The Art of Manufacturing

Packaging should be your secret weapon, and this serial entrepreneur will show you how. Some of you might remember our episode a year ago, with Jesse Genet from Lumi. They recently raised $9M, so we’re checking in with Jesse to get an update. We talk about how they’ve evolved their strategy and what she learned raising venture capital. We also get tips for finding suppliers, and the advantages of offering a platform that gives customers unprecedented control to tinker with their packaging.

We’re starting with the original interview. If you want to skip ahead to our more recent conversation, it starts at 1:07:30.

At age 15, Jesse started her first business printing t-shirts in Detroit. Over the next year she followed her curiosity, tracked down an obscure invention, and next thing she knew her new company Inkodye ended up on Shark Tank and participated in the prestigious incubator Y-Combinator. Through becoming a manufacturing entrepreneur, she learned how easy it was on the digital side to start a business, but on the physical side it was the complete opposite.

That’s when their big idea hit: why don’t they create a whole platform for startups to handle packaging and fulfillment? And Lumi was born. Jesse tells horror stories and practical advice about packaging and logistics. She gives insights into new ecommerce trends like direct-to-consumer retail and Vertical Commerce Brands that make your packaging more important than ever before. And she also shares her real-life experiences and perspectives on being an entrepreneur. (Her stories about stalking the original owner of the Inkodye technology, turning down Mark Cuban, and what happened as she was about to walk onto the set of Shark Tank are pretty hilarious.) She’s energetic, nerdy, and unapologetically quirky, and she has some great advice you won’t want to miss.

Links and social handles: (note if the embedded hyperlinks don’t work, scroll down for explicit ones)

Lumi Home Page Lumi Twitter Lumi Instagram Lumi Facebook Jesse’s Twitter Jesse’s Instagram

Lumi on Fast Company Jesse Genet’s MAKE IT talk on YouTube “Digitally-Native Vertical Commerce Brands,” by Andy Dunn Marshall Goldsmith: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There on Audible Marshall Goldsmith: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There on Amazon

For more information, bios, and links, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/lumi.

A bioengineering startup tries to commercialize a new tool that might totally change the way we identify and treat disease.

We have tools to look inside the body without killing the patient, so why should we have to kill cells to understand disease? It’s hard to believe that only a hundred years ago, scientists mostly studied disease by dissecting cadavers. Doctors didn’t have tools like blood tests, imaging, molecular biology, and other diagnostics to see what was going on inside a body while a person was living. So our knowledge of anatomy and our ability to identify illness was limited to the dead body. That seems incredibly primitive today, but that’s what we’ve been doing at the cellular level until now.

David Charlot and his startup Charlot Biosciences is changing that. I was curious to learn more about their technology and what that means for the future of diagnosing and treating disease. Also, since I’m definitely not an expert in the life sciences, I wanted to learn about the existing techniques we hear a lot about, like flow cytometry, PCR, gene sequencing, immunotherapy, and the latest hot thing, CRISPR. It’s exciting to see him in action at the cusp of growing the business. We talk about commercializing university research, and he shares his lessons learned, which are transferrable to a broad range of businesses.

Links and social handles:

Website: http://cbio.io

Facebook: @cbiosciences

Twitter: @c_biosciences

LinkedIn: @cbiosciences

For more information, bios, and links, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/davidcharlot.

Roller derby inspires a body-positive athletic fashion brand that’s just hitting a tipping point. Though finding a factory that will take her business has gotten easier, the real challenges have just begun!

Micki Krimmel is the founder of an emerging apparel brand called Superfit Hero. She has some serious startup chops, but if you had told her she’d have anything to do with athletics, fashion, or business a decade ago she would have laughed. She grew up a drama nerd who never did sports until she discovered roller derby. And then her whole life changed. I’ve gotten to know Micki’s new company, Superfit Hero, since she joined MAKE IT IN LA’s Catalyst program, which is building a diverse community of creatives that manufacture in LA.

It’s so hard to differentiate an apparel brand these days, but she’s doing it by being at the forefront of the new body positive movement. It’s exciting to watch Superfit Hero hit an inflection point. Her business is just taking off. But... ironically, her challenges are just beginning.

Links:

Superfit Hero website: http://superfithero.com

Social: @superfithero @mickipedia

For more information, bios, and links, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/mickikrimmel.

About Micki Krimmel

Micki Krimmel is a serial entreprenuer, athlete, and loud-mouthed feminist. Micki was inspired by her experience as a competitive roller derby player to create Superfit Hero, a body positive, size inclusive fitness brand with a mission to empower women.

