Building a successful baby brand requires more than just a clever invention; it demands grit, preparation, and a deep understanding of your market. In this episode, Stewart Gold, the founder of Dingle Dangle Baby, pulls back the curtain on his intense Shark Tank experience, revealing the 300 hours of preparation behind his one-minute pitch. Stewart discusses the critical importance of knowing your numbers, navigating complex manufacturing compliance, and the strategic shift that transformed his invention into a giftable must-have for new parents. Whether you are an early-stage founder or looking to scale your own venture, Stewart’s insights on licensing, cash flow management, and the value of mentorship offer a practical roadmap for sustainable growth. Join us as we explore how to turn a simple idea into a serious, lasting business.

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From Idea To Empire: Building A Successful Baby Brand With Stewart Gold

Cracking The Shark Tank Code: Preparing Your Perfect Pitch

Welcome to another episode of the show, where we always bring you guest after guest, who have appeared on Shark Tank. Some of them get deals. Some of them don’t. In this episode, guess who we’re going to talk to? It is Stewart Gold, Founder of Dingle Dangle Baby.

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Welcome to the show, Stewart.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

We’re going to get right into it. This is going to be a fast and quick episode. To everybody reading, fasten your seatbelt. It is going to be a bumpy, wild, crazy ride full of content and full of golden nuggets. Here we go. You said, “My name is Stewart Gold from Boca Raton, Florida. I’m asking for $75,000 in exchange for 20% of my company.” How did you come up with the evaluation?

I spoke with a lot of people who’ve been on the show, and the one thing they told me was, “Don’t go on the show and ask for too much and make yourself look bad. Open yourself up to criticism and constant prodding and poking. You’re going on national television, so the point is to look good, present yourself in the best light, and look like you know what you’re talking about.” I came up with an evaluation I felt was fair and, honestly, maybe even a little low, but that I knew the sharks would be interested in and look at me in a favorable light. I kept it focused on the business, not the valuation.

That was a good point because if you went into a, “Hi, ladies and gentlemen,” they would have already stopped listening. If you start pitching in front of investors, if you got investors’ ears, you can’t go too high because you’ve lost their interest. You did great. You listened to feedback from people who have already been on the show. You kept it relatively low. We’ll find out more about the evaluation and see if it was right on or not. You said, “Elected me as a chief diaper changing officer of our household. I have no idea the job would entail so much kicking.” You’re the only man I’ve heard call it the chief diaper operating operator.

We all hold different roles in our family. You have to be honest and acknowledge yours. Sometimes, they’re not the most glamorous roles, but you take them on because you’re a man, and you have to.

I love it. “Screaming, wriggling, thrashing, rolling, kicking. Changing my baby’s diaper almost felt like I was wrestling an alligator. It was a high-stakes battle to secure that diaper and avoid a swampy blowout.” I love that, and here’s why I love that. It’s because some people go on Shark Tank, and they’re boring. They’re not very entertaining. They might have some good punch lines, but they don’t get your attention. You’ve got three seconds to get somebody’s attention. How did you come up with that skit?

You’re exactly right. You have to remember when you go on Shark Tank, more than anything, it’s a television show. You’re there to entertain. They don’t bring on boring guests. They don’t bring on guests who go, “Buy my business.” At the end of the day, I looked at it not only as an opportunity for investment, but an opportunity for ten million people around the country or around the world to see my brand.

I’m a writer. I’ve written movie scripts before. We came up with this idea with the producer of what would get people’s attention and what would make it fun, lovable, and funny. I’m a baby brand. What would relate to moms and dads out there who’ll say, “I could understand this.” What is changing a diaper like? The best analogy we could draw was like wrestling an alligator. That’s it. When you talk to parents, they can see the visuals. They get it. That’s, for me, such an important thing to put in people’s minds. When they remember our product, they think, “I’m solving a problem.” The problem is a wiggly, squirmy baby.

Remember, if you’re going to go on Shark Tank, think it out. Script it out. You might not be a writer like Stewart is, but script that out and have a plan because you’ve got three seconds to get through them.

For that one-minute pitch, I put 300 hours of preparation time into that.

Three hundred hours of time to go on a 1-minute pitch. Let me tell you something. He’s right about that. “Introducing the Dingle Dangle. Dingle Dangle is a no-squirm, restraint-free, baby-changing helper that gives parents those crucial 30 seconds they need to change their baby gator’s diaper and avoid any reptile dysfunction. Sharks, the most innovative part about the Dingle Dangle is how it grows alongside your baby. Turn the Dingle Dangle into a lightweight portable mobile for your crib or stroller. Twist it on the headband and twist it into the sensory rod, and there you go. You turned the croc that snaps into a babe that naps.”

