Alex Gransbury, the innovator and entrepreneur behind Dreamfarm, shares how frustration with dumping his coffee grounds led him to create a multi-million-dollar company.   

He recalls tinkering in his grandfather’s garage, assembling the first product with his family around the kitchen table, and the recognition that came in numerous design awards, making Oprah’s Favorite Things, and joining Apple and Tesla in Time magazine's Best Inventions.  

Alex says the key to success is believing in your ideas, asking for help, and maximizing your resources to keep solving problems—and there is always a solution. Create your own opportunities, never give up, and try everything on offer to find what’s right (and avoid regret).    

If you’ve got an idea that’s burning inside you, Alex will give you some great ideas and serious inspiration to go for it!     

Join us for the ultimate "It has to be me" story.   

Tess’s Takeaways: 

• Believe In Your Ideas. You Can Change The World.  
• Nothing Is Impossible. You Can Always Find A Solution.  
• Make The Most Of Every Opportunity To Avoid Regrets.  
• Think Outside The Box. Embrace Your Uniqueness. 
• A Strong Support System Is Critical.   
• Use Your Skills To Add To The World.  
• Ask For Help. People Will Say Yes!  
• In Challenging Times, Adapt. 

Meet Alex Gransbury: 

Alex Gransbury is the CEO of Dreamfarm, an Australian company that creates incredible kitchen tools. After spending his childhood watching MacGyver, and inventing things to solve household problems, Alex graduated with a business and commerce degree with the intention to work in finance. But, he quickly realized his passion lay in creating products that solved the problems of everyday life. So, in 2003, at the age of 22, Alex founded Dreamfarm with the Grindenstein, a coffee grind knock box for home espresso machines. The design sprung from Alex's frustration at the difficulty of disposing coffee grinds. Coffee lovers shared Alex’s excitement for this home solution, and within a year, the product was being sold in retail stores throughout Australia, and was soon flying off shelves internationally. Since launching the Gridenstein, Alex and his team of industrial designers have created some of the world’s most celebrated kitchen gadgets. Their relentless commitment that every product “be unique, solve a problem, work better than anything else, and do something you’ve never seen before” helps them create groundbreaking products that have won numerous design and innovation awards. Dreamfarm’s Fluicer (foldable citrus press) was listed among Time Magazine’s 200 Best Inventions of 2023, and Oprah’s favorite things for Summer 2023. When he’s not in the Dreamfarm workshop, Alex is fixing something around the house, taking his sons to the football, or hanging out with his daughter and their golden retriever in the park. 

Connect With Alex: 

Website: https://dreamfarm.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dreamfarm 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Dreamfarm 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DreamFarmMovies 

Meet Tess Masters:  

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health coach, cook, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend, published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of The Decadent Detox® and Skinny60® health programs.     

Health tips and recipes by Tess have been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Prevention, Shape, Glamour, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Health, Hallmark Channel, The Today Show, and many others.   

Tess’s magnetic personality, infectious enthusiasm, and down-to-earth approach have made her a go-to personality for people of all dietary stripes who share her conviction that healthy living can be easy and fun. Get delicious recipes at TheBlenderGirl.com.  

Connect With Tess: 

Website: https://tessmasters.com/  

Podcast Website: https://ithastobeme.com/   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblendergirl  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theblendergirl  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessmasters/  

Get Healthy With Tess 

Skinny60®: https://www.skinny60.com/  

Join the 60-Day Reset: https://www.skinny60.com/60-day-reset/ 

The Decadent Detox®: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/  

Join the 14-Day Cleanse: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/14-day-guided-cleanses/ 

The Blender Girl: https://www.theblendergirl.com/  

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Welcome, Alex. I am so excited that you're joining me, man do I love dream farm. So for those of you that might have been living under a rock, he is. Dream farm is an amazing design firm based out of Brisbane, Australia. It was founded by Alex in 2003. And they make incredible, innovative kitchen tools that just make your life easier. I'm kind of obsessed with them, right? So Alex started it on his own to try and kind of fix a problem of like his frustration of disposing his coffee grinds, and it quickly sort of grew into this amazing Ozzie empire that we're also proud of. They are on Time Magazine's list of best inventions for 2023. And also Oprah's Favorite Things, they are having their moment in the sun. I laughed so hard when I got Alex's bio, and he said, You know, I kind of love to MacGyver and I'm not sporting, you know, his 1980s mullet, but I match him in my innovation and problem solving skills. And I can second that. So thanks for joining me.

Thanks. First, thanks very much for having us. We've known each other for a long time. So it's great to be doing this. I'm really happy. Yeah,

thank you. It's just been so thrilling to watch your company grow and just become like a household name. I mean, I travel a lot. And every store I go into has this huge dream farm supply store. And everyone's got a tale of how dream farms making their life better, right. And that's what we're all about. And I know that's one of your core values as a company is you know, making people's lives better. So I want to know about that. It has to be me moments where you just went, I'm starting a company and I'm gonna solve problems. Yeah, I guess

for me, it was back in accounting while studying accounting at university. This is way which is 21 years ago now. So back in 2002. I was studying finance and accounting and finished up University gone traveling for a year and then decided that I wanted to go and learn about money and economics and just sort of doing the thing that you do when you finish school you have to get to university or your life is over. Right? So that's what you get told. It's definitely what we got told an error all boys grammar school, so I

told you not my old girls grabbers

say, with university standard economics, it was so theoretical, it made no sense. So I moved over to commerce, finance and accounting. I got kind of halfway through my second year. And I thought what am I doing with my life, like, everyone was getting really excited about going in getting a job placement, and this young will Price Waterhouse Coopers and I just thought, you know what, I'm just not going to kiss us all these years to one day handle the Jones account. You get one shot at life. I'm going to try and be the Jones account and always wanted to be an inventor. So that's what I did bad. I

love that so much. Okay, that's the key takeaway, isn't it? You don't want to serve as the Jones account. You want to be the Jones account, right? So were you always into inventions and problem solving as a kid? Like did you play with Lego? Did you fix things? You know, how did that all start for you this getting your brain around finding solutions? Because my brain doesn't work like that? Oh,

