Advice Line with Dave Weiner of Priority Bicycles

Summary

How I Built This with Guy Raz – Advice Line with Dave Weiner of Priority Bicycles

Date: September 11, 2025
Host: Guy Raz
Guest: Dave Weiner, Founder & CEO of Priority Bicycles

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Episode Overview

In this "Advice Line" edition of How I Built This, host Guy Raz is joined by Dave Weiner, founder and CEO of Priority Bicycles, to field live calls from small business owners seeking advice. The episode centers on practical entrepreneurial problem-solving, with Weiner sharing lessons from his journey creating low-maintenance, belt-drive bicycles and growing from Kickstarter to a national brand. Callers present real-life challenges—from educating markets about niche products to knowing when (or if) to scale—and Weiner delivers candid, actionable guidance, drawing parallels to his own hard-won business experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Catch-up with Dave Weiner and the State of the Bicycle Industry

• Dave’s Backstory & Accident Update
  • Weiner reflects on his transition from tech to bikes, and on his recovery after a serious cycling accident.
    • "There's still some lingering aspects and I'm scared to do things that I didn't used to be. And that's probably not a bad thing in life." – Dave Weiner [05:36]
• Shifts in Cycling and E-bike Trends
  • Despite cycling participation increasing, bike sales are down due to shifts in consumer spending and excess industry inventory from COVID.
  • E-bikes are quickly climbing to 50% of industry sales, with strong consumer adoption:
    • "The people that do [own e-bikes] swear by them...we ride much further and we use bikes instead of cars because we have e-bikes..." – Dave Weiner [08:43]
• Strategic Positioning During Economic Headwinds
  • Weiner emphasizes innovation and filling market "white space" as essential for staying competitive amid tough retail and supply chain conditions.
    • "Our sales have been really steady, but that's because we continue to innovate and put out new products... innovation is the only way that we can gain market share in a market that is declining right now." – Dave Weiner [10:48]

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2. Caller #1: Dave Lanning of Dave’s Coffee—How to Take Coffee Syrup National

[12:01–26:52]

• Challenge:
  • Dave Lanning of Dave’s Coffee (Rhode Island) seeks advice on expanding his local coffee milk syrup nationally, while educating consumers unfamiliar with the concept.
• Main Points:
  • Coffee milk syrup is a beloved Rhode Island tradition but virtually unknown elsewhere.
  • Lanning’s version uses only coffee and cane sugar (no additives), aiming for a cleaner, premium product.
• Guy’s and Dave’s Advice:
  • Education First:
    • Parallels to how Priority Bicycles had to educate people on belt-drives; invest in PR to teach the market what the product is and why it stands out.
      • "If we didn't educate people on why our product was different, they wouldn't know to come to our site and buy it..." – Dave Weiner [20:12]
  • PR & Branding Investment:
    • Hire a PR firm experienced with specialty foods to help you build national awareness and media coverage.
  • Strategic Activation:
    • Launch pop-up tastings branded with messaging like "What's Coffee Milk?" in hip coffee cities (Portland, Brooklyn, Austin, Seattle).
      • "You just do things like that...and I think having the right kind of PR agency to help could be very helpful." – Guy Raz [21:15]
  • Channel & Messaging Recommendations:
    • Position as a versatile culinary ingredient (not just for coffee milk); highlight cold-brew gut health benefits.
    • Add clear regional branding (e.g., "Crafted in Rhode Island, birthplace of coffee milk") to the label for intrigue.
    • Target bars for espresso martini applications, bakeries, and cafes for beverage/dessert usage.
    • Get local influencers and chefs on board (e.g., connect with Rhode Island-based social chefs).
    • Test multiple sales channels: D2C, upscale retail/wholesale, and national specialty grocers.
      • "If you can find a way to get into major retailers...it is going to help spread the word and that is going to be important together with the PR side of this." – Dave Weiner [25:22]
• Notable Moment:
  • “You could create a segment educating people...and why Dave’s the best is an amazing opportunity for you.” – Dave Weiner [20:53]

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3. Caller #2: Alex Plant of Kinloch Farmstead—To Grow or Not to Grow?

[32:01–45:23]

• Challenge:
  • Alex Plant, owner of a lavender farm and wedding venue in upstate New York, grapples with burnout as demand surges. She wonders whether to keep growing or stay small to reclaim time with her family.
• Context:
  • The seven-year-old farm is multifaceted (lavender, wine, events), with a seasonal May–October operation and nine employees. Despite delegating, she's heavily involved, especially with weddings.
• Main Points:
  • Dilemma between taking advantage of growth opportunities (product expansion, fully booked weddings, lavender goods) and achieving work-life balance.
• Guy’s and Dave’s Advice:
  • Conduct a Joy & Margin Audit:
    • List all revenue streams, % of total revenue, % of time and energy, gross margin, and “joy quotient” for each. Drop or delegate low-revenue/high-stress items.
      • "What is the biggest sort of time suck for you?...If something is bringing you a lot of stress, but it’s only bringing in 5% of revenue, maybe it’s not worth doing." – Guy Raz [39:18]
  • Delegate for Growth:
    • Consider hiring a specialized manager to run the events side, allowing a shift toward the (less stressful, higher joy) product business.
      • “You gotta find a way financially to hire the right person...to do that work so you can focus on the next version of the business...” – Dave Weiner [43:24]
  • Lifestyle Business is Valid:
    • Not every business needs to be scaled. Weigh quality of life, family needs, and future flexibility. Scaling can happen later.
      • "Many businesses that I know of are far more successful than massively scaled businesses. They're profitable, they're sustainable, and they enable the founders, the owners, to have a sustainable lifestyle." – Guy Raz [41:08]
• Notable Moment:
  • “There’s no escaping the fact that when you operate a small business, it's hard and it's stressful...but you also need the vision of a pathway to grow to lessen the stress.” – Dave Weiner [37:06]

