1667 – The Important Lesson from Flexscreen: Innovation Drives Success with Flexscreen’s Joe Altieri

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0:58with us right now it's the president and founder of flex screen it's joe altieri joe thank you so much for joining us my pleasure so so glad to be here i should point out that uh you know when our friend that's listening to us uh goes to flex screen.com they're gonna see you're a shark tank brand. So we are have you let's let's have you first kind of talk about just generally what flex screen is. And then I'll have a love to have you talk about maybe the Shark Tank experience, but whenever we get to that. Sure. Yeah. So flex screen is the first and only flexible window screen. So as crazy as it sounds, yes, we are our window screens flex.

1:40So, you know, typical window screens are made out of painted aluminum, which are horrible. They're terrible. You know, They're hard to get in and out. They damage really easy. Uh, our screens are the opposite of that. So very easy to get in and out. Um, you can run them over with your car, put them right back in your window. Uh, so kind of a cool product product. I hope that everybody logs on, at least checks it out online. We have a lot of cool, fun stuff. We throw them off of buildings and throw stuff at them and, and have a lot of fun trying to destroy our screens. Um, uh, the good news is we haven't been able to.

2:13So, but, uh, but yeah, so we, uh, that's what our product is. So where did the idea, I mean, the, I mean, okay, let me ask it this way. Why are we still doing the dumb aluminum screens, which are a pain in the butt? And like, you know, and then a lot of times, like you, you have to, like, if you, as a consumer, we're going to talk about the B2B component here in a moment, but you know, the generally like the, the problem is like, if you have a screen that goes bad, then you have to go to the store and they have to custom make it yourself um you know which we've and it's it's a hassle it's it's a nightmare to do so why are we still using aluminum frames what's the advantage there really is no advantage other than we've been doing it for 100 years um that that's really what what uh that's really what's happening right now um you know metal window screens with a rubber spline which is probably what you have on your house today they were invented in 1907 so well over a hundred year old technology and it's just been around forever and there hasn't been an alternative, uh, up until, up until flex screen.

3:18So, um, yeah. And, and, you know, we're growing very, very quickly. Um, so we're hoping over the next couple of years, those, those go by the wayside, but, um, but for right now, uh, if, and from our side, if somebody wants to, um, replace those ugly screens, uh, we actually make them all custom size. So you actually go on, you, you measure and then they, they get delivered to your house. So a lot different than going down to the hardware store, trying to have one made, then you take it back and it doesn't fit or whatever the case may be. Or it doesn't match, you know, it's a different color, you know, all that, that fun stuff.

3:53So they are, they are a pain in the butt. They really are. Yeah. So you have this, so you had the idea and then obviously you got to like, okay, well, how do I get this thing made? Yeah. And so this was a, a hobby in my garage, you know, about 10, 12 years ago, I cleared out a little spot in my garage, you know, told my wife that her SUV would be parked in the driveway for just a week or two. Two years later, I came out with this prototype and I happened to be in the window and door industry. And so I, you know, that's one of the lucky things. I didn't invent something that was in the auto industry where I didn't have any contacts, you know, things like that.

4:32But I showed it off to some people in our industry and they went crazy for it. And so we went from prototype to our first unit being made in a little over a year, which is crazy fast, especially for a really independent. I had some investors, but there weren't a lot of people helping to get this developed. Um, so, but, but yeah, so we started manufacturing about eight years ago in our Pittsburgh location. Now there's seven, um, flex screen manufacturing plants across the North America. Wow. Yeah, that's great. And, and how did you, uh, so again, talk, talk about the, uh, mentioned this earlier.

5:15So when you go again, when our friend goes to a flex screen.com, um, they'll, they'll see, they'll see some clips of, of you and Shark Tank. Uh, how did the Shark Tank thing come about? So from the, man, about a year and a half in, what we realized was that, you know, the old technology had been around for so long, we were battling, you know, trying to get people to understand what a flexible window screen was. and we needed to get to the end users. And we didn't have millions of dollars for a Super Bowl ad. So we started really going heavy in social media and started doing like the fun clips and just some crazy stuff.

5:54And Shark Tank actually found us. We didn't apply on the show. Oh my gosh. It's kind of a cool thing. They only do this for two or three companies a year where they actually reach out and say, we saw what you're doing. We saw your product and we'd like you to be on the show. And so we thought it was a joke. You know, I thought it was one of my buddies giving me a hard time. You know, we got a voicemail and an email from somebody that says that they were, you know, from Shark Tank. And one of the things you hear as an inventor all the time is, you should go on Shark Tank. You should go on Shark Tank.

6:25And so, like I said, I thought that this was, I thought it was a joke. And then we got a follow-up phone call the next day, and it came up Sony Pictures on the caller ID. and I was like oh well either somebody's going really far for this joke or or this is real and so yeah they um you know from the first time they contacted us six weeks later I was filming in in LA so crazy crazy yeah and how did how did what ended up happening so we got a deal with Lori Grenier so we actually had a couple of the sharks fight over us um uh Barbara always a good situation always a good situation yeah so um barbara dropped the f-bomb when i chose lori which is really cool because it ended up being one of the um the biggest uh clips of the whole season you know on youtube and stuff like that because you know of course they had to bleep it out and um but they couldn't they couldn't like eliminate it because of where it was in the segment you know and so it was really a cool cool experience but yeah we had mr wonderful barbara and and lori all battling for us, which is surreal.

