Liam Murphy is the inventor and founder of Stix - the world’s first hand-held sensory product designed to encourage children to take control of their wellbeing by making mindfulness fun. The Stix Remotes use audio, haptic feedback and calming lights to guide kids through fun and interactive therapeutic activities involving balancing, deep breathing, guided meditations and more, whilst the companion app gamifies the experience, rewarding children for practicing mindfulness.
Liam came up with the idea of Stix whilst in his final year of university and I was fascinated to learn how he went from concept to reality, to bring a tech product with an accompanying app to life.
Liam shares how accelerators and Kickstarter campaigns have helped him create Stix. Liam also shares lots of useful ideas about how he has tweaked and refined his website so it answers customer queries about a product they have never seen before.
It’s a really inspiring episode, and Liam brings real creativity and imagination to bringing an original product idea to life.
Listen in to hear Liam share:
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Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.
Vicki Weinberg:This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling
Vicki Weinberg:products, or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm Vicky Weinberg, product creation coach and Amazon expert.
Vicki Weinberg:Every week I share friendly, practical advice as well as inspirational
Vicki Weinberg:stories from small businesses.
Vicki Weinberg:Let's get started.
Vicki Weinberg:Today I am talking to Liam Murphy from Sticks.
Vicki Weinberg:Mindfulness Sticks is the world's first handheld sensory product designed to
Vicki Weinberg:encourage children to take control of their wellbeing by making mindfulness fun.
Vicki Weinberg:The stick remotes use audio haptic feedback and calming lights to guide kids
Vicki Weinberg:through fun and interactive therapeutic activities involving balancing deep
Vicki Weinberg:breathing guided meditations and more.
Vicki Weinberg:Companion app gamified experience rewarding children
Vicki Weinberg:for practicing mindfulness.
Vicki Weinberg:I had a really great conversation with Liam.
Vicki Weinberg:I found his story really interesting.
Vicki Weinberg:Liam explains how this whole product was actually part of his project
Vicki Weinberg:in the last year of university.
Vicki Weinberg:And since then he's done lots of work.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, he sought investment, gone through rounds of crowd funding and um, and
Vicki Weinberg:it is now a product that you can buy.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I focus say I found the whole thing fascinating.
Vicki Weinberg:Liam is the first guest I've had on who sold a product that is both a physical
Vicki Weinberg:product and a tech product because there is the app side to his product as well.
Vicki Weinberg:And yeah, I think this is a really fantastic, interesting conversation and I
Vicki Weinberg:would love now to introduce you to Liam.
Vicki Weinberg:So, hi Liam.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much for being here.
Liam Murphy:Hi Vicky.
Liam Murphy:Thanks for having me.
Vicki Weinberg:You're welcome.
Vicki Weinberg:Can we start by you?
Vicki Weinberg:Please give an introduction to yourself, your business, and what you sell.
Liam Murphy:Sure.
Liam Murphy:My name's Liam.
Liam Murphy:I'm the co-founder of Stix mindfulness, and we've created a product that
Liam Murphy:makes mindfulness fun for kids through interactive technology.
Liam Murphy:So the product is two handheld devices that guide children through, um,
Liam Murphy:sort of audio-based meditations that interactive and involve movement.
Liam Murphy:So we have activities that focus on balancing deep breathing, guided
Liam Murphy:meditations and more, and the sticks themselves sort of provide audio, um, and
Liam Murphy:sensory feedback through lights and aps.
Liam Murphy:Whil also, uh, gameifying the whole experience on the app afterwards.
Liam Murphy:So it's, the idea is to make mindfulness fun.
Liam Murphy:We launched the product in February this year, so we're
Liam Murphy:selling through our website.
Liam Murphy:Um, and yeah, it's been amazing seeing it in the kids' hands and um, sort
Liam Murphy:of seeing the product turn to life.
Vicki Weinberg:That's brilliant.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and let's start right from the beginning, Liam and what
Vicki Weinberg:inspired you to create Stix?
Liam Murphy:So I'm a product designer by trade.
Liam Murphy:I studied product design in Brighton University and my final year project
Liam Murphy:was focusing on alternatives to medication for kids of A D H D.
Liam Murphy:Um, and that was inspired by my brother's ADHD growing up and his experience with
Liam Murphy:medication and it not working for him.
Liam Murphy:And now it does work for many children.