“Finally, Sharks, you can twist the rod out of the claw and twist our friend Ollie the Octopus off. Now, you have our friend Pete the Puffer Fish. You twist this into Pete, and you have your baby’s first rattle. Sharks, I have one question left for you. Who’s ready to make their wallets jingle jangle with the Dingle Dangle?” I love this idea. Great job. It’s very versatile, unique, and flexible. How did you come up with the Dingle Dangle?

Simply, my baby was rollies for me. I said, “What would be the quickest way to do this?” I had a friend who lived above me in the building who had a coat hanger and a little baby toy he would hang off the end. I saw how much the baby interacted. They smile and giggle. They froze in place while they were looking up at this toy. The idea was born from that. We spent time during COVID, probably a year, developing it.

Was it a man or woman that lives above you?

It was a man. My business partner is a man. He lives in England. We had all the time in the world during COVID to come up with crazy ideas, and this was it. We developed a prototype within a few weeks. We used local seamstresses, local cutters, and fabric people. We put it together and spray-painted it. Right when we had it, we went on the road. We went to ten different baby shows. We drove across the country in my little car. We got feedback on the product, what people liked about it, and what they didn’t like about it. We continued to iterate on that product until the final one you saw in Shark Tank.

From Kitchen Table Idea To Proven Prototype

I love that. It’s a great product. This is more of a men’s thing than a women’s thing.

We get a lot of criticism. People say, “This is silly. This is another toy.” The truth is this. It’s not food. It’s not diapers. It’s not an essential. What it is, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of ways that when we talk to dads, dads are more involved than ever in childcare and child-raising, which wasn’t always the case, when we’re being truthful, in earlier generations.

We talked to a lot of dads, and dads didn’t have a way or don’t have a way to connect with their babies. How do they connect with them? They’re not breastfeeding. They’re not the ones primarily up at night sometimes. This is an amazing way for dads to connect and have something that almost forces them or causes them to want to do what most would consider an undesirable task.

Do you know what else it’s good for? It’s photography. The photographer is always trying to get the baby’s attention. We could be wearing that thing for photography.

We’ve had a lot of photographers buy these, and they tell us about this. You’re exactly right.

“Great presentation, Stu.” “Thank you.” “One question, though. What about the dork factor of the thing hanging in front of you? It’s dork factor six.” “My wife could attest I’m one of the biggest dorks probably on the face of this planet, so this is no surprise for her or anybody else in my family. It’s designed to look silly. It’s designed to look this way.” “This can be worn to the club. You can put a lamp on the end of it.”

“It’s even cool. Is this system patented at all?” “Yeah. We have filed a utility patent back in 2020 for the system, the headband with the removable rod that goes into different accessory products.” I love the product. It’s easy to show and demonstrate. You can tell by watching this that Stewart is a writer. He is an entertainer. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it. He spent 300 hours in a 1-hour pitch. This is a very good product to show. You got a patent. Let’s talk a little bit about the utility patent because so many people and so many business owners and entrepreneurs don’t think about getting that patent. A patent is important. Let’s talk a little bit about the patent.

I may be in a minority on this, but I’m also a lawyer by trade.

You left that part out.

That’s not the exciting part. Too many people focus early-stage on the patent. They get obsessed with it, and they can’t do anything else. They can’t go out and sell their product. My first advice is to always go out and sell. Get people’s feedback. Ours is not revolutionary. It’s just a clever idea. Many people have clever ideas. People don’t have the wherewithal, the money, and the time to steal your idea. I firmly believe this. Some companies could come along, but at the same time, the most important thing is to get out and sell it.

Once you have evidence that people want your product, then at that point, which could be 1 month or 6 months, then you go and say, “I’m going to go spend the $10,000 or the $20,000 that it’s going to cost me to go get that patent.” Too many people spend all their money upfront on a patent and then never sell a product. To me, it’s putting the cart before the horse.

I agree with you 1000%. It’s important to get a patent, but it’s important to test the marketplace first to make sure you even have a market where you can sell it. That’s one thing that Kevin Harrington, the original shark on Shark Tank, always did. He took a product, went to social media, and ran paid ads. He would do split testing to see if he even had a market. That’s what we need to do as entrepreneurs. We need to go out there, split test it, and see if we can sell it.

