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B2B Breakthrough Podcast
From Prototype to Prime Time: How Marshall and Kevin Landed a Big Box Deal with Rak-O
00:33:16
In this episode of the B2B Breakthrough podcast, host Ciara sits with Marshall Day and Kevin Sagouspe, Co-owners of The Better Tool Company to have a chat about growing a startup, launching new products and exploring platforms like Alibaba.com can be a groundbreaking tool for innovative startups.
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- [00:02]
Marshall Day
It is easy to get attached to something that you see because it is a progress from what you're where you were at. And like Kevin had said, you've got to be able to separate yourself from that and allow other people to help you take your tool to the next level.
- [00:18]
Sierra Christo
Welcome to the B2B Breakthrough Podcast. We're here to bring you all the best knowledge, insights and strategies from e commerce experts, successful business owners and the team@alibaba.com that you'll need to grow your business and achieve your next big breakthrough. I'm your your host, Sierra Christo.
- [00:35]
Unknown Host
Some folks have called me an indoor cat and ordinarily that is a fair statement for me, but I'm feeling a little more at one with nature today as I'm getting prepared for this conversation with the dynamic duo behind the Better tool company, Marshall Day and Kevin Saguspi. Marshall is a video directing and marketing mastermind and Kevin is a manufacturing and business development whiz. They've teamed up to revolutionize the way we dig, rake and beyond. Their invention, the Raiko, an all in one gardening tool that's about to make your life a whole lot easier. So we're going to dig deep into their entrepreneurial journey from idea to reality. We'll also chat about the hurdles of launching a new product and explore how platforms like Alibaba.com can be a game changer for innovative startups. Marshall, Kevin, welcome to B2B Breakthrough.
- [01:23]
Kevin Saguspi
KCIR.
- [01:24]
Unknown Host
Thank you guys for being with us today. This is really exciting.
- [01:27]
Kevin Saguspi
I agree.
- [01:28]
Marshall Day
We're absolutely pumped about being here. Thank you.
- [01:30]
Unknown Host
Awesome. Now just to address the massive check behind you real quick. You guys were winners of our Pitch the Pros competition at Co Create this year.
- [01:37]
Marshall Day
It was quite an exciting event. We were absolutely blessed and couldn't have had a better experience and got to meet a whole group of wonderful people and the experience just that Alibaba created was absolutely wonderful. So it was an honor to be a part of it and even more exciting to win.
- [01:51]
Kevin Saguspi
Yes.
- [01:52]
Unknown Host
We were so happy to have you guys there. You made a huge splash on stage and, you know, I remember walking through the event space afterwards and the people queued up to take a photo with you guys. You were a hit.
- [02:02]
Marshall Day
It was crazy.
- [02:03]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah, you know, interesting.
- [02:04]
Marshall Day
We had a lot of people out front and just people coming up talking to us, people that like the product. Actually, we got to learn quite a bit about the product as well. Meeting different people, them talking about different applications that they thought would be useful for it. For us, it's Just exciting to be out and talk about the product and show people, you know, there is a better way to do gardening. We simplified this. We made it easy. And, you know, in my head and in Kevin's head, it's been, you know, this should be a slam dunk of a product. And to. For the response to be so. Well, it's very exciting.
- [02:31]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah. And the networking that we developed while we were there was huge.
- [02:35]
Marshall Day
Absolutely.
- [02:35]
Kevin Saguspi
I mean, we met some people that have furthered us along in our business just from that event.
- [02:41]
Marshall Day
And it's only Shout Out Everett Taylor.
- [02:43]
Kevin Saguspi
Right? Exactly. You know, people like that. It's just wonderful. I mean, it was a great opportunity. Man. If anybody can get there and do it, do it.
- [02:50]
Marshall Day
Absolutely.
- [02:51]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah.
- [02:51]
Unknown Host
Wow. What a rigging endorsement.
- [02:53]
Kevin Saguspi
Well, it's a true statement.
- [02:55]
Marshall Day
Absolutely.
- [02:55]
Kevin Saguspi
It's a great event.
- [02:56]
Unknown Host
Oh, thank you, guys. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now, for most of our audience, these folks are just listening via audio and they may not have a picture in their head of what Reiko is. So to lay a quick foundation, can you give us a description of your product and how Rako came to be?