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4. Caller #3: Sabrina Garcia of Idaho Barkery—Cracking the Corporate Branded Market

[47:26–57:54]

• Challenge:
  • Sabrina Garcia, founder of Idaho Barkery, makes hypoallergenic, plant-based dog treats customizable with company logos. She wants strategies to expand from local sales to larger corporate/hospitality customers.
• Main Points:
  • Proven local demand with 65 Idaho stores and dog-friendly hotel partners, but wants to break into national chains/brands.
  • Treats are customizable via in-house 3D printing for fully bespoke shapes and branded treats.
• Guy’s and Dave’s Advice:
  • Segment Your Web & Sales Approach:
    • Build a dedicated B2B/Corporate landing page for hospitality partners, separate from consumer sales. Speak directly to the needs of managers/buyers in that sector.
      • “Create a whole new website...talks to fleet buyers...the extra expense to do that is not significant...” – Dave Weiner [53:09]
  • Outbound Marketing:
    • Identify 10–15 dog-friendly brands, hotel chains, subscription boxes, etc. Make sample runs—custom logo treats sent in sample boxes with personal notes.
      • "You make raising canes logos, you punch them out and you send them a box with pre made...you mail it to them with a note and you follow up a week or two later." – Guy Raz [56:15]
  • Start Small & Scrappy:
    • Begin with visuals and mockups if sample production is costly; target hotel industry stakeholders and dog/corporate events.
      • "We often start with an email that is a mockup, a photorealistic of what their custom bike would look like...especially these hotels that are dog friendly and say this would be the treat in your...room." – Dave Weiner [56:54]
• Notable Moment:
  • Dave draws a direct line from Priority's own growth in the B2B/Corporate market (custom bikes for hotels and campuses) to Sabrina's situation, illustrating exactly how repackaging and targeted outreach brings exponential opportunity.

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Notable Quotes

• On the Value of Listening as a Leader:

  "Being right isn’t always the best…Effective leaders know when to slow down, when to listen deeply and understand all the perspectives before acting…that shift for me, from needing to be right, to instead striving to get it right has made me a better teammate, a better leader, and a better entrepreneur."
  – Dave Weiner [59:29]

• On Market Education:

  "You could create a segment educating people around the country and around the world of what coffee milk is. And of course, why Dave’s the best is an amazing opportunity for you."
  – Dave Weiner [20:53]

• On Work-Life Balance:

  "Not every business should be scaled…they enable the founders to have a sustainable lifestyle…lifestyle is definitely an important consideration when you’re thinking about what to do with your business."
  – Guy Raz [41:08]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:42] – Dave Weiner joins, reflecting on his journey and accident recovery
• [07:01] – US bike industry trends; the rise of e-bikes
• [10:48] – Innovating during economic downturns
• [11:49] – Caller 1: Dave Lanning of Dave's Coffee ("How to make a niche product national?")
• [16:06] – Belt-drive education parallel; PR investment
• [21:15] – Branding, pop-ups, and market-specific events
• [25:02] – D2C vs. retail channel strategy
• [32:01] – Caller 2: Alex Plant of Kinloch Farmstead ("Scale or stay small for sanity’s sake?")
• [39:18] – Auditing revenue streams versus time, margin, and joy
• [41:08] – Lifestyle business as a legitimate option
• [43:24] – The long march to delegation and management
• [47:26] – Caller 3: Sabrina Garcia of Idaho Barkery ("How to crack corporate & hospitality markets?")
• [53:09] – Separate web presence and messaging for B2B
• [56:15] – Direct, creative outreach with samples
• [59:29] – Dave Weiner's closing advice on leadership

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Memorable Moments

• Guy’s Peanuts pop-up branding analogy:
  "You’d literally have a sign like, you know, like in the Peanuts gang...You have a sign that says, what’s coffee milk? With a big question mark." [21:15]

• Dave on evolving leadership:
  "Being right isn’t always the best and isn't...It's sometimes the most knowledgeable and the most confident leaders are the first to admit that they don't know the right answer or that they're even wrong." [59:29]

• Dave on business vs. parenting:
  "As parents, our most meaningful investment is raising kind and capable children. And at the same time, as an entrepreneur, all you want to do is grow your business." [45:25]

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Overall Takeaway

This episode showcases the real, gritty side of entrepreneurship—where education, creative branding, channel management, and personal priorities matter as much as product innovation. The advice is rooted in Dave Weiner’s honest reflections: focus on clarity of purpose, know your numbers, trust your team, and build a business that fits the life you want—not just for growth’s sake. The stories and guidance offered are practical for early-stage founders and seasoned entrepreneurs alike.

