An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Once you believe you have a proof of concept, then you want to establish your production costs and file for patents and trademarks.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tyler Deeb.

Tyler Deeb is a designer, creative director, entrepreneur, family-man, and business owner. His company, Misc. Goods Co., first became known for its monstrously-successful Kickstarter campaign for a deck of playing cards Deeb completely re-designed. Since then, Misc. Goods has created a whole collection of different products including ceramic flasks, leather wallets and cologne. Deeb has carved out a niche with his brand by focusing on everything good — from the usefulness of the products to customer service to remaining ethical in all manufacturing.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in Louisville, KY with two older brothers with strong personalities which left me more aloof and passive. I really didn’t find myself thinking and working independently until I was twenty, which led me to creative work as a graphic designer and has now shaped me into an entrepreneur and director of brands.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

In 2015 I was asked to speak for CreativeMornings Louisville and took the opportunity very seriously, spending over 60 hours contemplating my life and work and what I’ve learned. During that time, I developed a phrase that I still very much believe in which is “Don’t Chase the Glory, Work Hard, and Be Satisfied.”

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I’m an unpaid ambassador of the podcast How I Built This. I have come to really appreciate the way Guy Raz and his team can take founder stories no matter what the industry and find the common themes of entrepreneurship. Making every episode interesting and often applicable to the challenges I face in growing Misc. Goods.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

I think the most important thing about taking an idea to market is being energized by the vision of that project. If you don’t really believe in it and it doesn’t energize you, I can’t imagine it ever being successful because of the amount of work and effort and risks that building ideas takes.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I think more importantly than wondering if someone else has made it is to look at the market and see if there’s growth opportunity there in general. It’s ok to have competition as long as the market can support both. In that case, it’s not really a competition, it’s an opportunity for both businesses to grow people’s awareness of that category or product.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Step 1 is to have the idea. Step 2 is to look at the market and research and if people are really interested in investing in that thing or buying that thing. Step 3 would be prototyping. Step 4 would be testing that prototype with friends and family or a small market.

Once you believe you have a proof of concept, then you want to establish your production costs and file for patents and trademarks.

Next would be building the brand assets and website and social media.

Lastly would be preparing for launch by corralling every single friend and family to help share about it, along with any PR opportunities you can find and media outlets.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

I definitely don’t have five because most of what you learn has to be experienced in real time and can’t be told or taught without real experience. The things that I wasn’t told or taught but kept me going was confidence in what I was doing and making, willingness to take risks and work hard, and comfort in making way less money than if I worked for someone else.

The one I would say for sure is don’t be afraid to sell yourself. As an artist, it’s hard to want to market yourself and your ideas because you want them to speak for themselves. But in business, you have a responsibility to your company and market to clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and how to get it. In some ways, this can be an act of service even though it’s an act of serving.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

It depends on the type of business you’re trying to build and the opportunity in that market. If you need to move fast and hard, a good consultant can help you network and establish the brand much more quickly. But they can also put a big strain on you financially. If you have an idea that needs time to figure out how to sell and market, they may not be able to get you there faster than if you spent time working on it independently.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

There’s no one answer that fits all for that type of situation. It depends on the business you’re building and what you want out of the business.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I think people put too much emphasis on macro change, but what I love about the perspective we have at Misc. Goods is doing good on a micro level. That starts with designing good products that are useful, to working with producers that are working ethically and treating their teams well, to encouraging our own team to have a healthy work life balance.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

To encourage people to see an opportunity to love their communities and families through the work they do no matter what industry or title they have. Living simply and generously and all together being good.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

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Making Something From Nothing: Tyler Deeb On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.