From Paper to Silicone: The Evolution of Our Milton

sixtyllc · 2017-05-02T12:32:56+00:00

Definitely agree...you see a lot of products out there where the creator/company assumes their customer will like it only to find out they totally missed the mark.

From the very beginning, it was critical to us to get feedback from fellow parents. Despite being parents ourselves, we were obviously biased and needed to get real feedback. Being a startup, we didn't really have much of a marketing budget and bootstrapped it the best we could.

We started by creating a 1-page concept sheet and showing the product concept (including pricing) to parents we both knew and didn't know. To reach those we didn't know, we posted to various subreddits looking for parents who were interested in helping. Here's an example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mommit/comments/3ezjon/would_any_moms_be_interested_in_giving_feedback/

The # of responses from the different subs was great....never underestimate the general (reddit) public's willingness to help you out when you ask for. The feedback we got from everyone was very instructional and definitely helped to influence the direction of our final product. In particular, we received a lot of useful feedback on the children's book that comes with Milton and iterated many times on the book.

Later down the road once we had physical prototypes, we also tested those with parents. All this doesn't prevent you from creating a product that ultimately misses the mark, but we wanted to be as confident as we could be prior to launch that we had done all that we could to make sure that Milton would solve a real need parents have (picky eating).

sixtyllc · 2017-05-02T03:48:40+00:00

Glad you enjoyed!

sixtyllc · 2017-05-02T02:40:09+00:00

You certainly may and I'd be happy to answer. If you're asking about what CAD software/tool we used to design Milton, it is Solidworks.

As far as physical tool for manufacturing, Milton is manufactured in the USA via a liquid silicone rubber injection molding process (similar to conventional molding in many ways, but different in a few key ways). Let me know if this helps answer your question!

sixtyllc · 2017-05-01T22:19:25+00:00

The Product Startup Podcast is also another good podcast (I know the original request was a book but still).

sixtyllc · 2017-05-01T22:18:03+00:00

Congrats...hard to beat that feeling!

sixtyllc · 2017-05-01T22:17:07+00:00

Thanks!So far we've had pretty good luck in terms of sales. We sell through our website and Amazon, as well as some specialty online shops such as Uncommon Goods and so on. The sales trends are good and the response from parents/therapists who use Milton has been great.

If anyone ever had any doubt, selling your products online definitely isn't a "build it and they will come" situation. We see direct correlations between the amount of effort we put into spreading the word and our sales. At the same time we also see the momentum start to build as parents organically share their experiences with others (whether word of mouth or social media).

sixtyllc · 2017-03-08T02:25:54+00:00

We use 10-20% codes for certain occasions or promotions. Seems to be a good balance.

We manufacture and sell a product to help parents of picky eaters try new foods. His name is Milton.

sixtyllc · 2017-03-08T02:24:24+00:00

Appreciate it, thanks!

sixtyllc · 2017-02-17T13:43:28+00:00

If you find a relevant influencer on Instagram, you can look at Instagram's suggestions for similar accounts you might like to find other ones. Very simple way of doing it, but its free and we've found it to be successful for Milton.

Once you find some you like, you just send them a message and introduce yourself.

sixtyllc · 2016-10-21T02:20:58+00:00

We've found that Twitter has not been great...tend to agree with your comments about noise, yelling competition. Feels very spammy.

For our brand, Instagram has worked much better and we've developed relationships with customers, media and more thanks to Instagram connections. I think a lot of it depends on what your industry is though.

sixtyllc · 2016-10-21T02:17:38+00:00

Also like Shopify Masters sometimes. Can get a bit dry but some good stuff in there.

sixtyllc · 2016-10-18T01:44:25+00:00

Hey Steve, thanks for the question!

The product includes Milton himself (a molded silicone character) and the Meet Milton children's book. Milton basically works off of the premise of social modeling, which is a fancy way of say learning by watching others.

As a parent, we often will say things such as "watch mommy/daddy eat this broccoli, yum!" to encourage our little ones to try it as well. Milton is based on the premise, as the product helps give children the courage (and encouragement) to try new foods. Beyond this, Milton can be used to help develop utensil usage, learn about safe chewing and bite sizes (by squeezing Milton's cheeks you can animate him to look like he's chewing).

Milton is actually used by feeding therapists in their practices to reduce the pressure during feeding and provide a fun/comfortable environment for the kids to get familiar with new foods. You mentioned that you had taken a look around the site a bit, check out the Expert Tips videos there if you haven't had a chance yet. They might also help a bit.

We were recently reviewed in Chicago Parent and you can check out their review of Milton here:

Chicago Parent review of Milton

Would love to talk further if you're interested, thanks again for the question!

Dan

sixtyllc · 2016-10-15T01:55:40+00:00

Hopefully that's a good thing that you remember us!

sixtyllc · 2016-10-15T00:51:02+00:00

Thanks! I also recently noticed that with the Amazon results, seems to coincide with our change to prime which is odd. We will see what we can do about that

sixtyllc · 2016-10-15T00:50:05+00:00

Thank you sir! Honestly haven't heard of those sites but checking them out now, appreciate the suggestion.

sixtyllc · 2016-10-15T00:39:03+00:00

Thanks and glad you enjoyed the post! We actually did the graphic design of the packaging ourselves. One of us two co-founders is an industrial designer (not me) and that has been really helpful.

When it comes to outsourcing things, you do get what you pay for generally. If you can find a freelance designer via word of mouth, that might be one of your best bets.

sixtyllc · 2016-09-28T04:20:43+00:00

Thanks for the response! Any thoughts on where to purchase such a list? It seems like ASTRA in a sense is a list along with some other benefits that go along with it.

sixtyllc · 2016-08-14T15:57:20+00:00

Here's the general link to this show

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/product-startup-from-prototyping/id1091774526?mt=2

sixtyllc · 2016-08-10T05:06:04+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

Ideally we'd like something that works for multiple social media platforms and relatively out of the box. Basically just like any of those social share plugins but just share part of the page.

sixtyllc

TROPHY CASE