#10 - 用 1000 美元打造 1 亿美元除臭剂品牌

这是一个很好的融入其中的方式。

This is an amazing way to sort of get in the mix.

如果你在考虑创业，或者想做点什么，或者现在已经在做了，不管怎样，听演讲者分享他们的故事，和一群志同道合的人坐在一起，这真的是一个非常好的参与方式。

If you're thinking about starting an idea, a business, or you want to do that someday or you're doing it right now, either way, listening to speakers tell their stories, being in the audience amongst a bunch of other like-minded people, that is a really, really good way to get amongst it.

所以这就是我对Hustle Con的真诚推荐。

So that's my genuine recommendation for Hustle Con.

他们给了我一个促销码。

They gave me a promo code.

我把它给你们，这样你们买票的时候可以打折。

Let me give this to you guys so that you can get a discount if you do want to get a ticket.

结账时输入的促销码是MYFIRSTMILLION，全部大写，一个词。

The promo code when you check out is MYFIRSTMILLION, all caps, all one word.

再说一遍，是MYFIRSTMILLION。

Again, that's MYFIRSTMILLION.

这样可以帮你省下50美元的Hustle Con门票钱。

That'll give you 50 bucks off a ticket to Hustle Con.

你知道吗？

And you know what?

如果你正在听这个节目，想去Hustle Con但又买不起票，我自己会为听众买四张票，送你去参加Hustle Con。

If you are listening to this and you want to go to Hustle Con and you can't afford the tickets, I will buy four tickets for guests myself, and I will send you to Hustle Con.

你得自己解决交通问题，但我会帮你买会议门票。

You got to figure out your travel to get there, but I'll buy your tickets to the conference itself.

给我发邮件，地址是puri.sean@gmail.com。

Email me puri.sean@gmail.com.

我很乐意把这个当作礼物送给任何人，因为我觉得去Hustle Con真的能改变你事业的方向。

Happy to give this as a gift to anybody because I think that going to Hustle Con, it can really change the trajectory of your business life.

在那里结识一个有意义的人，或者获得一个关键见解，就值回票价了。

One meaningful relationship or one key insight while you're there, that can make it worth it.

这是我过去参加各种会议的经验。

That's been my experience with conferences in the past.

所以，就这样吧。

So okay.

你们都知道怎么回事。

You guys know the deal.

Hustle Con，12月2号和3号。

Hustle Con, December 2nd and 3rd.

尽量去参加吧。

Try to get there if you can.

我给几个人打了电话。

I call some guys up.

芝加哥有个家伙，我一直忘不了。

There was a guy in Chicago I'll never forget.

我给他打了电话。

I called him up.

聊了大概一个小时，我可能只说了五句话。

It was like an hour-long conversation, and I probably said five words.

他一直在说，最后他说：“行，那我们就帮你做除臭剂吧。”

He talked the entire time, and he's like, "Yeah, so we'll make your deodorant."

我当时就说，'你根本不了解我的需求，而且你说了59分55秒，所以我觉得你不适合我。'

I'm like, "You don't know anything about my needs, and you spoke for 59 minutes and 55 seconds, so I don't think you're the right guy for me."

危险信号。

Red flag.

对，特别糟糕的危险信号。

Yeah, terrible red flag.

最后，我们找到了一个合同制造商，他们说，'是的，我们的起订量很低，最低起订量很低。'

Finally, we find a contract manufacturer that's like, "Yeah, we have a low minimum order quantity, a low MOQ."

我记得他们的起订量是80，所以我就说，'太好了。

I think their MOQ was 80, and so I was like, "Great.

我们要超过80个。'

We want more than 80."

这样我就不会把生意搞垮，也不用抵押房子来承担这个风险。

I'm not going to bankrupt the business, or I don't have to mortgage my house based on this.

然后她开始每周为我们生产500个，在那个美国800平方英尺的小工厂里，事情开始顺利起来。

And so she starts making 500 a week for us in this tiny, 800 square foot manufacturing facility in the United States, and things start going well.

所以我们在2015年7月上市了。

And so we launched in July 2015.

我们一个月就赚个几百美元。

We were doing a couple hundred dollars in revenue a month.

到2016年1月，我们一个月大概能赚7万5千美元左右，业务开始迅速增长。

By January 2016, we're probably doing around 75K in revenue a month, and things are starting to scale well.

哇。

Wow.

然后到了2016年初夏，就是5月，不知怎么的，我们所有的止汗剂都开始融化了。

Then, the beginning of the summer hits in 2016, in May 2016, and somehow all of our deodorants start melting.

我去了我们的发货仓库，在圣莱安德罗。

I go to our shipping facility, which is located in San Leandro.

那是两家叫Fulfillco的公司，他们是世界上最好的人。

It's these two guys called Fulfillco, nicest guys in the world.

我经常给他们打电话。

I call them all the time.

他们是小企业，我也是小企业，跟老板沟通起来很容易。

They're a small business, I'm a small business, easy to talk to the owners.

我就过去了。

I go over there.

大概要开一个小时的车。

It's probably an hour drive.

我租了一辆Zipcar开过去，到了那儿就看着我们的除臭剂，因为看起来不对劲，我就把手指伸进一个里面，结果发现它的质地跟乳液一样。

I rent a Zipcar and I go over there, and I'm just looking at our deodorants, and I put my finger in one of the deodorants because it looks weird, and it turns out it's got the consistency of lotion.

手指可以直接插到底。

You can just put your finger all the way down to the bottom.

我当时就想，"天哪。"

And I'm like, "Holy shit."

这是怎么回事？

What is going on?

那这里说的是多少件产品？

And how many units are we talking here?

我们大概有几千件，那时候这算不少钱，因为我们销量不大。

We probably have a couple thousand units, which is a lot of money at the time because we're not doing a ton of sales.

那真是好多乳液。

That's a lot of lotion.

确实是好多乳液。

It's a lot of lotion, yeah.

没有除臭剂，全是乳液。

It's no deodorant and a lot of lotion.

然后我们当时的制造商，那个女老板不坐飞机。

And so our manufacturer at the time, the woman who ran it didn't fly.

所以她前一天碰巧开车到旧金山来跟我开会。

So she randomly had driven up to San Francisco to have a meeting with me the day beforehand.