Then, you start going back and say, “I know I have something here. How do I protect my product? How do I make that happen?” I agree with you 1000%. I’m a business partner with a company in Houston. We have been in business together since 2014. We got our patent in 2025 because we want to make sure we continue to grow, continue to sell, and continue to have a demand for our products.

That’s the way to do it. Too many early-stage business owners spend all their money, and they don’t have any money left over for marketing or any development that could get sales.

“In 2022, we had $67,000 worth of sales, but we ran out of the product immediately within almost 2 months. was 2022.” That’s 2022. What did you sell them for? How much?” “We sell them for $40.” “What did they cost you to make?” They cost us $11.75 to make and around $1,450 to $1,550 to land.” “That’s not bad.” Those are pretty good numbers. That’s pretty good financially. Are those being manufactured in China?

They are. In a great factory. The truth of the matter is, you’re talking about four years later, and our costs are half that.

They’re about $5.40 or $6?

Yeah. That’s been a huge education, not being in the product space before. Volume and margins are everything. Every 10% you could cut down your margin is 10% more you’re putting in your pocket. It makes a huge deal. It takes time to get there. You can’t start off and think that you’re going to get the best pricing. You’ve got to go with what you got.

Once volume starts to prove out, then you have more leverage with your manufacturer, and you know where you could cut. A lot of times, your first product is over-engineered. You start talking to your market or your buyers, and they say, “I don’t need this. I don’t need the mirror.” You cut your product back to meet the demand and also to save costs so you could be more profitable.

Finding Your Market Fit: Gift Vs. Functional Toy

You have to know your numbers. Obviously, you know your numbers. That’s good advice for business owners and entrepreneurs. “The first prototype to product here. In 2023, what do you got in sales?” “We’ve done about $40,000 in sales in 2023. We had our best month this month. We did about $15,000 in sales. We’ve been growing month over month.”

“What are the different use cases for this? I’m in the early childhood space with a sensory development center called Play 2 Progress. We work with occupational therapists who are trying to help develop kids in terms of their sensory skills and motor development. When our founder is working with children, helping them to sit up, she’s behind them. She wants something that’s projecting over them to keep them entertained while she’s trying to engage their core muscles.”

“Sensory black and white colors are one of the first colors the baby sees. These are baby-safe chimes. The decibel levels are safe for the baby. Then, the swaying motion. It’s all about sensory. We marketed it first as a sensory toy, and we had some traction. We changed our focus a little bit and decided this is a toy, but it’s a baby gift.” Did you start out designing it as a sensory toy to help children with that, or did you design it to change diapers?

Both were true. Selling anything requires two things. It requires both form and a desire to make it fun, make it unique, and look to stand out. Also, there are parents who are very careful about bringing things into their home. Anyone who has kids knows that, typically. You’re not scrubbing anything off a shelf. You’re going to research the materials and what it does.

We wanted to make sure that our buyers or our target market knew that we were thinking about this product. It wasn’t just the silly thing on your head. It had all these elements that engage the baby from a very early stage. Not only is it fun and silly in a way to distract the baby while changing diapers, but also, it is something when you see babies looking up, and they’re starting to move their neck in order to reach out and do these things.

These are all developmental, sensory things that you don’t necessarily get in this day and age where parents are holding phones over the top of their baby. We see this too often where you’re going to change your diaper with one hand, and they’re playing a video on the other hand. Frankly, we hated that. We wanted there to be a developmental aspect to our product from day one.

That makes sense. I love what you’re saying here. “You’re going to do $80,000 in sales, it sounds like.” We’re projecting about $185,000 for this year.” “Will you make money on that? We’ll make about $10,000 to $15,000 on that.” “You haven’t paid yourself anything yet.” “What have you invested in it?” I want to go back. When I stopped it and then played it, you said, “We changed our focus. This is a gift,” correct?

I did.

You designed it so that it could be sensory, could be diverse, and could be getting your children’s attention as used in the home. Then, you redirected and said this is a gift, correct?

Yes.

I would buy it as a gift. When did that shift happen? Sometimes, people get stuck in their vision, and they can’t see beyond that. They figure out, “There’s no use or a market for that.” When did you make that shift?

I sometimes look back at this and kick myself for saying that because I don’t think it’s untrue, but it limits the perceived market for it. While it’s true that it is a gift, and that’s how it’s mainly bought as a gift, when you’re pitching to investors, they see that as a limiting factor. They say, “It’s only a gift. It can only be viewed this way.” Sometimes, I think, “Was that a mistake?” I ended up getting a deal, and everything worked out.

