specifically in, in West Africa, but in a specific country or?

23:36It's specifically in Nigeria. Exactly. So we sell chocolate bars that are made in Nigeria. Nigeria. Okay. And most of the world's chocolate comes from Ivory Coast and Nigeria and like, and, and these countries, right. In, in West Africa. and uh and i guess you what you discovered that not a whole lot of it's actually made there just that the raw materials are shipped and then it's made in europe or in the u.s or in south america or in asia exactly yeah so like in 2019 when i lived in ghana i basically found out that over 70 percent of cocoa is grown in west africa but less than one percent of chocolate is actually manufactured there and basically once i learned that stat i knew i wanted to be part of changing it.

24:18And that's why I started Luji's Chocolate. I'd actually love to, yeah, like why? So it's like it's produced there, but it's not made there in terms of like the actual finished product. Why does that matter? So basically most of the chocolate you find on your grocery shelves today are not made there. Typically they buy the cocoa from like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, then they ship it to the US or Europe and that's where they actually produce the chocolate. So what that means is, as you can imagine, most of the value addition, the money, the resources don't actually stay within that community. And then also a lot of them follow like a very typical and formulaic manufacturing process.

24:57Unfortunately, they're like a ton of middlemen between the farmers and the end users. A lot of them also have really negative and unethical sourcing practices. And then something that's really important to most customers is like most of the chocolate we see on the shelves, they're like really boring. They use the same ingredients. But I think some people are also, a lot of chocolate lovers are really into unique inclusions that maybe could be local to the region where we're actually sourcing from. But the big thing is that by making it there, that instead of them being commodity farmers that are just getting bought by pound by some middleman distributor, now they actually can be part of the value that's created in chocolate.

25:35And that's meaningful to them and their communities. That's meaningful to them and their communities, as well as the person buying the chocolate, because essentially your purchase is making an impact where you bought it. And then the actual, like our best seller, we have a ginger with plantain chips flavor chocolate bar, and we also have a spicy suya. Suya is a West African blend. So what you're actually buying is like a different type of chocolate as well. So what's your background? What do you do? What have you been doing for most of your career? And is this your full-time gig right now? So as far as educational background, I studied chemical engineering, but I've never worked as a chemical engineer.

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26:18I hated it. And I've always worked in technology. So right now I work in like a low-code SaaS company, like as a product expert. And right now it's not my full-time gig, but however, it's my second job. I don't think of it as a side hustle because I feel like I work two jobs right now. Okay. So I'm looking at the website and I love your colors. I love the design scheme. I think that's super cool. So one interesting thing is, and I just learned about this recently, one of the top selling chocolate brands in Europe is Tony's Chocoloni Chocolate. And this is a relatively new brand, and it's a brand that was started by – basically the story is it was started by an ex-journalist who discovered how chocolate farmers are exploited, and he wanted to create a more ethical chocolate brand.

27:08But from what I've learned, that isn't why the brand has been so successful. The story, you can see the story on the back of the bar, but I would go out on a limb and say most people aren't reading it. And the reason why the brand is successful is because it tastes really good and it looks like a cartoony chocolate. Like it's got this cartoony logo on the front and it's sold in the U.S. as well and around the world. And I think that while there's no question, there is a segment of the consumer market that is going to be interested in supporting what you do. I think your biggest value proposition is ginger plantain crunch is like these really interesting, unique flavors.

27:56I don't know. Jamie, what do you think about that? It's a balance. You know, my good friends of mine started Bull and Branch, Missy and Scott Tannen. And they sort of had a similar thing to you, which is like they found out about cotton and that cotton, the way it's grown and like this sort of like how it affects communities in the places it's grown in India. And so they did a good job early on of doing that. But Guy, to your point, I think people buy Bull and Branch sheets because they're great sheets. I didn't even know that story. That's right. I just knew that they make good sheets. But that was what was behind it.