Transcript

[Guy Raz]

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[Guy Raz]

Hello and welcome to the advice line on How I Built this Lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. And each week I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show who will help me try to help you. And so if you are building something and need advice, go ahead and give us a call and you might just be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Send us a 1 minute message with your name, a bit about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with. Or you can send us a voice [e-mail] and make sure to tell us how to reach you. Also, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter. It's filled with insights and ideas from the world's greatest entrepreneurs. You find can you can sign up for [e-mail] or on substack and we'll put all this info in the podcast description. All right, let's go. Joining me this week is Dave Wiener, founder and CEO of Priority Bicycles. Dave, it's great to have you back on the show.

[Dave Weiner]

It's an honor to be speaking with you, Guy.

[Guy Raz]

You were first on the show back in 2023 and of course we're going to put a link to that in the show notes. So check it out. It's an awesome story. It's about how Dave left a really stressful job at a tech startup to start, of all things, a bicycle company. But not just any bike. This is a bike that requires almost no maintenance because it doesn't have a metal chain, it has a belt drive. These are made out of rubber and carbon fiber. It doesn't need any oil. And of course, the idea was to make those bikes more affordable. You crowdfunded it on Kickstarter and it took you many years of struggle before you were able to turn Priority into a really big bike brand. I see them all over the place here in the Bay Area. I see them at hotels all over the country. It's such a cool story and I loved telling it on the show is so fun.

[Dave Weiner]

It's been great to be part of the show. Guy, if you remember, I was originally on the how you built that, right?

[Guy Raz]

Yes. How. How you built that is something we used to do back in the day. We'd have like a two minute segment at the end where a caller would call in and talk about the thing they're building and yeah, you were. You were on it like years ago, like in like 2017 or something. 2016.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, that, that was great. And we've had so much fun building this business. And it's great that you're seeing the bikes on the road every Day when I'm out riding, I see people riding our bikes and it, it really puts a smile to my face knowing that our, our products are helping make people's lives, hopefully a little bit better.

[Guy Raz]

Dave, when you were on the show, you were still recovering from a pretty bad accident that you had. And I mean, you ended up in the ICU and it was a pretty bad bike accident. I know when we spoke already, by that point you were well on your way to full recovery. How have you been doing? Because it was pretty bad. It was a pretty bad accident.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones, guy. You could say I made a full recovery. There's still some lingering aspects and, and I'm scared to do things that I didn't used to be. And that's probably not a bad thing in life.

[Guy Raz]

No, not at all.

[Dave Weiner]

But I'm able to take my kids to school every day, I'm able to travel, I'm able to go to work every day. And I just feel like I'm really, really fortunate how this has played out and that I'm here today talking to you and still leading a growing company.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's awesome. Just as a 50 year old, I am so careful when I cycle. I just did a trip in Italy with my kids and I was mountain biking with one of my kids and he'll just go down these single track mountain bike roads just like at top speed. And I'm like riding the brakes. I'm so cautious. I don't even want to fall gently anymore. You know what I mean?

[Dave Weiner]

I do know what you mean. I ride a lot slower than I used to. I also wear a full face helmet no matter where I ride, with a chain.

[Guy Raz]

Oh, nice.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, it's not a great look. I look fast. I look like I'm riding a motorcycle.

[Guy Raz]

Oh, that's a good idea.

[Dave Weiner]

And I'm certainly not. But, you know, if we don't have our health, what do we have?

[Guy Raz]

You know, I like that idea. I think I'm going to do that. You know, one of the things that I know from just talking to folks in the industry is that there has been a slowdown in bikes overall. Tell me a little bit about kind of the landscape for bike sales in the US not just E bikes, but overall bike sales.

[Dave Weiner]

Cycling is actually up a little in.

[Guy Raz]

The US More people are cycling, more.

[Dave Weiner]

People are riding bikes, and that's a wonderful thing. However, less people are buying bicycles and I think consumer behavior and how people spend money is changing. And with that, a lot of people Are fortunately riding the bikes that they have, which is wonderful. But it is hurting bicycle sales. And you put that together with the fact that a lot of bicycle companies not priority still have too much inventory from the COVID days. Then you combine that with tariffs and the cost of goods going up, and it's become a lot harder to sell bikes than it used to be.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's really, really interesting, you know this because I ride, I've got regular bikes and also E bikes. And I love E bikes. I mean, it's a utility, but I also use them for exercise like I was when I was mountain biking on this trip with my kids overseas. Like, we went up, you know, we climbed incredible elevation. You know, we just. I could not have done that on a regular bike. Do you think that most bikes will be e bikes in 20 years from now or do you think that it's still going to be, you know, I don't know, maybe a smaller percentage of overall bikes. Bike sales.

