How to Go From Idea to Product, Smoothly

0:00I'll make to-do lists sometimes, and I'll find them six months later and I'll realize nothing on them actually mattered. but it's really important to not think you have to like check off everything on a to-do list. The important stuff will rise back up to the top. Hey, how's it going? I'm Shuang Esther Shan and you're listening to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. Do you keep lists of potential business ideas in your phone? Maybe check in every now and then to see which ones might be worth pursuing? Well, you're not alone. Zachary Quinn is my guest today. He's here to walk us through his tested strategy for turning those ideas into successful brands by paying close attention to your own personal needs and intentionally designing products you can compete in any industry.

0:54That's how he launched his newest company, Oceanfoam, creating foam rollers from algae and recycled materials. Zachary, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk today. Very, very excited to have you. So Ocean Foam, like your first company, Love Your Melon, were both from that potential business list. They were an idea that you had for a while. What sort of exercises did you do to determine which ideas are worth pursuing? I like to whiteboard a lot. And so I start by creating long lists of ideas that I'd like to work on. And it just kind of dwindles down to the ones that I really keep coming back to.

1:37And it could either be whiteboarding or it could be a notes list on your phone. But keeping a list and just a tally going of all the ideas that you've come up with is really nice to keep track and to keep going back to. And you start to notice the ones that rise to the top and that you keep coming back to the most. And that's what I decided to work on. And that's what we go after. And what I love is both of your companies were impactful and purposeful. For your first business, Love Your Melon, you spent over a decade growing the company. Talk to us through the process of building a brand with a purpose and impact in mind.

2:17Yeah. So it's really important to me that we have an impact, that it's not just running a business to make money. Our first project, Love Your Melon, was actually a class project that we started when we were sophomores in college. And when we started that business, we thought it was only going to last for a couple months because it was just a class project in our entrepreneurship program. So really for us then, it was important that that made more of an impact than just making money for that A grade or for us to just kind of do and then move on from. It was like we wanted to make sure we could have an impact locally and around the world eventually, but in that class locally, especially.

2:58And so that's how we picked pediatric cancer patients to give our beanies away to. It's incredible because you were building Love Your Melon for over 10 years and then you exited the project. Talk to us about that transition. What was that like? Yeah, we ran Love Your Melon for 10 years, oddly with all of our college friends and a bunch of other people that we met, great people. And it was really an incredible process. We had over 40 ,000 college ambassadors at one time that were all delivering beanies themselves. And the impact was really worldwide. So it was an incredible project to work on.

3:32We were able to give almost$10 million away to pediatric cancer research, as well as over 250 ,000 beanies to kids battling cancer across the world. but transitioning from it I mean it was kind of like we were all reaching our 30s and it was ready it was time for us to kind of pass the torch of that along and a lot of people wanted to move on to other projects and and really wanted to see that business grow and and hand that over to somebody that could really build that business up and enter into new wholesale markets and such so there are a lot of things that went into that decision and it was a difficult but amazing process at the same time.

4:12And sometimes starting over is quite liberating, but also intimidating. You know, an empty page is sometimes quite scary. So what were some steps you took to come up with the idea for Ocean Foam and ensuring that you're creating something that didn't exist and would have great impact again. Yeah. So it wasn't just an empty page, like selling the business also meant getting a job for the first time because my first business out of college was Love Your Melon and that took off. And so then after we sold, then I went to work for them as well as I had a kid the first like week that we sold the business.

4:54It was at the same time. So I became a new father. And so it was a lot more than just an empty page. It was a lot of new experiences and adventures all along the way. It took about two years to get really excited about starting something new and working on a new project. And that whole time I was thinking about ocean foam. I was thinking about foam rollers. It wasn't called that yet, but I was thinking about how I could create a new product. And after about a year and a half, two years is when I got either bored enough or excited enough to really want to go after it and start something new. What an incredible chapter of changed being an employee and also a father for the first time.