The cat is out of the bag. The reason I went back to that is that I heard you say that. When you are on Shark Tank, or you’re in front of a group of investors, even one investor, you have to know your market strategy. You’ve got to know who your client or prospect is. Everybody wants to be able to be everything to everybody. You need to know, “Who’s my customer?” I stopped you there because I want entrepreneurs to be clear. What is your direction? I think it’s both. Give it as a gift because it’s got a good use. I see that it is both. Parents buy it for themselves, and then I would pick that up as a gift for someone.

Your point is well made. The key is this. Too many early-stage entrepreneurs believe their products are for everybody. That’s never the case. I don’t care what you’re selling. Your product is for a very specific, small segment of the population. The sooner and faster you drill down and target your messaging to that specific population, the more sales you’re going to make and the quicker you’ll take off.

People think, “If I only target this to men between 40 and 43, I can never have a business.” That’s not true. Your business will grow the quicker that you’re able to identify your market and target it. We knew that this was wives buying it for their husbands. This was grandparents buying it for their grandkids. Eight out of ten times, by going around all these baby shows and seeing how people bought our product with our own two eyes, we noticed that it was always a gift. We didn’t look at it as we were closing our market down. We looked at it as we’re going deeper and we’re opening people’s minds up, like, “This is a gift. This is why I want to buy this.” It helped our marketing take off, and the product continue to grow.

I don’t see men necessarily going in and buying this for themselves. I certainly see women buying it for their husbands and saying, “You need to change diapers.” “$50,000 into it.” “The founding year, 2022, you made $67,000 in sales. You made no money.” “We lost $32,000.” “Where’s the cash going? Typically, in this type of business where you’re selling online, and you’re making $25 a unit, you should be making good money.” “All the cash that we get from sales goes right back in. It’s been used to fund more inventory.”

“Stu, what do you need a Shark for? The $75,000 goes where? Why the push for a Shark partner?” “Your marketing, your expertise, and your connections. One of the big things we want to go next to is licensing. Right now, we’re talking to sports leagues, a league you’re very familiar with. How many other products can you put the Dallas Mavericks logo on and introduce that to a baby at day one?” “You want to sell it as a gift, right?” “We want to sell it as a gift. For dads, especially, it keeps it in that dad realm. You can license it. You could do TV characters. You could do Peppa Pig. You could do Sesame Street.”

“I’m worried that you’re not making money, or you’re not in a position to make money. You’re losing money on every sale.” “We’re positive this month. As we ramp up sales and keep going, we’ll be profiting. There are 3.5 million births in the US.” Why do you think, looking back at it, you were not profitable for those few years?

The Harsh Reality Of Manufacturing Margins And Costs

I know that pretty well.

A lot of people are like, “I have no idea why I’m not making a profit.”

What I didn’t realize going into a manufacturing business is that because you make a product for $10 and sell it for $30 doesn’t mean people are like, “That’s $20. That’s a huge margin.” You’re not taking into account taxes, shipping costs, and warehousing. You’re not taking into account that every time you sell a product on Amazon, there’s a 12% fee on Amazon plus shipping.

All of a sudden, that $20 goes to $15, $12, $8, and then $3. It’s not uncommon. It doesn’t mean your business is failing. It means that you’re not at that point where you’re ready to take off. You may only be making $3 a unit. If you have a lost batch of units, or you have a month where you’re not selling as well, all of a sudden, your costs start running more than your revenue. It’s understanding the mechanics of business, especially a product manufacturing business.

That’s why I stopped you there. You’re a lawyer, but you didn’t know. A lot of entrepreneurs go into business, and they create a product. Sometimes, inventing a product is the easy part. Doing all the rest is the hard part. You didn’t know. That’s why it’s important for entrepreneurs to know what the entire cost is, not just to make, but ship, seal, and deliver, including taxes, including Amazon fees, including everything. What does that cost? It sounds like you’re making money.

They know better, too. These Sharks know better. These Sharks know that you got Amazon fees, taxes, shipping, and this and that. That’s why you entrepreneurs need to know, “What is it at my front door? What is that cost to my front door?” If you sell it for $40 and it costs you $38 to get to your front door, you’re not making any money.