7:32Even thinking back now, it's still humbling and totally surreal that that happened. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about your organization now and what it takes. And distribution, obviously, you sell at the website. Are you in the retailers? Yeah. So we're in Home Depot and we're working on the other big box companies. Most of our business Come on Lowe's, get on it Yep, Lowe's, Menards We're working on Walmart and Amazon as well So we started with Home Depot We were kind of friends with Home Depot And so gave them a little head start But yeah, we're branching out into the other ones here as well But most of our business is selling B2B So we sell to window manufacturers So every window that gets sold in the US has a window screen on it And so that's most of our business.

8:29And that's also why we have such a large manufacturing presence. We're a just-in-time supplier. So a window manufacturer sends us orders on Monday. In some cases, they need those orders on Tuesday for the windows that they're producing on Wednesday. So we have to be geographically close to our customers. Wow. Wow. Yeah. So I guess at this point then, when you are looking to, is it obviously, you know, you're reaching out to the manufacturers, like how do you build those relationships? How do you deepen those relationships and how do you move them toward a deal? Like, what are you observing? So, you know, for us, a lot of it is, you know, creating the value with our product, right?

9:16And that's what, that's been the, that's been the task for the last several years, right? is going out and trying to get the homeowners to want our product, which then ends up with pull-through demand. And, of course, Shark Tank helps all those types of things. We have window manufacturers that contact us now. They're like, you guys are the Shark Tank company, the Shark Tank screen, right? Our customers want – our homeowners want that screen. So that was the biggest challenge through the years, especially with a mature market. The window and door industry is not quick to move. They're not quick to change.

9:48and you know you again you have 100 year old technology that has been embedded in the the culture of our industry and so we've we've had to really uproot that and so we did everything different i don't know how else to say it but our our industry is very suit and tie um t-shirt and jeans right the baseball cap all of us like we went anti we did absolutely everything different we're sitting in um a studio in in our office which is one of the largest um spaces in our office so that we can do things like this because our industry isn't doing things like this. We purchased a digital marketing company to try to get our word out.

10:25So again, these types of things, we had to go, we couldn't do it the same way that everybody else was doing it. We had to go, we had to go different. And it's proven to work well. We're even changing our business model, you know, very recently. And I'm sure that your listeners will appreciate this. You know, we've We've been relying on our manufacturing presence, which is very painful to grow, right? So you have to open up a, it costs us millions of dollars to open up a new manufacturing location, hire the right people, all of those types of things. Scaling, we can grow, but true scaling is difficult and painful.

11:04We worked with an equipment manufacturer who has developed a fully automated line to make flex screens. And they launched it earlier this year. Our first one is in our location here in our Pittsburgh manufacturing location. And through that, we've actually started licensing our technology to window manufacturers. So now we can scale without the pain and the capital investment that we're having our customers make that capital investment for us. And then we're just getting mailbox money. That's huge. It's a true game changer for us to the point where we're making millions of screens a year. By this time next year, the licensees, the window manufacturers that have already signed up will be making more window screens than we are today.

11:57It's huge. It's a huge change. Well, and so I was going to ask you about with something like this, obviously, my brain goes to intellectual property and like how you protect it, how you license it. What is that world like? It is. So, first of all, we have I think we're up to 13 patents now. and we spend a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on our IP attorneys. And so both domestic as well as worldwide, we've actually signed up a company in Europe. So we're going to be coming into Europe here soon. But the licensing side of it is, again, first of all, you have to have the right attorney so that they can give you good advice.

12:42You can't just download something off of Google and say, hey, here's a licensing agreement it. And that's what I'm going to use. You have to, you have to be really careful about protecting yourself, but you know, with that, within our, um, agreements, you know, we have things like non-competes, you know what I mean? So that they can go out and, you know, yes, we have patents, but we also don't want somebody, you know, that we're signing up and given the keys of the kingdom, showing them how to, to use our, our product. Um, we don't want to, we don't want them to go out and say, oh, here's a way around a patent, but so I'm going to sneak around it this way.

13:12Nope. You can't compete with us. You know, if you sign up to be a licensee, you can't compete with our product. So, so again, things, things like that. Yeah. And then, you know, obviously there's then the concern of the, you know, the cheap knockoffs are made, you know, and, you know, someplace else. And then, you know, again, kind of sold marketplaces, like, do you have to watch Amazon or like, how do you watch for, well, I guess that's your IP attorney's job. Right. Yeah. I mean, really what, what we have learned is don't get any, don't make the investment in IP unless you're willing to make the investment and fighting for it as well.

