The challenges of creating a unique product – Chris Lefteri – Fixits

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.

This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling

products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert.

Every week I share friendly, practical advice as well as inspirational

stories from small businesses.

Let's get started.

Hi, so today I'm talking to Chris Lefteri from Fixits.

Fixits is Chris's very own invention and we have a great conversation today about

inventing a product and all that entails.

The product Chris has invented is really unique.

And of course there were some challenges with creating a product

and selling a product that people don't even know that they need, um,

because it's something brand new.

And we talk a lot about that during this episode.

It was a fantastic conversation and I would love now to introduce you to Chris.

So, hi Chris.

Thank you so much for being here.

Hi Vicky.

My pleasure to talk to you.

So can we please start by you giving an introduction to

yourself, your business, and what you.

So my business is based on empowering people, householders to repair

fun, and convenient way for, you know, anybody, anybody in the house to be able

to repair their stuffand avoid the whole idea of putting stuff into landfill.

That's brilliant.

Thank you.

And can you just, I know it's really hard cause this isn't visual, but can you, and

we've all obviously linked to your website so people can see, but could you just

give us a really little instruction as to what Fixits is and how you might use it?

Well, Fixits are essentially a series

of, uh, plastic sticks.

You dip them into a cup of hot water.

Straight from the kettle could be around minimum of 60 degrees.

The hotter it is than the faster the, um, they will soften.

Uh, once you put the stick in the cup of hot water, it will begin to become

quite soft and within sort of 30 seconds to a minute, it will become floppy.

You take it out, it's completely cool.

So it doesn't, doesn't, it's not even hot.

And you, um, then can mold it into any shape you want in the same way you

can with, you know, modeling clay or plasticine and use it to repair any

number of things that would be very difficult to repair with tape and glue.

So things that may be quite brittle and, and the glue doesn't have much

of a contacts area or things like tape where you need to wrap it around,

you know, Fixit does things that all, both those two products can't do.

So we use it for a very popular one with our customers is repairing,

broken, uh, glasses on the side frame, uh, for charging cables for big things

like children's toys, that sort of snap and you want to fix it back, you

know, you want to fix it back together.

Um, any number of things taking them on holiday with you.

So I think the best thing about it is that, and, and the unique thing about it

is that if that repair doesn't work or you wanna try it again because you wanna make

it better, then you stick it back into the whole water and um, and do it again.

Oh, that's amazing.

So it's completely reusable.

Yeah.

Fixit is completely reusable and I don't have to use it.

I don't have to use hot water.

I can use, um, a hair dry, heat it up again, and yeah, pretty much.

Yes.

Infinite number of times.

That's amazing.

So how did you come up with the idea, Chris, and what inspired you to even

start thinking of a product like this?

My background is a designer and the the other company that

I run is a materials design studio.

So several years ago when I was writing one of my books on materials

for designers, I discovered a sort of material that was used in industry.

In a very obscure way, in a way that you'd never really see it.

And I was really fascinated with it.

And I, you know, got some, some material from the supplier.

I was using it at home.

I took some home and we kept some granules, a bag of granules

in the kitchen drawer, and my wife thought it was fantastic.

We take it on holiday with us, you know, the little bag bag of granules and

she had this idea to turn it into a, a consumer product and to make story, which

it didn't have, you know, it wasn't a product that was ever used for repair,

part of what the material could offer, and that's really where it started from.

Well, that's amazing.

And what was the material used for?

Just out of interest?

What?

What did people use to use it before, before you came up with this use?

It's used in packaging as a compostable material for packaging.

It's used as an adhesive.

It's used in medical applications.

Yeah, I mean, a whole range of things are quite obscure.

Nothing that you'd be able to point to and say, oh yeah, you know, I know what it is.

I know the material.

Yeah, so quite obscure and, and not having anything like a

story to do with, uh, repair.

That's really interesting.

So it came in granule form, is that right?

Yes.

So how did you come up with the idea of

creating the Fixit sticks?

Well, so I, I really thought.

You know, as magical as it is to watch these granules, you know, soften

in a cup and it is quite magical.