28:28And I do like, I think there's something about authenticity behind a brand that matters. And so I love that it's not like you're just not trying to build like XYZ chocolate. But I do, I think with Guy, I think you're right. I think the consumer, sadly, like, maybe it's not sadly, but you're right. Like, they're going to like an interesting flavor of something. And that's probably going to trump any sort of, you know, story which helps. But maybe, I think you're right. No, I 100 % understand what you're saying. And I actually, I think as far as like my messaging initially, it was like, because of the reason I started it, it leaned a lot heavier on the impact aspect.

29:07But I've learned and it's starting to pivot more into like our, like our flavor profile. But I think what's challenging with that sometimes, and it feels like I'm competing on the same thing that any chocolate would be talking about. So sometimes it's challenging for me to see how to balance that. Yeah. And I'm trying to like, it is, that's the balance. And I try to look at some others like Bowlin Branch that have done this and just see how they've balanced it. It sounds like Tony Chocoloni, it sounds like they've done a good job at that. You know, liquid death, which we, it's one of these ones I continue to talk about, that was death to plastic.

29:44Like he cared about killing plastic and plastic water bottles, but I would say 1 % of people know that. I didn't know that. So I built a huge brand. So, but I think that again, authenticity actually breeds something. There's something about having true authenticity that when you go into these brands, like at ring, we cared about making neighborhoods safer. I'm not sure if everyone who bought a ring knew that, but we really cared about that. Like that was something that was like super ingrained in what we did. And so I think there's something still about like having, like, hold onto that. Don't just because if it's just the ginger, whatever, sell, like if it's the flavors you figure out that are selling, like, I think still holding onto that is important.

30:22Your question though was around the pricing and accessibility. And that thing concerned me because it's like, you're trying to, like, on one hand, you're saying like, I'm doing all these premium things to help these communities. And on the other hand, you're like, I want to be the cheapest chocolate in the world. And it's like, it's like these things are just like, feel like they're just so distant. Yeah. And I think you're bringing up the fighting process that I go through. Essentially, I definitely don't want to be the cheapest. Primarily we've been selling online. And then more recently we just got into like our first small retail store and we just started actually trying to get into more stores.

31:00And I think as I've started that process, I'm starting to think through our pricing strategy. Where are you? Like if, if, uh, Hershey's is, I don't even know, like whatever, where, where are you? Yeah. So look, let's say Hershey's is like$2. The Tony's Chocoloni that Guy mentioned is maybe$5 and we're at$10.50 per bar. There's like a craft chocolate space where there are booths that are – Yeah, exactly. So there's a lot that are in that space. But I think my goal in starting this was to make this more accessible to people. So I'm struggling to figure out how to think about that. I think I'll get the price issue question in just a sec.

31:40But I think that because it's a premium product, I feel like you need to and you can elevate that a bit more. Right. Because I see you've got a video on your website, but I think there are a couple of things that I want to see. I want to see the factory. I want to see that where it's made. I want to see somebody pouring the liquid chocolate into the molds. And because premium chocolate, people are willing to pay for it. It's like wine, right? And I think you can just show us that a little bit more. People really, once they can see what you're paying for, it's handcrafted. It's made from the best quality.

32:20Like we pick, you know, we roast, we have the best farmers. This is different kind of chocolate that you're consuming. Yeah, that makes sense. That video was when we shot. we've talked about Kickstarter a little bit, but it was part of our Kickstarter campaign when we launched. So I think it's due for an upgrade for sure. Okay, now again, if you're too far outside of the premium side, like even, you know, there are price points that you can fall out of, but it sounds like Tony's Ciacalone might've figured out that balance between Hershey's and sort of like, they might be in that high volume, but higher margin.