I think a lot like most kids, I had a ton of Lego, they used to make all sorts of crazy things. Yeah, I probably had more than the average kid in use to take things apart. But a lot of kids do it. Yeah, he growing up. We were in Japan at once. We moved every few years, my parents were in foreign affairs. So actually dead turns out to be a spy. He's no longer with us. So I can say that. I only found out when I was 21. So what whole life growing up, it was a great mystery. Why we moved, so to divert and we were born in London, because they were living in Moscow at the end of the 70s, early 80s. And a Cold War. It turns out and makes sense now. We moved everything. Yeah. And then so we moved every three years and I guess when I was six, seven years old, eight years old, and that's when I fell in love with MacGyver was one of the only shows on Japanese TV and English. And we had the jewels at the time like these little they were Mongolian desert mice. And I used to make a train to run around from each bedroom to each bedroom. And we used to get in trouble the RSPCA for saying this now but we used to make. I used to make parachutes and all sorts of things and throw him out of the building of our apartment building and they all survived it just little things like that. You know, just I love Do you remember that there was a kid? What was his name in in the Goonies. He was the little invention. Yeah. Was it shorty that was

character's name? Yeah, I love that film.

I think he was the same guy who was surely in the Indiana Jones movies. So I get confused. But he he had little invention like MacGyver that could escape anything. And it was kind of this idea that if you had a problem like I was that guy who was trying to design I design a way of closing my bedroom door or turning off the lights while still being in my bed with a rope system. You know, that sort of thing. You know, the cool actually, you know, digress and talking about movies for a second. The coolest scene ever in a movie is the beginning of Back to the Future.

I'll play I love. Yeah, when

when Marty McFly goes over to Doc's house. And he has that invention that automatically feeds Einstein his dog. Yeah. So he walks in. And then suddenly the toasters getting made the dog foods coming out. It's all happening that those sorts of things like I mean, they're now what are they called? Now? It's I forget the name. But it's a hugely complicated mechanism for doing something quite simple at the end of the day, but all that sort of stuff really, really inspired me that I'm like, yeah, there's got to be a way of making this easier. I think, probably deep down inside. I'm one of the laziest people alive. So always trying to make things easier or better. We say for other people, but mainly for myself, because I'm lazy, probably. Yeah,

I mean, I think I think that we often go into professions for something we didn't get for ourselves, and we want to do it for ourselves, we solve a problem. And then we do it for others. So that you had a grandpa that was always fixing stuff, right? You've told me what like his little Geppetto is workshop and all of these tools. And you spent a lot of time in there, right?

Yeah, my grandfather on my father's side, he used to manage a farm Outback, South Australia, and back in that day, and this is what we're known for as Australians, we were in Ireland. So whatever's here, you've got to make it work. You don't Chuck things in the bin and start again, you fix it. And he was one of those guys that could literally fix a tractor or, you know, fix a toaster, whatever was in front of him he could fix. And he had a workshop where just when people come to our workshop here at Dream farm, I always say, well, we pride ourselves on being able to make one of anything. And his workshop was absolutely that he could have made one of anything. And I used to when suddenly he passed away when I was quite young, but we'd still go back to Adelaide for Christmas. With my see my father's side of the family. And I'd spend the Christmas holidays going through it and asking, what does that do? What does that do? What does that do? And you know, you really understand when you get into a workshop that there is everything has the purpose. And this wasn't like he had just a collection of junk. Every single tool had a spot on the shell, a spot on a wall and an outline behind like a silhouette like everything had its place. And he had one of absolutely everything but not to him, to me to me just was the best one. And I said it's like you always look back over life and that the things that your parents or your grandparents ingrained in you. And my old man was definitely that era that by once by right by the best one you can afford. I am so I guess sort of rubbed off on me over time that you want to make stuff that people will hold on to forever.

Yeah, that served you well in business for sure. I'm not letting my flu sir. Or some of this stuff go in my life. Like I can't live without it. I travel with my mini spoon in my purse. Let me tell you like, I love that thing. What about this idea of thinking outside of the box and kind of, you know, often in order to find solutions, we've got to break the rules. And we got to go against what other people think it should be or what you know, those kinds of things. So have you have you always been a rule breaker? Because I know that you really lean into that part of yourself. Where was that born?

I think that was my life by I was middle kid. You know it was having this right? So when we were in Japan, everywhere we went it was like oh, look at John. He's so tall and handsome. Blah, blah, blah. And live brother. This is my older brother. And then younger sister Kate. Oh, look at her. She's so cute and tiny. And she's so lovely.

Oh, you have a child through and through. Through and Through. Yeah. 100%

What about may look at me. Exactly. Yeah, Stop copying me. Stop copying me. 100% Yeah, I I lead with that a lot of the time am I in the like epiphany of a middle child. And it's so funny. I married a middle child. middle child. We're all left handed.

Yeah. To like, celebrate the Molly duikers. Man the left handed people Yeah, totally.

So, yeah. Growing growing up, you want to stand out you know, you want to be different. You want to be recognized. You want to be you want to matter. I think this is a big part of the big part of it for everyone. You want to feel like your life has meaning or has mattered, right? Like there was some end result to my life. Life and they're getting too deep too early. But I mean, that's when Dave would go.

Well, look, there's so much junk out there on the planet. You know, there's so much meat to junk in places like Teemu and Ali Baba. And there's a lot of junk on Amazon as well. People will just buy shit. Yeah, sorry, stuff. And so we want to make you feel valuable as a human. When you make things that are useful that other people find useful. Why do anyway? Yeah, and so do

I think we want to be useful. We want to help we want to feel like we matter. Like

So I guess for me naturally. Well, did I always break the rules by her wasn't a great student. Let's be honest, I was a pretty naughty kid. I've always been a naughty kid. It's funny, the

we went to boarding school. Of course, you were?

Well before before we were in Japan, when I was really young. So let's say like three to five. We lived in Manila, in the Philippines at the Marcos era of also Yeah, but I used to have a Catholic before I was born bold. I used to have a Catholic right on the front of my head here. And that was a really renowned thing in Filipino culture, that if you had a Catholic at the front of you, God, brow, and it's been so long since I've had one I remember when people talk about with their hair, that you were a naughty kid. That was the sign of being an ordinary

16 in culture. Yeah.