- [03:11]
Marshall Day
Absolutely. Well, I'll give you the description first. The description is the Rayco is an 8 to 22 inch retractable rake on the back of a Hula Ho.
- [03:18]
Kevin Saguspi
Or a stirrup.
- [03:19]
Marshall Day
Or a stirrup hoe. An action hoe. There are multiple different names, actually, for the specific style of hoe that it is. So you have a 8 to 22 inch retractable rake on the back of a stirrup hoe. Hula hoe. Each unit has a bottle opener on it, comes with 10 custom ducky bags that allow you to pick up animal waste. And then when you're done, this tool stands on its own, which a buddy pointed out is a great way to hang your jacket up when you're done doing yard work. And how it came about was, honestly, like, everyone will probably come and say, like, you know, I got so tired of losing the Hula Hoe. You know, I use the Hula Ho, and then I gotta go find the rake, and then I gotta go find the Hula Ho when I'm done using the rake to get those weeds that I missed. So it's just this constant evolution of losing this tool, losing this tool, losing this tool. So one day I said, you know, I'm just gonna go to the store and go buy this tool that I had in mind. And when I showed up, it never existed. And for years and years and years, it continued to never exist. So Fast forward. And now it does.
- [04:12]
Unknown Host
Necessity's the mother of invention. We love it. Now, just to further the visual description here, you know, you mentioned a retractable rake. So it starts at a pretty narrow width and then. And it opens up to. Can you tell us a little bit more about how that retraction works on the tool?
- [04:26]
Kevin Saguspi
You know, this is an industrial tool. It's not flimsy at all. It slides on a stainless tube so you can affix it any position like Marshall was talking about. Wet or dry, it's going to hold. It's not going to slip around. The tines are made out of high tensile material, so they're not going to bend very easily. They got a good memory. So the Hula Ho is a hardened Rockwell 40C. So it's good and hard, so you're not going to wear it out. You know, it's a very, very quality built product.
- [04:54]
Marshall Day
Like Damon said on the stage, which I love the video, he said, this thing is built like a Rolls Royce.
- [04:59]
Unknown Host
You know, it's. When I was looking at it at Co Create, it was reminding me of just. I mean, I live in New York now, but growing up in upstate New York helping my parents with the yard work, we had like three or four plastic rakes. And we kept one because with the handle was great, but it broke and it was wrapped in duct tape and there was one that was narrow. And I mean, you know, not even factoring in the hoe part of it. You know, we needed four rakes to get through the fall. And this would have fixed a lot of family struggles in the early 2000s. So.
- [05:28]
Kevin Saguspi
Right.
- [05:29]
Marshall Day
Save time, space and money.
- [05:31]
Unknown Host
Yeah, there you go. Exactly. Exactly.
- [05:33]
Kevin Saguspi
Then you could have draw straws of who was going to use it. The other three didn't have to work.
- [05:36]
Unknown Host
Oh, it would have started World War iii, to be honest with you.
- [05:40]
Marshall Day
I used it last week.
- [05:42]
Unknown Host
Exactly. You get the broken plastic one. I get.
- [05:45]
Marshall Day
My kids argue over it at the house all the time. I send them outside every Sunday to pick the animal waste up before the gardeners get there on Monday. And you always hear them bickering, why now I'm going to use the rake. I tell them there's a couple of them at the house. I don't know why we're arguing over the Raiko right now.
- [05:58]
Unknown Host
I was just going to say, you don't have a full stock just hanging out in your garage like, you know, there's only one.
- [06:03]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah.
- [06:04]
Marshall Day
If you give kids a chance to argue, man, they'll just argue you know, so, yeah, it cracks me up, but they love using it. It's definitely simplified doing our yard work.
- [06:11]
Kevin Saguspi
I know.
- [06:11]
Marshall Day
That's for sure.
- [06:12]
Unknown Host
That's awesome. How did you two come together to make this product? Like, how did this dynamic duo come to be?