32:54Like they figured out kind of that perfect sort of - And it took them some time, but yeah, they did, right? They're in that sort of mid-level price point. And you're not like – I just made chocolate chip cookies for friends recently, and I bought a really great chocolate and cut it up. And this is what you're selling. You're selling the kind of chocolate you'd serve at a dinner party after dinner with a glass of wine maybe. This is something that you would really savor. And I think that there's something to this idea that you could put on your label. Like, you know, the finest cocoa beans, the best roasters, the most premium ingredients, something like that where it just bam, bam, bam, bam, it just pops off the shelves if it's at Whole Foods.

33:46Yeah. Yeah. I think what I'm hearing from what you're both saying is like we are a premium product and it is definitely differentiated in the categories. What I was thinking about was like, I know in the long run, we probably want to get closer to like Tony Ciacoloni type of pricing. So should I lower that price now? Or is it what seemed more sustainable is like you start high and then as you increase the volume, then I'll be able to like lower it. I'll be a super hypocrite, you know, because it's like that's what I did with Ring. I mean, when we came out with it, we were making them for more than we were selling them for.

34:20um i just you know it's some in some ways we priced it to what we knew the market would just like the max the market would sustain but still buy it knowing also that we had to get to volume like that the price we were paying for each one when we started was way more than if we got to volume and you're not going to get to volume if you just overcharge or charge you know kind of cost plus right and so we had to kind of take that leap of faith that we would be able to raise enough money, sell enough to get the cost lower to then get the margin in line to get the volume. And we played that game. It's a bit of a game of chicken.

34:59And it worked. But I also could see where that price was going. So I'd also say to you, how far out can you see? I see. Like if you 10x sales, does pricing really come down that much? Yeah. With chips and all this stuff, I could actually literally like, they gave me the thing. Like if you buy 10 ,000, it's this, if you buy a hundred thousand, it's this, I could like on an Excel sheet show exactly what it was going to be. So at least I wasn't doing it like just completely willy nilly. If, so if you can see that maybe then you do want to do that, but I'd make sure that it's actually going to come down and that you're not actually going to, you know, sort of to your mission, you're not going to then compress the worker to get the price down because you try, you know, it's like almost like, you know, in the end it'd be like this weird, ironic ending.

35:41Yeah. Yeah. I would take a page out of LVMH. I was just, I was, I just had the opportunity to go to Paris to see a bit of the Olympics and it was amazing. And one of the things you're reminded of when you're in Paris is LVMH controls, owns Paris and really Europe in many ways. And what's amazing about LVMH is their margins are, I think are so high because it's brand, it's aspiration they're selling, right? But it's also quality. I mean, Gucci or Hermes, these are all high-end products. You know they're well-made, but you're also paying for the brand. You will get to the brand side, but I think you want to really present this as a really premium product.

36:26Start there. It's this thing that is made all in the same place. It's a really high-end luxury product. And I think it's worth trying that. Yeah. Yeah. The brand is called Lugis Chocolate. Ian, thank you so much for calling in. Good luck. Thank you both so much. I feel so inspired. Have a good one. All right. Good luck. Cool. I, yeah, I could chop some of that up and put them on my cookies. I was actually thinking, I'm like, do I get paid for the advice line? Could I get some chocolate maybe, you know? You know what? Next time you come up here, I'm going to get some of Luji's chocolate and I'll make you cookies.

37:04I just made ice cream sandwiches. I made ice cream and cookies. Put them together, wrapped them for a little party I'm throwing. Yeah, I love ice cream sandwiches. I know, man. They're good. All right, we're going to take another quick break. But when we come back, inspirational posters created for teachers by a teacher. I'm Guy Raz and hopefully we've got the answers here on the advice line. Stick around. You're listening to How I Built This Lab.

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40:06Hey, welcome back to the Advice Line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. And today I'm taking calls with Jamie Siminoff. He's the founder of Ring, which is perhaps most famous for its video doorbell. Jamie, what do you say? let's bring in our last caller. Hello, Guy. Hello, Jamie. Hi. Hello. Hello. Tell us, please introduce yourself. Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business. I'm Francesca Thompson from Atlanta, Georgia, the founder of Thrive 12. It is an educational resource company designed to support teachers with cool tools and products to use in their classroom.