所以这一切就是碰巧凑到一起了。

And so, all of this just works out randomly.

我就打电话给她说：“嘿，你还在旧金山吗？”

So I call her up and I'm like, "Hey, are you still in San Francisco?

我想再开个会，因为我觉得你刚发给我的那批除臭剂有问题。

I want to have another meeting because I think there's a problem with the deodorants you just shipped me."

她说：“好，我下午晚些时候去你办公室。”

And she's like, "Yeah, I'll come by your office later this afternoon."

她来了，我说：“这儿，我带了几支除臭剂。”

She comes by and I'm like, "Here, I brought a few of the deodorants."

她说：“我靠，这些怎么了？”

And she's like, "Holy shit, what happened to these?"

她立刻就发现了问题。

She sees it immediately.

她打电话给她的工厂，说：“停止生产除臭剂。”

She calls up her facility and she's like, "Stop making deodorants.

我们这里出了问题。

We've got a problem here."

我心里想：“好吧，也许这生意又要完了。”

And I'm like, "Okay, well, maybe this business is over again."

我们换了一家新的制造商。

We move to a new manufacturer.

我们接下来该怎么办？

What are we going to do here?

然后——

And-

你是那种遇到这种事会积极应对的人吗？

Are you the type to get down on it?

当这种事情变得——

When stuff like this goes-

……非常糟糕、非常严重的时候——

... horribly, awfully wrong-

……有些人会变得内向，变得非常安静。

... some people go inwards, they get very quiet.

有些人会生气，有些人会难过。

Some people get angry, some people get sad.

你会有什么反应？

What's your reaction?

这三种我都有。

I'm all three of those.

愤怒肯定是最主要的。

Anger is the number one thing, for sure.

我气炸了。

I'm fuming.

但我觉得头一个小时，我就是想，“算了。

But I think for the first hour, I'm just like, "Forget it.

这不值得。”

This isn't worth it."

而且我觉得每次遇到这种大问题，头一个小时，我更多是想，“这不值得我再花时间了。

And I think every time I have a major problem like that, for the first hour, I'm less like, "This isn't worth my time anymore.

我要退出。”

I'm quitting."

立刻离婚。

Divorce right away.

对，没错。

Yeah, exactly.

立刻离婚。

Divorce right away.

然后到了第二个小时，你开始下定决心，咬紧牙关，心想：“等等，我比这强。”

And then hour two comes along, and you start getting determined, and you grit your teeth and you're like, "Wait, I'm better than this.

我要解决这个问题。

I'm going to fix this problem.

我手里有正在见效的东西。

I've got something that's working for me.

这不会挡住我的路。

This is not going to stand in my way.

不管付出什么代价，我都要把这个问题解决掉。”

I don't care what it takes, I'm going to fix this problem."

所以第一个小时，我就想："算了，这生意不干了。"

So hour one, I'm like, "Forget this business."

第二个小时，我又想："没什么能阻挡这个生意。

Hour two, I'm like, "Nothing can stop this business.

我们一定会成功的。"

We are going to succeed."

你就说："谢谢。"

You're like, "Thank you."

"谢谢。

"Thank you.

放马过来吧。"

Bring it on."

对，就是这样。

Yeah, exactly.

我就想："问题？

I'm like, "Problem?

别担心。

Don't worry about it.

世界上最棒的解决问题的人就在你眼前。

You've got the best problem solver in the world right here."

而且在过去这段时间，具体说就是那女人给我做除臭剂的这最后四个月里，我们收到了很多客户反馈，基本上就是说我们的配方有点普通。

And so, what had been happening is that over the course of the last eight months since this... Or last four months since this woman had been making deodorant for me, we'd gotten a lot of customer feedback basically saying our formula was kind of mediocre.

我们一直在解决很多问题。

There were a lot of problems that we were trying to solve for.

人们说：“你看，它确实能很好地吸湿、防臭，但是很干裂。

People were like, "Look, it does a great job at absorbing wetness and blocking odor, but it's really flaky.

涂起来不方便。”

It's hard to apply."

尤其是男士们说：“你看，我腋下有毛。

Men in particular were like, "Look, I've got hair under my arms.

这个会把腋毛拽出来，而且它们都粘在除臭剂上。”

This pulls the hair under my arms out, and they're sticking to the deodorant."

所以有一段时间，我们一直在尝试做出更好的除臭剂，更好的配方。

And so for a while, we'd been attempting to make a better deodorant, a better formula.

我一直在给人们寄样品，然后说……那些和我联系的最好的客户，我会问他们：“嘿，你觉得这个配方怎么样？”

And I'd been sending out samples to people and saying... Our best customers who were communicating with me, and I'd be like, "Hey, what do you think of this formula?

它比你实际付钱买的那个配方更好吗？

Is it any better than the formula that you actually paid for?"

很多人……

And a lot of people...

我们已经做了几百个这样的配方。

We had done hundreds of these formulas.

在家里，我会把配方涂在T恤上，扔进洗衣机或烘干机里，看看它们会不会弄脏衣服。

At home, I would rub the formulas on T-shirts, throw them in the washer or the dryer, and see if they stain shirts.

我有1000件这样的脏T恤。

And I have 1,000 of these stained shirts.

所罗门说：“你每天都在用洗衣机和烘干机。”

Solomon's like, "You're running the washer and dryer every day.

这里发生什么事了？

What's going on over here?"

而且你又不是科学家或生物化学家，那你是怎么搞出配方的呢？

And you're not a scientist or biochemist, so how are you even figuring out the formula, right?

每次听嘉宾讲这种故事的时候，我都会想，我能做这种生意吗？

Whenever I listen to a guest tell these stories, I think to myself, "Could I do this business?"

我觉得有很多事情都是能让人产生共鸣的，对吧，因为你基本上是白手起家的……

And I think there's a lot of things that are relatable, right, because you started this with essentially no...

你不需要会编程，对吧？

You didn't have to be a programmer, right?

对，确实是这样。

Yeah, that's right.

你做了个电商网站。

You made an e-commerce site.

那挺厉害的。

That's great.

你自己并没有做产品。

You didn't make the stuff yourself.