5:37Now a father of two. I've got two boys. Oh my goodness. And they're a lot of my inspiration now. Yeah, I bet. I think becoming a parent, you can see the decisions within our purchases and how it's going to affect the next generation and how you leave the earth. Yeah. Why were you interested in foam rollers of all things? Yeah, I really wanted to start an active brand, something to get me moving and to get my kids moving and do something in this wellness, health, fitness space. And foam rollers really, for me, gave me a lot of comfort and just improved my body over the past probably five plus years.

6:15I used them for my back and my neck and legs and knee injury. So it really was important to me to create a product that mattered to me and that would improve my life and our family's life. And then the aspect of incorporating algae into the production and understanding the impact of that, it's such an incredible process. How did you actually get exposed to this side and start to contact manufacturers that can help you with that? I picked the name Ocean Foam for the foam rollers because I wanted it to be a sustainable brand. I wanted it to be tied to the ocean and our planet and making the world better.

7:01But I thought I was going to make foam rollers and workout products out of recycled plastic from the ocean. And so I went down that path of trying to figure out the manufacturing of it. I didn't have a supplier yet, but I was trying to figure out how to recycle plastic into foam. Now, as far as I've figured out, you can't recycle used plastic into foam. Once it's hardened into plastic, you can't put it back into a master batch that can be injection molded because it's all about heating to the right temperature and cooling to the right temperature. So you can't use recycled plastic, as far as I know, to make foam rollers.

7:36And so I was looking for other ways. How was I going to tell this story? How was I going to tie it in with the mission, the purpose behind this? And my fiance, Brooke, gave me these amazing shoes from Hunter for Easter. Hunter Boot Company made these slides that were made out of algae with this company called Bloom. And so that was last year at this time. That was about a year ago in the spring of 23. Yeah, that's amazing. Hunter's actually also on Shopify. So that's so cool that they've inspired and also redirected you. They're a great company. And they're one of many that use the Bloom product.

8:12It's a company based in Mississippi that takes actually freshwater algae as well as saltwater ocean algae and turns it into products. The freshwater algae is what goes into our products. It's taken out of water treatment facilities in the country as well as harvesting events on lakes and rivers, all that flow down into the ocean eventually. But yeah, the saltwater algae actually we can make rubber products out of, which we're working on now. But yeah, our algae product comes from bloom. And then we take those pellets and we injection mold it into our foam rollers. We were able to get 15 % bloom in our foam rollers, which was the highest that I think they've seen be possible.

8:53But our foam rollers are actually quite large. So whereas in a pair of shoes or the soles of the shoe, it's maybe a smaller product. Ours can be quite large products, foam rollers or workout mats and stuff. So we're using a considerable amount of this algae that takes the place that would otherwise be plastic to make our products. So it makes it more sustainable. And then that sets us on this path that we want to be carbon neutral or carbon positive by the end of this year. So we're going through all the accreditation to figure out all of our impact through production and shipping. And we're going to be offsetting all of that with additional algae cleanup events, as well as other carbon offset programs.

9:31Yeah, it's incredible. Not only are you not using plastic, but it's also very important to remove algae from the waterways. And talk to us about how impactful that is as well, because I think some listeners might not be familiar with its importance. Algae is constantly overproducing. The harvesting events that I've gone to, it's oftentimes a farm or a nursery that's using a lot of fertilizer nearby a pond or a river. and it's causing all this algae to grow. And when algae overproduces, it takes over. Other species aren't able to live and breathe in it. That water is no longer habitable for a lot of other fish and animal species as well as plants.

10:17So removing that algae is really a natural process. It's like the same thing they do at a water treatment facility, removing these molecules. They add coagulants to cause the algae to rise to the top of the water and they skim it off. And then that algae actually can in turn be used for its own natural fertilizer and other things. Preventing this from going down into our oceans through rivers and streams is what prevents these huge algae blooms. And if you live on the coast, it's all connected together. I mean, there are these dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. There are these huge like sargasm blooms that happen that wash up on the beaches, big sea algae blooms.