40:41And we're laser focused on diversity because we understand that every student matters. Awesome. And what's your question for us today? So I am at the point where I'm transitioning from my teacher pay teacher site to actual storefront on Amazon. And I want to know at this stage, should I be focused on the different certifications that you can get, like women's own small business certifications, minority women's business certification? Because with Amazon, they actually do have some support for minority businesses, but I'm not sure if I need to do that right now. All right. We'll get your question in a moment.

41:23Let me ask you first a bit about the business. So if I understand it correctly, you make posters for classrooms that are like inspirational posters, sort of, right? Correct. They're very inclusive. They look like students that I teach, my black and brown students. I have - You're a teacher. Yes, I am. Your teacher in Atlanta? Yeah, well, I'm in Gwinnett County Schools. It's the largest school district in Georgia. Oh, cool. What do you teach? So I was teaching entrepreneurship. Oh, awesome. Nice. But now I'm more of a career coach, and I help the teachers with developing their classes. Got it. Okay.

42:04And these posters right now are digital only. Like you buy it, and then you down. Like I'm clicking on one. It says like, I chat, I tweet, I post, I study. It's two bucks. You've got another one. It's a woman on the poster says lead, serve, excel. Yeah. And it's two bucks. And so you download it and then you are responsible for printing it and putting it up. Yes. Okay. And so I want to have physical posters now that I can ship directly to teachers in school districts. Cool. All right. We'll get your question in a moment. Jamie, I'm sure you've got some questions for Francesca. I guess, is there a market?

42:44I mean, I'm not a teacher. So what would be the market for this? Are teachers always looking for these things? Or how are they looking? So we have our classrooms. And every year during the summertime, when we come back, like right now, we're always looking for products to decorate our classrooms. And so a lot of school districts give you a little small budget to use to buy products for your classes. And then a lot of teachers actually have to fund that stuff theirself. But we're always looking for things to change our classroom space. Definitely things for the holidays as well. We're always teachers just love to decorate.

43:20And the idea here is really to like to inspire kids with these posters. And I mean, there are different kinds of people, right? There's different kinds of kids. Like some kids will see these posters and it just won't resonate. But have you had the experience where kids will see a poster like this and something will just click in their head? Like, yeah, I'm going to like I'm looking at a poster that says trust your ability. And it's a it's a disabled man kicking a soccer ball. Like, have you seen kids just like, I don't know, just respond to these things in ways that surprised you? Yes. One of the posters, if you see, is of African-American student with a drone.

43:58And that's probably been one of my most popular ones because, one, the kids look at the poster and they see him and then they're like, what is that? You know, it just is something that inspires them to look into that product and see if they can learn how to use and fly drones as well. So that one always gets the attention of our students. And you design all these posters yourself? Yes, I do. All right. The price point is really low, right? I mean, they're like$2,$3. So you're going to have to do a lot of volume to build a sustainable business. But I imagine you have a different plan in the future.

44:36I'd be curious to hear what your vision is because you're an entrepreneurship teacher. So I know you've got a five-year plan. Tell me, tell us about it. So it's that low because I'm staying at the price point of most products that are on teacher pay teacher sites because they're downloading it and they're responsible for it. But once I move to my storefront, Amazon storefront, it is going to definitely I can see those posters ranging anywhere from 15 to 19 dollars. And then hopefully eventually I'll roll out our games as well. And do you see this long term only for schools or do you see this as a, you know, for like nonprofits or for businesses?

45:19And, you know, like remember successories like back in the day, that was like the OG. You'd go into like a warehouse and it would be like teamwork and it would be like a giant soaring eagle and it would say, you know, like strength or something. Right. And that was a thing. And some offices still have that. I mean, are you do you see this kind of product as something like that? Well, I mean, you know, I was only thinking schools. But now that you've said that, I think that is definitely a great idea because I'm thinking all the school districts in the United States and just all the teachers that would definitely benefit.