Liam Murphy:Um, but for him he didn't like taking it and.
Liam Murphy:Was worse side effects than the ADHD itself.
Liam Murphy:So he had to learn how to deal with his ADHD and going through that.
Liam Murphy:As an older brother, when you're young and you don't really understand
Liam Murphy:what's going on, but when you're old and realize, you know, the struggles
Liam Murphy:he went through, that inspired me to look into exploring alternatives for
Liam Murphy:medi, uh, to medication for other kids.
Liam Murphy:Uh, growing up and as a person who practices mindfulness myself, um,
Liam Murphy:I was quite interested in exploring how mindfulness can help children.
Liam Murphy:With ADHD or just children in general and went through various stages of
Liam Murphy:research, ideation, development, and nor, um, to create a very early
Liam Murphy:concept with the Stix device, which looks nothing like what it is today.
Liam Murphy:Um, but it was the end of the university project.
Liam Murphy:Um, and that was sort of how it got to, uh, a sort of basic,
Liam Murphy:um, prototype at the start.
Liam Murphy:So yeah, all, all inspired by my younger brother.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, that's amazing.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm really lovely as well.
Vicki Weinberg:And let's, we'll talk a little bit more about the, sort of the creation side of
Vicki Weinberg:the product in the moment, if that's okay.
Vicki Weinberg:But, um, first let's touch on a little bit about how, why mindfulness
Vicki Weinberg:is so important for children.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, cuz you mentioned you practice mindfulness yourself, so if you
Vicki Weinberg:wouldn't mind just speaking a little bit about the benefits of it.
Liam Murphy:Course.
Liam Murphy:So, I mean, when I was practicing it recently, um, well when I was at
Liam Murphy:university I was doing it for stress and anxiety around exams and sort of hand ins.
Liam Murphy:And I found it particularly useful and it made me think, why didn't we
Liam Murphy:practice this when we were younger?
Liam Murphy:We didn't do anything like that at school, and I'm pretty sure they're introducing
Liam Murphy:it now into schools and that's part of our drive is to get Stix into schools to
Liam Murphy:teach people mindfulness at a younger age.
Liam Murphy:But it's so important to learn at a younger age as the teaches sort of
Liam Murphy:different emotional regulation skills, uh, teaches them mental resilience, which
Liam Murphy:will support 'em as they grow older.
Liam Murphy:And when you realize that 50% of adults with mental health issues right now
Liam Murphy:actually developed them before the age of 14, which shows we need to invest
Liam Murphy:more in prevention of these mental health issues, and we can start by
Liam Murphy:introducing mindfulness at a young age.
Vicki Weinberg:That's brilliant.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:And I completely agree.
Vicki Weinberg:I know that my, my children are still quite young.
Vicki Weinberg:They're at primary school and I know that they've introduced breathing
Vicki Weinberg:exercises, which I know is only one element of mindfulness, but I think
Vicki Weinberg:is actually a good place to start and at least gives children some tools.
Vicki Weinberg:And I know the Stix obviously give a wider range of tools for children.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, I mean, so we, so product we've launched now has 12
Liam Murphy:activities built into it, and we developed those activities alongside experts at.
Liam Murphy:So we had a psychology expert and a mindfulness expert that teach
Liam Murphy:us the mindfulness skills that we can integrate into our technology.
Liam Murphy:And so we've set out 12 activities that are split into four categories.
Liam Murphy:So we focus on mindfulness of the body, the breath, uh, thoughts and feelings,
Liam Murphy:and also the heart, which is a nice sort of way to sort of introduce curiosity
Liam Murphy:and love and, um, Gratitude and stuff like that to children at a young age.
Liam Murphy:And each of these activities involve some movements and deep breathing.
Liam Murphy:So they've got, they've got that deep breathing element to to them all, but
Liam Murphy:they also introduce skills that they can then take out into the world afterwards.
Vicki Weinberg:That's brilliant.
Vicki Weinberg:And I guess your product's quite unique as well, cause I'm just thinking
Vicki Weinberg:that it is a physical product, as in you, I'm assuming you buy in, it
Vicki Weinberg:comes in a box, but then there's the app that goes alongside it as well.
Vicki Weinberg:So was that quite challenging, creating a product that had those two elements to it?
Liam Murphy:Yeah, no, it really was.
Liam Murphy:Um, I take you back to when we started Product as a business, it
Liam Murphy:was just a screen free product.