[Dave Weiner]

E bikes are quickly becoming 50% of the sales in the bicycle industry. And I think that's going to continue to grow. When you go door to door to your neighbor's guy, everybody has a bike, but not everybody has an E bike. And the people that do swear by them, certainly my family, we ride much further and we use bikes instead of cars because we have E bikes and we can get where we're going without breaking a sweat. And we get there fast and we get there by taking in the world around us. I think that E bikes are going to continue to rapidly grow because they're better for the person riding it than certainly driving a car. And in comparison to a regular bike, you can just go further. You can use more energy if you want to. You could use less. At the same time, E bikes are evolving a lot. The technology is growing so fast that the people that bought an e bike 5 years ago Love it. But then they get on a new E bike and they're like, wow. The innovation is tremendous. And I think E bikes are going to be a big, big part of the sales in the bicycle industry.

[Guy Raz]

It's unbelievable. Dave, we are, and I hear this all over the country when I speak, and I talk to both small and medium sized and even larger business owners about perceptions of economic headwinds, whether they're real or not. Obviously there are challenges. There's tariffs, there's uncertainty about whether people are going to be spending money next year and so on in this environment. Right. How do you think about positioning your business? You mentioned that you're not keeping too much stock, too much inventory, which is critical. Right. Especially in retail business. But also you've got to make other choices and decisions. So what are some things that priority is doing not just to secure its business for the future, but also to prepare for potential headwinds?

[Dave Weiner]

We've been trying to fill white space. Our sales have been really steady, but that's because we continue to innovate and put out new products. We're constantly looking at the white space in the bicycle industry and say, where can we bring a low maintenance bicycle that'll be a best in class value that consumers will look at and say, if I need a bike, that one is special and I want to buy that one. So we continue to innovate. We have several new models already this year and several of our best yet to come this year because innovation is the only way that we can gain market share in a market that is declining right now.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. All right, Dave, I'm sure we've got a lot. Hopefully we'll have some advice to give to our callers. Why don't we take our first caller and see what we can do? You ready?

[Dave Weiner]

I look forward to it.

[Guy Raz]

All right, welcome, caller. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and just one line about your business, please.

[David Lanning]

Sure. Hello, guy and hello, Dave. My name is Dave Lanning. I'm calling from Narragansett, Rhode island, and I own Dave's Coffee. We're a small craft coffee roaster and also we make an amazing, delicious, versatile product called coffee milk syrup. That's really an incredible thing.

[Guy Raz]

All right, welcome to the show, Dave. I know what coffee syrup is because, man, this is now like 30 years ago plus years ago when I started college, there was a guy down my hall from Rhode island and I still remember he would say, smack your lips to eclipse. Is that right?

[David Lanning]

Yes, yes.

[Guy Raz]

He brought. It looked like chocolate syrup, but it was this bottle of coffee. I'd never seen it. And this is a Rhode island thing. People pour this coffee syrup into milk and that's a like, it's like the state drink, right?

[David Lanning]

It is. It's the official state drink of Rhode Island.

[Dave Weiner]

Wow.

[Guy Raz]

And it's, it's actually delicious. I've had it before, but it's so, it's so weird that it has not really kind of penetrated maybe like bits of Connecticut, bits of like, you know, Fall River, Massachusetts, but it hasn't really gone beyond there, right?

[David Lanning]

That's right. It's, it's really stayed local and it's an incredibly. Has an incredibly loyal following. Like, people are. Love it. It's kind of like a rite of passage in Rhode Island.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. Okay, so you have. You say two coffee shops in Rhode Island, Two cafes.

[David Lanning]

Yes.

[Guy Raz]

And they're. And you do. You've got. Make espresso drinks. It's a normal coffee shop that you go to. Right, right. But you're also making and selling coffee syrup that you have made that I guess I'm assuming is a sort of a more premium version of what? Of the mass. Sort of the mass produced one.

[David Lanning]

Right. I was born in Rhode island and grew up here all my life. And I wanted to serve coffee milk, but I didn't like what was currently available because it was filled with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and preservatives. So I formulated our own version. And it's also different because we are a coffee roaster. So I started with a really good coffee. And it's just our cold brewed coffee and cane sugar, two ingredients.

[Guy Raz]

Wow. So you. And so it's this concentrate. It's like. It's like maple syrup, but it's coffee. It's basically concentrated coffee and sugar.

[David Lanning]

Exactly.

[Guy Raz]

Okay, awesome. Tell me a little bit about. I mean, how did you come to this idea of wanting to make this and try and have a go at taking on the big guys?

[David Lanning]

Yeah. So the primary reason was that nobody was making a coffee syrup from a roaster's perspective. So I wanted to source the coffee. I got an amazing Brazilian coffee that we roast at a special level. Has a nice nuttiness to it. A nice sweetness lends itself to the syrup. So I always say that we are first and foremost coffee roasters, but we make this amazing, delicious coffee milk syrup.