你只是谷歌了一下谁做除臭剂，就找到了制造商。

You found a manufacturer just by googling who the heck makes deodorant.

对，没错。

Yeah, that's right.

但到了要找出防止起屑的正确配方时，我就会想，这我可不知道该怎么办。

But then when it comes to figuring out the right formula to prevent flakiness, that's one where I'd be like, "Well, I don't know what to do there."

那你是怎么搞明白的？

So how are you figuring this out?

对，这确实很有意思。

Yeah, that's really interesting.

我记得刚开始创业的时候。

I remember starting the business.

我告诉法学院的一个朋友说我要创业，她丈夫就问，你对除臭剂懂什么呀？

I told one of my friends from law school, "I'm starting this business," and her husband was like, "What the hell do you know about deodorant?

你什么都不懂。

You know nothing."

我当时就说，'对，你说得没错，接下来的六个月里，我会成为除臭剂专家。'

And I was like, "Yeah, you're right, and in the next six months, I will be an expert on deodorant."

其实真正发生的是，你给所有客户发邮件。

And really what happens is you email all of these customers.

客户就会说，'嘿，问题在这儿。'

The customers are like, "Hey, here's the problem."

客户甚至会做诊断，他们会说，'嘿，我觉得是因为这个。'

Customers will even do diagnoses, and they're like, "Hey, I think it's because of this."

然后我就说，'哦，哇，太好了。'

And I'm like- ... "Oh, wow, great.

谢谢你们替我做我本该做的研究。

Thank you for doing the science that I was supposed to do."

但实际上，这里稍微容易一些，因为一是我们的代工厂有化学家，二是因为除臭剂的问题很容易诊断，你需要平衡除臭剂中粉末和油脂的比例。

But in reality, here it was a little easier because, one, working with our contract manufacturer, they did have a chemist, and two, it was easy to diagnose the problem because with deodorants, you want to balance the amount of powder and the amount of oils you have in that deodorant-

啊

Ah

……来做出一个既能吸湿、又能除臭、但涂起来还是很顺滑的产品。

... to make a product that absorbs wetness, blocks odor, but still glides on really easily.

所以有时候我们会做出不好的除臭剂批次，然后我们会说：“哦，这批做得怎么样？”

And so sometimes we'd make a bad batch of our deodorant, and we'd be like, "Oh, how did this batch turn out?"

因为，“哦，我们忘了加这么多油。”

Because, "Oh, we forgot to add this amount of oils."

然后我们看一下，发现：“哦，我们忘了加油，”结果它变得更易碎。

And so we take a look at it, and we're like, "Oh, we forgot to add oils," and it's way more flaky.

所以——

And so-

然后你会说：“你知道吗？

So you're like, "You know what?

是油让它涂起来顺滑的。”

It's the oils that make it glide well."

你多久去一次那个实际的生产厂家？

How frequently were you going to the actual manufacturer?

而且听起来，你们没有用一个沟通困难、合作麻烦、质量也没保证的中国制造商，这真的很有价值。

And also, it sounds like it really paid off that you weren't just using a Chinese manufacturer that's hard to speak with, hard to work with, and doesn't guarantee quality.

确实。

Definitely.

首先，我们从来没用过中国的制造商。

So one, we've never used a Chinese manufacturer.

我们的所有除臭剂都是在美国生产的，原因有两个。

All of our deodorants are made in the United States, for two reasons.

第一，你说得对，这让我们供应链非常灵活。

One, you're right, it allows us to have a really flexible supply chain.

第二，这让我们能更快地响应需求，我们下采购订单后，他们能很快生产出来。

Two, it allows us to have faster demand creation, so when we give them a purchase order, they're able to make it much faster.

第三，如果用中国的除臭剂，我会吓个半死。

And three, I would be scared as hell using a Chinese deodorant.

那是我绝对不想做的事情。

That is something I don't want to do.

我不知道那边的质量控制是什么样子的。

I don't know what quality control looks like over there.

可能我去的那天看起来很好，第二天就很糟。

And it may look great the day I go over there and terrible the next day.

我们不想有任何类似的情况发生。

And we didn't want any of that kind of stuff.

明白了。

Got you.

我们的核心目标就是要避开多芬这类品牌，而为了避开多芬的止汗剂，我们选择在美国生产，并且使用你知道来源、也知道成分的原料。

The whole point here was we want to avoid the Doves of the world, and in order to avoid Dove antiperspirant, make it in the United States with ingredients you know where they're being sourced from, and you know what they are.

好的，我们回到故事主线，但还有一个具体的细节要问。

Okay, and we're going to jump back into the story, but one more tactical piece.

我做的产品是软件。

I build products that are software.

当然。

Sure.

对于软件来说，迭代和A/B测试都很容易。

And with software, it's pretty easy to iterate, it's pretty easy to A/B test.

我们可以让一个访客看到一种体验，而另一个访客看到另一种体验。

We can send one visitor of our app to see one experience, and the other visitor-... to see another experience.

这类事情很容易做到。

Very easy to do that sort of thing.

你能具体说说你是如何在这样一个实体产品上进行迭代的吗？

Can you talk tactically about how you iterate with a physical product like this?

当然。

Sure.

我首先会讲讲我们一开始是怎么做的，然后再讲现在是怎么做的。

I'll talk tactically about how we did it at the beginning first, and then how we do it today.

太好了。

Great.

一开始，我们会把样品寄给我们最活跃的那些客户，他们很愿意反馈意见，我们会说：“嘿，我很喜欢你们的除臭剂。”

In the beginning, what we would do is we'd send out samples to our best customers who were vocal and be like, "Hey, I love your deodorant.

“我会一直买你们的，但我希望它能做到这样那样。”

I'm going to be a customer, but I wish it did this."

然后我们会说：“嘿，我们正在努力解决你的问题。”

And we'd say, "Hey, we're trying to solve your issues."

我记得我们当时这么做的时候，我会说：“这是我们生产的第七版除臭剂，这是第八版。”

I remember we were doing this, I was like, "This is version seven of the deodorant we produced, and this is version eight of the deodorant we produced.

“你们不知道里面有什么。”

You don't know what's in them.

“我们免费给你们样品。”

We're giving you free samples.