10:57And all of this causes fish to die and causes things. I mean, it's gross. Like you want algae out of there. And so being able to use it for something positive is what's really cool. Turn it into a product that we can use. I've been learning all this in the last probably nine months since I started talking to Bloom. And it's just a really interesting process to be able to take the algae out and then be able to use it as a product inside of a foam roller, which is an injection molding process. It's quite complicated, but algae works is a protein. So it helps to bind the molecules together. Our manufacturers have even told us that it provides more durability and strength.

11:35So for any other shoe companies or foam companies out there, using algae can be a great tool or resource to reduce your amount of plastic as well as to maybe even improve the quality of your product. And then we didn't want to stop there. So we also incorporated in our foam rollers recycled yoga mats. So we take the scrap materials when they're making yoga mats, all the cutouts. And we put that in the inside core of the foam roller. So that's 80 % recycled foam in there as well. And that's what makes it really strong and solid. We have a really firm foam roller that helps you to really dig into your muscles deeply and give yourself a personal massage.

12:14I would imagine trying to convince some traditional manufacturers to work with algae and also recycled materials might have been quite tough in the beginning. What's your advice for approaching producers, approaching manufacturers, and asking them to adopt a new way or use a new material? I think I got pretty lucky, but it was luck on a scale. So a volume play that I did where I went out to as many producers and manufacturers of foam rollers as possible, mostly through Alibaba, and reached out to get samples. And I got tons of samples. Some came from the same manufacturers under different names, which I could tell pretty quickly.

12:59But I was able to select the manufacturer I wanted to work with, figured out how to get them iMessage so I could communicate with them easily at 2 a.m., which mostly we're working with manufacturers in China at this point. We've looked at U.S. and Canadian manufacturers, which was my background with Love Your Melon, was all USA and North America, but moved overseas for this project. It was a lot more affordable with the foam roller being a product that you had to compete inside a certain price point. It was really important that we were able to do so. And so to make it not cost prohibitive and not be able to or not have to charge too much for the customer, it was important that we went overseas.

13:40But I really lucked out in that way that they were able to work with me and really said yes to everything that I had asked them for. And working with Bloom was one of them. Now, Bloom wasn't easy to get a hold of in the first place either. It took me calling and texting over and over, and they'd gone through a lot of changes in their business. And they were really focused on shoe companies. And so I had to convince them to take on this project. But they got pretty excited about it. And now we work really closely together. Yeah, so closely. In fact, that you were able to visit their factories and create content from your visits.

14:15So very cool to see how far you've come from just cold calling and reaching out. It really was cold calling. I remember I was at the Foam Expo in Detroit and I talked to everybody there and basically figured out that the only company I could work with to get this algae was Bloom. And I hadn't been able to get a hold of them and I was pretty sad. So I kept calling. I got a hold of somebody in their finance department and I just asked for the sales guy's cell phone number finally. And they connected me directly with them and started texting and got on the phone and were able to get that done. Yeah.

14:53And who would have thought that there's a convention for foam? There's a convention for everything, an expo for everything. Yeah. Amazing. I mean, I'm sure like, you know, your experience from Love Your Melon, finding producers and manufacturers, knowing to invest in exhibitions and conventions, because, you know, your network truly helps you expand and actually build partnerships. What is your advice for new founders who needs to go out there and make those connections from scratch? Yeah, you can find them at an expo or a convention, but you might also find the answer there too, which is you need to go online and reach out to people.

15:35So I do learn a lot by hearing the word no. And so right when I showed up there and I started talking to these suppliers and one of them, which was a large shoe company supplier, had helped to develop a pretty significant amount of the market, basically laughed at me and told me no, because there are so many cheap foam rollers on the market already. Why would anybody want to pay more for mine and have it be more sustainable, basically? And so hearing that right off the bat is what inspired me to continue all these conversations to get really excited about it because I had heard somebody tell me no, and it reinforced my belief in what I was doing.