- [06:18]
Marshall Day
It was meant to be. The stars lined up one day. Ironically, a lot of things in this whole process have been just really a blessing. I don't know if we have some guardian angels up above helping out and kind of moving some key people around, but it does seem that way, because after I got a series of prototypes made and went through my process, I remember sitting at my kitchen table looking at this tool for a couple weeks, just thinking, okay, now it's ready. Now it's dialed in. It's sized right, and everything was ready to go. And a friend of mine came by, and I had just got my patent application back and was moving forward with the patent, so I felt comfortable leaving it out. And, you know, just for the few people that kind of stopped by. And my buddy came by, and he looks at it and he's like, what is this? And I was like, oh, it's just this idea I've had. And he's sitting there playing with this thing, you know, and he's like, dude, you need to meet my buddy Kevin. And I was like, cool. Who's Kevin? He said, well, he's my old boss. He's the one who hired me to get me into this industry. But he's like, man, he goes, I actually think you guys get along real well. You know, he has a factory in China. He works with some different factories in China that can help make this product. You might want to talk to him. He's in manufacturing. And I just sat there thinking, well, that's ironic, because about 30 minutes ago, I was thinking, well, how in the hell do I find a manufacturer now?
- [07:23]
Kevin Saguspi
Right?
- [07:24]
Marshall Day
So. And next thing you know, he had set up a meeting with Kevin and I, and we went to a few lunches and hit it off real well, and fast forward a little bit, and, you know, a few years later, just.
- [07:32]
Kevin Saguspi
Been dating ever since.
- [07:34]
Marshall Day
I wanted a partner. I wanted someone that could walk this journey with me, that could help, you know, answer the questions that he answers and stand next to me when we're doing our pitch and be a part of the company, not just someone that threw a couple dollars at it and said, okay, cool kid. Go make this happen.
- [07:48]
Unknown Host
That's awesome. So when you had that early stage, that early conversation with your prototype, how did you develop that? Because That's a part of the conversation that I've had with a couple other entrepreneurs where there's this question of the chicken and the egg. How do you get the funding to create a prototype and do you need a prototype to start really, you know, kicking it up into high gear to get the financing? And tell me a little bit about that process.
- [08:10]
Kevin Saguspi
When Marshall came to me and we met and he presented the idea, I looked at it and I said, oh, that's neat. And at that point it didn't have a bottle opener or a pooper scooper yet. Right.
- [08:20]
Marshall Day
Or a stainless steel sleeve.
- [08:21]
Kevin Saguspi
Or stainless steel sleeve. All kinds of good stuff.
- [08:24]
Marshall Day
So this thing was naked still.
- [08:25]
Kevin Saguspi
So we created a partnership and re engineered it. And as we were what we called our board meetings, we would meet after he dropped the kids off at school in my backyard and we would sit there and we would develop our business plan and develop different things and stuff like that. The biggest question you should ask yourself is how are you going to sell it? So do you need a prototype? Yeah, I mean, you got to prove your concept out, right? And you know, there's a lot of good manufacturers overseas and even here in the States, a lot of companies are willing to, if you got a good product, they're willing to look at it and you know, see what's going on. So you go to Alibaba, right? And you go, it's probably not the product that no one else is selling, you think, but there's similar processes. You can find a manufacturer and you can start negotiations real quick.
- [09:11]
Marshall Day
You know, when I was in the process of making my main, my prototypes, you know, I had enough made to make a plastic 3D slider. And so I would make the slider, but then I would go to Lowe's and Home Depot and go buy the retractable rake, pull the different pieces off it, go to different places, have them weld this and this on a Hula ho for me, you know, and it was being able to utilize the big box box stores for the pieces. So some people think the word prototype and can get scared of it. It's a prototype. I mean, this thing could be made of PVC and JB weld like my grandpa made my original one. You know, it's a proof of concept is what you want with a prototype. So I feel some people get so wrapped up in trying to make the prototype perfect. Well, you want the prototype to be perfect, yes, for functionality. But understand when you go into design, that's when you're going to dial it in and that's when it's going to be pretty and all of that. But being able to utilize Alibaba, big box stores and these other places to make your prototype, I think is key. So, you know, it's tough, but know your product, know what you want to make, know when the trade shows are, and use those as dates to kind of, you know, help push yourself, help set those things. And if you miss it, that's fine, but at least you know these dates so that you can try to gear up towards that and utilize your prototypes to show the people once your product's protected. That's how I felt is the prototypes that work were instrumental in making this happen for us.