Liam Murphy:Actually, no, that's, it was a product that controlled a screen, so it was, um,
Liam Murphy:two remotes that controlled something on a screen, and the mindfulness activity would
Liam Murphy:show you what was happening on the screen.
Liam Murphy:But from speaking to parents and children, we found that the parents
Liam Murphy:themselves didn't like the screen element.
Liam Murphy:They liked to have more control over what the children saw.
Liam Murphy:Um, and giving them a phone before bed, for example, wasn't the way they
Liam Murphy:wanted their kids to pack mindfulness.
Liam Murphy:Um, but the kids themselves needed some sort of extra motivation
Liam Murphy:to actually do the activity.
Liam Murphy:So we introduced an app that isn't necessary for the product.
Liam Murphy:Uh, so you can use a product without an app and be completely screen
Liam Murphy:free, but then if you want to sort of encourage a child to keep using it
Liam Murphy:and gamify the experience of the app.
Liam Murphy:So by completing an activity, you sync up with the app, earn some
Liam Murphy:stars, which you can then use to customize your own monster avatar.
Liam Murphy:But in, in terms of sort of developing both the hardware and
Liam Murphy:an app, I think the most difficult thing is the stick of two remotes.
Liam Murphy:So they talk to each other and then those two remotes also speak to the app.
Liam Murphy:So, so three way conversations, which is much more difficult than just
Liam Murphy:having a sort of phone to device.
Liam Murphy:Um, source of communication is the three way piece, which was very difficult for
Liam Murphy:us and we had to get over several, um, technological sort of humps and setbacks
Liam Murphy:that we had throughout the journey.
Liam Murphy:Um, but, and so I'll give you an example.
Liam Murphy:Having two products that speak to each other, they have to be in sync.
Liam Murphy:Otherwise, even if it's just a fraction of a second, it drives you crazy cause you've
Liam Murphy:got a voice that's talking on one side and it sounds like an echo on the other.
Liam Murphy:Um, but then this also happens to pair up the app afterwards, um, just
Liam Murphy:through a whole load of challenges that, um, wouldn't have been there had
Liam Murphy:we only just developed one product.
Vicki Weinberg:So you mentioned that you are, you know, you were studying
Vicki Weinberg:product design, um, but I guess there's a big technology aspect to this.
Vicki Weinberg:So did you have to put in a team of people to help, um, move this idea forward?
Vicki Weinberg:Because it sounds like just such a, a massive undertaking because Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:I thought I don't need to tell you why.
Vicki Weinberg:It just does.
Vicki Weinberg:So was this something where you had to put in a lot of other
Vicki Weinberg:resources to, to get this made?
Liam Murphy:So when we started, we, we actually started by
Liam Murphy:applying to an accelerator program.
Liam Murphy:The central research laboratory and they essentially helped us for six
Liam Murphy:months to build the product into the business, but also support us
Liam Murphy:with the product development team.
Liam Murphy:And they helped us develop the basic concept and turn it into something
Liam Murphy:a bit more, um, a bit more developed for, um, pitching to investors and
Liam Murphy:showing kids that you can, showing, showing the kids how it works.
Liam Murphy:Um, and through that period, yeah, we had a really supportive
Liam Murphy:team from the accelerator.
Liam Murphy:And that helped us get to a point where we could then, um, try
Liam Murphy:and reach out and build a team.
Liam Murphy:So we, um, were successful with applying for a grant, which helped us
Liam Murphy:hire an engineer and an app developer.
Liam Murphy:And then from there we, um, worked on a CTO who sort of led for
Liam Murphy:some technological developments.
Liam Murphy:And yeah, so the team's grown to about five or six now, um, which we wouldn't
Liam Murphy:have been able to do without them.
Vicki Weinberg:Wow.
Vicki Weinberg:And it feels like that's happened relatively quickly as well.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm trying to keep, like trying to keep track of the time scales, but it feels
Vicki Weinberg:like you've done this pretty quick.
Liam Murphy:No, so, so we've been working on this for about three years.
Liam Murphy:Um, so yeah, I mean, to get product from a sketch to a, a release product
Liam Murphy:in three years I think is reasonable.
Liam Murphy:Um, But yeah, it wasn't, didn't happen overnight.
Liam Murphy:Yeah.
