PowerPoint Presentation

My One Rule for Making Big Decisions Jules PieriCo-founder & CEO | @julespieri

The Grommet is my third startupwith experience at big product companies. Jules pieri

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I learned that the business of product launch was both massive and very broken.

Playskool had a great design and development organization, but very best products never got past production. Target, K-Mart, Walmart, Toys R Us made decisions and limited what products could get on shelves

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A very uneven playing field. The bigand the luckywin. The best products do not. What product launch looks like:

The big win because they have already navigated the very difficult task of gaining shelf space and retailer relationships, or they have the sophistication to compete directly to reach consumers online. The lucky win because there are rare breakthrough products that capture traditional and social media attention by virtue of a celebrity endorsement (Oprah) or the unicorn Kickstarter breakout successes like Pebble.

SHOW ROCKI video: the idea is this is a product that you would walk right by in the store. Its probably too geeky to get traditional media easily, but it is very translatable to our community with video. But this company will be fighting up the uneven playing field despite their product excellence.4

The more innovative a product,The LESS likely it is to succeed. SugruLaunched on Grommet, 11/4/11

Sugru is a great example of a product that deserves success but needs a committed community to discover it and give it wings. We discovered it five years ago, when it was in development and launched it three years ago. I will show you our original launch video. ( Dont be confused by the Daily Grommet company namewe changed the name in 2013 to The Grommet.) 5

Amy Bernstein (DG) - Important but possible cut?

Go Big or Go HomeWhy go for changing Product Launch? Consumer Spending Drives 70% of the US economy. The products we buy and the companies we support create the world we live in.bittersweetLaunched 9/24/15

SHAPING THE WORLDLOOKING for BIG IDEAS

Why does this matter? FOR THE WORLD: Because the products we buy and support create the world we live in. Our easiest way to vote is with our dollars.

FOR ME OR ANY ENTREPRENEUR: One of the most important decisions you have to be honest about is whether what you are working on is big enough to deserve your sacrifice. If an idea is big enough with a large market opportunity you will have more shots on goal to create and refine your business model. For me the idea of having a fundamental role in 70% of our economy was plenty big.

Wanted a mission-driven business.

Businesses are more nimble, more resources to impact the world above government, nonprofits, educational institutions.

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There is no doubt that we are in a period of rapid transformation all fueled by technology. New products and companies are being born today that would never have had a fighting chance yesterday. The Maker Movement has created a new player on the field. The Maker Entreprenuer.

What is a Makercontemporary inventor, designer, product creator. The DIYer and tinkerer is empoweredinformation, technology and helping platforms to take ideas and bring them to life.

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Each weekday we launch new products and tell the story of every one and the people behind them.

The Grommet is a place to discover and shop for innovative and exciting products.

Lay-n-Go Launched 3/1/13

Some of our Grommet success stories

Some of our earlier success that you may know at this point9

FitBit, Wireless Activity TrackerLaunched 6/17/11

Internet of ThingsIntersection between technology and your data10

SodaStream, Home Soda MakerLaunched 9/23/10

Probably a third of you own this.I see it internationally everywhere11

Goldieblox, Engineering Toy for GirlsLaunched 4/17/13

Super Bowl free ad courtesy of IntuitLuckiest company on earth12

Retail is one of the most competitive and secretive businesses on Earth.

A retailer is not in business to launch products into other retailers or to trumpet their best products.

BUT THE GROMMET IS.

I dont accept that retailers, as skilled as they are, should decide what products win. I dont accept that Google, in dominating search and making it hard for a new product to get found, should have so much power. I dont accept that Amazon should control 8% of retail in the US. We, the people, should decide about which companies deserve our support.13

We would build a media platform to tell the story of new to market products. PeepsLaunched 9/21/16

Every day at noon a new Grommet is launched14

A place where success or failure would be decided by users. i Geniettis AngurelloLaunched 3/29/16

CITIZEN COMMERCE

Share the story with the community.Community decides if it is a product that they want to support15

Video would be central to our storytelling

Video would be central to our storytelling.

We feature real team members in our videos. 16

Each weekday we launch new products and tell the story of every one and the people behind them.

The Grommet is the place to discover and shop for innovative and exciting products.

Lay-n-Go Launched 3/1/13

Since 2008, we have launched more than 2,500 products in 16 categories.

But only 3% of the products that The Grommet considers is ultimately launched. Lake ArtLaunched 7/16/13

The Grommet considers 300+ products per week.

How does The Grommet discover the next big thing?testing productsuser feedbackcompetitive analysisEvaluation

making decisions

How do I make decisions?

Big decisions generally correlate to big life goals

Big decisions generally correlate to big life goals.

--Big decisions are the ones that relate to your own big goals:Get out of Detroit, see the world--others might want to build a good life near familyBe a good person, mother, spouse, friend--everyone decides that but not everyone acts on it--it is a series of small decisions that lead to a big resultWikipedia entry--for me it was not career. It was hard for me to be excited about career when I had no role models.22

The two words that make my skin crawl...

The two words that make my skin crawl

Parents: many outstanding qualities but their absolute weakest one was decision making. NOTHING ever changed or happened when I grew up, except every 6 years or so we got a new car. Some of that was about resources. But more of it was about imagination, confidence, energy and decisiveness.

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The worst place to see I wish...

The worst place to see I wish

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I dont want to be this woman at 95...

I dont want to be this woman at 95

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I wanna be this guy when I am 95...

I wanna be this guy when Im 95.

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The two words I love...

The two words I love

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Sources of inspiration

Sources of inspiration...Sources of inspiration

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Sources of inspiration...

Sources of inspiration

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With a little help from my friends...

With a little help from my friends

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How I know I am in my No Regrets zone

I wanna throw up

Half my friends/colleagues think I am crazy

I have never done this before--and I probably dont know anyone else who has...

I can paint a picture of what success looks likeLittle things that add up: OPEThe resume or press release or photo album

How I know I am in my No Regrets Zone:

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How I talk myself through the fear

How I talk myself through fear.

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How I get help... to talk myself through the fear

How I get helpto talk myself through fear.

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A famous guy who has the same rule...

https://youtu.be/jwG_qR6XmDQ?t=1m10s

A famous guy who has the same rule

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The End