[Guy Raz]

It's awesome. I'm on your website now and I'm looking at it and I've got a lot of thoughts. But before we get there, tell me what your pain point is. What's your question for us?

[David Lanning]

My challenge is I want to bring this product to a national market. But just like you had mentioned, it's often misunderstood. It's confused with either a coffee concentrate or like a vanilla or hazelnut kind of syrup. And there are so many different uses for it beyond coffee milk that are really culinary uses that I feel like it has a long way to go. But how do I get this out there without confusing people or.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, how do you educate people about coffee syrup? All right, Dave Wiener. A lot to think about here, especially. Cause you had to kind of educate people about belt drive bicycles and still do Sometimes there's still a bias. Sometimes people are like, oh no, you need a chain. And you've had to spend years educating people that like, actually this is a lot easier. You don't need oil, it's maintenance free. But we can get into that. Dave, please say hello to David and do you have any questions for him?

[Dave Weiner]

David, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm looking at your website and I'm so close to Rhode Island. I'm in New York City and yet I'm not familiar with coffee milk. So there is an opportunity here. I've never heard of such a thing before and it sounds delicious. I can't wait to try it. My first question, and I know you're talking about the culinary side, I, of course I'm thinking about the coffee side because I'm the daily coffee drinker, barring a lactose intolerant person. How's coffee milk compared to coffee for gut health? Does it have less acidity?

[David Lanning]

It does have less acidity because the way we make it is with a cold brew, so it doesn't extract a lot of the acidity that hot brewing does. And then also when we simmer it down with the cane sugar, it almost takes on a caramelly coffee flavor.

[Dave Weiner]

Well, that sounds delicious. And I do think that, you know, I'm not seeing that on the website and I'm wondering if there's other benefits to coffee milk besides that.

[David Lanning]

As far as benefits, I think it's just a cleaner, healthier version. I mean, as healthy as coffee syrup can be. But it's just, it's a fun product. And we've had some organic mentions, like Andrew Zimmern, the celebrity chef. He called it the workhorse of the pantry because he can put it on top of ice cream, he can mix it in with his oatmeal, he can put it in smoothies. Like there are so many different uses for it and that's kind of where I get hung up, like, do I focus in on a certain area?

[Guy Raz]

David, let me ask you a question right now. Where are they sold besides the website? Is it sold anywhere else?

[David Lanning]

Yeah. So we have about just under 130 wholesale accounts and primarily upscale gourmet shops because of the price point that are mainly Rhode Island, a little bit into Connecticut, a little bit into Massachusetts, but that's primarily our market.

[Guy Raz]

Got it. And so the challenge, of course is trying to educate people outside of that area that this is what it is and why it's interesting. The first thing that comes to mind because it just so happens that last night I was in San Francisco for dinner with my wife and we were going to see a concert. And I fall asleep really early, like at like 9:30. Like I'm an early. I just get tired. And I was like, I gotta stay awake because, you know, I'm gonna see this concert. And I wanted a drink and I ordered an espresso martini to keep me awake with the espresso. And I'm thinking, like, to me this is a classic. Like one of the classic ways to get this into people's, you know, to try it is to get it behind bars for bartenders to use it.

[David Lanning]

Yeah, 100%. We, we actually work with a couple of restaurants in the area and they do make amazing espresso martinis and also kind of a version of a White Russian because it lends itself to that flavor as well.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, I mean, have you tried to. I mean, because it sounds like you're trying to find out how do we get this to consumers. But I wonder whether there's a way to work with bartenders or bars and sort of start that way.

[David Lanning]

Yeah, that's a great idea. Oh, I was going to say, Dave, I listened to your episode several times and I know that one of the key points in your story was when you hired the PR agency. And I'm just thinking, do you feel like that was. You said something like, let them tell your story.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Dave Weiner]

And that's certainly where I want to go. And I think, David, the fact that I live a couple hours from Rhode island and I don't know about coffee milk is amazing because not only can you grow Dave's coffee, but you could create a segment educating people around the country and around the world of what coffee milk is. And of course, why Dave's the best is an amazing opportunity for you. That was the biggest expense that was questionable when we started Priority Bicycles. It kept me up at night how much we were spending on pr. But I learned that if we didn't educate people on wire product was different, that they wouldn't know to come to our site and buy it or support our Kickstarter. And that was money well spent. And it still is. You know, 11 years later, we're still investing heavily in PR. Most people, if you go knock on your neighbor's door and said, I'm looking for a new bike, they wouldn't necessarily say look at a belt drive bike. Now if they do say look at a belt drive bike, they'll know to look at Priority because we are the leader in belt drive bicycles. But we have to open the category up first for people to know that we're the leader. And I think that Dave's Coffee could do the same. I think that there's a lot you can educate people about coffee syrup and about coffee milk so that they want to think to buy it and of course, want to think of Dave's Coffee. And I think that the expense there would be well worth the investment.