That’s correct. I don’t know how many people I’ve spoken with in the past few years who called me and saw me on the show. They gave me their numbers and said, “I’m starting a business. I’m starting this. This is how much it costs me to make it. It’s going to cost me $9 to make it. I’m going to sell it for $21.” I’m like, “Don’t go into business. The worst thing you could do is put any money in this business because you’re going to fail.” They go, “Why do you say that? You don’t believe in me.” I said, “No, I believe in you. I know you have no idea how to do business on a product side.” Sure enough, people don’t listen. They go into business. Six months later, they’ve spent $200,000, and they have nothing to show for it.

This is why I do this show. This is not taught in college. This is not taught in an entrepreneurial school. This is why I do this show. It is to teach entrepreneurs that it’s not easy. You lost money for the first 2 to 3 years. If you knew now what you knew then, you would have done things a lot differently.

I would have invested my money in the stock market and called it a day.

That’s a great answer. Entrepreneurs stop, and it can be expensive. That’s a very true answer.

This is why I think your show is so valuable and why I agreed to come on. I get offers sometimes. Honestly, I am an avid consumer of entrepreneurial content, especially people like yourself, the Shopify website, and How I Made My First Million, because you hear the same things over and over again that are not taught in business school or anywhere else besides learning it the harsh way in the real world.

You’re still going to screw up and make mistakes, but at least you could shortcut that. You’re not going to make maybe the fatal mistake that you would if you didn’t know any better. It’s always good to have a mentor. It’s always good to speak to somebody. It’s always good to consume the content of people who’ve been there and done that. Most of them failed at least once, if not twice, if not five times before they hit it.

Not any mentor, but somebody who has been there and done it. A lot of people go to these entrepreneur events and are like, “I can teach you this. I can coach you on this. I could do this and that.” They’ve never done anything of real value other than to speak and get paid to coach somebody. They don’t have a proven product or proven business themselves. You’ve got to get an entrepreneur that’s been there and done it.

As we’re having this conversation, one good piece of advice I can give anybody is that people are so willing to talk to you and especially help you out. There are so many people who are so successful, whether it’s financially, whether it’s with their family, or whether it’s charitably, who will be happy to have a half-hour conversation with you. I’ve done that. I reach out on LinkedIn. When I meet people, I say, “Can I call you?” They say, “Sure.” Eight out of ten times, people are so happy to have a conversation and share their story. You learn so much from that.

Make sure you take advice from somebody who has done it. Seek out real experience advice, not somebody’s opinion. “It has hit market saturation.” “Don’t do it. Don’t give us the 1% big number. That’s a kiss of death.” “Let me get things going. Every Shark has their thing. We’ve been doing this for a long time. Fifteen years of Shark Tank. We all have millions of followers, which is very useful for acquiring customers.”

Followers are not always quite sales. I tell all of my clients that. They’re like, “I got a million followers.” I’m like, “How much is in your bank account? How many of your followers are buying from you?” Most people on social media don’t set up a funnel. They don’t have a funnel to get those followers in, to get them to click on something, to get them to get to know your company and get to know you better, to buy your product. Followers are useless unless you have that funnel set up.

You’d rather have 1,000 engaged followers and 100,000 unengaged followers, right?

Why Businesses Get Rejected: Analyzing The Shark Tank Experience

1000%. “My kids are growing up. I love you, Stu, but I’m going to pass on this one. I’m out. “Thank you very much.” “It’s a great product. It’s a lot of fun. I can’t see it scaling up to be big enough to get my interest. For those reasons, I’m out.” “Thank you.” Let me ask you something before I start dropping off. I’m asking questions sooner than where we are. Who was your ideal Shark coming into this?

I figured it wasn’t Mark because he’s more in the tech space and is bigger. Everyone says Lori for products.

Don’t say who you got a deal with. Let’s not get the cat out of the bag.

When I was practicing in my bedroom for all those hours, I had pictures of all the sharks on my wall. I thought to myself what each one would ask me, what would they want to hear, and how it fits their brand. When you’re trying to raise money, you’re not trying to raise money in a vacuum. You’re raising money with real people who have their own personality and their own needs. You never know. You try to position yourself into a lane where potentially, you think you’d be a good fit for that person. Honestly, I thought it could be Lori if there was going to be a taker.

You were hoping for Lori.

I wouldn’t say I wasn’t hoping for her, but I thought maybe that would be my best chance.

Take note of what he said. When he did this, he spent 300 hours in a 1-minute pitch. He put all the Sharks up as if he was talking to them. He visualized. He did all this preparation. I don’t know if you are an outgoing extrovert because some attorneys are, and some aren’t, or if all that preparation helped you to be so confident, so outgoing, and so entertaining.