- [10:28]
Kevin Saguspi
It made a huge, huge difference, you know, the better tool, you know, and Marshall and I have talked about this, you know, if you make a quality product, people will pay a quality price for a quality product, you know, and. Because no one wants to buy things twice, Right? But financing, right? I mean, people have great ideas, right? And, you know, building prototypes takes money. Going out, doing your market research takes money. If you decide to do some manufacturing, it'll take quite a bit of money, and I would double that money for your marketing, you know, your social media, your everything that you can think of. You're going to have to hire some of these professionals if you want to go quick. To do it yourself is a long, hard road. We tried it. We didn't try for long because we figured it out quickly.
- [11:12]
Marshall Day
But turned out our 56 followers on Facebook knew that we had a Kickstarter going and they'd already helped.
- [11:17]
Unknown Host
You know, as you were describing that process, I'm starting to put the pieces together on your division of labor and how you two come together to make this perfect pairing. It sounds like, Marshall, you kind of Frankenstein, for lack of a better word, the early prototypes to get this into this place. Kevin, how did that process work?
- [11:34]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah, but as inventors, right? Inventors get so attached to their product, right. And, you know, can't change the design. You can't, you know, I want this. And they're very, very, you know, protective of it, and rightfully so. But, you know, sometimes you need to step back and allow other people to give you that constructive criticism that have some expertise in certain areas and that kind of stuff. And Marshall has been really good about being able to do that.
- [11:59]
Marshall Day
I threw a fit. Don't let him fool. I've thrown a fit.
- [12:02]
Kevin Saguspi
No, but did it.
- [12:03]
Marshall Day
I was wrong, I admit it, but I threw a fit. But, you know, to interrupt Kevin, as An inventor, when you do something and you make that next progress and you make that next step, it's so exciting. So for us, we had the slider and when he went back to get into mass production, it didn't say Reiko up the front. It actually was just a black slider that had a Reiko sticker on the front. And I loved it. It was like this. Yes. You know, when he sent over it, we. He had went with and I had approved it and he had just the lettering up the front and I thought it looked cool. And then I liked the other look better. Anyway, so fast forward and I'm looking at a whole bunch that say Reiko. And it was easy for me to sit back and call him and say, hey, man, you were right, bud. This thing looks way better, way more industrial the way this is now and it's going to last forever versus sticker that's going to fall off. However, it is easy to get attached to something that you see because it is a progress from what you're where you were at. And like Kevin had said, you've got to be able to separate yourself from that and allow other people to help you take your tool to the next level.
- [13:07]
Kevin Saguspi
Right. It was a rather really easy call for me to do. Not so easy for him. Right. But it's just something that had to happen.
- [13:15]
Marshall Day
This was so much better than the previous version. And then the previous version was so much better than that. And to see, you know, I was able to line up, you know, 10 or 20 of these and look at it. Yeah, it looked cool. But when you line up 20,000 of these, it looks like, oh, okay, yeah, let's run that out. So.
- [13:34]
Kevin Saguspi
And we are going to get a picture of that. 10,000 units.
- [13:37]
Unknown Host
Well, you know, that segues us nicely into the sales side of this, the retail side. I understand that you've got a deal going with a big box store to help get these Raycos in everyone's hands across the the States. Tell us a little bit about it.
- [13:50]
Marshall Day
That's true. Big shout out to Tractor Supply for taking any chance on us wonderful people.
- [13:55]
Kevin Saguspi
Great to do business with, by the way.
- [13:57]
Marshall Day
For us, believe it or not, it was one of those things where we looked at Tractor Supply as like, okay, this is probably going to be, not to say an end game, but we're not going to just go jump in. Tractor Supply coming out the door. You know what I mean? Let's go. It's a mom and pop shops. Let's create this buzz. Let's hit the Trade shows. Let's just do our due diligence and follow the blueprints of how you introduce something to the market. And while we were at one of the trade shows, shout out to Chris from Modern Inventor. They have been instrumental in where we are at today.
- [14:24]
Kevin Saguspi
Absolutely.
- [14:25]
Marshall Day
And it was actually one of their events that we were at where we met them and we also met the tractor supply. So ironically, Kevin and I were doing a pitch the Pros with Chris and a couple of people on the board. And while we were doing that, one of the tractor supply reps had stopped by and started talking to my daughter. And when we come walking out, she was like, yeah, this tool is absolutely amazing and I think we should talk further. So what that turned into has been, at this point, I feel like we're living in a dream. So it's where the anomaly that just got approved for a nationwide release. So we will be coming out the gate in 2183 stores, and you'll be seeing the Rayco nationwide here just after January. So we couldn't be more excited about that.