So I always knew that. Yeah, I just, I guess maybe is the need to stand out or be different. I was the kid, I've always been a smartass. I've always had plenty to say about everything. And I've never been and then go to boarding school, you get really figured that out quickly. These are the rules, you have to check in here and check in there. And as long as you tick those boxes, and that places you could do whatever you wanted. You could act like you could sign out to a fictitious address, you can sneak back in in the morning and still get fed like, Yeah, I think it's I guess we just wired that wired that way, figure out the rules, figure out how to bend them live life to the max,

and then make your own live by your own rules, right? I mean, you've won so many red dot awards. So for those of you listening who don't know, red dot award is like the Oscars of like industrial and product design, and innovation, right design awards, and you've won tons of them and just award after award after award for these incredible things. So going back to this whole, I'm going to make my own rules, I'm going to break the rules, I'm going to I'm going to, you know, color outside of the lines and figure this out. And I'm going to be the Jones account. I love this. Right. So flash forward, and you're 22 Right. And I'm not going to go work at Ernst and Young. I'm doing my own thing. Right. So what was driving that you want to be the Jones account? But beyond that, was it money? Was it? You know, financial freedom? Was it recognition was fame, like what was driving you when you were 22? To kind of go?

It's a good question. Look, if I'm looking back now, I think probably two things. One, I just come back from overseas, and I had been backpacking. And

we'll do that as always, as we take a gap year backpacking around the world. Yep,

totally. But what you figure out when you're backpacking, and you know, on a shoestring budget, is that everything you do everything you see where you go, the equipment where you stay, the experiences, you have the food you ate, it all comes down to money. It all comes down to how much money you can do it cheaply. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to have a zillion dollars to do things. But for example, if you want it when you got money, you do you do. And if you if you want to go to Antarctica, before you go live too expensive, right? And three kids. There's no, I forget. Yes, no, there's no cheap way of doing that. So if you want to do that, you're gonna have to put some money together. And growing up we had two sets of grandparents from two everyone does, but from two different walks of life one was very frugal and lived modestly. And the other one had done very well for themselves in terms of, well, he was the dentist in Ballarat and ran the practice there. And I remember what we were the kids that had like this such the well, you get 20 bucks from one grandparent 50 bucks from the other. Asia Yeah. I tell you which envelope got opened first. But both lovely people anyway, I remember talking to PA and saying to him, he was saying to me, you've honest asking him well, you've done really well for yourself. And he was saying you know I have but you know what I would do if I had my time again what I would change is that I only make money when I go and pull teeth. I have to go to work or don't have Income and and people talk about passive income now. But I think, coupled together with always wanting to be an inventor, with oh my god, if I want to do some cool stuff in this world I'm gonna need some money. And then the idea of creating something that you can keep making money from so it's not a service it's not you're selling use it how can you do something and then it have a scalable return? That's kind of what I was like, You know what, you get one shot at life? What am I doing? What am I doing with being an accountant, I'm going to end up with a gun in my mouth and blunt pull the blood on the floor. This is a terrible idea. So I started doing fun. And I remember having this like list of potential company names on the back of my wall and at circumaural, figure out what it was going to be. And now you're 22 like, you've got nothing to lose. And I look back now and I think, Oh, I'm so glad I started then when I didn't have a mortgage, and I didn't have kids and a wife and everything else. But you know, what, if, if that's what you want to do, and I have heard this story. So one of my great mates, Ron, his mum had this idea for a product. And this product was born out of like everything in necessity. And his her name was Christine. And so Chris had this product that when she cracked the chips with her kids watching TV, so she's going to chop off the power cord. And so she created this cover for a power cord with the logo. Right. And that was a dream that she wanted to then take it as a product and even at that same thing. It's like, I came up with a great idea if I can put it out into the world also useful and yeah, no one else had done that before. And you feel like you've added to the world and you matter. And so she she went to go and get off the grip, maybe at the time didn't have the support and the family around there and found that frustrating or whatever, but I've just never wanted to be one of those guys that died wondering what what if, you know, just give it a go? Yes.

I would rather regret what I did do as opposed to what I didn't do. I don't want to live with Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. What if Oh, god, that's torture. No way. I'd rather clean up the mess later because I went okay, well. Here's the thing. And I say this all the time. You know, my favorite quote is, you know, the Nelson Mandela one, I never lose, I either win or I learn. So even when something all goes to crap, and you're like, Yeah, you learn and you go, okay, even if it's what not to do again, you know? So you talk about this support from your family? I want to hear more about that. So you're 22 You've got a dream. We don't know it's a dream farm yet. But did you get support from your dad or from your mom or your family? Like financial, you know, a little bit of help? Were they supportive of you starting your own business? Like what was that like?

Oh, absolutely. I got more help than you could possibly imagine. And from everyone around me like, I had a for everyone. I had a friend who was studying graphic design at university, Sally who designed dream farms logo. Mine My mum used to put Kryon signs together with me. That was our first product actually, this guy. That's the original. That's the so and so. And not even remotely exciting. It turned into this but we used to put these together every night of the week years. And then

a sheltered workshop with your friends and family putting together the grind and Stein.

Well, it was my mom, myself and my girlfriend at the time. Who was hugely supportive as well. My dad My dad did the accounts for years and years and years in fact, he only stopped doing the counts when he got brain cancer and we were looking like everybody I know it was John your brother John used to paint walls here for a while my sister Kate still works in business. My mom does the cleaning and

she gets paid. But the cleaning rematch I mean I loved you guys before but now I'm in love like I never thought I could be in love so it really I mean look we all do everything on that on the shoulders of giants don't we Right? Like we couldn't do it alone. Did your parents give you some money to help you started how did that how did that all happen?