I am an extrovert. I love being around people, and I love talking, but in all honesty, you can’t substitute preparation. You’re on national television. I was not going to go on national television. I have two kids. I have a wife. I have friends and family who supported me. I was like, “I may not get a deal. They might make me look like an idiot, but I am not going to go on and stumble. I’m going to go on there and hold my head high. I’m going to do the best job I can. I’m going to be prepared that no matter what comes at me, I will have an answer for it, even though it’s not the answer they want.” That’s all you could do.

That’s the number one thing. Don’t go in there looking like an idiot.

I go through life looking like an idiot a lot of times. It’s not easy doing it on national television.

Go back and look at the very first season that came out back in 2013. A lot of people are looking at that, going, “I wish I wasn’t the first.” “This is a fun product as well. It’s a good business for you, but I don’t believe it’s for me. I’m out.” “Thank you.” “I love the name. It’s very fun and memorable.” “No one forgets the Dingle Dangle.” As a product, it’s limited to a certain time period. For me, the market is small. Only for that reason, I’m sorry, I’m out.” You lost your girl.

I know.

“Thank you.” “Stu, I was excited about the sensory benefits of this toy. There are some interesting applications there. Where you lost me was when you started talking about licensing. The vision there is not something that I’m connecting with. For that reason, I’m out.” “Are you sure? With your guys’ social media following, we’d be able to blow this up. We get so many five-star views. People love this product. It’s for a segment in the market which has not paid attention to at all, which is new dads.” “I think you’re right.”

“I love love, I love children, and I love family, but I also love royalties.” Here we go with the royalty deal. He always comes back in on every single show with his royalty deals. “I can’t help myself. I look at it, and I’ll do the deal for $75,000. I’ll take the 20% equity, but I want $1 a unit. I don’t know how I’d get my money back any other way.” “You got a deal, Mr. Wonderful. How long?” “I assume the royalty is in perpetuity.” “Do you have to get paid back your $75,000?” I have to get more.” I love this. We got a deal, but Mr. Stewart the lawyer comes out.

I shake my head watching that. The one thing you can’t prepare for, in some ways, is the mechanics of the deal. The lights are on you. There’s this thing, and you’re so caught up in the moment. That’s the one part I was like, “Man.” I didn’t think it through fully, but you’ll see that we were able to work it out.

“Let me finish the offer. Let’s start again because I wouldn’t do that deal. Getting my money back is not exciting. I’ll take $1 a unit until I get back $500,000, and then the royalty goes away.” “$500,000?” “For a $75,000 investment.” “You still have a percentage?” “Yes.” “Would you do it to get paid back $150,000?” “It’s not enough.” “You’ll still have 20%.”

Scaling Your Brand And The Power of Strategic Licensing

“I was out, remember? I’m trying to get excited about it again. Tomorrow morning, I have to wake up and say, ‘I did Dingle Dangle?’” “How about $250,000?” “$300,000 is done.” “You got a deal.” “Good job.” “I’m going to make you richer.” “Congratulations, Stu.” “Thank you so much.” “Should we all shake our Dingle Dangles?” “Yeah.” “Congratulations.” That was a good comeback. That was Great Negotiating 101. Let’s talk about after the Tank. You’ve got a deal with Mr. Wonderful. Was he wonderful or not?

Yeah, he was. He’s my business partner.

About 98% of the deals on Shark Tank don’t end up closing.

We did our deal, and we’re very happy about it. He’s a wonderful partner. I’m always amazed at any chance I get to interact with him or his team. He has a wonderful team. I couldn’t be any happier. I feel privileged to be in association with somebody like that. I still look back, and I watch it. It doesn’t feel like me. It doesn’t look like I’m watching myself. The whole situation was very surreal. It has been wild.

It has been a crazy experience. You’re still in business. He’s still a partner, correct?

Yes.

How has the business done since this show?

It’s done steady. I’m not here to say it has gone gangbusters or some $100 million business.

Will you talk all about the growth from the show until now?

The growth from my point of view is this. We could have probably done some things to generate a higher volume of sales sooner, but that was never my goal or intention. My goal was to scale this into a known baby brand. There’s a difference. There are some phenomenal products. Do you know the NoseFrida that sucks the snot out of babies’ noses? Have you seen that one?

That’s oogiebear, right?

I’m not sure.

It’s oogiebear. She’s been on my show.

It’s an incredible product. I knew our product was not like that. It’s not going to be in every home. Therefore, I needed to build a brand. How do you build a brand in the baby space? You build it around licensing on Shark Tank. We’re finalizing a deal with one of the most well-known baby brands in the world, which is incredible for us because we’ll be able to license our products and bring those to market.