- [15:04]
Kevin Saguspi
Well, you had said it earlier, both of you were kind of talking. You got to put yourself in the right position in front of the right people at the right time. We were at the national hardware show when tractor supply, when all the buyers from the bigger places and stuff. Right. I really like that kind of environment. We have not done like a vendor box store, the buyer days where you can go and do that. But we've talked to some people that have, and that's a tough road, you know, and we were fortunate, you know, it's incredible.
- [15:31]
Marshall Day
And we're working with retail band. They have additional stores at different outlets. Just what they help as far as moving forward, as far as making sure you're organized, making sure that you're not getting fined for doing something wrong. They truly help walk you through the process and make it a smooth transition for you, as well as introduce you to new buyers and different people and bring different people on board. The reality is you've got to get up, you got to go hit your local trade shows, hit the home and garden show. I mean, obviously depending on your product, but find the shows that are in your market, find what show fits your demographic, and go do those for us. We were hitting the home and garden shows and we had a great response at the home and garden shows. And that's when we took it over to the national hardware show. And the local home and garden shows are a great place to start, even if you have a prototype, because you can go and just gauge the interest of what you have. Is what I have something that people are going to want before I go jump knee deep into this? Is this something that makes sense? You know, if this doesn't make sense, the local home and garden shows will let you know that if you get a good response to local home and garden shows, then start looking up the national shows so that you go get in front of the correct people, go get in front of the correct buyers. And for us it was super exciting. I mean our day out the gate, our first tool tools was sold at the local hardware show or the Fresno Home and garden show. And 21 days, 25 days later, we were at the national hardware show in Las Vegas. So literally, I mean we just did a dirt monkey interview, had just came out and you know, he was like, well what stores are you guys in? And this and that. It's like man, we've been in business three weeks, bud. You know, and he was like, wow, you guys are at the national hardware show and you've been in business three weeks. So yep, and we're trying to get in every store moving and let's hit the ground running.
- [17:07]
Sierra Christo
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- [18:12]
Unknown Host
I want to turn back to the tractor supply company conversation again. What was that timeline from when you met them at the trade show to actually getting this agreement through? How was that process in terms of negotiation?
- [18:26]
Kevin Saguspi
We signed in June, we met them.
- [18:28]
Marshall Day
In the end of March. And you know when you're at the trade show you're getting contacts, you meet everybody. So don't get discouraged if you text message someone, if you email someone and you don't hear back right away. And it was June, about June, we locked in our vendor's contract and we've been just a continuous progression of that since then. So we got a store count in September, we got our official PO in November, and we got our delivery dates of tools that are being made as we speak.
- [18:55]
Unknown Host
Now how are you sustainably scaling to meet the demand of being in a big box store?
- [19:01]
Marshall Day
I mean, all freaking out, pulling our.
- [19:03]
Unknown Host
Hair out, you know, oh, okay.
- [19:05]
Marshall Day
Drink coffee all day, you know, no stress, no worries.
- [19:09]
Kevin Saguspi
Wolf Fung's the so I go over on the production runs and make sure, you know, I set up all the quality control and whatever engineering, you know, we got to this point and that kind of thing. I'm on the factory floor and it's really, really helps in making sure things are going the way they're supposed to go. And as far as scaling the operation, it's very scalable with the processes that we're utilizing. And there's newer technologies that we're looking at as well, to be honest with you, that machines that could utilize, you know, increased prote and that kind of stuff. So yeah, it's very scalable.
- [19:41]
Sierra Christo
Nice.
- [19:42]
Kevin Saguspi
That's what I do. I love it.
- [19:43]
Unknown Host
So you go out to China fairly regularly then to be a part of the production process?
- [19:48]
Kevin Saguspi
Yeah, I've been going to China for about 15 years.
- [19:52]
Unknown Host
Wow.
- [19:52]
Kevin Saguspi
Had my own company for 12. Now the manufacturing base in China is very high skilled people. I bet they do a wonderful job. They got the right training, they got the right people, they got the right areas, you know, your wood areas. In certain area, your electronics are here, your plastics are here, your metals are here, your castings are here. All the different stuff that I'm involved in, you know, and it's really nice. And people want to work with you. And like if we have a new project that we're doing, we. I go to Alibaba first thing. Right. And I look okay. Who makes something similar.