[Guy Raz]

I mean, I agree. I think that part of having a good relationship with the. With a PR firm is also having a vision helping them. Right. They can come and, like, look at what you're doing and give you some feedback on branding. But your branding is very good. You know, And I'm looking at your website. Clearly you're selling a canned iced coffee. I mean, you've got a lot of things going on. And so it seems like really where a good PR firm could come into play is getting you coverage, helping you build buzz. Because I think what you want to try and do are, I mean, I hate to use the word stunts, but like, pop ups, like a coffee milk pop up. You'd literally have a sign like, you know, like in the Peanuts gang, or it said like, you know, 10 cents for, you know, psychiatrist. 10 cents. You have a sign that says, what's coffee milk? With a big question mark. And you just have a booth in, like, outside of festivals. But you go to very strategic cities. Portland, coffee city, Brooklyn, coffee capital. Right. Austin, Texas, parts of San Francisco, obviously Seattle. You go to these coffee centers where there's a critical mass of people and you just do things like that. And I think having the right kind of PR agency to help could be very helpful. The other thing I think that you may want to think about is it seems like part of the challenge is when people see the bottle, they think that it's either a sweetener for coffee. Right. Coffee syrup. They think, oh, it's like a simple syrup. Right. They don't understand what it is.

[David Lanning]

Right.

[Guy Raz]

Or, you know, they might think it's like coffee concentrate, which you can buy at, you know, Trader Joe's or whatever. And I wonder whether there's a way to maybe not even on the bottle, but a way to kind of explain it to people, like the vanilla extract of coffee. I'm just riffing here. I don't know. But the other thing to me on the label that I think you could really you would benefit from is if it said something like crafted in Rhode Island. You know, crafted in Rhode island, the birthplace of coffee milk, or Something like that.

[David Lanning]

Yes, yes.

[Guy Raz]

Because then it's like, oh, wait, what, what is that? Like crafted in Rhode island, the birthplace of coffee milk. Like on the label. Something like that could be interesting. But I think with the right partner, you don't have to spend that much money, especially if you have a sense of what you want to do.

[David Lanning]

Right, right. I love the idea of the pop ups and the Snoopy analogy there because I think that could be a lot of fun.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. You give people shots of coffee milk.

[David Lanning]

Yes.

[Guy Raz]

And you have oat milk. You've got almond milk. Have like seven different. Have hemp milk and macadamia nut milk and dairy milk. Have them all there. Right.

[David Lanning]

I love it.

[Dave Weiner]

What about bagel stores? You know, in New York, the lines Saturday and Sunday morning for the bagel stores are so long and if you dare to order a coffee, the wait is even longer. I would like to think that a coffee milk would go amazing with a bagel. And also the bagel store could make it a lot quicker with your concentrate.

[David Lanning]

Right? 100%. They could. Great.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. I think that, I think there's an opportunity here. You know, get who, who are some famous Rhode Islanders. Like I'm trying to search for Rhode island celebrities and I'm sorry if I'm forgetting somebody famous, but I just can't think of any right now. But it, it's awesome. I mean, I think, look, I think that a lot of this is going to be on your shoulders. Right. To, to start to educate people. I would really emphasize that they can drink it with any kind of milk. Right?

[David Lanning]

Yeah. And do you feel like the direct to consumer is the, a good path to go? I know, Dave, for you, you said that you originally told direct to consumer because you couldn't financially partner with bike shops. But that's changed now, obviously. But how did that play into the growth?

[Dave Weiner]

You're right. When we started, we couldn't, we couldn't work with bike shops. Now we sell about 70% of our bikes. Consumer direct bike shops are important to get the word out about our brand and what makes our brand different. I think that your product price point is different than ours. And I think that if you can find a way to get into major retailers, your margins are not going to be great. But it is going to help spread the word and that is going to be important together with the PR side of this.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, I think of like Bachan's, it's a Japanese barbecue sauce, all over Costco and Whole Foods now. I mean, they had to educate people about what that was. So I think that it's worthwhile looking into doing wholesale and to seeing if you can get on the shelves of nationally in Whole Foods, for example. But obviously you have to figure out where they're going to put you. Are they going to put you in the coffee section? Are they going to put you in the syrup section where their beverages. But I think that that could be worth looking to. But by the way, I did find the perfect Rhode island celebrity for you who has been on the show Years ago, Nick DiGiovanni, who is a social media chef and a really Great one. Nick DiGiovanni. You should get in touch with him. He's a Rhode Islander.

[David Lanning]

Okay, great.

[Guy Raz]

He'll know coffee syrup. So there you go.

[David Lanning]

Perfect.

[Dave Weiner]

Tell him guy I sent you.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, tell him I sent you.

[David Lanning]

Yes, yes.

[Guy Raz]

David Lanning of Dave's Coffee Syrup and Dave's Coffee brand. Thanks for calling him in. Good luck.

[David Lanning]

Thank you so much. I love the show, Guy, and I've listened to almost every episode and learn a lot.

[Guy Raz]

Amazing.

[David Lanning]

Thank you, thank you.

[Guy Raz]

Thanks for calling in. Yeah. So you did not know coffee syrup, Dave?

[Dave Weiner]

Never heard of it.