“把它跟你们从我们这里买的那款比较一下，告诉我们你们更喜欢哪个。”

Compare it to the one that you purchased from us and tell us what you like more."

这就是我们早期获取反馈的方式。

And that's the type of feedback that we would do early on.

这很不寻常，对吧？

And that's unusual, right?

我这辈子一直在买除臭剂。

I've bought deodorant my whole life.

从来没有除臭剂公司的人联系过我。

I've never had anyone from the deodorant company ever reach out to me.

我从来没跟他们说过话。

I never spoke to them.

他们也没给我寄过不同版本。

They never sent me different variations.

所以我想，这对人们来说肯定有点不寻常。

So this must've been kind of unusual for people, I guess.

我想确实是这样。

I guess that's true.

我的想法是，如果你买——

I mean, the way I think about it is if you buy-

这是好事。

In a good way

对，如果你在Target买除臭剂，买那种Axe的除臭剂，你绝不会去联系厂家。

... yeah, if you buy deodorant from Target, you buy an Axe deodorant from Target, you're never going to contact the manufacturer.

如果你直接从我们这里买，我们会跟进每一位顾客。

If you buy it directly from us, we were following up with every customer.

如果你从我们这里购买，购买后20天，我会给每位顾客发一封邮件，说：‘嘿，你觉得这个除臭剂怎么样？’

If you purchased from us, 20 days after you purchased from us, I sent an email to every single customer saying, "Hey, how do you like this deodorant?

你喜欢吗？

Do you like it?

讨厌吗？

Do you hate it?

如果你喜欢，就在我们网站上留个评论。

If you like it, leave a review on our website.

我们会非常感激。

We'd really appreciate it.

如果你不喜欢，就直接回复这封邮件。

And if you hate it, please reply back to this email.

我们这边是有真人在的，而且我们想把产品做得更好。

There's a human being on this side of the table, and we want to make this product better."

所以，这就是我们获取消费者反馈的方式。

And so that's how we got feedback from consumers.

而今天我们要做的，就是在大规模人群中真正进行这些A/B测试。

And today what we'll do is we'll actually run those A/B tests along huge swaths of the population.

所以，我们会给像肖恩那样的人发送一批研磨到特定颗粒大小的烘焙苏打，而给像萨姆那样的人发送另一批研磨到不同颗粒大小的烘焙苏打。

So we'll send the Seans of one world baking soda that's milled to a certain particle size, and Sams of the world a baking soda that's milled to another particle size.

我们会在你购买六周后监控你的评价，并在购买十二周后监控你的复购率。

And we'll monitor your reviews six weeks after you purchase, and your repeat purchase rates 12 weeks after you purchase.

然后我们会说："你知道吗？

And say, "You know what?

像萨姆这样的人比像肖恩这样的人复购得更频繁。"

The Sams of the world are buying again more frequently than the Seans of the world.

所以结果就是，我们发给那些叫Sam的人的那种配方更好。

And as a result, it must be that the formula that we sent to the Sams of the world are better."

哇。

Wow.

这样我们就能知道，小苏打应该磨到什么颗粒大小才是最好的。

And that's how we can monitor what is the best baking soda particle mill size that we should have.

这太厉害了。

That's kind of amazing.

这是标准做法吗？

Is that standard?

因为我从来没听说过——

Because I've never heard-

这当然不是标准做法，因为我们跟消费者有直接的联系，能追踪他们的复购率，还能直接跟他们沟通。

It's definitely not standard because we have this direct relationship with consumers that allows us to monitor repeat purchase rates and have a direct line of communication with them.

这对我们来说确实很有价值，因为像小苏打颗粒大小这样的东西很特殊，你根本不知道哪种更好。

Been really phenomenal for us because things like baking soda particle size are unique, and you have no idea what's better.

在实验室里和消费者实际使用的情况，结果会很不一样。

In a laboratory versus in a consumer setting, you're going to have very different results.

所以我们现在就是通过这种方式来做配方的A/B测试。

And so that's how we A/B test formula changes today.

那真是太棒了。

That's amazing.

所以你们是把不同的Native除臭剂配方发给不同的群体，然后看到这些人的复购率是28%，另一个是21%，然后就觉得这个配方更好。

So you guys are sending different versions of Native deodorant formulas to batches of people, cohorts of people, and then you're able to see these guys repeat purchase rate at 28% versus this one at 21%, therefore we believe this formula is better.

没错，就是这样。

That's exactly right.

太厉害了。

Amazing.

但我们做的都是很小的改动。

But we're doing tiny changes.

这些改动甚至不会影响成分表。

Changes that wouldn't even influence the ingredient deck.

我们会说，嘿，你觉得我们应该放1%的这种成分还是1.05%？

We're like, "Hey, look, do you think we should put in 1% of this ingredient or 1.05% of this ingredient?"

好的。

Okay.

明白了。

Gotcha.

看看哪个效果更好。

To see what's better.

就像那种很专业的除臭剂研究。

Like nerdy deodorant stuff.

对，没错。

Yeah, exactly.

世界上没有其他人会考虑这些。

No one else in the world is thinking about.

我们尽可能深入细节。

We're getting into the weeds as much as possible.

好的。

Okay.

行。

All right.

那我们就接着往下聊。

So we're going to hop back in.

回到故事那一段，就是止汗剂变成了乳液，天哪，我们得搞定这个，而你开始排查问题的时候。

So rewind to that part of the story where deodorant, lotion, oh my God, we've got to fix this, and you're starting to troubleshoot.

所以这算是你创业中的第二次濒死体验了。

So this is sort of like near-death experience number two in the business.

绝对是。

Definitely.

你从那儿接着讲吧。

Take it from there.

所以我们跟制造商谈了，跟他说，听着，首先，我们不会再发任何一批变成乳液的止汗剂了。

So we talked to our manufacturer, and we're like, "Look, first, we're not sending out any more of these deodorants that are lotion.

要么退款给客户然后关店，要么我们就得做出改变。

We're either going to refund the customers and close the business or do something."

后来我们其实一直在研发另一款除臭剂配方，来解决质地不均的问题。

And so what happened is we had been working on a different deodorant formula to fix poor consistency.

所以我们那时在说，看，我们觉得这个配方收到的反馈不错。

And so we're like, "Look, we think we have good feedback on here.