- [20:23]
Marshall Day
Not just because we have credit.
- [20:24]
Unknown Host
Let's get one thing straight. I did not pay them to say this. We're good.
- [20:29]
Kevin Saguspi
So yeah. And you know, we have found some vendors through Alibaba that work well because we go to the factories and it's really, really interesting. I've seen a lot of products that I see in retail stores being made over there and that kind of stuff.
- [20:43]
Unknown Host
What are some of the bigger challenges that you've found in getting through the manufacturing process? And I Know, Kevin, I mean it's, you are both in a unique situation in that it's more of a hands on experience for you than a lot of entrepreneurs in the U.S. but you know, what are some things from your perspective that you would advise other entrepreneurs to pay closer attention to or be mindful of in the process that may make it more challenging for folks in similar positions?
- [21:09]
Kevin Saguspi
You've got to find somebody that you trust, right? And, and you got to do your due diligence. You need your NDAs, you know, get to a patent attorney, get in a patent attorney and say, hey, is this patentable? Is this, you know, what can I do to protect myself if I share this with somebody? You know, things like that. And that money will be very well spent, very well spent going forward. So finding a good partner, right, someone you can trust, someone who's going to be there to support what your schedule is and the little nuances that you're going to want on your product. Since you're the designer inventor, you don't want to change anything, that type of thing. But I would recommend wherever you're doing it, whether it's the States, Central America, Asia, you know, wherever, Turkey, you know, wherever, fly there, go see it, talk to people, go face to face so that you develop a relationship, a personal relationship, so that you know each other, right. Emails are easy, zooms are easy, right. When you're face to face, you know, and you spend some good time with people, you'll know if this is the right connection or not. And I'd also recommend, you know, try to protect yourself in those countries, you know, do your NDAs and that kind of stuff. But you know, make sure you've got control in your manufacturing, you know, make sure there's no one knocking it off. And there's different avenues I think you can take with exclusivity, manufacturing agreements, you know, Chinese contracts. So there's a lot of things that you can do and register your brands on them.
- [22:34]
Marshall Day
So, and my 2 cents would be try to figure out, you know, the path with least resistance. You know, if you can get to a factory without six people having their hand out, collecting a percentage off the product before it gets there, you know, that's key. Yeah.
- [22:46]
Kevin Saguspi
But hopefully you've done all your homework by then too.
- [22:48]
Marshall Day
Correct.
- [22:49]
Kevin Saguspi
So you've got to the point where, you know, you're selling it, what your selling point is, what your costs are, what you need to sell wholesale, depending on what your product is, right. You know, and how you're going market.
- [22:59]
Unknown Host
And in terms of some of that research. You alluded earlier to doing some of those early stage searches on Alibaba.com how does that tool help folks looking for manufacturers and suppliers identify the right characteristics, the right capabilities? How would you recommend using that as a tool? Or would you recommend using that as a tool to do the legwork?
- [23:19]
Kevin Saguspi
Absolutely, absolutely, I would recommend that. So what we'll do is, you know, I would look on Alibaba, right? And I would say, okay, you know, I'm looking to make a hoe, right? And obviously we talked earlier, stirrup action, hoe, hula hoe, you know, that type of thing. And there's. So you find a manufacturer on Alibaba that is making hoes, you can send them a message and there might be someone live to help you immediately, you know, and if not, normally they get back to you the next day, no problem, right? And you can start this discussion of what you're really looking for. And it does. And you maybe you're not making a stirrupo, but it's a metal fabrication, right? And you know, you can refine your searches for, you know, all kinds of stuff in there that what you're looking for. And I'll tell you, by going over, you get even better deals by being face to face. Right. You know, and like we've had a vision with this and I believe in the vision that we both have, like Marshall said earlier. And I think that confidence in our product, right, and the way it's built and the quality and everything that goes into it. When I'm talking to some of our suppliers, they feel that and see it.
- [24:30]
Unknown Host
You mentioned going, going into these conversations, having a clear identity, knowing who you are, what you're selling. And I think part of that brand building is having something to stand for. And I think that's important for us as humans. And it's important for brands to identify what we care about beyond, you know, beyond the functionality of our tool, beyond the product that we're selling. And you guys have some wheels in motion for some charitable giving and a cause that's close to your hearts. Can you tell us a little bit about that project you're working on?