16:18You discover Bloom and you also find a great manufacturing partner that can use Bloom and other recycled materials to create foam rollers. What was that process like getting the first few samples and testing things, iterating? What are some tips you have for going through that process? I had to be ready to work all night basically in the first few months of this because it was all about the communication with our manufacturer, which was overseas. and they started working basically at 8 p.m. all the way till 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. And they surprised me too. Like they'll stay up. I imagine it's quite late into the night as well communicating with me because it's morning for my time.

17:03But yeah, I was up probably communicating at 2 a.m. with them quite often, every night of the week almost. And just being really transparent with what I needed and asking them to continue to do so with me, asking for certain contracts to get put into place to protect what we perceive to be our IP and the work that we're doing and putting these relationships together between Bloom, which is a USA supplier, and a Chinese manufacturer, as well as a U.S.-based business, which is Ocean Foam. So it was really good, actually. Like working with this manufacturer has been surprisingly transparent, surprisingly trusting on both sides.

17:52And so, yeah, it just started to be about what colors were we going to do, what different wave patterns and different products that we were going to create. And that's, I mean, really still what it's all about. It's like, what's the next product? Because we don't just want Ocean Foam to be a foam roller. We want it to be a multitude of different products within the athletic workout fitness space as well as leisure. So we're making yoga mats, ball rollers, as well as pool noodles and other flotation products like stuff that you'd enjoy in the clean water that you're helping to create. And so that's what this is all about, creating a full circle story for us.

18:34It's incredible to hear the impact you've had with both of your companies. And I'm very excited to learn more about Ocean Film's growth. But before we do, I would love to take a moment to thank our listeners for tuning into the show. Thank you so much for listening to Shopify Masters. Make sure that you're subscribed to the show and let us know some feedback through a review. We love reading them and incorporating it into new episodes. Thank you so much. When you're building Love Your Melon and Ocean Foam, you're also building the company culture. How do you build culture that you want to be a part of and that you're proud of?

19:18I think people are just really attracted to the business and the mission and story behind it. And so it's really easy to get connected with great people. but then you got to make sure that it's the work that they want to do. It's at their own pace. And so creating a really flexible schedule in this day and age, I think is super important, much more so with Ocean Foam than with Love Your Melon. Keep in mind with Love Your Melon, we started that when we were in college. And so it was like late nights, everybody working constantly. Like I bet when we were running that at its peak, like before we sold it, there were like people working at all hours of the day and night.

20:01I bet you could find somebody at 5am working every night of the week. Like there was just such a culture of let's get it all done. We've got a huge mission. We're all behind this. And there were like 40 employees. So everybody was constantly working harder and harder. Now with Ocean Foam, this is about like creating a new environment because it's all virtual too, where it's just really at your own pace. We're super flexible about when you want to work and how much you're getting done. A lot of these are people are freelancers. And so really, it's just kind of like, I think it's important too, with how quickly we're growing, but how small we still are to really just have the patience to wait for the next big thing.

20:47And you could get a lot of busy work done in between. And sometimes it's important to do that. But really, it's about just waiting for that next thing to click and work and being ready for it. You only launched Oceanfoam in December 2023, and you've grown so much and expanded into new product categories. How do you come up with new product ideas? Yeah, we've now sold over 4 ,000 foam rollers, which is really exciting. All of those people are now using that product in their home, in the gyms, at different facilities and showing it to other people and telling the story. So the snowball effect is about to really kick in.

21:30but as far as figuring out like other products to make, like we're really listening to our audience. And so they want yoga mats. They want foam mats for them to be able to roll on. We like our firm foam roller, but we're also going to be making softer foam rollers for people in the future. Athletes have responded really positively to the firmness of our foam roller, its durability. But yeah, listening to our community, what they want next. And everybody likes to talk about how our foam rollers float. So the natural jump then is to making something intended for that, like a pool noodle or a floating mat or even like our floating lounge chairs that we're going to start making.