It has taken five years for the vision to start coming to fruition. That’s how I’m going to measure success. Monetarily, you have to make money in order to continue the business, which we do. We’ve slowly and steadily grown, but I’m measuring success on how well I could scale this and build this into a serious brand that is taken seriously. At some point, hopefully, I will have an exit.

Who are you going to exit with?

You never know. The opportunity is there.

When are you going to exit rich?

I’m a lawyer. I don’t want you to show this at the deposition three years from now and say we have a verbal contract here.

You headed to licensing. That’s what you said on the show. You still believe in that model. Has Mr. Wonderful offered any guidance, any connections, or anything like that? Has he helped drive that vision?

Yes. He has offered great guidance. Honestly, we wanted to grow out sooner and get to this sooner. He very unequivocally said, “Don’t grow too big for your riches. Don’t mortgage your entire future on a gamble early on,” which is great advice. If we had done this a few years ago, our supply chain and our financials weren’t strong enough. You get one shot. If we get one shot and fail, then our business is over.

Now, we’re ready. We have a supply chain. We have the partners in place who could make this a huge success. That was great advice. That’s what’s important. Otherwise, my company could have been done by now if I had done it on my own and said, “We’re going to do this.” It seemed like a good idea at the time. That was so valuable.

That’s very valuable advice. Sometimes, that shot without necessarily having a foundation built, architected out, and having that solid foundation works for some people. I had a lady on the show. She was able to get into over 2,000 Walmarts practically overnight. She didn’t have the foundation.
She had to say, “We’re going to build this quickly.”

Luckily, they were able to pull it up together. Luckily, they were able to keep Walmart, Target, and CVS. It was a big crapshoot. If you go in too soon, and you don’t have that foundation, and you don’t know what you’re doing, Mr. Wonderful is right. You can end up crashing and burning and ruin those relationships. It’s very important to have that foundation. If somebody comes to you and says, “I want a million Dingle Dangle babies,” you have to figure it out.

Guess what? They’re going to get them. You’ve got to know your role. I always say this. The truth is, we’re in the baby space. We take everything very seriously, such as safety and compliance. Your brand is built on trust in this space, as much as anything else. If you go too soon and you have a misstep, parents lose trust in you, and your business is over.

We think we’re doing it the right way. We’re doing it slowly but mindfully. We think that’s a winning formula in the end. It’s not the sexy story. It’s not the story that you’re going to see on Instagram that’s like, “We did $1 million this month in sales.” It’s not there yet, but don’t be surprised if that’s the story in a year or two from now. That’s what we’re aiming for.

Businesses don’t go overnight. Once it does, that’s not the real story of a business. Some of these businesses got lucky. It’s an anomaly. They were able to pull it together. Does that make sense what I’m saying?

Of course.

Slow and steady growth. I want you all to look at the industry around. Stewart is right. It’s a good thing he’s an attorney because he’s in one of the industries where you have to be extremely compliant. It’s regulated. I’ve had other entrepreneurs in the baby space before. They got completely shut down because they didn’t follow something. I forget the name of the agency.

You have to meet ASTM standards, which are the standards around choking, fire, and all this stuff. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous businesses out there who find ways around it. I have kids. My partner has kids. Safety is our top priority. This is it.

Know the industry that you’re in. Know what the compliance issues are. Hire somebody like Stewart as an attorney to make sure they’re doing everything correctly and are compliant. This woman had a multimillion-dollar company that got shut down practically overnight.

Building A Sustainable Brand Through Compliance And Trust

This is it. People don’t realize you could be selling $10 million a month on Amazon, and you fall out of compliance. Walmart is the same thing. The next day, you’re out, and your whole business crumbles. That’s not to say there are no companies in their first year or their first two years that are unicorns. The real story is you put your head down, you have a goal or vision in mind, and you work every day, every week, and every month towards that. That’s how most real businesses are built. There’s too much of this, “I got a viral video on Instagram that’s going to make my business.” You know what I mean. It’s a load of crap.

It’s a load of BS.

That’s not how you build a business. No businesses are built off a viral video, or this or that. It’s unsustainable. You have to have processes and procedures to carry out the vision you have, which is what we’re trying to do.

You named some of my 6 Ps that I talk about in my book, Exit Rich. Number one is people. Number two is product. You have to have multiple ways that you get paid and multiple platforms you get paid on. I talked to a gentleman who wants to sell an Amazon business. 100%, everything is on Amazon. If Amazon shuts him down, he’s dead in the water.