但反馈数量还不够多，比我们期望的要少。

We don't have as much feedback as we would've liked."

我们之前寄给客户的样品还有一堆，都没来得及跟进。

We still had a bunch of samples that we'd sent to customers and hadn't followed up with them yet.

于是我们就想，情况紧急了。

And so we're like, "Look, push is coming to shove.

要么关门大吉，要么就换配方。

We're either going to close this business or switch formulas.

那就换配方试试看吧。

Let's switch formulas and see what happens."

所以我们基本上是因为不得已才换了配方，而且我们觉得新配方应该会更好。

So we switch formulas basically because we have to, and we think it's supposed to be better.

然后我们就开始发货了。

And we start shipping that out.

我们给所有客户发了邮件，说：“嘿，听着，你们的产品本来今天要发货的。”

We email all the customers, and we're like, "Hey, look, your product was supposed to ship out today.

我们出了点问题。

We had a problem.

现在发货要推迟两周了。”

It's now going to take two weeks to ship out."

客户非常生气。

Customers are irate.

真的是火冒三丈。

Just absolutely irate.

我也不怪他们。

And I don't blame them.

除臭剂这种东西，你真的不能没有。

Deodorant's not something you can really go without.

就像牙膏一样。

It's like toothpaste.

我需要它，所以我会去买别的产品。

I need this, so I'm going to go get another product.

他们很生气。

They're irate.

但很多人其实很友善，他们说：“嘿，我们很感激你的坦诚。

But a lot of them are really kind, and they're like, "Hey, we appreciate the honesty.

我们愿意耐心等待。”

We're willing to be patient for it."

两周后，我们开始发货。

Two weeks later, we start shipping it out.

那是2016年5月。

This is May 2016.

这时候我们每个月的收入大概有十万块。

We're probably doing around 100K in revenue at this point.

马上我们就看到评价上来了。

And immediately, we see our reviews go up.

评价的质量也明显提高了。

The quality of our reviews has gone up significantly.

六周后，复购率也开始上升。

Six weeks later, we'll start seeing repeat purchase rates go up as well.

我们可以追踪用户群体，早期就有一个很好的指标显示，新配方的复购率会比旧配方好很多。

We can monitor the cohorts, and early on we get a really good indicator that repeat purchase rates are going to be substantially better with the new version of our formula as compared to the old version.

于是我们就想，你知道吗？

And so we're like, "You know what?

也许这次糟糕的经历带来了好的结果，一个更好的配方。

Maybe this terrible experience has led to something really good, a much better formula."

然后到了2016年5月，我们每个月收入达到十万块。

And then May 2016, we're doing 100K in revenue a month.

公司里还是只有我一个员工。

I'm still the only employee at the company.

对，我刚想问，你们有多少人？

Yeah, I was going to say, how many people are there?

所以你说“我们”，其实是“我”一个人。

So you're saying we, but we is me in this case.

对，就我一个。

Yeah, just me.

就我一个人。

Just me.

我们一个月大概做到10万美元的营收。

We're doing 100K in revenue a month or something like that.

公司就我一个人。

Just me at the company.

我既做客服，又很清楚公司内部有什么问题，还负责运营管理，经常跟生产商沟通，同时投放Facebook广告来测试市场反应。

I'm doing customer service, have a really good idea of what the problems are at the company, doing the operations, so I'm talking to the manufacturer all the time, doing Facebook ads to understand product market fit.

那咱们来聊聊钱的事儿吧。

So let's talk money for a second.

这个播客叫《我的第一个一百万》。

This podcast is called "My First Million."

叫《我的第一个一百万》是因为我从小就想拥有一百万美元。

It's called "My First Million" because since when I was growing up, I wanted to have a million bucks.

谁不想呢？

Who doesn't?

谁不想呢？

Who doesn't?

没错。

Exactly.

在硅谷，很多人喜欢说“我是来改变世界的”。

In Silicon Valley, there's a lot of people, that cool thing to do is say, "I'm here to change the world."

我当然也支持改变世界。

I'm down with changing the world, for sure.

但咱们得说清楚，如果我创业，我就是想赚钱。

But let's be clear, if I'm starting a business, I'm trying to make money.

当然。

Definitely.

我也不怕承认这一点。

And I'm not afraid to say that.

所以我整个创业生涯都在想，怎么才能建立一个能为我、为我的投资人、为我的员工赚钱的公司？

So my whole startup career was around how do I build a business that makes money for me, for my investors, for my employees?

要做到这一点，我们就得做出一个让客户喜欢的好产品。

And in order to do so, we're going to have to make an amazing product that customers love.

不然的话，他们凭什么把钱给我们？

Otherwise, why would they give us their money?

所以我想让我的听众明白，因为现在听这个播客的很多人，他们正在通勤上班，做着朝九晚五的工作。

And so I like to give my listeners an understanding, because a lot of the people who are listening to this podcast right now, they're commuting to work, they work at a nine-to-five job.

他们心里有梦想，要么想辞掉工作去创业，要么已经在创业了，但还没怎么起飞。

They have aspirations of either leaving that job and going and starting a startup, or they're doing a startup but it's not quite taking off.

他们听到你说“我们每月收入才10万美元”，他们会想：“天哪，我真希望我也能每月赚到10万美元。”

They hear you say, "We're only at $100,000 a month in revenue," and they're like, "Oh my God, I wish I could get to $100,000 a month in revenue."

那咱们先聊聊钱吧。

So let's talk money for a second.

在你创业之前，你的经济状况就已经不错了吗？

Before you started the business, were you already doing well financially?

你过得宽裕吗？

Were you comfortable?

你之前处于什么水平？

Where were you at before?

我们就从这个问题开始吧。

Let's start with that question.

好的。

Sure.

我在纽约当了几年的律师，那段时间基本上把法学院的助学贷款都还清了。

I was an attorney in New York for a couple of years, and during that time, I basically paid off my law school student loans.

2012年，我和一个法学院的同学辞了职，开始做电商生意。

One of my law school classmates and I left our jobs back in 2012 to start an e-commerce business.

我们把那家公司卖了七位数，而且没融过资。

We sold that business for a seven-figure sum, and we hadn't raised any money.