45:53but like you said different companies could definitely benefit from the product as well i mean even just like people buying it for their kids rooms you're right that's good really good idea that's why like as i'm thinking about it it is an interesting like i kind of love it the drone like one like just like i love how that resonates yeah um because i do think there's things that kids don't realize they can do and if you can just it's like sparks like sparks you're just going to spark them in the right direction now because with the internet and everything else It's like you can find your way, but you need that ignition point.

46:26Yeah. And when I think about some of my students, like some of my students with disabilities, just to see something like that on the wall that represents them and they never have seen anything like that, that just makes them feel really good about themselves. And if I'm not mistaken, I think Barbie just launched a Barbie with Down syndrome. I saw that. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. So it's things like that, that we kind of take for granted. We don't realize that these things are really needed and that it really will help a student out. As you start to do this more and increase the price, I also wonder if you can find people that have made it, whether it's an engineer at Amazon or someone and make them the poster.

47:08Oh, yeah. You know, it gives it a little bit more, I don't want to say authenticity, but there's something about it that like a little paragraph on the bottom. A real person. Yeah. Like this is Dr. Blah, blah, blah, who grew up in this and now is this. I love it. To your question, Francesca, about – so your question is like should I gain access to certifications like the women-owned small business certification or minority business certification? First of all, how much work is it to get a certification? Is it something that takes months? Is it a lot of paperwork? So there is some paperwork involved.

47:44And the biggest thing is that some of these certifications, they're fees. And right now, with me being at this early stage and trying to, you see, you saw my products are two and three and four and five dollars right now. So I'm trying to see if it's something I should fit in right now or can that be something I can look at later and then add on. I just don't know if I want everything to be perfect when we finally launch our store. But is it something that I need to do right now? I mean, I have a thought about this. And I'd be curious to hear your take, Jamie, which is we are living at a moment in time where just getting attention for anything is so much harder because it's an information tsunami.

48:26Right. Like like and we we hear this on the show all the time. You know, 10 years ago, if you launched through influencers on Instagram, you could get a lot of traction. 15 years ago, if you bought ad search on Google, like you could really scale a business. Today, it's so much harder to convert customers through social media. We're hearing that so much. Jamie, you guys, you may have experienced it even even a ring, you know, at the time when you were still there. It's just harder to break through. And so my first response when you ask, should I be certified? Is if this is going to give you some advantage, if this is going to position your business in a way that otherwise you might not get that kind of exposure?

49:08My answer is, yeah, absolutely. But of course, the calculation is, is it, you know, is it going to take a lot of time? Is it going to be really expensive? Or is it is it something that is, you know, modestly affordable, like maybe it might cost a few hundred bucks, and it might take you a week, then I would say, yeah, absolutely. Like if Amazon has a program that they're going to say, yeah, we're going to put this out in front of more people or other platforms are going to say, hey, you know, Francesca's business qualifies under this program we're doing. I would say go for it. Jamie, what do you think?

49:43I think it's exactly right. I think just be very tactical about it in terms of like, if it's going to return$1 ,000 and it costs$100, do it. If it's going to return$100 and it costs$1 ,000, it's not worth it, I think, right now in your business. Okay. Okay. Because I think you're authentic, the product's authentic. It's like all of these things are there. So unless there's something that's going to give you the return, I don't think a certification, I don't think the teacher looking at your products is going to say, wait a second, is this certified? Yeah. But at the same time, if Amazon's going to give you more advertising dollars or some access to something, and they do, I've seen those programs.

50:23It's great. Take advantage of it. They're there for a reason. I love it. Use them all you can. Yeah. They help you with Amazon. It's like customer engagement. They help you with the virtual bundling and things like that if you get these certifications. So I just would look at, again, cost to the return of that because it's not unlimited return, but those are pretty big advantages on Amazon. And also, as you know, as you know, being a teacher, trying to sell into school districts is almost impossible, trying to sell anything to school districts. But there might be an opportunity, right? You never know.