Liam Murphy:I I think it's quite a vast for a project, you know, that this, that's this complex.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so at what points are you, you mentioned this was part
Vicki Weinberg:of your project for your last year at university, so at what point did
Vicki Weinberg:you go, oh, actually maybe this is something I wanna do commercially?
Liam Murphy:Um, so I got job straightaway from university..
Liam Murphy:Um, it's quite lucky in the fact that I can accelerate my career straight away.
Liam Murphy:But as I sat there every day, it was an itch scratch and I wanted to
Liam Murphy:take it further and I was typing up notes on the side, looking at maybe
Liam Murphy:where I'd get it manufactured and, um, what the next steps would be to
Liam Murphy:develop the concept slightly more.
Liam Murphy:Um, but it wasn't something that I really knew how to take the next step towards.
Liam Murphy:Um, until one day I got random email from this accelerator program that I
Liam Murphy:applied to saying, We found your product online, we think we should apply.
Liam Murphy:Uh, so I gave it a go and asked my dad, if you wanna come pitch it with me.
Liam Murphy:Um, he was free at the time and so he came along, we pitched it
Liam Murphy:together, got onto the program, and then decided actually, yeah, let's
Liam Murphy:give this a go into the six months.
Liam Murphy:Let's see what we can do, where we can take the concept and if it's something
Liam Murphy:that at the end of it looks like it's got some legs and then we'll both full
Liam Murphy:steam ahead and yeah, we got that grant at the end of it to help us hire a
Liam Murphy:team and develop it product further.
Liam Murphy:So, We're lucky with that.
Liam Murphy:Absolutely.
Vicki Weinberg:And it sounds like this is an accelerator program in
Vicki Weinberg:the, you have the pitch to join.
Vicki Weinberg:Do you have any sense of, and I know you, you, this might be a tricky
Vicki Weinberg:question, but do you have any sense of what you did or why your product
Vicki Weinberg:was of interest to the accelerator?
Vicki Weinberg:I'm just trying to think if there's anything that people can take away.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, I think the story behind why you want to do this.
Liam Murphy:Uh, there were so many great products there that, you know,
Liam Murphy:the product alone isn't gonna get you, you know, the investment you
Liam Murphy:want or the grants or anything.
Liam Murphy:You need the story behind it, the passion, the inspiration, um, and the drive
Liam Murphy:really, because that's what people buy into at the start when you haven't got
Liam Murphy:a fully working product, people buying into you the story and the passion and
Liam Murphy:so they can get involved in it as well.
Liam Murphy:Provide their support to help you get it to that stage to actually go.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah, that makes sense.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:And when you're talking about the accelerator program, the beginning,
Vicki Weinberg:you were talking about investment.
Vicki Weinberg:Was that part of your strategy?
Vicki Weinberg:Uh, have you been able to get investment.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, we've done a free seed round.
Liam Murphy:Um, and it was very difficult.
Liam Murphy:Must say, um, when you are, there's always a hurdle you can
Liam Murphy:jump over to sort of be better.
Liam Murphy:And even now we're looking to carry out our seed round and we're, we're thinking,
Liam Murphy:well, you know, we could do this to make ourselves slightly better before
Liam Murphy:going out and trying to raise money.
Liam Murphy:But there comes a point where you need to go, no, let's put all our
Liam Murphy:effort into raising the money.
Liam Murphy:We've done enough.
Liam Murphy:Um, there is always better.
Liam Murphy:Um, and so yeah, you need to have that sort of talk with yourself
Liam Murphy:and work out what you wanna achieve before going to raise money and
Liam Murphy:what people are gonna expect from you before you take their money.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:And I imagine that's a really hard balance between what you want and what
Vicki Weinberg:you are prepared to offer as well.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, exactly.
Liam Murphy:And um, especially in this economy now, I'm sure investors have tried to
Liam Murphy:drive down all sorts of valuations.
Liam Murphy:Um, And so it's just make sure you are firming your belief of what you
Liam Murphy:have and what you value business at, and finding the right investor
Liam Murphy:to suit that, that valuation.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:And so when, when was the project actually available?
Vicki Weinberg:Uh, product actually available to, to buy.
Vicki Weinberg:When did, when was it launched?
Liam Murphy:So we launched it in February.
Liam Murphy:Um, it was a bit of a tight deadline.
Liam Murphy:We, so we did a Kickstarter campaign in May last year, and
Liam Murphy:that helped fund the manufacturer of the first batch of products.