So 22 no money whatsoever. And I had enough money to put together the first 100 grand in stocks and the reason I started with this product when I decided I'm gonna go out and this is going to be my first product and ended up just by absolute chance being a kitchen tool, solid kitchenware stores, and then now we're in the kitchen where company

Alex go back and for everyone that's just listening and not what Ching video. Can you tell everyone what a grinding stone is for everybody that doesn't know what it is the first product launch dream farm, like how did that come about?

Okay, it is the most unexciting thing you can imagine.

But useful if you're a coffee lover.

No one had done it at that time. All it is is a miniaturized version of the tube that they have in cafes to tube with a bulb going through the middle at the top, and you use it you get what they call the group handle or porta filter. It's basically the handle that holds the basket that the coffee sits in, in an espresso machine. And you turn it upside down and you go on the bar, and then the grinds fall out and collects in the bottom of this cylinder. And they have big versions of those in cafes back in 22,002. Standard for probably 2003 2003 They only had them for cafes. No one had made a version for home espresso machines. And home espresso machines had just made a they just be started to come under $1,000. They were now sort of $600 and Sunday had a $600 machine. And they were starting to get into this space where you can have one domestic way. And so I was like well just make the small version for domestic machines. And that's what I did.

So you had a coffee machine and you were just frustrated anyway cuz this is ridiculous. How are you? How do I get rid of the coffee grinds out of this thing and make another thing a coffee? Exactly.

washing it down the same tapping on the lean side of the bin which is gross. Especially you're gonna put more coffee through it so that's why they haven't been cafes, but they just didn't have them for home. So I made one for home. And then so what links are PVC pipe this is it's literally drain pipe with a bolt, a cap on the bottom and a big card notice that's all MacGyver

though. I loved that show, too, by the way, watched it with my dad every week, not just Richard Dean Addison was smoking hot. They were problem solvers. It was awesome. It was like a puzzle every week.

Yeah, it was truly cool. Have you ever watched it since then? I've got it at me.

I still think it's lame. I'm gonna challenge you on that buddy. Because I still love it.

Yeah, it's he's looked back and things in life, and they chat fondly. Totally off topic. But I remember going to Disneyland as a kid and going in that small world and there was like a drop that I swear was 10 feet. Yeah, so that's how I feel like with MacGyver rewatching that sorry. I

still love it. All right. I still love it. Right? I you know, what I love about it, though, is it's simple. And he uses himself and the resources he has around him to solve a problem. So the actual while the you know, the graphics and the kind of you know, the clothes, you laugh at it now, the actual premise and message of the show still resonates with me. And I'm sure it doesn't you. I'll be funny around this, right? Yeah,

yeah, absolutely. And so I bought the materials that I needed to make this first run and take them to the markets. And it literally is a drain pipe like 100 mil or four inch drain pipe cut into sections. And within two cuts, one's got an angle of 45 degree angle, and they the legs. Anyway, so I'm cutting these down, and I did a diagonal cut with a drop saw and a bit of pipe got sucked into the saw and nearly took my hand in with me and I'm like, oh my god, what am I doing? I'm gonna lose my hand. Or have you got started this company have made a single sale and I'm going to be one arm Alex. So I did the design. This is my mate rod, his mum's Christine. He was working as a designer for roads. And so he had CAD and he designed the first grime and Stein in roadmap CAD. And I got told in Australia, I borrowed 10 grand from Dad, how about this, right? So I remember doing the figures because I still had access to AC Nielsen marketing data beat University. And I knew how many espresso machines home espresso machines was sold in Australia. And I knew that I said to dad around saying if we can sell one espresso machine, so one grinding stone for it, like one in every 100. So one to 100 will be a millionaire will be millionaires within a year. Of course, that didn't happen. It could have been further from the truth but yes, I borrowed 10 grand from dad, which I never paid him back. I borrowed more from him. And yeah, well I've I cannot tell you how tremendously it's a blast. I'm not really even remotely religious. But I have been helped a lot along the way and not just by him by a lot of different people. The list is long and long and long and long about the number of people who have gone out of their way. You know, I think if you look people who are listening and then winning To get up and try something, I would definitely think that I have been shocked at how receptive people are to helping you if you ask. And, yeah, it never, it always amazed me that if you ring someone and ask them their opinion, or if they have any advice for you, or what you would do with this or that, or whatever it might be people who are really willing to go out of their way and help you for no money, they know you have no money, because you're asking them. So it's gonna

They wanna feel useful. And they want to know that they matter. And they want to genuinely help you build surround yourself with beautiful people, they make your dreams, their dreams, right. And they want to help you and elevate you and celebrate you and make you the best version of yourself that you can be and they show up, right and just showing up for yourself and showing up for others, it matters. And when we put when we put good people and good ideas together with good intentions, magic happens. And that's exactly what you're doing at your company. So talk to me about how you went from this sheltered workshop in your house, putting this together with your friends and family. So all of a sudden, within a year, this thing is being sold nationally, you know, and internationally, and it's starting to gain momentum. How did that change things for you, you know, the scalability of a company, you know, they're small, and there's big, you know what I mean? And there's just all of these, you know, little bits along the way? How did that sort of change what motivated you?

Well, the interesting thing is when you when you're a big company, and you've got distributions sorted out, you've got accounting teams, and department heads and meetings and all that crap figured out, the thing you don't have is ideas. And so what you have when you're small is plenty of ideas, but none of the other stuff. So you've got to lean into what you've got. And so for us, it was ideas that always go with like this idea that there is that one of the things about dream farm, are they quite tight, like it's impossible only means the solution is yet to be found. And love that. It was funny when you were saying with your Nelson Mandela quote earlier, I love a quote to admire,