- [24:57]
Marshall Day
Yeah, absolutely. Well, we have a couple of them. Number one would be the after school sports program. We're looking. There's 100 was $140 billion a year is spent from parents on the kids going, whether it's dance, soccer, gymnastics, football, all of the above, you know, and my kids are competitive dancers. One of my best friends, his kids play, are competitive soccer Players in Colorado.
- [25:19]
Kevin Saguspi
And my kids did after sports, you know, swimming, volleyball, all that.
- [25:24]
Marshall Day
And we just, we're always constantly blown away how much money is spent on these things, you know. So what we talked about is creating a after school sports program that allows kids to sell these tools on their social media platform for a scaling commission between 5 and 10%. What we'll do as a company is come in and match that scaling commission of whatever you match and then we'll pay that out to that company. And the goal is for all sports, even through colleges, you know, and so if a college student say, hey, you know, I'd like to make a couple extra dollars to go to college, cool. You go sell X amount of tools, make X amount of money. We'll match that and put it towards your scholarship. So that is one of our programs that we're looking at getting going. Another one is school. Unfortunately, my house burned down in 2019 and I had two pets in the house. And in that process, I learned that fire departments don't have oxygen masks for pets. Unfortunately, when I pulled up, my boy Pitbull was in the front yard and they had an oxygen mask on him. And when I was asking where my female was, here came the fireman walking out of the house with her, and they had to pull the mask off my boy and go put it on my female. And when I asked why they had to pull it off, they said because they only had one and that mask had just been donated. Unfortunately, he was already gone and they couldn't spend any more time on him. So they were going to try to revive her. And they did so in learning that there's 58,150 fire departments across the United States. There's 40,000 animals that die in fires each year. And my personal mission that I brought to Kevin was let's find out what we can do to donate masks in every area that these tools are sold throughout the United States. We didn't anticipate jumping nationwide right out the gate. So we've been speaking to a couple people about trying to create a program that allows us to generate these on a quicker program. But we'd like to try to make between 500,000 and a million masks to get to these fire departments so that there is no longer pets that don't have these masks. And let's try to get that 40,000 pets that die each year to go the other way instead of guess where.
- [27:17]
Kevin Saguspi
And how we're going to obtain these units through Alibaba.
- [27:22]
Marshall Day
We've actually been looking at sourcing, utilizing this check behind us to create the first $5,000 with the masks to donate to the fire departments with the first order.
- [27:31]
Unknown Host
I mean, I'm so sorry for what you and your family have gone through and that you had to learn this lesson. This way is not the way you want to, you know, come across this information. But, I mean, what an admirable and an important mission to embark upon. And how have you started this process in getting to know more about the product itself as the oxygen masks for pets? How has this become another segment of Reika of the Better Tool Company? Rather, is this a product?
- [27:59]
Marshall Day
It is rapidly becoming. We've talked about how to form that version of the business. Whether we make it a part of the Better Tool Company, whether we make it something completely separate that the Better Tool Company invests into. That's all in the works. We've actually done a lot of research on Alibaba.com and a couple different sites, just looking at what different masks are available, finding out what masks do the fire departments prefer to use, then talk to the fire departments to find out why they prefer to use these masks. And through Kevin's abilities, either looking at A, going and utilizing some of the different manufacturers that already have the masks, or B, potentially even making some molds and manufacturing our own.
- [28:33]
Kevin Saguspi
So that's, you know, maybe we should document this process, because everything we talked about earlier, it's like starting from scratch. Right.
- [28:40]
Unknown Host
It's a great case study.
- [28:41]
Kevin Saguspi
It is.
- [28:42]
Unknown Host
And for a great cause.
- [28:44]
Kevin Saguspi
Right.
- [28:44]
Marshall Day
It's interesting, the numbers that you learn. And for myself, I. I wish I could not have to go through terrible things in order to have a good outcome, you know, so. But it is a very special cause to my heart and for other people to. When your house is on fire and your dog's dead in your front yard and they're able to bring another one back to life, it really minimizes all the terrible that's going on and kind of gives you a sense of relief. So I'd like to give that back. So that's my way of paying it forward to the world, my part, to try to make this place a better place.
- [29:11]
Kevin Saguspi
How do I say no? Or maybe a little bit later, I.