Liam Murphy:And so we were delivering those in February whilst also launching February.
Liam Murphy:So it was a real tight turnaround to build these products in-house, which is, we got
Liam Murphy:them assembled in the uk, so manufactured in the uk, assembled in our office.
Liam Murphy:Uh, so it was a lot of work putting them together, getting them out the door
Liam Murphy:whilst also launching to the public, um, for them to buy off our website.
Liam Murphy:But yeah, we, we launched different before Children's Mental Health Week
Liam Murphy:and been selling since so, That's been, it's been a real journey way so far.
Vicki Weinberg:That sounds like good timing for launch.
Vicki Weinberg:I assume that was strategic.
Liam Murphy:It was.
Liam Murphy:And we had to meet that deadline, which is why I busy.
Vicki Weinberg:And is that, I guess, tying it into an event,
Vicki Weinberg:like that's probably helped.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, cause I've had.
Vicki Weinberg:Businesses on here before who sold a unique product.
Vicki Weinberg:And I would say your product's unique.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I haven't seen anything like it anyway.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, what are some of the challenges you face with with selling a
Vicki Weinberg:product that's completely unique?
Vicki Weinberg:Because I'm assuming, um, and know, know this is a big question.
Vicki Weinberg:We can always break it down that there'll be lots of parents who
Vicki Weinberg:haven't heard of mindfulness, who dunno why it's good for their children.
Vicki Weinberg:So there's that side of it and then there's also educating them on
Vicki Weinberg:what your product is, what it does.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, that's quite a lot isn't it, to convey.
Liam Murphy:Yeah.
Liam Murphy:And it's really difficult to know whether you are conveying the right information,
Liam Murphy:whether they understand that information.
Liam Murphy:And we found out the hard way cause we launched, thought our website was
Liam Murphy:perfect, having just done a redesign.
Liam Murphy:Um, but then we found that, you know, parents were spending ages
Liam Murphy:on one certain page, which you didn't even think was relevant.
Liam Murphy:For example, the returns page of the policy, they're spending two
Liam Murphy:minutes on average on that page.
Liam Murphy:And we were wondering, you know, how can we prevent that?
Liam Murphy:Why are they doing that?
Liam Murphy:Um, and so what we did was add a 14 day money back guarantee to the main
Liam Murphy:store page in Big Bold as a badge where you can see it straight away.
Liam Murphy:And that added a level of sort of, um, belief in the product and, um, makes
Liam Murphy:them realize, okay, if it's not something for me, I can return it and that's fine.
Liam Murphy:Um, whereas for this product that's so new and they don't understand it fully, It's
Liam Murphy:really difficult to invest this amount of money products, hundred 59 pounds
Liam Murphy:investing that much money in the product.
Liam Murphy:They dunno, they've never used it before.
Liam Murphy:They've never seen it before.
Liam Murphy:They dunno if it'll work.
Liam Murphy:Um, and so it's trying to build that trust through various techniques
Liam Murphy:like money back guarantee or, uh, testimonials and videos from users.
Liam Murphy:Um, and even, um, one, one examples.
Liam Murphy:Adding a booking link to our website.
Liam Murphy:So if anyone wanted a, a quick call to ask a question, they could just go
Liam Murphy:ahead and book whenever suited them.
Liam Murphy:And that allowed them to sort of ask the questions that we wanted to hear.
Liam Murphy:Cause we wanted to know what they, what we are missing from the
Liam Murphy:website that they didn't understand.
Liam Murphy:We would provide our time to them, tell 'em about the product.
Liam Murphy:And then from that we learn to learn what we need to improve on the website.
Vicki Weinberg:I love that idea.
Vicki Weinberg:That is so smart.
Vicki Weinberg:And how you found the takeup, uh, do, are you finding lots of
Vicki Weinberg:people are booking those calls?
Liam Murphy:What we're finding is more people are actually just
Liam Murphy:messaging through, um, this sort of website chat and it's a, an automated
Liam Murphy:response, but also comes up my phone.
Liam Murphy:As soon as I see a question coming in, I'm instantly there to
Liam Murphy:answer it as quick as possible.
Liam Murphy:Cause I wanna get that feedback from them and make sure they
Liam Murphy:understand what they're seeing.
Liam Murphy:Um, so I think people just prefer that.