所以我觉得我当时确实挺宽裕的。

So I would say I was comfortable, certainly.

但也没到能说‘好吧，你知道吗，’

But, wasn't going to be able to say, "Okay, you know what?

我这辈子就退休了’那种程度。

I'm going to retire for the rest of my life."

我当时的状态是，好吧，我给自己买来了几年不用操心房租、吃饭和度假的时间，但还没到能50年不工作的地步。

I was in a position where I was like, okay, I bought myself a couple of years of not having to worry about rent and not having to worry about food or vacations, but I haven't bought myself 50 years of not having to work.

那现在你做到了月入10万美元。

And so now you get to this $100,000 a month of revenue.

到现在，这生意做了多久了？

And it's taken the business about how long at this point?

大概花了十到十一个月。

It's taken about 10, 11 months.

十到十一个月。

10, 11 months.

很好。

Great.

这对除臭剂生意来说意味着什么呢？

And what does that mean for a deodorant business?

你们月入十万，但从利润率来看，最终能落到自己口袋里的有多少？

So you make $100,000, but margin-wise, what were you able to take home at the end of that?

当然。

Sure.

你们是保本了吗？

Were you break even?

还是比那更好？

Were you better than that?

那会儿你们情况怎么样？

How were you doing at the time?

我们当时每个月卖出10万美元的除臭剂。

So we were selling $100,000 of deodorant a month.

那时候除臭剂的成本很高，因为我们还没有什么规模效应。

The deodorant was costing us a lot of money at the time because we didn't really have any economies of scale.

我当时是唯一的员工，而且我没给自己发工资。

I was the only employee, and I wasn't taking a salary.

但要说那10万美元的生意，我估计，因为我也记不太清了，公司大概赚了8000美元的净利润——

But I'd say on $100,000 in business, I'm guessing because I don't really remember, I'd say the company probably made about $8,000 in net profit-

——就是卖10万美元除臭剂的利润。

... selling $100,000 of deodorant.

你和你弟弟在商业上都很有一套。

And you and your brother are very business savvy.

你们已经投资了，怎么说，80多个生意了吧。

You've invested in, I don't know, 80 plus businesses at this point.

对，差不多吧。

Yeah, something like that.

差不多。

Something like that.

你创办了好几家公司。

You've started multiple businesses.

那你当时是怎么想的？

So what was your mindset around this?

你有没有觉得“哇，这会是个大生意”？

Did you think, "Man, this is going to be a big business?"

还是觉得“这只是个好玩的项目”？

Were you like, "This is just kind of a fun project"?

我想问的是，在那个阶段你心里是怎么考虑的？

I guess, how were you thinking about it when it was at that stage?

因为月入十万美金听起来不错，但你可能只赚到八千。

Because $100,000 a month is good revenue, but you're only taking home $8,000 maybe.

那时候还不清楚，而且你也没多少其他例子可以参考，比如其他大型的初创除臭剂企业。

It's not clear at that time, and there's not a whole bunch of other examples you could go look at, at other big deodorant businesses that were startups.

那你当时是怎么看待这个生意的？

So how did you think about this business?

确实。

Definitely.

我觉得生意刚起步的头四个月，我心里想的是：“看，咱们把这个生意做起来吧。”

I think the first four months of the business, I was like, "Look, let's launch this business.

我挺无聊的。

I'm bored.

我没有工作。

I don't have a job.

看看我把生意做起来之后会发生什么。”

Let's see what happens when I launch the business."

很早的时候，我就觉得可能会有产品市场契合度，我当时就想，你知道吗？

Pretty early on, I thought that there could be product market fit, and I was like, you know what?

我们在Facebook上投广告，回报率很不错，但当时Google上效果一般。

We're seeing good return on investment when we buy ads on Facebook, not necessarily on Google at the time.

甚至在Pinterest上，我们的投资回报率也很可观。

And even on Pinterest, we're seeing a good return on investment.

我们面临的问题是复购率很低。

The problems that we have are we have a low repeat purchase rate.

产品不错，但也就一般般。

A good product, but kind of mediocre.

评分也还行，大概四星左右。

And a decent review average, something like four stars.

所以我就想，如果我们能改进产品，那我们就真的有机会了。

And so I was like, look, if we can improve our product, we really have something.

我看到了产品的市场契合度，但也意识到，只要把产品做得更好，就能抓住更大的机会。

I saw product market fit with the product, but I also saw that there was a larger opportunity if we could just make our product better.

那为什么不招人呢？

And why not hire people?

我觉得很多人喜欢急着招人。

I think a lot of people like to rush to hire people.

我反对

I'm anti-

招人。

... hiring people.

我想最大化公司里每个人的收入。

I want to maximize the sort of earnings per capita in my company.

对，确实。

Yeah, definitely.

那你是怎么抵制住这个想法的？

And how did you resist that?

你当时是怎么考虑的？

What was your thought process around that?

因为你是一个人单干。

Because you're doing it as a one-man show.

当然。

Sure.

第一，在硅谷，很多人融到了钱。

One, in Silicon Valley, a bunch of people raised money.

我们也融了钱，说清楚。

We also raised money, to be clear.

我们在2015年11月融了大约5万美元，也就是我们开始后几个月，然后在2016年4月左右又融了25万美元。

We raised about $50,000 in November of 2015, so like a few months after we started, and then another $250,000 in about April of 2016.

这些是朋友和家人，还是……

And this was friends and family, or this was-

这两个都是我刚认识的外部投资者。

These were both outside investors that I had just met.

有人介绍我认识他们，两个人都投了。

I had somebody introduce me to them, and both of them invested.

所以我们银行账户里大约有30万美元，加上我自己投的1000美元，大概……30万1千美元。

And so we had about $300,000 in the bank account, plus the $1,000 I kicked in, so probably about- ... $301,000.

所以我们觉得，手里有点钱，但不算多。

And so we're like, we've got some cash, but not a ton of cash.

我没招人，有几个原因。

I didn't hire anyone for a couple of reasons.

第一，忙着经营业务，根本没时间。

One, was super busy trying to run the business.

如果你要做市场、运营和客服，那已经是全职工作了。

If you're doing marketing, operations, and customer service, that's a full-time job.

