Founder update
This week's update comes from an old rocking chair, in a stone-built cottage, 300 metres from one of England's most haunted castles. Better yet, we have just had a power cut!
Sounds like some kind of haunted, yet magical, movie set. Well, it is magical, and it may be haunted, but it’s not a movie set. It is actually my mother-in-law's home which is just outside the grounds of Chillingham Castle, in the most North Easterly part of the world, Northumberland. I have to say, for being next to one of England's most haunted castles, I don’t often feel scared, except for in the dark when I’m giving our cocker spaniel, Nala, her nighttime pee. I will let you all in on a little secret, I did scream last night after she decided to flush up a pheasant in the pitch black, clucking like crazy. I wish I had eaten more carrots as a child as I might have been able to see said bird before it crapped all over me with fright. A head torch is now on my Christmas wish List. Louis, Louise, John, Adam, or Simon. If either of my five readers of this email would like to buy me a head torch, I would be forever grateful. In fact, I may even send you some soap for Christmas in return.
Fortunately, I do not have to pen this update with a pheasant bottom feather due to the power cut, but I am writing this update under the light of a log burning fire, and four candles (and of course my Mac laptop on full brightness, but we won’t let that get in the way of the most idyllic and relaxing setting for this update). I am however having to write this introduction for the second time as I forgot that without wifi, Google Docs is useless if you have forgotten to activate the offline setting. I can’t afford Microsoft Word’s legitimate licence and the 365 programs which come with it just yet, so I have reverted to good old offline Apple Mac notes for this updated draft.
So as I sip on a whisky, rocking back and forth in front of the burning log stove, imagining what retirement will be like after we grow and sell Bob for gazillions, the focus for this week's update is patience. (Actually, before we move on, I think I just explained the perfect Saturday night in for Louis. He’s 26 btw. Also, I don’t do whiskey yet. Something about my pallet not being mature enough).
Why patience you ask? Well, after so much excitement, speed, and progression with Bob having secured 70% of the investment total via UAE and UK investors, travelling to Germany to visit our soap manufacturers, and having lots of early product development success, everything at the start of this week seemed to take one step back in order to go two steps forward.
In order for us to launch we are obsessed with the following key areas:
- Creating the perfect Thingymabob product
- Creating the perfect Bob bar (soap) formulation for our bits, bobs and body
- Creating and delivering the perfect Kickstarter campaign
We are now at a point where all three of these points are so intertwined that each relies on the other's progression, stability and delivery to ensure that we ultimately can launch to market.
But late last week something wasn’t right. We had made some significant changes to the design of our Thingymabob product to ensure that we could deliver the perfect wash. The previous challenge was that although the soap was foaming through the silicon bristles, we were missing the feeling of the soap touching our skin. As a result of this, we all agreed to give our product a sunroof, and allow for our soap to freely flow through the middle, whilst ensuring the bristles around the outside would foam and lather the soap onto the body, whilst washing. This change, although providing the desired ‘feeling,’ provided a very significant challenge in that the soap was falling out. Given that we make a joke in our marketing about ’don’t drop the soap,’ we actually had managed to find a way to help our customers to do the very thing we say not to do, ‘drop the soap.’
This resulted in some very good discussions with the beta boys and some drastic redesigning and innovation, including thinking about different ways to hold the soap, different ways to deliver the soap, and different ways to carry the lather and wash across the body evenly. Beta of course found solutions, but this comes at a cost. The cost being Time.
We had hoped that we could launch our Kickstarter campaign in mid-February 2024. In order to do this William had created one of the most beautiful project management plans, ready to work with Max and all our partners, to create our marketing assets in time for our February launch. However, the marketing assets that we need, include pictures of our real product to share with our potential customers via Kickstarter. Due to this big design change, it meant that we would have to push back our Kickstarter launch by a month to March 2024, as it will take 4 weeks to re design the CAD and get the new prototype in hand.
Initially this was a hard pill to swallow because the team had put a lot of work into some very hard timelines. However, after lots of discussions and collaboration, we reminded ourselves that without the perfect product, this whole thing would flop on its head. Given how far we have come so quickly, and given the opportunity we have ahead of us to launch in the UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia and the USA through our early investors, it was a no-brainer to push our launch back by a month. Trusting and supporting our design partners to do their thing, giving them the space they need to make the next version of Bob, is what we have to do.
Patience.
To be a successful business, I have learnt that there are times to push hard and ensure that everyone is working their butts off to deliver upon the opportunity, but there are also times when it's ok to stop, take a step back, and remind everyone to zoom out and reassess the plan. This week has been one of those weeks. Plan, do, review, review, plan, do. We are in a week of ‘review, review.’
So rather than think we have lost 4 weeks on our launch date, Will has been working with Max to utilise the 4 weeks they have gained to ensure that the marketing assets and collateral being created is even better than what they had already planned, before this slight delayed. I am honestly so excited to share our new brand and the new website designs with you, which Max has been working extremely hard on, but Will reminded me that I will be on Louise’s naughty step if I share them too early.
I like Will’s mum’s naughty step, so here is a sneak peak of our new website design:
Hehe, patience, all will be revealed soon. Well four weeks later than planned, but still soon.
In terms of the soap (Bob bar) it is coming along nicely. Kappus’s CEO has requested his team drive forward our next formulation in the coming weeks. In fact, he is so excited about what we are doing that he has actioned his R&D team to make 3 different scents of soap, to ensure we provide a range of choices to our consumers. From clean, neutral and soft to masculine and macho, we are excited to do the sniff test when we get them in hand.
Being patient provides time to think and strategise. Whilst having a couple of days to recharge the batteries and be patient, one thing that makes me smile about Bob is the calibre of people who are excited by and want to join our journey. From the ex Legal Director of the Body Shop, the founder of MOUS and the ex Global Director of Unilever, to the ex-Chief Commercial officer of Huel, and one of the UK’s leading digital ad agency founders, we are creating quite the advisory board for Bob.
Oh dear, the wife is shouting. It looks like we are going to have to find a way to eat all of our freezer contents in one night, as the grid has just texted to say there won’t be any power until at least tomorrow. I feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway trying to think about how he is going to survive and get back to civilization. WILSSSOOONNNNNNN.
‘Sit tight, relax, and be patient’ is what the text from Scottish Power said. And so be patient I shall be.’
Next week Max begins to develop some of our marketing assets ahead of our kickstarter campaign. Something about needing some action shots of me in the shower. Good one Max. I am off to find a CrossFit class to see if they can get my rig in the same shape as that model from the Davidoff advert in his white pants in the boat. I can’t afford him yet so you might find us with a camping shower, a rubber dingy, and in the middle of a field with some tighty whitey’s on. I wonder if we can borrow someone's mud-daddy actually (the portable shower washer for dogs. What, you haven’t heard of one? They are amazing! It’s on my Christmas list right next to my head torch…).
Also, if anyone has a six pack, good looking, and wants to be a model for our up and coming shoot, drop me a note. Actually, come to think of it, my mate Dom has a great rig, good looking. The perfect Holister model.
When I get some wifi and signal, once the power is back on, I’ll text Dom. Dom, actually, are you even subscribed to this email?
Until next week,
Bob