Liam Murphy:Easier text, um, style of communication rather than actually book a call.
Liam Murphy:But yeah, we've had a few conversations with people and it helped us understand,
Liam Murphy:you know, the shop page may not have enough information about how the product
Liam Murphy:works, and it's just about, you know, the price and delivery and what, what is,
Liam Murphy:what the product is and show the benefits.
Liam Murphy:Um, and so we trained through that and made adjustments to the small page
Liam Murphy:in order to educate people that it.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah, that makes sense.
Vicki Weinberg:And how about in terms of sort of raising awareness about the product
Vicki Weinberg:and the fact that it even exists?
Vicki Weinberg:What are some of the things you've done there?
Liam Murphy:Yeah, I mean, we've been learning throughout,
Liam Murphy:we're still learning today.
Liam Murphy:So, um, it's probably one of my key takeaways for today is you think we
Liam Murphy:can launch straight away perfectly, but you have to keep adapting, keep
Liam Murphy:changing the marks and messaging, uh, your methods of marketing.
Liam Murphy:So we've launched, um, social media ads and, you know, they go through.
Liam Murphy:Ups and downs of, um, sort of engagement.
Liam Murphy:You get really good engagement and good sales, and then it can land and
Liam Murphy:drop off without changing anything.
Liam Murphy:It's about refreshing your content, making sure the people that are seeing
Liam Murphy:it, that aren't buying it, and then seeing something else to convince them, um,
Liam Murphy:to sort of take that sale of the line.
Liam Murphy:Um, we've been doing emails just trying to educate them on what the product
Liam Murphy:is, but also how it's benefiting people out there that have it.
Liam Murphy:So we've got some great case studies on our website about, uh,
Liam Murphy:the product supporting children's anxiety, um, and, and SATs, exams of
Liam Murphy:schools in schools, stuff like that.
Liam Murphy:So there's lots of information there, and it's just about guiding
Liam Murphy:people to it so they can see it.
Liam Murphy:That purchase.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:And I imagine that is quite a, quite a job because as I say, it's
Vicki Weinberg:something that parents necessarily aren't necessarily looking for.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so yeah, there's lots, I guess there's lots of hurdles isn't there for
Vicki Weinberg:first people be able to find the product and then realize what the benefits
Vicki Weinberg:are and then figure out how it works.
Vicki Weinberg:There's actually a lot of boxes to tick.
Vicki Weinberg:That must be a real challenge.
Liam Murphy:Yeah.
Liam Murphy:It's really hard to look at something you don't know exists and so people are
Liam Murphy:sort of out there wanting something to support the children's mental health
Liam Murphy:and to add to their toolkit of, um, Of tools that they use to support
Liam Murphy:their children's mental wellbeing and without knowing what sticks is or what
Liam Murphy:it does, they don't know it's there.
Liam Murphy:So it's about getting out there, proving that it should be part of that toolkit.
Liam Murphy:Um, and then just staying on top of the ads and with the emails to make
Liam Murphy:sure getting the meshing across.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:And, uh, you mentioned, uh, quite in the beginning of this call, I think you were
Vicki Weinberg:mentioning about Stix in schools and is that something you're working on as well?
Liam Murphy:Yeah, something we'll work on at the moment.
Liam Murphy:So we're running about 10 trials at the moment and 10 different schools.
Liam Murphy:Um, we've just completed one in collaboration with the ADHD foundation
Liam Murphy:and two schools in Liverpool.
Liam Murphy:And so yeah, we're just trying to get out there and learn how it's using
Liam Murphy:schools because it's a completely different use case to at home where
Liam Murphy:a kid can just draw up into his room and use the product when you've got
Liam Murphy:a kid, uh, when you've got family.
Liam Murphy:I think it's school full of 30 children and.
Liam Murphy:We can only use it one at a time.
Liam Murphy:It's about understanding how the teacher interact with the product,
Liam Murphy:where the child takes it and uses it within the teacher there.
Liam Murphy:For support.
Liam Murphy:We need a tablet or a phone to activate the activities or are
Liam Murphy:they happy just doing it offline and not getting the, uh, rewards?
Liam Murphy:Um, when I say offline, that's the screen free load that we have.
Liam Murphy:And so the 10 trials we've be doing has been about learning, you know,
Liam Murphy:how it's used in that that case.