- [29:14]
Unknown Host
Got to say, yeah, exactly. You got to tug at those heartstrings. So that's.
- [29:19]
Kevin Saguspi
It's at the great cause, you know, I mean, I don't care who you are, you know, I'm at. I mean, you know, maybe there's some.
- [29:25]
Marshall Day
People I haven't got to meet. The family that donated the mask that saved my animal. But I'd like to say thank you to that family and let them know, because of that mask you donated, I'm trying to make a million to donate those million across the world. So it's amazing what one person can do and what one person can help. So thank you. That family in Fresno, California, that donated that mask.
- [29:45]
Unknown Host
Truly. Amen. I'm at a loss for words, to be honest with you. It's not an easy conversation to have. It's not an easy story to tell. And I want to thank you for sharing that personal side of this, because, you know, like we said earlier, necessity is the mother of invention. And we have to be mindful of these impetuses in the world that are bringing these products to market. So, you know, some of them are born of tragedy. And thank you for bringing attention to it, because I think there is a lot of work that we all can do. And keep in mind that these are needs in our local firehouses and stations across the country.
- [30:18]
Marshall Day
If you have an animal in your house, you know, that's a part of the family. It's not just, oh, that's my dog, you know, like, those are pets for us. Those are a part of the family, you know. And from statistics show there's 71 million dogs in America. There's 74 million cats, and 120 million pet owners. So let's let these pet owners know that their fire departments are going to have these masks, thanks to the Rayco and all the other participating people.
- [30:40]
Kevin Saguspi
Yep, Absolutely.
- [30:42]
Unknown Host
I love it. That's fantastic. So, you know, just as we're coming up on time here, I want to take another moment and look forward again. Beyond the masks, beyond the Raiko. What's next for you guys? What's on the horizon for the better tool company?
- [30:56]
Marshall Day
We got a couple of products in the works, Right. We introduced that at the Co Create little handheld.
- [31:01]
Kevin Saguspi
I think you saw it before, Right. This only weighs 1.2 pounds. Right. And this is a prototype 3D molded, all the rest of it components from the existing Rayco just modified a little bit. So, yeah, build the prototype. But, yes, we're excited about this. Our research shows that this will sell three to ten times with the Reiko. Well, yeah, it's the demographics of the people that use it is weird, you know, but we did. I love it, but that's all learned.
- [31:28]
Marshall Day
Keep learning Google questions. When you ask yourself a question, the answer's in your hand. You know, I mean, literally, just how many people use hand tools? You know, for us, like we're talking about the three piece breakdown unit. We started looking at different demographics and the top three telling tools from what it says are shovels, rakes and hoes. And we have a three piece outdoor unit that is going to encompass all of that with pruning shears, with a pole saw.
- [31:50]
Kevin Saguspi
It'll be in a case and you put it in your RV or take it camping, your campground. And it's got a flint and a whistle. Emergency whistle.
- [31:59]
Marshall Day
Emergency whistle.
- [32:01]
Kevin Saguspi
So yeah, we've got other products besides that that are in the works. The handheld, you know, we're hoping to get out by June, by April if we can. The breakdown, we're looking a little after that. And then we got a couple more that we have in the works that I haven't made prototypes yet of.
- [32:16]
Unknown Host
You guys are a delight. Thank you for sharing all of your stories today and for being a part of this podcast.
- [32:23]
Marshall Day
Thank you. You guys are absolutely wonderful and we look forward to everything that comes with Alibaba. We and we look forward to being a co create next year.
- [32:30]
Unknown Host
Now in the meantime, where can people find you? Where can we look you up?
- [32:33]
Marshall Day
We're@raiko.com www.rak-o.com and all social media platforms at Rako Gardentool.
- [32:40]
Unknown Host
All right, that sounds awesome. We will be sure to shoot you a follow and we'll, we'll stay tuned for all the latest and greatest coming up in the next few months. Thank you guys.
- [32:49]
Sierra Christo
B2B Breakthrough is produced by Alibaba.com to find out how Alibaba.com is empowering its customers with the tools, services and resources they need to grow their business. Visit Alibaba.com and then make sure to search for B2B Breakthrough on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts.
- [33:07]
Unknown Host
Make sure to follow us so you.
- [33:08]
Sierra Christo
Don'T miss future episodes. On behalf of the team here@alibaba.com, thanks for listening.