[Guy Raz]

And, and I did and I have not had it in a long time. But it is delicious. I mean, imagine a cool cold glass of, you know, some kind of milk. I, you know, I do dairy, but and just like a nice sweet coffee flavor. It's like, it's delicious.

[Dave Weiner]

Can I have one now?

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Dave Weiner]

The problem is where do I get it? The problem, where do I get it?

[Guy Raz]

I know it's a problem you can't get in New York City. So here we go.

[Dave Weiner]

It sounds delicious.

[Guy Raz]

We're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, another caller, another question and another round of advice. I'm Guy Raz and we're answering your questions right here on the advice line on how I built this lab. As a founder, you're moving fast toward product market fit your next round or your first big enterprise deal. But with AI accelerating how quickly startups build and ship, security expectations are higher earlier than ever. Getting security and compliance right can unlock growth or if you wait too long, stall it. With deep integrations and automated workflows built for fast moving teams, Vanta gets you audit ready fast and keeps you secure with continuous monitoring as your models, infrastructure and customers evolve. Fast growing startups like LangChain, Rider and Cursor trusted Vanta to build a scalable foundation from the start. I love that over 10,000 companies from startups to huge enterprises, trust Vanta because it makes me trust them. Go to vanta.combilt to save $1,000 today through the Vanta for Startups program and join over 10,000ambitious companies already scaling with Vanta. That's V-A-N t a.combilt to save $1,000 for a limited time Ever had one of those afternoons where your brain just quits on you? You're sluggish, hangry, maybe even a little foggy. What if it's your glucose? See, glucose is an energy currency for your mind and body. When it's stable, you're on point. When it crashes, so can you. That's why Lingo is so interesting. Lingo is a glucose wearable designed to help you connect the dots between your glucose and what you eat, how you move and how you feel. It shows your glucose data in real time. Instead of guessing, you see the impact of your choices. Maybe that healthy snack is actually sending your glucose on a roller coaster, or that afternoon walk is the perfect stabilizer. It's about unlocking your consistent best all day long by truly understanding your body's unique responses. Get to know your glucose and learn about how to build healthy habits that work for you with Lingo, Designed for you by Abbott through November 30th use code GUY10 on Helolingo.com to get 10% off a lingo plan. Purchase one use per customer. This offer cannot be combined with other offers, US, Puerto Rico and UK only. The lingo glucose system is for users 18 years and older, not on insulin. It is not intended for diagnosis of diseases, including diabetes. Individual responses may vary. Hiring can be a nightmare, and I know this because I've been stuck looking for the perfect hire before, waiting for the right candidates to apply, sorting through resumes, trying to get in touch. It can all be so time consuming. Well, the future of hiring looks much brighter because ZipRecruiter's latest tools and features help speed up finding the right people for your roles so you save valuable time. And now you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com Bilt With ZipRecruiter's new features, it's easy to find qualified candidates in minutes, and when you see someone you're really interested in, you can get their contact info instantly. Over 320,000 new resumes are added to ZipRecruiter every month, which means you can reach more potential hires and fill roles sooner. Use ZipRecruiter and save time hiring 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And if you go to ziprecruiter.com bilt right now, you can try it for free again. That's ZipRecruiter.com Bilt ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire. Welcome back to the Advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz and my guest today is Priority Bicycles founder and CEO Dave Weiner. Dave, you ready for the next caller?

[Dave Weiner]

Let's do it.

[Guy Raz]

All right, let's bring in our next caller. Welcome to the Advice line. You're on with Dave Wiener from Priority Bicycles. Welcome. Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and just a little bit about your business.

[Alex Plant]

Hi, my name is Alex Plant. I'm calling from Buffalo, New York. I own Kinloch Farmstead, which is an organic lavender farm, barn, wedding venue, and small batch winery.

[Guy Raz]

Awesome. Thanks for calling in. So, Alex, first of all, where is Cambria, New York?

[Alex Plant]

So we are way upstate New York. We're north of Buffalo, so right on the Canadian border.

[Guy Raz]

Wow. And you grow lavender there?

[Alex Plant]

Yes, we do.

[Guy Raz]

Which is obviously growing right now. We're talking in the middle of the summer.

[Alex Plant]

Yeah, it's the season. Harvest season right now.

[Guy Raz]

It's the season. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about the business. Like you grow lavender and what else do you do. You do there on the farm?

[Alex Plant]

So we have a 30 acre farm. We grow lavender on part of it. We just started growing grapes and making wine as well.

[Guy Raz]

Nice.

[Alex Plant]

And most of the business is focused on hosting weddings. So we have a beautiful barn on the property where we host weddings and private events.

[Guy Raz]

And how, how long have you been running this business?

[Alex Plant]

We bought the farm in, well, the farmland in 2017 and we opened to the public in 2019. So seven years.

[Guy Raz]

And where did you, what were you doing before?