Liam Murphy:So now we can go and pitch it to more schools and say, we've had these
Liam Murphy:schools use it this way and it's helped children in this way and that's
Liam Murphy:why we should have it more school.
Vicki Weinberg:I, I love, by the way, how ambitious you are.
Vicki Weinberg:I think this is amazing.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:And, but it is so important.
Vicki Weinberg:I can see why it's so important and it's great, like it
Vicki Weinberg:means so much to you as well.
Vicki Weinberg:I really like your story about, you know, your reason behind creating the product.
Vicki Weinberg:What does your brother think of it, by the way?
Liam Murphy:Oh, he loves it.
Liam Murphy:He doesn't actually use it.
Liam Murphy:He's only 18 months younger than me, so yeah, it was never, it was never designed.
Liam Murphy:For him, per se.
Liam Murphy:It was just, it was inspired by him.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, I know what you mean.
Liam Murphy:But it's, it's nice I guess for him to think that, you know, that
Liam Murphy:he was the inspiration behind it.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, what age is children, um, does it work for, by the way?
Liam Murphy:Let's, so at the moment, primary school kids age five to 12.
Liam Murphy:Uh, we haven't had all the kids use it and we've actually had younger
Liam Murphy:kids use it, um, for the kids that are younger, so typically need
Liam Murphy:more support from the parents.
Liam Murphy:So maybe a four year old sitting with them, their, their parents and doing the
Liam Murphy:mindfulness activities does work for them, but they just need that extra guidance.
Liam Murphy:Uh, but we are looking to develop, uh, sort of teen based content as well.
Liam Murphy:So, uh, that'll be something we roll out in by September.
Vicki Weinberg:That's amazing.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, thank you so much for explaining all of that.
Vicki Weinberg:I mean, I've, I've loved hearing more about the product and Yeah, I,
Vicki Weinberg:I think it's fantastic and I, I'm, yeah, I'm super impressed actually,
Vicki Weinberg:cuz I feel like it's a amazing product and there's so many elements that
Vicki Weinberg:sort of had to come together and it sounds like you're doing brilliantly.
Vicki Weinberg:So thank you for sharing all of that.
Vicki Weinberg:Thanks very much.
Vicki Weinberg:I have one more question, if that's okay there Before we finish, um, what
Vicki Weinberg:would your number one piece of advice be, Liam, for other product creators?
Vicki Weinberg:So anyone else listening to this, what's something you'd like them to take away?
Liam Murphy:So, I mean, the one takeaway held with myself from other people
Liam Murphy:throughout my journey is your idea.
Liam Murphy:That's just a concept or a sketch is nothing without validation from people.
Liam Murphy:So don't be scared to sort of go out there and test it and not speak to people
Liam Murphy:and, and have it stated and then you improve it and sort of iterate around
Liam Murphy:their comments cause other people are gonna use it and buy it in the end.
Liam Murphy:However, the sort of adaption to that, from my perspective is validation from
Liam Murphy:customers doesn't guarantee success.
Liam Murphy:Um, you can develop something that really helps people.
Liam Murphy:Um, Doesn't necessarily get purchased by them.
Liam Murphy:And you need to work out why.
Liam Murphy:And you need to constant reiterate on that as well.
Liam Murphy:And pivot maybe to a different marketing strategy, different route
Liam Murphy:to the market, um, and sort of get it.
Liam Murphy:You can build something, test it with people.
Liam Murphy:They'll love it.
Liam Murphy:They won't buy it.
Liam Murphy:And so it's how will they buy it?
Liam Murphy:And you know that route, which, um, you will get to, but it just takes a bit time.
Liam Murphy:It's not, it's not perfect.
Liam Murphy:Shut it off.
Vicki Weinberg:That's a really good point.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you for that.
Vicki Weinberg:Because I talk a lot to people about validating their ideas and
Vicki Weinberg:making sure that, you know, you're creating what customers want.
Vicki Weinberg:I hadn't actually considered the fact that even if you're considering what customers
Vicki Weinberg:want, they might not necessarily buy it.
Vicki Weinberg:And do you think there's any way of finding that out bef Unless you're
Vicki Weinberg:actually asking them for money?
Liam Murphy:Yeah, there are tools you can do.
Liam Murphy:I mean, you could maybe sell them a prototype with the guarantee that they'll
Liam Murphy:get the full product when it's available.
Liam Murphy:Um, so that's one technique we tried.