I wanted to have something that was much more accessible and much more handy.

And I always had it in my head that when I had this bag of granules, I'd keep

it in the kitchen drawer and I wanted something that would feel like you'd

keep it in the kitchen drawer, you'd put it in your in a bag if you were

going a holiday, or if you were going camping, you know, very convenient.

And I started by looking.

The shapes that you could, that were conducive to putting something

into hot water and a stick felt very natural because, I mean, you know,

you dunk it, you only hold as much of the material of the stick in the

hot water as you want to, to soften.

And so we played around with different proportions and different sort of,

Variations on the stick and then settled with something that I wanted

people to feel very familiar with, you know, so it was about, I, it's about

the same proportions as a lolli stick, or same proportions as a nail file,

because it's a completely new product.

It's not something that exists in any.

It is completely a new way of repairing something.

And that's a quite a hard story to tell.

So I didn't want to then create a shape that was out there as well.

I thought let's just keep it something quite generic that is familiar that people

can at least have some connection with, you know, so I, I kept it very simple.

And then in order to kind of consider the colors and make it,

you know, feel something that was, um, You know, universal and the,

and the, you know, color is a very personal thing, and pe people can

be put off by color very easily.

So obviously black and white, because a lot of products are black and white,

so it kind of, you know, blends in.

And then the orange one, so we launched with black white, orange.

Then the orange one really, I, I think, came about because, um,

the first color that we trialed to get the coloring right was orange.

And it looked really good.

It was kind of bold.

It was bright, optimistic.

It kind of talked about.

Utility and functionality.

And so we kept it.

And so we, the first ones we launched were black, white, and orange.

And then I re, as I said, I re, I really wanted to have this

element of repairing, being fun and to, you know, empower people.

And the easiest way of doing that is you make the product attractive.

So from the beginning, from the outset, it was, I, I wanted this

idea that people would look at and think, oh, that's interesting.

I like, and I'm gonna need it at some point.

So it was those two things.

I need it and I like it.

And the extension, the natural extension of that was to launch

some colors that were much more, uh, fashion colors, you know.

So I went to, um, Rymans, it's not Rymans, uh, Paperchase on Wandsworth Road.

Uh, and they, and they, you know, it's filled with color in there and

colors of pens and paper and, and crayons and all that sort of stuff.

And I just remember thinking it'd be great to see Fixit in this type

of environment and, and to actually, you know, build that story of fun

and accessibility through the colors.

So that's why we launched.

I'm trying to remember.

We have a, a specific name for them.

I won't use specific names.

I'll just say yellow, green, and pink.

They have quite nice, catchy names, but I have a, a memory

problem, so I can't quite remember.

I don't wanna get it wrong.

No problem.

I know exactly what that's like

Flamingo pink.

Flamingo pink is one.

Sorbet Yellow and Mid Green.

Am I right?

I'm not sure.

Something like that.

I think I've seen the colors and I think

that's a good description anyway.

Even if that's not , the exact names of it as a great

description of what they look like.

So.

How, um, I'm, I'm really curious, actually, there was something you, you,

um, mentioned, I'm gonna touch on a bit later, but what I'd love to know is, so

were you working with a manufacturer to go through this process of developing

them sticks and developing colors?

How did that come about and how did that work?

That's a very good question.

It was, it wasn't easy.

We had to, to find, we had to contact a lot of manufacturers

because it's not an easy to, to mold.

And because we were starting up, there wasn't a huge, uh,

you know, business for them.

You know, we weren't gonna order millions of, of sticks.

And we were really lucky we found somebody in the UK who's been a fantastic

partner, so he, he used an existing.

Mold tool to trial the material.

Looked at how it, how it worked, how it would be produced.

You know, does the mold separate quickly, you know, easily without

sticking to the, to the sticks.

And then being quite specific about the texture on it, because the texture

on the sticks was, I mean, you know, people don't really think about texture.

You pick up a product and you, you, you just perceive it as being something.

Either it feels cheap or it feels Matt, or it feels nice, or it feels

premium or glossy, but you don't really.