周六的时候，我基本上整天都泡在Workshop Cafe，处理一大堆客服问题，确保大家能在24小时内得到回复。

On Saturdays, I would spend the entire day, basically, I'd go to Workshop Cafe and crank out a bunch of customer service inquiries, so people got responded to within 24 hours.

所以第一点，就是太忙了。

So one, was really busy.

第二点，我担心这生意撑不了多久。

And then two, I was afraid that the business wasn't going to survive much longer.

我不想招了人，结果三个月后因为公司撑不下去又得把人辞了。

I didn't want to hire someone and then fire that person three months later because the business was collapsing.

第四，我不确定自己能不能付得起他们的工资。

And four, I wasn't sure I could afford them.

当然，我们银行账户里有30万美元，但我们的净利润只有8000美元。

Sure, we had $300,000 in the bank account, but we had $8,000 in net profit.

如果我雇人，加上雇佣税、工资和福利，我们肯定要花掉那8000美元。

If I hire someone, between employment taxes, their salary, and benefits, we're certainly giving up that $8,000.

所以我就想，我不知道我们能负担这个人多久。

And so I was like, I don't know how long we're going to be able to afford this person.

生意的未来，我们现在利润不多，所以我不知道我能付你的工资多久。

The future of the business, we don't have a ton of profit right now, so I don't know how long I'll be able to afford you.

那你的日程安排是怎么样的？

And what was your schedule like?

所以你是说周六是客服日。

So you're saying Saturdays is customer service day.

当你一个人做运营、营销和客服，再加上其他所有琐碎的事情时，你是怎么安排时间和日常的？

When you are the one doing operations, marketing, and customer service, plus everything else, all the little things that go into a business, how were you organizing your time and your day?

你是不是那种一天工作18个小时的人？

Are you like a I-work-18-hours-a-day kind of guy?

跟我们说说你的日程安排吧。

Tell us about your schedule.

我每天醒来就去上班。

I was waking up and going to work.

一直工作到晚上七八点。

I'd work until 7:00, 8:00 PM.

公司刚起步的时候，大概头四五个月，我还得在自己公寓里打包发货。

Early on in the business, probably the first four or five months, I was doing all the shipping as well out of my apartment.

所以我晚上七点回到家，打开Netflix，一边看剧一边打包箱子发货。

And so I'd go home at 7:00 PM, turn on Netflix, and while I was watching Netflix, I'd be packing boxes and shipping them out.

所以每天工作时间都很长。

And so it was long days.

所以你既是迈克尔·斯科特，又是负责销售的德怀特。

So you were Michael Scott, you were Dwight on sales.

是的，没错。

That's right, yeah.

你是仓库里的德怀特。

You were Daryl in the warehouse.

是的，没错。

That's right, yeah.

你是整个办公室。

You were the whole office.

还有托比在那里说：“这公司太糟糕了。”

And Toby being like, "This is a terrible company."

所以一开始的日子很漫长。

So long days at the beginning.

到了六月，我们的回购率更高了，评价也更好了。

We get to June, we've got a higher repeat purchase rate, better reviews.

2016年6月，也就是创业大约11个月后，我们雇了第一个员工，她帮我们处理客户服务。

In June of 2016, so about 11 months into the business, we hire our first employee, and she's helping doing customer service.

我当时就想，"太好了。

And I'm like, "Great.

我这边太需要帮手了。"

I need so much help here."

因为客服工作没完没了，我根本回复不过来。

Because customer service is endless, and I can't reply.

这占了我太多时间。

It's just taking up so much of my time.

所以她加入了我们。

So she comes on board.

那个月我们营收达到了25万。

We do 250K in revenue that month.

基本上从五月到六月，业务翻了一倍。

So we've basically doubled the business between May and June.

而客服咨询量变得更多，我和她两个人加起来都应付不过来了。

And the customer service inquiries have gotten to be even more than she and I can handle together.

我以为我再也不用做客服了。

I thought I was done with customer service.

生意翻了一倍，结果发现我们俩整天都在做客服。

We doubled the business, and it turns out she and I are both doing customer service all day.

所以我们又招了第三个人加入团队，他也做客服。

So we hired the third person to join the team, and he's doing customer service.

我当时就想，太好了。

And I was like, "Great.

真是太好了。

This is wonderful.

这下我终于可以真正不干了。

Now I can really stop doing it."

到了2016年11月，我们一个月就赚一百万。

And by November 2016, we're doing a million dollars a month.

所以我们从五月的十万一下子涨到十一月的百万，现在有一堆客服人员，包括我在内。

So we go from 100K in May to a million in November, and now we've got a bunch of customer service people, including me.

就是……疯狂的客服工作。

Just ... crazy customer service.

我们有所谓的“全员客服时段”，就是所有人都得去做客服。

We have these things called power hours where everybody does customer service.

但这也不全是他们的错。

And it's not entirely their fault.

很大程度上是因为我们没法跟上生产需求，因为我们没想到业务会在五个月内增长十倍。

A lot of it was, we were not able to keep up in terms of production with the demand that we had, because we didn't expect to 10X the business over the course of five months.

所以我们的制造商也跟不上进度。

And so our manufacturer is running behind.

如果你周三买了除臭剂，可能周五才生产，然后下周三才发货给你。

If you buy the deodorant on a Wednesday, it probably gets made Friday and shipped to you the following Wednesday.

我们也不知道怎么回事。

We don't know what's going on.

业务增长得很快，但我们跟不上，我自己更是跟不上。

The business is growing really quickly, but we can't keep up with it, and I certainly can't.

我就想，'好吧，我得做客服。'

I'm like, "Well, I have to do customer service.

我得确保自己努力生产更多的除臭剂。

I have to make sure that I'm trying to produce more deodorant.

我还得管广告。'

I'm trying to run our advertising."

而且我完全不知道一年后我们的生意会是什么样子。

And I have no idea what our business will look like a year from now.

那么，是什么让生意从每月10万增长到每月100万的呢？

So, what caused the business to grow from that 100K a month to a million a month?

这可是个巨大的飞跃。

That's a huge jump.

只是增加了广告投入吗？

Was it just spending more on ads?

显然，配方在改进，所以产品自然也越来越好。

Obviously, the formula's getting better, so obviously the product is getting better.