I quote, love a quote, quote, give me a client. Okay, here's

one for it erode ever dynamically. The Bumblebee should never have got off the ground. But he doesn't know that. So he continues to fly all the same. And I don't know who said that. But it just, it's that naivety that you walk into with business? If, if you sit there and you think, Oh, what about this or that could go wrong, or that could go wrong. Or I'm just gonna roll with the punches no matter what comes my way, I'm gonna figure it out. Because guess what, 1000 people a million people before you have figured it out. And there's another quote that I love by Steve Jobs. That talks about that. When you the world that you live in everything you see around you was created by people that are no smarter than you are. And once you figure it out, you can add to this world and prod and poke things will come out the other side, your life changes, you realize you don't just live in a world of other people's making you live in a world that you can make an add to and change. And I'd say it's about you just got to figure out I guess some people begin to live a life where they get up, they get to work, they get their best paycheck, you know, they go from A to B and that's all it's gonna be and that's fine. But I think

the and exactly what some people need and want in order to be happy and fulfilled that's not what was going to cut the mustard for, you

know, and whatnot for a lot of people, but the thing is that

me included me and I've never had a real job in my life. I mean, seriously, my dad's still waiting for me to get a real job. My sister just got her first nine to five job started yesterday. And he's literally like the cat that lick the canary. Let me tell you, it's like, even though he's so proud of us, and he's laughing but it's a joke, right? Because, okay, one daughter down one to go. Like, it's hilarious. Anyway, yeah,

it's hilarious that you downplay your success. That way is true, as well Tess. But anyway, the, you've done lots of fun. Thank you. The The funny thing is, is the more you're exposed to in life, the more you want from life. So if you grow up in the middle of the Outback nowhere and you've never traveled the world, as you know, it is as big as one day maybe owning the news agency or the local cafe. And if you did that you climb to the height of your surroundings. Whereas I mean for some people and myself, I grew up overseas, experiencing what's a different things and going lots of places and my view on the world is I wouldn't say huge but just I know there's a lot out there that I want to do and the days are numbered. I make a lot of people feel like this. I have this more morbid time clock in my head that just says Your days are numbered Then you'd better be doing the most with them you possibly can

you want to suck the marrow out of life. So why so do I, I want to ask you about this, this this time overseas because you living in Japan, I want to ask you how that same formed your approach to design and innovation because they are a culture that, you know, they've got all these things that you know, in vending machines that the the the culture is just there's all these little gadgets for everything, right? It's it's quite different than a lot of other countries, right? They've really got this culture of gadgets, you know what I mean? So like, Absolutely, I mean, how did your time in Japan inform what you're doing now?

I remember one of the first weekends, we were in Japan, there's an electronics district called Akihabara. And it's where you got to find was my gizmo gadgets and laptops and computers and all that sort of stuff. And back then, like, it is an electronics brand. Sony was the business. I remember buying a Discman batteries and run out and about four hours, took four double A batteries. They had the mini Desplat. Like Sony is a brand that was it. Sony like no other. Again, trying to be different and trying to create something unique. But I mean, yeah, I think it's seeing the diff, just the innovation there alone. I mean, as electronics we will get now it's an internet age, but back then it was definitely an electronics age in the 80s. And what can you do with it was seeing all the different things and understanding what is possible, it definitely opens your horizon to broaden your horizons as to what you think is a win in life, and what you can do with yourself. So

yeah, I want to ask about this different being different, because I know that one of your mantras is just because you're different doesn't mean you're useful. Apps, right? Yeah. So I want to talk about some of your core values as a company, you know, and these, these these values that really guide the way that you operate as a company, the beautiful company culture, but the the excellence of the products that you put out there and that they are always absolutely useful and value added. So what is your yardstick? Like? What's the process you go through as a company, when you've got all these ideas? You're filtering these ideas, and then you figure out which ones are actually going to make it to the pointy end of the of the resource budget. So

yeah, sure, sure, sure. So I mean, originally, the idea was, it could get a patent for it. It wasn't worth doing. The patent getting a patent was the litmus test as to whether or not the idea was unique enough to bother bringing out into the world. And I did that with Brian and Stein. I mean, it was a pretty weak patent not going to be honest. Noise cancellation and shock absorbing and then with our pizzas, which was genuinely unique, and are smooth, which was awesome. potato masher. But now

potato masher and best pizza cutter for those of you that don't know what this pizza these pizza says is meant. Like you got the pizza, it doesn't stick. The cheese doesn't stick. It's just the greatest anyway, continue. Can you know Kate's? pretty fabulous. There's a pretty fabulous people on your DVR. brandings tickety. Boo, mate.

Thank you The last train of thought here what we were about.

You're like, oh, the design department used to be the litmus test for whether something could be put out into the world. You're right. Thank you. I interrupted you. That was my fault.

None other than that, it's fine. The suit. Now look, it's taken time to figure out how you bottle up. What we just had a gut feeling about what was useful and worth putting out into the world. So now, we've been able to distill it down to three rules. And it's kind of a fourth, but the rules are, number one is it has to solve a problem. If the product doesn't solve a problem, it has no purpose. When it's the problem, it solves gives utility makes it useful. It's the reason why someone's going to reach for that in the jaw. What do I do? Number two is it has to be original, because if it does something that everybody else does, who cares? Like there's no there's no point inventing something, we invented something if someone's already done it, and who wants to make stuff that other people have already done is a middle child coming through it right. So then the third one is it has to work the best because it can be different. Like the whole idea was this is back to university and being in a county. I was like the the thing with being different is that there are lots of aesthetically different products out there. That's what people know as design but designers really more about the way that something works. That's what makes it the design. And so if it does something that's certainly the whole premise of dream fund for me originally was if I can make things that are so unique and so useful and so different, and we're the only ones that do that, well, then you have to buy a product, right? It's not a it's not an objective, or that one looks nicer. Or that one's a better shape. It's, that's the only product that functions like that. So solve a problem, be unique. That will be diff a be original, and then work the best. But the fourth thing is really come into the mix. Some of the reason I mentioned before that we've won a lot of red dots. We have won 13 Red Dot Design Awards now including best of the best. And but the interesting part about that journey, it's been 21 years is that we've won seven years in a row now. So seven consecutive the last seven years, we've won one every single year. So random, but just means that as a company, we've now really honed in on what that what brings a unique product to market. And so you go solve a problem, be original and work the best. The fourth thing is that we really try to instill into our product design is a moment of magic with a product does something that you've never seen before. And there is an aha moment when you see our colander turn into a salad spinner,

or you see Oh, good.