Perceive it, but I, I did want something that unconsciously would

just feel quite nice in your hand.

And obviously when you put the stick in the whole water, the, the texture

disappears because it then, um, you know, becomes, Just a, a neutral

kind of semi, semi glossy surface.

Um, so we did a lot of trials with the manufacturer working out exactly the

right thickness of the stick so that it would mold well efficiently, uh, without

any problems, making sure that the, you know, specifics of, you know, ejection

molding of where the two parts of a steel tool come apart is in the right place.

So yeah, we had a great partner.

So Chris, are you still working with that same manufacturer now?

Yes, I am.

Yeah, that's, yeah, he's, he's a great partner.

He, he's fantastic.

That's great.

And I think it's, like you said, it's so important when you can build

up those long-term relationships.

Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And um, I couldn't really have done it without him.

And, and, uh, you take it, I don't, I don't actually take it for granted at all.

Cause I've worked with manufacturers before and you know, when you're trying

to develop something new, you have to get somebody who embraces it and who

actually appreciates the challenge and wants to do something that is different

rather than somebody who thinks it's a kind of a labor and, uh, a chore.

And, and actually he's kind of doing reluctantly.

So we have a great champion.

Oh, that's brilliant.

And, um, I know that something else that's important to you

is responsible manufacturing.

Can you talk a little bit about what that means to you and what the impact has

been on your product and your packaging?

I mean, the, it's absolutely, absolutely.

I think that the product is in itself about, Helping, encouraging,

you know, consumers to, to repair and not throw things away.

And on that level that, that is the most important thing about Fixit it

is the idea that you, you make it fun, you make it accessible, and you point

out that actually it's better to repair something than it is to buy or replace.

That actually makes you feel good when you do that.

There is that.

Nice sense of achievement of of, of being clever and solving the problem

and, and making that repair, that that is the most important thing about fix it.

It is.

The fact that it's manufactured in the UK is important because, you know,

we don't have to deal with shipping and that aspect of, um, of co2.

The packaging originally was plastic, and it was plastic originally because it was

just, you know, it was a small startup.

It was the most convenient, easiest, low-cost way of making the sticks.

We've stopped using plastic, now we use cardboard, and the material itself

is, Conforms to EU regulations for, uh, bioplastic classification, but I

don't necessarily wanna focus on that.

I think it's a complex area to talk about bioplastics.

In any case, it is officially a industrially compostable plastic.

But you know, as I said, the story for me is much more about the repairability

and encouraging people to repair than it about what the material is

because ideally you don't want to get rid of the material, you just reuse

it again and again and again, so you shouldn't have to worry about where it.

Yeah, that makes sense.

And as you

say, the fact that it's a product that's designed to help

people reuse things that they might otherwise fit in the bin or, yes.

Yeah, I think, I think that speaks to itself really.

And coming onto that, Chris, so I picked up on something you talked

about, um, earlier, it was probably about 10 minutes ago now, so

apologies if you don't remember.

But you, you mentioned that, um, there were some challenges in

selling a product that's completely new that people haven't heard of.

Can you talk a little bit about the challenges of selling such

unique products and maybe some ways in which you've overcome that?

Please.

Yes.

It's, I mean, I, I underestimated how difficult it was gonna be to, uh, sell

this product because, you know, I thought it was fantastic everyone I'd shown it to,

I really thought that people would get it.

But as I said, I, I understood very quickly, I mean, after we launched

on Kickstarter, that there is, Big hurdle to overcome in the sense of I'm

not selling tape and I'm not selling glue, so I have to explain what it is.

You know, I have to give a description.

I can't just say it's glue, it's tape.

So, so that's the first thing you have to overcome and, and do that in a very

quick way because, you know, we don't, we don't have huge attention spans.

So you have to, you have to get that across.

And at the same time, uh, encourage, encourage consumers

to, to build the value.

Um, you've got to, you know, point out the advantages, um,

so that it does save money.

It does save the planet, it does make you feel great to fix stuff.

And that's very much a about building a community and showing illustration,

you know, photographs of, you know, customers and what they've

done with the Fixits and just keep repeating that message that it's fun.

