“Bringing Ideas to Life” with Tim Leatherman (GWTW914)

Well, one of the interesting things, Tim, is I've gotten a lot of advice over the years about running a small business.

I've been at it for about 20 years myself.

And that advice often goes something like this.

Forget about yourself.

Figure out what people want.

Make it for them.

And then this hope that they buy it.

And there's something about that advice that's never quite sat right with me.

Maybe it's because I have a little bit of an ego, but I think it's because it pushes the perspective and expertise of that individual who comes up with things or makes things.

So when I was reading your book, your stance was solve your problem first, which, you know, I'm like, well, yeah, duh, you know, solve your problem first.

So what is it like that balance between solving your problems and then solving the problems of your customers?

I totally disagree with that advice that others give, that you go out and do a market survey, ask them what they want, and then you make a product to meet that want.

It's very seldom a need, it's more a want.

And I think that the best ideas come from the needs of a single person.

And I think it was true in my own case in terms of needing to add a pair of pliers to a pocket knife in order to fix the plumbing problems I was encountering in the cheap hotels and pensions when my wife took that budget trip to Europe so many years ago.

And I think that the idea you come up with that you think is going to solve your need As you try to create that idea, you're going to find that it's not going to end up being marketable.

The idea that first came in your mind is going to evolve over time to something that will become marketable because the original idea was not.

Yeah.

But then once in the case of Leatherman, the idea in my mind ended up being a very complex tool, very expensive to make, would be very expensive to buy.

And so even I realized at one point that I had a feature in there that should be removed in order to give it a better chance to be marketable.

And then I went another five years with that slightly modified version, thinking that the world would love this.

But they didn't.

And then finally, finally, about seven and a half years into the eight years from the idea to tool on the market, by then I had a co-founder, Steve Berliner.

And we met with a retailer to whom we showed the complex tool.

And they were very impressed and they liked it and said, we think there's a market for this.

Well, one of the interesting things, Tim, is I've gotten a lot of advice over the years about running a small business.

I've been at it for about 20 years myself.

And that advice often goes something like this.

Forget about yourself.

Figure out what people want.

Make it for them.

And then this hope that they buy it.

And there's something about that advice that's never quite sat right with me.

Maybe it's because I have a little bit of an ego, but I think it's because it pushes the perspective and expertise of that individual who comes up with things or makes things.

So when I was reading your book, your stance was solve your problem first, which, you know, I'm like, well, yeah, duh, you know, solve your problem first.

So what is it like that balance between solving your problems and then solving the problems of your customers?

I totally disagree with that advice that others give, that you go out and do a market survey, ask them what they want, and then you make a product to meet that want.

It's very seldom a need, it's more a want.

And I think that the best ideas come from the needs of a single person.

And I think it was true in my own case in terms of needing to add a pair of pliers to a pocket knife in order to fix the plumbing problems I was encountering in the cheap hotels and pensions when my wife took that budget trip to Europe so many years ago.

And I think that the idea you come up with that you think is going to solve your need As you try to create that idea, you're going to find that it's not going to end up being marketable.

The idea that first came in your mind is going to evolve over time to something that will become marketable because the original idea was not.

Yeah.

But then once in the case of Leatherman, the idea in my mind ended up being a very complex tool, very expensive to make, would be very expensive to buy.

And so even I realized at one point that I had a feature in there that should be removed in order to give it a better chance to be marketable.

And then I went another five years with that slightly modified version, thinking that the world would love this.

But they didn't.

And then finally, finally, about seven and a half years into the eight years from the idea to tool on the market, by then I had a co-founder, Steve Berliner.

And we met with a retailer to whom we showed the complex tool.

And they were very impressed and they liked it and said, we think there's a market for this.