22:11We started making these chairs for events and people love to come sit in them. And we thought it was just a great way to get people over to check out the foam rollers. But now everybody wants to buy a lounge chair. So we're going to make those, putting them into production now. Such a natural progression and allowing the raw material and also the community kind of lead you into the next direction. Very cool. And then on the other side of growth, you have been featured in a lot of publications. There's partnerships with different creators and also lots of great PR coverage. What has been some of your favorite marketing strategies that you were able to reach new customers?

22:52Now, I don't know if my ads team would support me in this, but I actually really like boosted posts. I find that boosting your posts on Instagram helped to really get a lot of engagement back from people that are coming up with creative ideas for partnerships or otherwise. And you get more likes on your page and then more businesses pay attention to you and find opportunities for collaboration through that. So I think, I mean, certainly there have been a lot of things that have helped, but really we're getting it all through Instagram. People are coming and checking out our page, seeing our content, and they're reaching out.

23:29A lot of people just want to try out a foam roller, so we're giving them out to athletes. We're still doing product seeding, and so athletes are able to get a foam roller to try out, and then hopefully they'll post about it or tell people about it if they like it. And in most cases, that's working. Have that butterfly effect. Yeah, exactly. And so creating these events too is awesome. But yeah, just having people reach out has been really important. And saying yes, because you never know what the next thing to come could be. Because in a way, Ocean Foam's products can be used by anybody who happens to be active.

24:09You can definitely fit that need into your life. So I think sometimes it becomes a double-edged sword, right? You can appeal to so many people, but then how do you hone in and think about your target audience or think about profiles that are potential customers? Yeah. Like what's your approach to that to make sure that you do have some ideas of the target audience and also develop ads or marketing or content to fit people that you want to reach? Yeah, I would say the community that foam rolls is extremely diverse, but it starts mostly with athletes, kind of like how cold plunges came from athletes.

24:51And that being kind of like the pinnacle thing to do in recovery. But foam rollers have been around for forever. I mean, people probably at one point used rocks to roll their back around on and just kind of dig into different muscles and stuff. Like, I mean, it's just common sense. Like if something hurts you, like use your, use your hands and you can kind of do, do a pretty good job, but there's certain parts you can't get to with your hands or a rock. So I think a foam roller is the natural progression to make something that really is a smooth roll, which was super important to us. But also that could still dig in and provide tension on your muscles.

25:31Because the product can essentially appeal to everybody, how do you then focus and find your target audience? Not making it too niche. I mean, we're going out to do events, whether it's a sport fishing event or yoga class or a pickleball tournament. I mean, those are just some of the recent ones that we've done. And so we've made sure to not put ourselves in one hole like we could have been just a yoga brand. but there's so many other people that foam roll. Like after you're fishing, you're reeling in all day. You got to roll out these muscles on your arms. Or if you're playing pickleball, it might be in your back.

26:09Or if you're downhill skiing, it's probably your calves or your knees or legs. So I think there's a lot of different use cases for this. And even just like every day, like if you're sitting in a chair like this all day, you need to like roll out your back, correct your posture. And so that's what it's about. And I think for me, it was like, I think all the time about how foam roller has made me feel better and improve my posture and improve my way of life. And so having a physical product that can inspire you to do better is like a really cool thing. And so I wanted to make a foam roller that was beautiful enough that you could leave out in your living room so that you could do it more.

26:53You could think about it more. You could think about being active and healthy more. Anything easily accessible makes you have less of a hesitation to actually do that action. And it's so important. Well, it's no joke with foam rollers. I mean, like, I don't mean to put any of the other companies down that are making them. But I know my fiance and I would just put away the foam roller after we used it every time. And I've talked to many people about this, where that foam roller gets used and it goes back in the closet afterwards. Like you're not leaving that out in your living room. And so part of the incubationist idea was like, how do we make furniture that works as a foam roller?