And thanks. It's all like there's a lot of products or the gadget when it injects the garlic pressed garlic

press on Earth everybody. Seriously, like I'm sorry, but like you have to clean it out with all the others, right? Like you press the garlic and it all comes up. And then what do you do with it and the peel and just watch the videos everyone dream? farm.com? I do not have shares. I did everybody. All right. But it's but yeah, it's so incredible. Alex, I want to ask you about when I first met you at that first trade show, and you had that tiny little booth and it was like, you know, well, those people are gone. They're just on their way, you know, eating their sandwich and talking to someone while they're on their way to the huge account like Oxo Joseph and Joseph everyone had their day in the sun, right? This is Dream farms time. And everybody wants to know you right now. Right? So I want to ask you about the two things that I noticed and tell me if this is right, which were really turning points in your company really putting you on the map and going from someone that people knew about to someone everybody wanted to be friends with, right? When you put out that video about the money supply Moon scraping every last bit out of that Nutella jar, that video went viral. So I talked about this in my introduction, everybody this little mini spoon is this little spatula, the greatest Bachelor on Earth, everybody. Let me tell you, it scrapes every last bit out of every blender container. I own almost every blender in the world. I've tested it. And every last bit out of any nut butter jar. So peanut butter lovers and Nutella lovers. I'm telling you, it was so brilliant. Who ever thought of that doing that video, Alex, but if you couldn't get that thing for ages, everybody wanted it. Right. Was that? Was that one of the major turning points for you? Absolutely. Looking at that from an outsider's perspective?

Well, it's funny, you only see it in hindsight, right? You never know when it's happening. It's really hard to figure out oh my god, that was what that's when it changed for us. But that definitely changed things for us. Well, there's been a look, if I look back now. Well, there's been lots of little milestones, but in terms of exposure, and becoming a household name, that many supper and video had over 100 million views on Facebook. And that was still when you had virility on Facebook, it wasn't just pay to play. And it was just, it was so simple. It was a Natalja that had been bitten until we're all on the outside of the glass. And we just put a spoon in like a spoon mini spoon in from the top. And it just worked its way down the top of the jar turned the jar in, like completely transparent again, and then sat down set up. So it was put down. It's actually that's sister Kate here in that video.

It was so brilliant. I know Kate and I talked about it. It was so great, because I'm sorry, I've thought about sticking my tongue in that. Or that peanut butter jar that almond butter. I mean we all have right I mean that was a there was a visceral reaction to that it was so clever. So was the getting on Time Magazine's you know 100 Best invent you know, the lid the list of the 200 best inventions isn't it for 2023 and Oprah's Favorite Things with that flu saw the greatest citrus press on Earth? Was that the next kind of thing or you said there was a few Was there something in between that like really sent you into the stratosphere?

I'd say the flu sir. It was so we'd won a bunch of red dots. This is the little spiel a little story I'd tell you about that and we went to lots of red dots. Tell your friends about another cool hook is no one knows. It's very much a red dot. Yeah, totally. And but you Design. That's a big deal. But outside of the deal, yeah, no one really cares. And so we went another one or like, I think last year, we went three of them and it sounds like a cool guy. But then flew set this lemon juicer, this one, one, a red dog, they went to good design it when a deer would like it cleaned up everything on the old soul circuit for design, but still no one really good. And then when it opened, it was, it was chosen as Oprah's Favorite Things for a summer summer list. That's when the like I'd get a barbecue and suddenly the wife started saying, hey, so you're on Oprah. And now they were starting to pay attention. But then the first time that I've actually like I turned up to my kids rugby training and the other day until like, so you're on Time Magazine. That's amazing, because getting chosen for Time Magazine's Best inventions listed. I mean, it's, it's huge, because it's like Apple and Tesla and you've given the rise in

the ring at this point. Yeah. So what did that I mean, it's just been thrilling, as I say to watch thrilling and could not happen to nicer, more clever, incredible people. Your stuff is so incredible, has just changed things for you as a company like just you know, now everybody wants to invite you to the party. You talked about in the beginning as a 22 year old wanting to be the Jones account. I mean, you are the Jones account now right? You're the dreamer you're you're not just the Jones account, you're not the dream and the potential or the possibility of an account you are the dream farm account a household name now, what motivates you now as Alex as the man now that you've got a lot of money the company is successful people know who you are, they care who you are, you matter middle child, you matter? What motivates you now

lots of things. And to be honest, I we recognize this as our time the sun. But during COVID We're really lucky that we doubled down and we tripled our design teams really clever people were looking for work as long as it was it

luck, though, it was a conscious choice, right? It was a strategic conscious choice that you made not to retreat during the pandemic, you leaned in, and you went, we got our ideas, going back to what you said, right? We've got our ideas and ideas can be out in the world or during a pandemic and locked down in your home, you've still got your ideas, right? To be

honest, during COVID The only thing I wanted to do as boss was not let people down. I really felt this tremendous sense of responsibility to make sure that everyone could still pay their bills and that have jobs and everything else. And that's all we've got. We've only got our products. We we don't wash cars. We have kitchen gadgets. And so COVID Don't get me wrong was horrific in so many ways for so many people. But looking back as a kitchen brand company like it was

kind of awesome. Everyone was at home cooking.

Yeah, no could spend money on holidays. Now it could leave the house. They were stuck in the houses, but the world around them. Everyone was making sourdough and learning about cooking again and ordering everything online like it was. I'm not saying I'm hoping for another dash of COVID that it definitely wasn't awful as a kitchenware business to be. In that time. It just was a tremendous boost to us, like, really sorry for all the people that didn't happen. It

