The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

“You have to check the temperature and get early feedback.” — Kris Schantz, Happy Worker Inc.

The first year of a new business is the hardest. According to research conducted at the University of Tennessee, the failure rate of new businesses in the first year is a staggering 70 to 80 percent! How do fledgling manufacturers survive? TDmonthly Magazine contacted more than 25 rookie companies and asked about the trials and tribulations of those first 12 months.

Amos Carlen, co-inventor and co-owner of Who'd You Rather? Inc., test-played the game relentlessly, trying out different design ideas and modes of playability. “We tweaked it. Then we did focus groups. Does it work with two people, six people? We made sure it worked for couples, as well as friends, or strangers. It took awhile.”

Kris Schantz, co-owner of Happy Worker Inc. (ToyDirectory), believes in getting opinions. “You have to check the temperature and get early feedback, spend time asking retailers before you’ve even made the product: Would they carry the toy? What price would they carry it at?”

Craig Gorton, creator of RockBall (ToyShow), wanted to roll out his product progressively. “We tested this summer — who uses it, how much they’ll pay. A couple kids took it to college — Harvard and Notre Dame — to check it out.”

Danielle Ayotte, co-founder of Taggies Inc., learned “that you have to ask as many people as many questions as you can think of to get answers. You would be surprised how much people want to help if you are sincere in your desire to do things ‘correctly’ and for a good purpose.”

Joan Orr, owner and creator of Doggone Crazy!, said she joined associations with influential members. “I write articles for their newsletters, post to Web lists and speak at conferences,” she said. “We also have donated games to charity auctions and fundraisers all over the country.”

Linda Polaski, vice president of L. M. Rdeux Innovations Inc., found networking essential to get their game Trhyme to market. “We pulled out all the stops and contacted everyone we could think of. We used press releases to local newspapers to make them aware of our new venture and to get some free PR. We contacted local radio stations that played our game on the air and used our games as giveaways for their contests. We did demonstrations and game signings at local charity events, craft shows, gift shows, our alma maters and, of course, local game stores. No matter how much of a cliché it is, networking is key to promoting a new product.”

Stephan Brissaud, VP of sales and marketing for Asmodee Editions LLC, bought a van and a trailer on Ebay, loaded it up with games, and hit the road for an entire year to go from retailer to retailer. “It helped overcome our two challenges: building a brand and establishing a network of customers.”

George Irwin, chairman and CEO of itoys (ToyShow), concurred, “As with any startup company — capital was important. We went privately for the monies: family, etc. Make sure you get enough.”

Danielle Ayotte found that “the hardest part about starting is not knowing about multiple topics regarding manufacturing and business: personnel, wage regulations, machinery, office administration, safety regulations, quality control, insurance, liability, etc. We had to literally research everything from scratch.”

Rebecca Bloom, marketing maven of Word Salt Inc. (ToyShow), agreed. “’Drop ship?’ What does that mean? Getting a handle on the yearly calendar — including when not to call retailers because their store is full of people buying pencils and notebooks — has been part of the learning curve.”

Andrew Zanevsky, president of Infinifield Inc. (ToyShow), said, “We had absolutely no prior experience in the toy industry and had to learn a lot during the first year. We made some mistakes in the process, but have accomplished a lot too. It was all in the learning.”

Lois Sweetland, vice-president of research and marketing of CES Concepts (ToyShow), went the opposite direction: “We’ve done everything from the start, trying to make it all ourselves. That way we have control of the process.”

Missy Cohen-Fyffe, president of Babe Ease LLC, said that initially, retailers didn’t see a need for her product, which forced her to step back and focus on the dot-com business. “I did it all online, selling to consumers. It went well, and then I could show the retailers the types of sales numbers I was getting online, and they caught on.”

Carlen of Who’d You Rather?, said his company’s Web site is “as profitable, or more so, than the retail business right now. We make four times more there on a sale. Taking it online totally — that’s the next phase.”

Barbara Jerome, the mom who invented NAMiTS, said, “I applied for awards programs to get credibility quickly — anything to make buyers stop and take notice.”

Steve Hart, project manager of Front Porch Classics (ToyShow), said, “It was a breakthrough when we won the Family Fun Award with the Old Century Baseball Game. This was a kids-tested award, and a very surprising response, because we were low tech — it had been won the last several years by electronic games. Our winning that award turned everyone’s heads around. Toy stores began to change their buying habits a little because of it.”

Kari Epstein, president of Dream On LLC, launched Hotflash! The Menopause Game and was successful from the start. “On my first day of business I sold to three countries and got scads of national press. It was disappointing, to say the least, that I didn't become an overnight game mogul after that,” she joked. “The first year, while extremely successful for me, was a test of my patience and perseverance.”

Evelyn Brunner, director of Fun Factory Games, best sums up the first-year experience: “We’ve had our fair share of trials, tribulations and accomplishments. But a sense of satisfaction ensues every time our existing retailers call us up to place sizeable reorders, convinced of the sell-ability of our games.”

The following is information on products made by the manufacturers mentioned in this article.