There’s no one-size-fits-all path to successfully launching a new product in a crowded space, but Entrepreneur+ members recently had the opportunity to sit through an incredibly enlightening webinar with Jordan Nathan, founder of non-toxic kitchenware brand Caraway, who shared the product development and marketing strategies he’s used to increase revenue. the company’s annual growth is over 500% in just four years.
During the interview, Nathan covered both the big and small picture thinking that is essential to Caraway’s success. Watch the full webinar below and read some of the key takeaways, edited for length and clarity.
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The story of the origin of the entrepreneur
“We launched Caraway back in 2019. I had experience in the kitchen industry and launched many products before that. I had a very scary experience when I accidentally overheated a Teflon frying pan during a product test and got Teflon toxins in the smoke. So I started researching what cookware was made and I was inspired to introduce a brand that would bring non-toxic materials to the kitchen. We researched things like stainless steel and iron but we found that many consumers wanted something that was easy to cook with and clean. That’s when we found the unused ceramics that we wanted to bring to the market.”
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Advice for newcomers
“My best advice is to talk to as many people in your industry as possible. I’ve talked to everyone from big legacy brands to material experts to factories. In the early days, it’s very difficult to put into words what you want to build. And your idea keeps evolving as you go through the process, so gathering all the right data points and feedback and information helps lead you to the product you want to create.”
Market segmentation
“At the core of our products is ease of use and design. We wanted to create something unique, memorable, and timeless. Part of the process was looking at what was on the market and trying to create something that didn’t exist. And so as we scanned the market, we realized that there weren’t many colors in the category, most of the lids had flat shapes, and many handles on the market were uncomfortable and not ergonomic Plus, we learned that one of the most painful areas for consumers was storing cookware in the cupboards after they finished using it.
Marketing
“We rely heavily on influencers and ambassadors who are early adopters of the product. Interestingly, we didn’t work with chefs or chefs. We rely heavily on interior designers or influencers who are known for promoting non-toxic products. We sent them the pan well in advance of the launch so they fell in love with it and built early relationships with many contacts in the office, inviting them into the process. of designing and getting their opinion on colors and what their readers would like to see was very helpful and one of our growth strategies was to create a pre-launch waiting list with a simple landing page on carawayhome.com We ran some referral programs and giveaways and other forms to grow that list. we had this list of thousands and thousands of customers who were excited to be early adopters and that was a great way to launch the product.
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Setting price points
“Pricing is an imperfect science. It’s kind of a guess. From what I’ve seen in the market in all categories, I think getting to the middle ground of price is really challenging. So as you’re building a product, you really want to set that foundation by answering these questions: Do I want to offer value to customers by having a low price? Or do I want to offer value by charging more for higher quality materials and design? For us, the $395 price point was right because it allowed for high quality but still affordability to customers. We are in the premium sphere, but not the highest value in that category. You don’t want to make the mistake of charging too little and then having to raise prices to adjust your margins later.”
Entering the shops
“We launched as a DTC brand. Now we sell with about 15 to 20 retail partners. Crate & Barrel was one of our first partners and our first store. They’ve done so well and they’ve done such a great job representing our design. vision and connecting us with a high design customer Some dealer relationships came through introductions, but most were cold emails, we build a list of what dealers we want to grow from these dealers early on with drawings on the page. These are very smart buyers who have seen trends for decades get great data because the process early can help you bring them to the store If they follow the journey and keeps them informed about sales growth, making it easier to get into those stores as they see things start to click.”
Related: These Entrepreneurs Created ‘Shops on Wheels’ A Self-Driving Collection You Can Hail With the Push of a Button.
The biggest challenges of implementation
“There are probably too many to list, but I think one of the challenges of running a business early on is that there is endless opportunity, but you have limited resources. So you need to stay very focused. It’s important to find one or two things that really work and go deep into those before you go wide. When we launch Caraway, we had our main cooking set.
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