但就是那样吗？就是很多小细节都在慢慢变好？

But is it just like that, it's a million little things getting better?

还是说有一个突破点，或者某个重点特别关键？

Or was there a breakthrough or a point of emphasis that really was high level?

有三件事。

There's three things.

第一，口碑传播增长非常快。

One, word of mouth is growing a ton.

当你每月只做5万的时候，很难有口碑传播。

It's hard to have word of mouth when you're doing 50K a month.

但当你每月做到25万、50万的时候，口碑传播就容易多了。

It's a lot easier to have word of mouth when you're doing 250K, 500 a month.

所以这块增长非常快。

So that's growing a ton.

第二，我们在广告上投入更多，因为我们确认了产品市场契合度，而且知道投广告能赚钱。

Two, we're spending more on ads because we understand product market fit, and we understand that we're profitable when we spend money on ads.

所以我们在广告上花更多的钱。

So we're spending more money on ads.

然后第三点是，我们的重复购买率更高了，这是最重要的一点。

And then three, we have a higher repeat purchase rate, which was the most important thing.

所以这是在复利增长。

So it's compounding.

对，没错。

Yeah, exactly.

这是一个巨大的雪球效应。

This is a huge snowball effect.

所以到2017年1月，我们每月刚过一百万美元的收入，我当时想，'到2017年12月，我每月要实现一百万美元的重复购买收入。'

So in January 2017, we're doing just over a million dollars a month, and I was like, "By December of 2017, I want to do a million dollars in repeat purchase revenue a month."

我们在三月份就达到了那个百万美元的目标。

And we hit that million dollars in March.

所以听起来，专注于重复购买是一个关键的洞察。

So it sounds like focusing on repeat purchase was a key insight.

这很明显，如果你做的是D2C生意，这算是公认的好标准，但如果你是新手，这是需要重点关注的。

That obviously, if you're in D2C businesses, that's kind of known as a good standard, but if you're new, that's something to hone in on.

你一开始就知道这一点吗？

Did you know that at the start?

是有导师告诉过你，'复购率是关键指标'吗？

Did a mentor tell you, "Hey, repeat purchase rate is the thing to key in on"?

这取决于你卖的是什么产品。

It depends on the product you're in.

如果我卖的是Casper床垫，我会更关注新客获取，因为一个人能买几张床垫呢？

If I was selling Casper mattresses, I would be concerned about new customer acquisition, because how many mattresses is someone going to buy?

你知道吗？

You know what?

我敢打赌Casper的复购率做得非常好。

I bet Casper is doing a really good job with repeat purchase rate.

但如果你卖的是像除臭剂这样的消耗品，关键就在于品牌忠诚度，一旦人们找到一款合适的除臭剂，他们就会长期使用下去。

But when you're selling a consumable like deodorant, the whole point is that people are brand loyal, and once they find a deodorant, they're going to stick with it for a really long time.

我从大概12岁开始用Axe止汗剂，一直用到30岁。

I used Axe deodorant from probably 12 years old till I was 30 years old.

差不多18年。

Like 18 years.

所以对我来说，我就想，如果我们生产止汗剂，一定要让人们爱上它，不能让他们随便流失，然后又回去用多芬或者Degree那些牌子。

And so for me, I was like, "If we're producing a deodorant, we need to make sure that people love it, and they don't just churn and go back to their Doves or Degrees of the world."

那你为什么能卖12美元一支止汗剂呢？

And why were you able to charge $12 for deodorant?

顺便问一下，现在还是12美元吗？

Is it still $12, by the way?

还是12美元。

It's still $12.

而且止汗剂——

And deodorant-

在沃尔玛12美元，在Target也是12美元，在我们自己的网站上也是12美元。

It's $12 at Walmart, $12 at Target, and $12 at our own site.

好的。

Okay.

其实，我们能做到这一点是因为我用了倒推的方法。

And really, the way we did it is I worked backwards.

一开始，做一支除臭剂的成本大概要6美元。

Early on, the deodorant cost us about $6 to make.

运费要3美元多，另外还有1.5美元左右的杂费，比如包装盒、里面的卡片以及其他各种开销。

It cost us $3 and some change to ship, and then it cost us another $1.50 for random expenses like the box, and a card in there, and a bunch of other expenses.

所以算下来，总成本大概在11美元多一点。

So we were looking at an all-in cost of $11 and some change.

我当时就想，"看，我不能每做一支除臭剂都亏钱。

And so I was like, "Look, I can't lose money on every deodorant I make.

我又不是做无品牌产品的，所以我必须定价12美元，不然每一单都要亏钱。"

I'm not brandless, so I have to charge $12, otherwise we're going to lose money on every single order."

所以，这基本上就是定价的由来。

And so that's really where it came from.

像普通的除臭剂，比如Axe或者Old Spice什么的，我基本想都不想，直接从架子上拿。

And a normal deodorant, Axe or Old Spice or whatever, I almost don't even think about it, I just pick it up off the shelf.

一般来说，它大概——

Typically, it's-

三块钱？

... three bucks?

一般是什么价？

What is it normally?

传统止汗剂的价格是3到4美元。

$3 to $4 is a traditional price antiperspirant.

所以当你打算做这个的时候——

So when you were going into this-

如果我是你朋友的话——

... if I was your friend-

那时候我可能会说，嘿，你确定你能把除臭剂的价格翻四倍吗？

... at that time, I would've been like, "Hey, but you sure you're going to be able to 4X the price of deodorant?

我们确定这是个好主意吗？

Are we sure that's a good idea?"

我觉得实际上发生的是，当人们开始问那个问题时，我已经……

I guess really what happened is, by the time people started asking that question, I was like-

你已经证明了这一点

You'd already proven it

……

...

我说：“我们一个月赚一百万，所以我觉得没问题。”

I was like, "We're doing a million dollars a month, so I think we're okay."

好的。

Okay.

但我确实记得，有一个投资者问过我们一个问题。

But I do remember, we had this one question from an investor.

有一次，我们试图筹集更多资金，那个投资者说：“整个天然除臭剂行业每年大约只有三千万美元。”

At some point, we tried to raise more money, and the investor was like, "The entire natural deodorant industry is something like $30 million a year.