was awful for so many people, but that's a company you have to anticipate and be ready for and adapt and use what you have to survive, which is what you did right and really lean into the fact that just like food bloggers and people that had food websites and sourdough starters, I mean, please, if you had a sourdough starter, it was like, you know, had the Midas touch, right. Everyone was feeding their sourdough starter at home. So you leaned into this, you you really kept innovating and kept creating. Does that sense of not wanting to let people down your group, your team of these incredible people that you've now assembled in this company? Does that still motivate you said, Oh, lots of things motivate you? Absolutely.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think there are so many people that have invested so much into dream farm, whether it be their life's work. I mean, I've got Phil right. So Phil's our Head of Design. He I found him straight out of university. So we just finished up our fourth product. And we were working 567 and eight, and I needed a full time designer. And so I went to the University. Don Carson, it's amazing that you remember these names, right? The he was the head of the design faculty there and I said, Who's your best student? What have you got and they gave me a bunch of people and Phil stood out by far. Phil joined Dreamfoam strata University, and he's brilliant, like really, really, really clever and people give me a lot of credit for Your info, it really is a team effort. I always try and remind people of that. But there are so many people that rely on this for x, y and Zed reason I just don't want to let people down. And you know, when once you got to that level amount, I'm sure. Look, I'm sure anyone create if you put out a great album as a songwriter, or you make a great movie, or whatever it is, you don't want to fall, it's not gonna last forever. You're only as good as your last game. And so don't get me wrong. This time in the sun that we all go. I know, I know the products we're going to launch for the next two and a bit years. And they are killer. Like, no, I got no chance of slowing down anytime soon, but

just enjoy it. Enjoy it.

You know from day one, people have been intimately saying, oh, you know, everything that's already everything the world needs is already been invented. What are you going to possibly come up with an armchair? Just watch me Mother F?

Like, right? I'm definitely that spiteful little kid. That's, uh, you

like they don't tell me I can because I'm gonna do it even more. Yeah, just motivates me to just watch me like i So I'm there with you.

So, so easily manipulated. If you told me I can't do something, and I want to do that. Or I think I can watch out hold my bed. I'm gonna do it right now. So like, yeah, I want to make sure that the these we've got tons of retailers as well that a little retail Mom Dad retail store that has made a big deal about Dreamfoam to their customers. And so they've invested in us as well. And it's just become this big machine. Now that I want to make sure that the next thing we come out with the next thing we come out with, like I've seen brands that have gone before us, but you're saying couple of brands barely at that have had their time in the sun. And then you get this is a there's a line in the movie. Zoolander. Do you ever see that one? Yeah, right. So got to write and they got to so hot right now, you know, you could take a shit in a piece of tin foil and sell it to Queen Elizabeth as earrings. Right? And and I always like that is the idea of like a cat, my brand is really great. But I just stick it everywhere. You could sell something like we can walk into a factory in China, do no design works whatsoever. Stick dream firm on it, and we would sell a ton of them. But but the thing you have to remember as a brand, is that your brand is the average coolness of all of your products. So if you start putting out crap and junk that nobody uses, people aren't stupid, people are really, really smart at figuring out what is useful and what is not. And they're very vocal. Now the internet's given them, given them all a microphone, they like that one star, two stars, you know, and you live and die by people's recommendations now. So it has to solve a problem with all the things that we set out to do. You just can't get lazy, the moment you get lazy, you will be forgotten. And I just don't want to at some stage, this will end for us. I'm not naive enough to think that this will last forever. But we are going to give it the best we possibly. The other funny thing is, is that we're not doing anything different now than we've done for the last 20 years. We're just not. We have done it that same level, we've just hit that critical mass and had enough exposure. So when people are getting to our website and going, oh, where's the flu, sir? Where's the mini spoon? Okay, they're the only two things I want. There are tons of things that we've been doing great bigs. Yeah. So that's, that's what I come back to when I say there's been a lot of luck. A lot of things have really gone our way. You know, you work hard thing in the room, we've definitely worked our assets off for a long, long time. And we still do everyday now. But we had a lot of things go our way. And I think only once you, you know, they say the you know, the more you train, or the more you practice, the luckier you get, the harder you work, the luckier you get. You've got to make those opportunities

to make their own luck. Yeah, you know, I mean, yes, opportunity. You know, that whole sports analogy for sure. But, but if he's just hard work, I just think just the synergy of you know, grind and Stein being your first product. It has been a grind for 20 years. Lots of joy, lots of innovation, lots of beautiful people, lots of help, lots of love along the way. But this isn't an overnight success.

Oh, definitely not. You know, I

know I just yeah,

there was a I remember running a sewing kit first Canadian distributor Brown and K and they Blakey around that was Peter Brown. And Peter Brown was said to me one day, he says, I never forget that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. It's supposed to be hard. Right? always stuck with me. And this is like 15 years ago, and and I remind our design team that all the time. Like they don't know how this is gonna work. And like I know, that's the exciting part that nobody knows how we're going to solve this. problem because if it was easy, it would have been solved before. And we wouldn't have a job doing what we do. So

if does that get you fired up to get out of bed in the morning like to go to work specifically? Like, it's like a puzzle for you like, I'm gonna figure this out like no one has before, like, Does that motivate you?

There's a lot of pressure at the high, you got the food chain in the design in our design team, because we have brilliant designers that independently coming up with ideas that I absolutely wish I'd come up with myself. But if we can't solve the problem, and it gets through to Phil, and Phil, it is and again, we need to figure this out. I mean, eventually, you know, once you've figured out what the problem is there, once you've identified the problem you're trying to solve, if you give it enough time and oxygen and an effort, you will solve the problem. And there's nothing that's impossible out there. There really is you everything is solvable. If you put your mind to it and commit enough time and energy to it. It is but yeah, it's kind of on top of the food chain. No,