51:02So it seems to me – by the way, do you know how much it costs to get certified, one of these certifications? One I was looking at was around$300 to file the paperwork. That seems worth the time and the price. Yeah. That's probably worth it. Yeah, I would definitely look into that, yeah. Guy was saying it's harder to break through, and I think it's always hard in the moment to break through. I think when we look back, we see what was breaking through, but I think what definitely happens is it changes how to break through. Yes. So it goes from Google AdWords to influencers to Facebook to Instagram to TikTok to whatever, and I think being aggressive and trying to find those things.

51:46I'd also look at with that with Amazon there's a program with Shopify where you can tie that into your Amazon so you could have sort of a bit of a standalone site as well but have Amazon as the back end so I would I would also look into to how you could do that again you have such a like rich media content product that you're going to want to be able to really display it and show it change it out and then I bet you there's so many people that would love to be on a poster that have made it, you know, that would represent all these different areas you're talking about. And then kind of even them posting it and putting their poster out.

52:22Like, I think they'd be so proud of that. And so that might be a way of also just creating this sort of, like, what a great flywheel to create. I would also start with, like, I start locally, right? You're in Atlanta. Just think about some cool, I mean, I just, you're talking about representation. I mean, Topo Watana started Calendly. Calendly, he was on our show a couple years ago, you know, born in Nigeria and is now running a billion-dollar company. Like, how about a poster of a guy like that and it just says, you know, tech entrepreneur. Yes. I would just start locally and just contact people.

52:57Go to LinkedIn and just find people in the Atlanta area. Arthur Blank from Home Depot. Arthur Blank from Home Depot. I think there's some cool opportunities just starting locally. see if you can maybe partner with somebody, some folks who would be willing to be put on an inspirational poster. I would love it. Cool. Francesca Thompson, the brand's called Thrive 12. Good luck. Thank you so much for calling in. Good luck, Francesca. Thank you. I'm going to get a poster. It says that with your picture on it, Jamie, and it just says, see, even you can make it. If this guy made it, you're going to be fine.

53:33You know what's crazy is on like TikTok and Instagram on the reels, people keep cutting up my shark tank and then putting like the story like in like in a reel. It's over like 100 million views, like way over. Oh, it's crazy. And it's just this like, you know, got denied, then did this, then did this, and then like sold for a billion dollars. Now, it usually says that I'm a billionaire, which is when you sell your company for a billion dollars, you actually don't get all of it. But I appreciate. That's fine. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I appreciate it. You know, it's nice. But then everyone's like, hey, Jamie, can I get like 10 bucks?

54:05Yeah, that's the downside of it. Jamie, before I let you go, I have to be curious. Like now that you have, of course, started, scaled and exited the business that you built, if you could like go back in time to you in the garage, you know, I remember you telling a story about your wife and she was kind of, you know, she was funding. She was paying the bills. Like she had a job and you were struggling and you were kind of really flailing and nervous. And she was like, let's take a mortgage out of our home and all this stuff. I remember you told me a story. I mean, you cried. I do every time I think about that one.

54:44Yeah. Yeah. What would you have told yourself aside from like, hey, it's going to be okay? What advice would you have given to Jamie Siminoff before anybody knew that his product would be successful? I mean, sadly, it's not advice because you don't know. But if I really knew, yeah, I think just saying like, just keep your head down, it's going to be okay. I think that's the hardest part of entrepreneurship is you don't know it's going to be okay. Because it might not be. And that's also why it's good to work on products that you care about. Because at least then you spend some time on something that matters.