13:49It's just that simple. You know? And so, so we have a, we have a war chest that, that, you know, we have kind of set aside for future IP protection. Like, I don't know how else to put it. Like it's, you know, we say, Hey, if somebody rips us off, we're going to war and, and we're, we're going to make sure that we do absolutely everything possible because we've seen it. Through Shark Tank, we have a lot of people that reach out to us, a lot of inventors, a lot of business people, things like that. And they're like, hey, we have a patent, but this person is violating it. Sue them. You have no choice.

14:21You have to. You can't be nice. Sure, you can send some cease and desist. You have to sue them. Well, that's going to be really expensive. Well, then I don't know why you spent$30 ,000 on a patent if you're not going to protect it. And I'm not saying that to be mean. You know what I mean? But that's just what it is. Like, that's your asset. That's the law. Yes. That's why we have intellectual property law laws on the book. Yeah. And there's just, there's no shortcuts around something like that. You have to, you have to go through and you have to do what the, what the law says to do. And, you know, hopefully you prevail at the end of this, but, but we've all, we all know that there's cases out there where big companies are just, they just say, you know what, fine, sue us.

15:02We'll outspend you. And, and that's, that's, you know, it's dangerous for small companies. Um, you know, like, like we are, um, and I, I do think that there needs to be some reform and I'm not, I'm not an advocate or an, I, that's not who I am. I'm not an activist rather. Um, but there are, there are, um, you know, organizations out there that will help small companies. Um, and, and they're also advocating for, for change in some of the patent laws because it, because it is a thing. I mean, you could spend millions and millions of dollars as a small company and, you know, not see an end in sight trying to defend your patent.

15:36And so, but you have to do it. You just have to. There likely is a pretty great opportunity for leaders within the window, the door and window industry. And so on your website, you know what I like about it is, again, you can go to flexscreen.com. And obviously, it's consumer facing. But, you know, to our friends who are in the industry here, there's a couple of links you're probably going to want to pay attention to. Do you mind maybe talking about that path or, you know, for someone that wants that competitive advantage? And what a differentiator, you know? It's like, you know, as a consumer, when I see a product and it's bundled with this, I'm like, well, that's far superior.

16:25year. And what a differentiator, you know, if you're in that space to kind of get ahead of all the other door and manufacturing or, you know, all the other door and window manufacturers, you know, you're going to make them look like old timey. Yeah. And that's exactly it. We, you know, one of the things that we realized early on is that we had to give those, those companies that wanted to be the ones that, that used our product as a differentiator, We had to give them the ammunition, right? We had to educate them on how to sell our product. And I see that a lot of times with companies where they are, it is an ingenious product.

17:03It is something different. It is something that I would want if I was a homeowner, but somebody has to educate me. And that has to be the person who's trying to sell me the bigger product. In our instance, it's a window, right? So the people that are selling the windows need to understand my product well enough that they can educate the homeowner who's ultimately making that buying decision. And so, so we do that, you know, we, we, we have done absolutely everything possible. Hey, here's all of the features and benefits. We've, we have videotaped because a lot of windows are sold in the home, right?

17:37So nobody comes, knocks on the door, Hey, I'd like to sell you windows and they, you know, you invite them in. And so I did a whole video pitch on how to sell our screen, you know, 20 minutes. Now again, window people aren't going to spend 20 minutes talking about a screen, but I did it as if I'm talking to the homeowner so that these sales guys can take little bits and pieces of that and use it in their sales pitch to help them differentiate. Because we are still a relatively new product in our industry. You know, a lot of the really, really large window manufacturers don't carry our products.

18:14So it is a great way of differentiating for the companies that want to use it in that way. To your point, people are buying white rectangles. That's what people buy in the United States when they buy windows. They buy white rectangles. How do you make your white rectangle stand out from somebody else's white rectangle? Well, FlexScreen is a great way of doing that. But I have to help them understand how that does help them to differentiate. Now, hopefully, in the coming years, that switch happens where now it's like, oh, everybody has to have this because everybody has it. You know, that's, that's what we're, we're moving towards is, you know, as the snowball gets bigger, then, you know, now it isn't a differentiator.

18:54Now it's, I, we have to have just to keep up with, you know, our competition. Awesome. All right. Your website, flexscreen.com is both, both consumer website and again for retailers manufacturers partners uh get involved because guess what I just sent this to my wife I texted it while we were talking and she responded back with yes with five s's and two exclamation points because we had a nightmare with her office uh trying to replace that screen I'm like this sucks. So yeah, this is really great. Well, Joe, I'll Terry again, the founder, president, your website, one last times, flex screen.com.

19:41Anything else that you'd recommend for someone that's listening to this episode in terms of like next steps, what they do? Well, first of all, you know, if anybody does have questions, anything like that, I would love to, you know, answer. You can reach me through, through our website. You know, we're, we're here to help, But yeah, I mean, if you're new to the entrepreneur world, man, I love it. I'm a passionate entrepreneur. Go out there, get started, do your thing. Listen to all of the great podcasts and the great shows like yours. Get educated, but then jump in. Join us. All right, Joe Altieri, president and founder of FlexScreen, found on the web at flexscreen.com.

20:24Joe, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

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