I love it. I'm eating this up with a big mini supper moon, let me tell you, I want to go back to your dad for a second. Sure. We talked about this in the intro how my dad got cancer and your dad got cancer at the same time. And your case was so beautiful and supportive to me and I so appreciate it when you were going through this, this time with dad. Gosh, what does that make you feel like now with your dad, like, are him helping you with this company and giving you the money and never asking for it back and your mum and dad helping you and you know, and being a dad now to these young children, you know, that those bookends of those generations? Like you know, what would you say to your dad, when these design awards and the fluther Anti magazine and I just want to cry thinking about

it. So I want to cry? Yeah, you brought it up? I don't know. Look, I'm really, really lucky. I've had two of the most supportive parents you could possibly imagine. And Mom is still is still helping us. And she's just amazing. But for dad as well, like he would finished work every day. He would then used to go past the photocopier every day on his way out the door and pinch a centimeter of paper and bring it into work. So we never had to pay for PayPal. Little things like that. He just everything he did. He did for us. And look, I'm like, growing up, I knew I was the good son. It was pretty obvious. Sorry, brother, John, it was just how it happened. But the bit like the saddest thing about when my dad passed away was I lost my my biggest and best supporter. I've just never felt that amount of just genuine. Genuine. If he was just in my corner, and it wouldn't matter what I needed to do, or figure out or whatever he's like, No, you can do this. You've got this, I believe in you just, he was my biggest fan. And it's, I feel guilty sometimes, like, I don't think about him on a day to day basis. It's only when things are going really, really well for us. Like I remember when the we got the call up that we'd won that Time Magazine thing. And I just wish he was here from it. I really do. And it gives you pause to make sure that for your own kids that you're giving them that unconditional support in whatever they want to do. You know, and but not everyone has felt that in life. I know that now. But I definitely have. And it was almost like this cloak of indestructible and destructive or like I was just invincible because I had people behind me that supported me and believed in me and knew that, you know, we'd figure it out together. And I just I've always felt so tremendously supported. And yeah, Dad was that was that guy? And Mom is to mommy Absolutely. Is that. I can't tell you how many hundreds of hours. You know, my mom has put put grindstones together with me. And then my dad would come at the end of every day and he would do the accounting for it. Yeah, I've just been so bloody lucky. I really can't say down the way.

Well, I mean, yeah, I had really great parents too. So I think that's what makes me really emotional. Just, you know, knowing you all of these years. It's just I just feel so invested. It's just such a beautiful, beautiful family success story. Oh gosh, I just want you to soar to even bigger heights in this world and if nothing else to have these incredible things You might know everybody in the 60 day reset and my 14 day cleanse are just absolutely obsessed with your products. You know, some people have even put it in their video testimonial they send it to you, it was so hilarious, she brings up her mini spoon because I'm obsessed with it and put it on in all the recipe videos. And just you know, you can just see it in the company culture and just the the hilarious good humor videos and brandy. I mean, I actually laugh at the videos, there's so far there's so much fun. It's just this, we want life to be fun, you know? So if you said so many things, you know, in our conversation today that, you know, I could pull out or have an answer to this question. But I always close you know, every interview with the question. But before I ask you that question, I do just want to ask you, because you're so motivated to make the impossible possible that if you spend enough time on it, you know, it can be done, and you've got all these people in your corner. I do want to know what you're afraid of? Like, what scares you the most? And how do you get past it?

Or am I afraid off? She's good question. Um, I think if I, geez. Jesus says I'm afraid of lying on my deathbed. And wondering that I didn't give it more or that I didn't give it everything that I had. I'm afraid of dying, wondering if I tried that little bit harder. Or if I did that little bit more, or if I launched that product, or I put that out into the world, whatever it is, I don't want to die with an idea in my head that I didn't get out into the world. I don't want to I don't want to live with regret for having not tried. And so look, we've got a lot of great products. And this Doug's absolute stinkers some absolute rubbish that, thankfully, the world has told us this sucks and got rid of, but I just don't want to. I just want to do as much as I possibly can, with the limited time that we're here. And I'm afraid of not doing it like making the most of this life that we live. And I think there's a lot of, you get so caught up in the humdrum of everyday life, I've got to drop the kids off, I've got to get to that meeting, I've got to go and do the shopping or this, that the other. And sometimes I don't think people stop and realize just how lucky we are to even be here in the first place. You know, and that this whole thing that we've created this night, or five and Monday to Friday, and all of this, I know why it exists. But that's not what life is. Right? It's about. Because get this is the other the other thing that I try to remember all the time, and this is very morbid, but this is just unfortunately, how my brain works is that everything that you do everything, every photo you've ever taken, every thing you've ever created it all your stuff, everything that you create, right now, that proves that testmasters is on this earth, in three generations time, it will all be underground, and for the most part, we will have been forgotten. Right. So in many senses, your life is for you. It's not about other people. It's not about what you think you should be doing. Because none of its going to be around in 100 years time. None of it will. So the only thing that you have between when you start it and when you finish, you don't know how long that's going to be. It's your life. So go out and do everything you possibly can to get every experience, try everything. But you just don't want to end up on that. Like you've seen. I mean, what am I 42 now nearly 43 And I already in this age group people my age have added nowhere dropped off the planet. And I've got close family friends. This Sunday for a celebration of his life, the same age dynamic nowhere, and you just never know what your time's out. So if you're up and you're standing today, make the most of it. I just think there's this. Yeah, I don't want to what am I afraid of dying with regret that I didn't try? And I think a lot of people are like that. So

yeah. So you kind of answered my my last question for today and our conversation will continue Lucky me. But yeah, I think we were gonna cry Jesus was just so Oh, gosh, yeah, it's so beautiful. Um, I always close every episode with with, you know, if someone has a dream in their heart, and they don't think that they have what it takes to make it happen, which is so many people. What would you say to them? I mean, I guess it's, you know, yeah, in closing, what would you say? Go

for it. Get every reason like, there. I cannot tell you along this journey, how many times I've been staring at the ceiling in the middle of a night trying to figure out how on earth I'm going to pay wages on Monday? How on earth am I going to do this, but I tell you what they've always figured it out. They will always figure it out. And guess what? The worst that can happen once you accept the worst that can possibly happen. And fill us book is it's not the end of the world. But the Sun will get up the next day. There is nothing in your way except yourself. So give it a go. That's what I would say give it again. You just you never no luck. And if you put enough into it, and don't give up and keep trying every day, you'll get that you absolutely will everybody does that tries hard enough. And long enough, you can go for it.

Well, I'm just gonna walk off the warm, gooey feeling inside of me from this conversation. Thank you for how you show up in the world. Thank you for the wonderful products you're putting out into the world. And, you know, thank you for the way that you've shown up for me and your family showing up for me and I'm just really excited to be championing you and celebrating what's coming next for you.

Thanks, love having you in my life and I've loved being on your show. Thank you. So I love you too. Thank you. Thank you