Liam Murphy:However, it's really difficult to do because, you know, parting,
Liam Murphy:parting weigh with a hundred pounds for when didn't work properly.
Liam Murphy:It does half of what it should do and what it will do.
Liam Murphy:Um, and telling them they'll get the full product when it's, when it's ready,
Liam Murphy:but they don't know when that will be, is quite a hard, uh, commitment.
Liam Murphy:But not for families in our case to make.
Liam Murphy:Um, there are different techniques that we try.
Liam Murphy:They're all, they're all difficult and none of 'em are perfect, but.
Liam Murphy:Another example is setting up a fixed door page and getting them to get through and
Liam Murphy:take their card out and validate through a purchase and then refunding them.
Liam Murphy:But again, you are losing their trust with people who have gone
Liam Murphy:and paid you x amount of money, um, to get a refund straight away.
Liam Murphy:It can annoy people and sometimes that's worse than, um, actually validating him.
Liam Murphy:Um, so yeah, it really depends on the product and, and the
Liam Murphy:approach you take with him.
Vicki Weinberg:That's really helpful.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:And I guess your, I suppose your Kickstarter campaign probably did that
Vicki Weinberg:to some extent because people were going to get products at the end, but
Vicki Weinberg:they had to give some money up front.
Vicki Weinberg:So I guess that must have, have helped to some extent.
Liam Murphy:Yeah, hundred percent.
Liam Murphy:And because Kickstart is such a well known, um, sort of website to go
Liam Murphy:to, people know that's the process.
Liam Murphy:So that's why I would recommend it started.
Liam Murphy:Cause you can test your marketing and test the customer base
Liam Murphy:by selling them the product.
Liam Murphy:They get discount by pitching in early.
Liam Murphy:Um, you get the money upfront so you can go and manufacture it and
Liam Murphy:it allows you to test that market.
Liam Murphy:Um, and we just derisks it for both sides.
Vicki Weinberg:That's really helpful.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:And I know I said that was the last question, but do you
Vicki Weinberg:actually have one more, sorry.
Vicki Weinberg:Which is, do you have any advice for everyone running Kickstarter campaigns?
Vicki Weinberg:Obviously you did brilliantly with yours.
Vicki Weinberg:Was there anything in particular you think you did or anything you did
Vicki Weinberg:actually you'd recommend people don't do.
Liam Murphy:That's really hard one, there's brilliant.
Liam Murphy:Let me write you an encyclopedia on it.
Liam Murphy:Um, number one takeaway that starts is there, there's so
Liam Murphy:many resources out there.
Liam Murphy:Um, don't fall for the track of going for a really extensive agency because
Liam Murphy:you can do a lot of it yourself.
Liam Murphy:Um, however, saying that, Don't burn your money away thinking you can do it all when
Liam Murphy:there might be someone who can help you for a small fee, uh, to maybe run your ads
Liam Murphy:and get 'em perfect so that you're, uh, reaching out to the right customer base.
Liam Murphy:Um, so there's a, a line between sort of paying loads, for support,
Liam Murphy:not paying anything to support and finding a sort of middle ground.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
Vicki Weinberg:That really makes sense.
Vicki Weinberg:I think it's a case of maybe knowing what your strengths are and the
Vicki Weinberg:areas in which you'd need support.
Vicki Weinberg:Because I think it's fair to say that most of us aren't good at everything.
Liam Murphy:Yeah.
Liam Murphy:And you can try to say to do much at once.
Vicki Weinberg:Yes, for sure.
Vicki Weinberg:Yes.
Vicki Weinberg:That was very true.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, thank you so much.
Vicki Weinberg:That actually really was the last question.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, thank you so much for your time.
Vicki Weinberg:I really appreciate it.
Vicki Weinberg:I really enjoyed speaking to you and hearing more about
Vicki Weinberg:your product, so thank you.
Liam Murphy:Thank you for your time.
Liam Murphy:Hope.
Liam Murphy:Hope the listeners out there go and check us out.
Vicki Weinberg:Yeah, I'm sure they will.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.
Vicki Weinberg:Do you remember that?
Vicki Weinberg:You can get the fullback catalog and lots of free resources on
Vicki Weinberg:my website, vicky weinberg.com.
Vicki Weinberg:Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it,
Vicki Weinberg:and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.
Liam Murphy:Thank you again and see you next week.