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Creating physical products and getting feedback from toddlers — KiwiCo’s Sandra Oh Lin

Creating physical products and getting feedback from toddlers — KiwiCo’s Sandra Oh Lin

FromIn Depth


Creating physical products and getting feedback from toddlers — KiwiCo’s Sandra Oh Lin

FromIn Depth

ratings:
Length:
58 minutes
Released:
Sep 30, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Today’s episode is with Sandr Oh Lin, founder and CEO of KiwiCo, which creates hands-on learning kits for children. Sandra started KiwiCo over ten years ago, after a career with executive positions at PayPal and eBay. She was looking for ways to give her own kids more hands-on projects to exercise their creativity, which led her down the path to become an entrepreneur and create KiwiCo. Today, KiwiCo has expanded to include 8 different lines of crates that are shipped out monthly. In the first half of today’s conversation, we excavate some of the thornier challenges that come with creating a physical product — and Sandra’s biggest aha moments as a first-time founder. She talks about creating the first KiwiCo crate, including the product development process and spinning up a supply chain and shipping department. Sandra also walks us through how KiwiCo approaches new product lines, particularly in the last year when KiwiCo demand skyrocketed. She also discusses how the team gathers quality consumer feedback when your customer is often a toddler. In the second half of our interview, she talks about some of the cultural practices at KiwiCo that all sorts of companies can learn from. Sandra’s a big believer in manager training for everyone from folks that manage just one person, to executives that have been managing for decades. She outlines the specific management training modules they leverage at KiwiCo and makes the case for having everyone at the company fill out a motivations spreadsheet. Finally, she discusses the specific tactics she leans on for creating a feedback-rich environment for herself as a CEO. You can follow Sandra on Twitter at @sandraohlin. You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/firstround and twitter.com/brettberson
Released:
Sep 30, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com