Micki has 15 years experience with technology and entertainment startups. Superfit Hero marks her first foray into manufacturing. With no fashion background, Micki was able to deliver a stellar fashion product by following the principles of customer discovery championed by the tech industry. With a tested and approved product sample, Micki funded her initial production with the help of her roller derby community via Kickstarter. Two and a half years later, Superfit Hero has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Buzzfeed, Refinery29, SHAPE, and many other publications. Micki's goal is to establish Superfit Hero as the go-to brand for the body positive fitness movement.

In her spare time, Micki enjoys lifting weights and riding motorcycles. Her newest hobby is wrenching on her 2004 KTM dirtbike.

Pioneering wireless power: a rare interview from the charismatic and controversial founder of an L.A.-based startup that everyone thought would fail.

Meredith Perry founded uBeam back in 2011. Mark Cuban invested in the company and called it the next zillion-dollar idea. In 2015 Fortune called her “brilliant” and asked if she might be the next Elon Musk. But less than a year later, a key employee left the company in 2016 and skepticism grew about her company’s ability to deliver on its technical milestones. One can understand why Meredith isn’t keen on speaking with the media. For six years, her team has been quietly plugging away at the technology, and she’s only made herself visible again recently, to demo the technology actually working.

A couple of months ago, while she was wrapping up a $20 million raise, I came to her office bearing margaritas. I was hoping to get her to speak candidly about her journey—and she did.

I have to admit, I’ve been skeptical about the technology myself, so I was curious to learn how it works and the challenges she’s faced along the way. I wanted to learn what it’s been like to bounce back from her PR nightmare, and she humbly shares some of her lessons learned as a brainy young CEO managing a team for the first time in a high-stakes environment. We talk about geek chic, astrobiology, the no a-hole rule, and the struggles of trying to do something no one thinks is possible.

For more information, photos, and links, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/meredithperry.

More Links:

uBeam website: http://uBeam.com

Social Media:

@meredithperry

@ubeam

About Meredith Perry

Meredith Perry is the inventor of uBeam, a technology that uses ultrasound to transmit power over the air to charge electronic devices wirelessly. Using a patented system, uBeam is a wireless power system that can safely charge multiple electronic devices wirelessly at a distance.

Meredith founded uBeam in 2011 while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, Meredith served as a student ambassador for NASA, where she worked on technology to detect life on Mars, experimented in zero gravity and researched and published papers in astrobiology and medicine. She graduated in 2011 with a degree in paleobiology.

Meredith has been included in Fortune’s “40 Under 40” Mobilizers, Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and Vanity Fair’s “The New Establishment.” She has also been recognized as one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People” and is the recipient of Elle Magazine’s Genius Award.

An ex-prisoner turned elite CNC machinist and TV personality, Titan Gilroy, talks about how to save American manufacturing and the joy of seeing something you created go to space. But first, Z rants a bit, and busts seven myths about manufacturing.

Titan’s journey is a story of redemption. He started on a really rough path, growing up homeless with a single mom. He became a pro boxer and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. But he turned his life around because of manufacturing. Today, in addition to owning an elite CNC machining shop, he hosts a TV show called TITANS of CNC, founded a machining school in San Quentin prison, and developed a free online curriculum and community for a new generation of CNC machinists.

I was curious to hear about his journey and what excites him about his career today. We also get his thoughts on how to turn around our manufacturing skills gap in this country. He talks tough on TV, but you can see he has a soft spot for helping others find hope through manufacturing.

We’ll be launching the next season in two weeks, but in the meantime we just had to jump in with a little bonus episode.

** If you're are a founder or CEO of a business that wants to manufacture in Los Angeles, apply to be a Catalyst Fellow with MAKE IT IN LA! Deadline is April 15: http://makeitinla.org/catalyst **

0:34 - Intro

1:15 - Z busts seven myths

15:10 - Catalyst announcement

16:37 – Titan Gilroy interview

34:27 –Z’s thoughts

For more information, photos, and links, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/titangilroy.

More Links:

Busting Manufacturing Myths Forbes column: http://bit.ly/SOTUmfg

Catalyst program: http://makeitinla.org/catalyst

Titan Gilroy links:

Website: https://titansofcnc.com/ (including free courses)

TITANS of CNC: Academy Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/titansofcncacademy/

Twitter https://twitter.com/titansofcnc

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/titans_of_cnc_academy

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/titansofcnc

The views expressed on The Art of Manufacturing podcast are those of the guests, and not our sponsors or partners.