Physical Product Case Study: How two guys are competing with Yeti

Erik Howe, Siccups, Bootstrapping, eCommerce, Non-Tech, Physical Product

I’m noticing there’s a revolution happening in online entrepreneurship. It’s happening with physical goods the same way it happened with companies like Airbnb before anyone even realized it was a revolution.

Entrepreneurs get an idea for a physical product and very often they’ll go to Kickstarter but more often than that they’ll start on Amazon.

Today’s guest is a founder who had an idea for a side hustle and it ended up being a really big business.

Erik Howe is the cofounder of Sic which makes cups that have a double-walled stainless steel technology that keeps your drinks ice cold for 24 hours.

Erik Howe

Siccups

Erik Howe is the cofounder of Sic which makes cups that have a double-walled stainless steel technology that keeps your drinks ice cold for 24 hours.

Andrew: Hey, everyone. My name is Andrew Warner. I’m the founder of Mixergy, where I interview entrepreneurs about how they built their businesses. And frankly, when you hear today’s guest, one of the first things you’re going to think about is, “Hey, Andrew, what happened to Mixergy? You’re interviewing someone who creates cups? You’re the guy who interviewed the founders of Airbnb, the founders of Wikipedia, the founder of Y Combinator. These are software empires and now a guy who sells cups?”

Well, I’ve got to tell you something. I’m noticing that there’s this revolution in entrepreneurship, in online entrepreneurship happening. Just like there was back when Airbnb started as a handful of coders, actually three guys in their home coding it up and nobody realized that it was a revolution because it seemed too small, I think the same thing is happening in physical goods. The same thing is happening with...

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