I said, “You’re not going to get a high multiple. You got too much risk.” You have to have the policies, the procedures, and the processes. You have to have those proprietary assets. You went out later and got a patent. Tell somebody who’s tuning in to us that’s got a product, an idea, or a service, and wants to build a business off of that. What are the three things you would tell them that they need to do?

The first thing, to me at least, is to make sure you’re solving a problem, and you’re not making up a problem. This is one of the biggest faults of people. Is your business solving a core problem with somebody else’s life? Not just one person, but a lot of people. Is this making someone’s life easier? Is it saving them money? Whatever that problem you’re solving, if you can’t answer that, you don’t have a business, in my opinion.

Two is to go out and do it. Make sure you see your product or your business with your own eyes. If you have a product, go to farmers markets. Sell to people, listen to the questions they’re asking, and watch how they’re using it. Don’t think that the first iteration of your product is the one that’s going to be the most successful.

Too many people order 20,000 units of the first iteration of a product, and they lose all their money right away because they haven’t listened to their market. When we ordered a few thousand of our first units, they were too heavy. Everyone who wore them said, “My neck is hurting after wearing them.” We would have ordered $100,000 worth of it and run out of all our money. That would have been it for our business. You have to be nimble. You have to listen to your customer. That’s huge.

My third thing is that in the early stages, if you’re looking to start selling, get honest feedback. There’s a great book I read called The Mom Test. The whole theory of the book is to not ask your mom about your business or product. Don’t ask your best friend or your wife because they’re going to lie to you, or their inclination is to not hurt your feelings.

It’s a great idea, and they have no clue.

Conversely, that’s true. Let the market decide if you have a good product. Create a website, run Facebook ads, split test it, and see if people buy your product. Go to a farmer’s market. If you have a wellness product, go sell it to moms. If none of them buy it, guess what? You probably don’t have a product they want. It’s very easy. It’s simple. If ten of them buy it, then great. You probably do have a product they want. There are a lot of common-sense things that people lose sight of because they get excited about it.

That’s probably some advice. There are 1,000 things. Everyone has an opinion. I try to be very practical, easy, and simple, and say, “Listen to what people tell you. Listen to people like Michelle tell you. Listen to what people who’ve done it before tell you. If you hear different people say the same thing two, three, or four times, it’s probably true.”

One thing I want to add that is important, which we already touched on, is to make sure you know your numbers. Stewart said, “I didn’t know that two years ago. I was making a product for $40,000. It’s cost me this much. I thought I had a good profit margin, but I didn’t.” Know your product costs. Know your service costs. Know it from manufacturing to shipping. When it hits your door, your customer is done, right?

Absolutely. Whether you’re running a product or service, whatever you’re running, don’t think that you’re going to flip on a website. It’s not because you have a product that people are going to buy. There’s a lot of money in marketing and advertising. There’s all this stuff that you have to bake into your bottom-line profit.

You’ve been a great guest. Any last-minute thoughts?

Final Entrepreneurial Wisdom And Finding The Right Mentors

You could feel free to share my email. One of the things I get great joy out of is talking to people. I don’t charge anything. I’m not looking to make any money, or this or that. I love talking to people. I love talking to young people who are trying to get started in business. I am always happy to be an ear and give advice. I also want to say, listen to people like Michelle who are doing it, who lived it, and who’ve done it themselves. Even fifteen minutes with someone like her is invaluable.

I give a lot of free advice. The ones that are most successful are the ones that are willing and able to step out and help you even more.

I agree with that.

They have the expertise. They have the skillset. Don’t make those mistakes. Learn from others.

I feel like successful people tend to be the ones who are more willing to share because they’re not worried about you taking a part of their market share or taking their money away. They know that they can always make more money. You’re not going to interfere with them.

Maybe they’re jealous, and they want you to fail. Always align yourself with successful people. I always say your network is your net worth. You’ve been a great guest. I’m so happy to have you on. Stewart Gold. How do you go wrong with a name like Gold? He’s illuminating gold. Thank you. For all of the entrepreneurs tuning in, I know it’s been a great show. I know that we gave you a lot of tips, a lot of golden nuggets, and a lot of content. Go back and read this over and over again. Make sure you share it with your network and your circle of influence. Make sure you subscribe to the show. We’ll see you next time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Important Links

• Stewart Gold on LinkedIn
• Dingle Dangle Baby
• Exit Rich
• The Mom Test