It saves the planet, it saves you money, you know, in just repeating that

and building on that from the sticks.

You know, we're launching, uh, we've launched the tape, uh, we'll launched

some variations on the tape and some other repair products very soon as well.

That's brilliant.

Thank you.

And I completely get what a challenge it is because I guess also there's

a thing that people don't understand it and they don't understand

exactly what the product's for.

They might sort of say, well, this doesn't work, and it's because

they haven't quite got what the intention behind the product is.

Yes.

I mean, exactly, and you, and you, you have to be quite explicit because,

you know, I mean, as somebody pointed out, you are showing me a stick.

How do I get from a stick to this repair?

You know, I don't need to do that.

I don't need to explain that.

If I, if I'm selling tape or glue, everybody knows how, what

tape is and how it works, and everybody knows how, how glue works.

With the stick.

You have to, you have to, you have to be very clear.

But for me, the, the, the magic of this stick is that you put in

hot water, becomes soft and then becomes hard, and then you can do

the whole thing again and again.

And, um, I wanna make sure that we, uh, that's shared.

And were there any specific sort of communications or

pieces of media that you created that you think really helped with this,

with explaining what the product is?

Hmm.

Uh, yeah, I, I don't think that there's a single, I don't think

there's a single one because there are so many facets to this story.

There are so many attributes that I want to get across.

The, the hardness of the stick, how it works, what you can do with

it, um, how you can remold it.

So there are so many facets to the story and, and the usability that

it's, it's difficult to pinpoint to one image, to be honest with you.

I mean, and I think video is absolutely the, the way that we're moving forward

because you can tell so much you, you can communicate so much more with a video.

I was just about to say that I've seen your video and I

think that that for me is a really great way of just demonstrating what

the product is and how it works in just a couple of seconds because it is so

visual and it's much easier to get that across visually than it is in text.

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, and we're trying hard with it.

We have a great copywriter.

A again, you know, I have people are working with fix, poking, working

with me on Fixits who I really appreciate and they totally get it.

You know, uh, we have a copywriter who totally, you know, understands

the voice to Fixits has and where our target is and what we're trying to.

So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's really about storytelling and making

sure the story is very clear.

And while we're speaking about storytelling, if you don't mind,

um, I know that you mentioned that you launched with a Kickstarter campaign.

Can we just talk a little bit about that, about what your experience of

running that campaign was, and perhaps any insights that you had from it?

Um,

I know that's a very big question.

Um, so wh when, when was your, your Kickstarter campaign, what was

Yes.

I mean, I think the, the thing was that we, I think we did fantastically,

I mean, I, I've never run a, a campaign like this before, and no

one who was working on that with me had run a campaign like this before.

We did a lot of preparation.

I did have access to certain, uh, journalists.

That I could, you know, write something for about, you know,

Fixits that, that was directly related to the Kickstarter campaign.

So that really helped.

But I think just getting the, the message out there.

I'm being very prepared.

I mean, you know, I, I thought it was a quick thing to, to launch a kick,

sunny kickstarter, but not at all.

I mean, you have to be supremely prepared and organized and have a team

behind you because it's a global thing.

It's, it will, it will launch.

You know, I think it, when launched in Asia and maybe Australia, you know

what, uh, whatever it was, midnight UK time, and it's a 24-hour thing,

so you have to keep managing that.

And how long typically does a campaign run?

I think typically they run for a month.

I was run, ran for.

Oh gosh, that's quite a long, that's quite a long time.

And I guess that's quite intense then if you're constantly trying

to draw attention to the campaign.

Yes.

I mean,

yeah, it is quite intense, but not half as, as intense as it

was to actually send out the products because, you know, we, we did very well,

um, sold thousands of packs of Fixits.

But the hard work really was was getting them out there after the

campaign and getting them out there, getting them out there to different

parts of the world in a timely way.

That was the, that was the really, that was a very challenging part.

Oh, that's really interesting.

So we had, we had the office filled with, you know, my, my

team who worked in the design studio, packing sticks, putting them envelopes,

and putting labels on, taking to the post.