55:17but you know even now i'm back in a new business and you know it's i'm very positive and i'm excited and i'm working hard but like we don't know where these things are going to go and how big they can get and what impact they can have and i think that's the hardest part is that you're kind of driving through a dark tunnel as an entrepreneur and you just sometimes you see a glimmer of light but it's it's rare to see the full light until you're very far down that tunnel and you don't know how long the tunnel is. It could be one year, it could be seven years, it could be 30 years, it could be infinite.

55:50Yeah. And obviously that's hard when you're in the middle of it. And it's hard when you're talking to other entrepreneurs because you can't just say like, it's gonna be okay, keep your head down and work because it's not true. Yeah. Like you could keep your head down and work hard and do the right things and not get there. Now, I think most people, if they keep their head down, hustle, work hard, focus. like I do think you end up with a higher chance of making it. Yeah. And it may not be the thing that you originally intended to do it, but, but I think you're right in almost every case on our show.

56:23And just in conversations I've had, it's, it's like, if you continue, if you focus, keep your head down, work really hard, you will be led to where you need to be going. I think it's where your show has been. I think if, if someone it's, to me, it's the Harvard business review of today's generation, because it really documented what it's like. And you go back deeper than just like, oh, you became a successful entrepreneur. Congratulations. Like, what do you do now? It really does tell the story of how you get there. And I think that's, it resonates with people and gives them an understanding of what it's going to look like going through that tunnel.

57:00Well, I hope people listen to your episode if they haven't heard already. Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, thanks so much for joining us on the advice line. Thanks for having me. And by the way, if you guys haven't heard Jamie's original How I Built This episode, you have to go back and check it out. You can find a link to it in the podcast description. And here's one of my favorite moments from that interview. We start here and it's like the week before Christmas. People are contacting me and saying it's not working. And their video was coming through like an old TV tuner. It was all lines through it and you couldn't see the picture.

57:33So most of our units are now in the field with customers that not only do they not work, but we can't change that software on them. So they're basically bricks. You cannot fix the ones that people have. Yeah, you can't rewrite the software on this chip. And so this was like the end of the world. Like this really was. Basically, the business is over. Also, since we first ran this episode, some really cool things have happened for the entrepreneurs we talked to. Vico actually debuted his Ergo Flex Desk at CES, the biggest consumer electronics show in the world earlier this year. Ian's Chocolate Company is sold out for the moment, but they're gearing up for a relaunch with updated packaging and a refreshed brand.

58:16And as for Francesca, she launched her Amazon store just in time for the new school year. Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to click the follow button on your podcast app so you never miss a new episode of the show. and if you're interested in big ideas about business and entrepreneurship, sign up for my newsletter at GuyRoz.com or on Substack. And if you're working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business, the issues or questions you'd like help with, and hopefully we can help you with them.

58:49And make sure to tell us how to reach you. You can send us a voice memo at hibtid.wondery.com or call us at 1-800-433-1298 and leave a message there. And we'll put all this in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Carla Estevez with music composed by Ramtin Arablewe. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neil Rauch. Our production staff also includes Alex Chung, Casey Herman, Chris Messini, Elaine Coates, J.C. Howard, Catherine Seifer, Carrie Thompson, Neva Grant, and Sam Paulson. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to The Advice Line on How I Built This Lab.

59:37If you like How I Built This, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. For a limited time, earn up to 200 ,000 bonus points with the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Card. Visit IHG.com slash business card. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC offer subject to change. Terms apply.

From the publisher

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three founders about balancing short- and long-term goals.  

Today, we meet Vico, an industrial designer in southern California who's launching a crowdfunding campaign for his patented ergonomic desk. Then Iyin, a Baltimore-based product specialist seeking to balance accessibility and profitability for her ethically-sourced chocolate brand. And Franchesca, an Atlanta area educator deliberating whether to pursue small-business certifications for her motivational classroom posters.

Thank you to the founders of ErgoFlex Desk, Luji's Chocolate, and Thrive12 for being a part of a show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Ring’s founding story as told by Jamie on the show in 2020.

This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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