Oh, I'm glad to hear it was a success.

Um, and you mentioned you were working with some journalists at the time, so was

that to get words out about the campaign?

Was that the purpose of that?

Yes, yes.

Design journalists, yes.

Well, that's fantastic cause I've, I've spoken to a few people

who've ran Kickstarter campaigns, but neither of none of them have

actually spoken about that angle.

So that actually makes a lot of sense.

So were you targeting journalists from the kind of publications that

you thought people might be, you know, people that read those might be

interested in supporting your campaign?

Was that the idea?

No, it, it was, I was very lucky.

I knew journalists because of my design studio, because of the success of the

books, because the book books and the popularity of those books over the last

20 years, I was able to contact a couple of people that I knew very well and

say, Hey, I'm launching this product.

A really designed for any product about the environment.

You know, would you be, you know, would you like to write something out?

Or for me to write something up?

So we did it in that way.

Not necessarily, it wasn't a huge kind of level of research to find the right

magazines or journalists, and they were.

Magazines, uh, journal, you know, uh, online magazines.

Oh, well, clearly it's, clearly it works.

I think it's great and I think there's, it makes total sense to

use any connections that you have.

Oh, absolutely.

Yes, absolutely.

And is there any other advice that you have for

anyone who might be looking at using Kickstart to, to get started?

I think it was a really good point you made about ACT actually having

to send the products out afterwards.

Cause I think that's something that I'd never thought about that of course

the better you do the, the harder the job you might have afterwards.

Is there anything else you think people, um, might be interested

to know or take on board.

Well, you're building a, you're building a story, and, and that

story has to be inspiring, has to be informative, and I would test the story

on, you know, friends, family, just see if what it is that you want to say about

your product is clear, because you might think you know your product inside out and

you should, but you know, making sure that other people know that it's a different.

That makes lot of sense.

Tell that story and um, and get it tested by your friends and family.

That really makes sense.

I guess, especially if in the case of your products, it's so unique.

Um, I guess if your friends and family couldn't understand what the product

was and what it did, yes, then that was a really good indication that perhaps

everyone else would be in a similar.

Yeah.

And tell people about it and they'll point, they'll say, oh,

really, what does that mean?

Or what does that do?

Or, why are you doing that?

And, and they were, they're very, they were fantastic conversations to have had.

Yeah.

That definitely sounds valuable.

And it also sounds like, so if you were looking to mark a Kickstarter,

there's, it sounds like there's an awful lot of material you need to

create before you even think about

Yes.

Getting something up there.

Yes.

Yes, you do.

That's really good to.

Well, thank you so much for everything

you shared, um, with me today.

Chris, I just got one final question, if you don't mind, which is one I ask

everybody who comes on the podcast, which is, what would be your number one piece

of advice for anyone who has a product idea that they'd like to take forward?

I would say without a doubt, just do it, and if you

dunno anything about retailing, if you dunno anything about.

You know, product development, just do it anyway cuz you'll learn on the spot.

And I didn't know anything about retailing.

I had no concept of what online marketing was or is, or how it functioned.

Um, I did know about materials.

I did know about storytelling and I knew about design, but that's not, that

was not nearly as much information, you know, uh, expertise as I did have.

So my advice is just do it because, You regret it if you don't.

That's brilliant advice.

Thank you.

And I've also picked up as we've been talking that along the way you've

obviously worked with other people who can help you out in areas where perhaps

you you know, you didn't have as much experience and I think that's a really

good people to hear as well, that you don't have to necessarily do it all

yourself or, or learn it all yourself.

You can work with other people and build on their strengths.

Yes.

Like working with you.

Yes.

I should probably disclose the fact that I've been working you on your,

on your, on your Amazon account

and you are one of those people so thank you.

Oh, thank you.

And thank you again for everything you shared today.

No worries, Vicki, my pleasure.

Thank you so much for listening right

to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the full back catalog and lots of free resources

on my website, vickiweinberg.com.

Please do remember to rate and review view this episode if you've enjoyed

it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find are useful.