[Alex Plant]

So I came up with this business idea when I was living in Brooklyn. I was on maternity leave for my first child. I was working in advertising sales and I just couldn't foresee my life raising kids in Brooklyn, working long hours, commuting. So on maternity leave, I made this business plan to have a farm, which at that point wasn't feasible at all. I guess I just manifested it and it's kind of a marriage of. I grew up in the restaurant industry. My grandfather owned Scottish restaurants. So I grew up around weddings and catering. But also as a hobby, I would make a lot of, like, I had an Etsy shop. I made candles and lotions and stuff like that. So it was kind of a Marriage of the two things. And then cut to. We ended up moving to Buffalo. My husband was transferred for work and I was like, I'm buying a farm. I'm doing it.

[Guy Raz]

Wow.

[Alex Plant]

And here I am.

[Guy Raz]

And here you are. Okay, so you've got the farm and I'm assuming most of the revenue comes from events and weddings and things like that, Correct? Yeah, yeah. And tell me a little bit about how the business operates. Cause there's a lot of snow in the winter. So is it year round or what?

[Alex Plant]

Yeah, we are seasonal, so we're only open from May to October. And that was kind of a big part of the reason I wanted to do this business was to be around my kids more. So I thought at the time, oh, I'll have the winters off, I'll be with my family more. I'll make my own hours, It'll be flexible. So it was sort of a way to run my own business, but also be with my family more.

[Guy Raz]

And did that happen? Has that happened?

[Alex Plant]

At first it did, but now as I've grown and luckily become more successful and we're fully booked and making wine and selling out of products, I'm working all the time. And that's my big issue year round. Yeah. Because I'm so busy in the summer that I don't have time to get to some of the back end stuff like paperwork, employee stuff, pay. Like there's so much backend that I have to do in the winter.

[Guy Raz]

And give me a sense of. Of where you guys, I mean, are you. Are you doing over half a million a year, for example?

[Alex Plant]

Yeah, we're about half a million a year.

[Guy Raz]

And so. And what, what is the biggest sort of time suck for you? Because I mean, the answer often as well, bring a couple more people on to help you out and things like that. Yeah.

[Alex Plant]

So I have nine employees and I keep delegating things out, but somehow I'm still sucked in. So right now my biggest time suck is the weddings because, you know, brides and decorating and, you know, we provide the bar. And unfortunately in my situation, I really enjoy the farming aspect, which was shocking for even me. So I would rather be out in the fields, but I'm really sucked into the wedding piece the most.

[Guy Raz]

And so even though you've got nine people, it sounds like a lot of your time is spent managing those people and. Or products.

[Alex Plant]

Exactly. Having nine employees is its own job.

[Guy Raz]

Right. So it's a lot. Okay, so before we dive in, what's your question for us?

[Alex Plant]

My question is, as a small Business owner, when do you decide to stay small versus going the next step and really going bigger? Because right now there's so many opportunities for me to grow. Like our lavender products sell out all the time. We're fully booked with weddings, so it's so easy for me to scale. But I'm at a burnout point at this point and I never see my kids. So how do you kind of decide as a small business owner to just stay small or to go the next step and, you know, go all in?

[Guy Raz]

All right, lots to think about here. Dave Weiner, I want to bring you in. Great idea. Let's leave Brooklyn. Let's leave the high stress of Brooklyn and then we'll, you know, we'll have a more manageable, sustainable life. But actually, it sounds like Alex has recreated that same stress on the farm.

[Alex Plant]

Exactly.

[Dave Weiner]

I'm looking at the website and what a. A beautiful property you have. And I love how multifaceted your business is. You've got so many aspects to it, so no wonder you're stressed. There's a lot going on.

[Alex Plant]

Yeah.

[Dave Weiner]

You could certainly, if you wanted to, and I don't think you want to, you could just focus on the events and that would be fine. But it sounds like that you want to do more and that's exciting. And I think that there's no escaping the fact that when you operate a small business, it's hard and it's stressful. You need a big tolerance for stress, but you also need the vision of a pathway to grow to lessen the stress that you're currently experiencing. It sounds like most of your business today is in the event space, is that correct?

[Alex Plant]

Yes.

[Dave Weiner]

And you have nine people, which is something that's a lot. Is there a way to remove yourself from the event space so that you can focus on the products and start to grow? That the way that you've grown events?

[Alex Plant]

Yeah, that's. I mean, I'm considering hiring a manager to manage all the events. My hesitation with that is I have hired nine people and I'm at least trying to delegate to them and I still feel like I'm sucked in a lot. So I'm eager to grow and I'm excited about growth and expanding and scaling and selling our products online and stuff like that, but I feel worried that I'm just continuing to add more to my plate, you know?

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. I mean, management is one of the hardest things about running a strong business. Very, very hard. Right. And part of the challenge for founders is when you are a perfectionist and you listen you got weddings. This is the most important day of someone's life. And I imagine you take on a lot of stress around those weddings. You want it to be perfect because those families are expecting it to be perfect.

[Alex Plant]

Exactly.

[Guy Raz]

And so there's a lot of pressure. I would do a couple of exercises, and you've probably done versions of this. And what I would do is I would just run a test, right? Like list, list all of your revenue streams just on paper. Lavender, wedding wine, soap, whatever you have, right? And then for each one of those things, write, what is the percentage of the total revenue? And then the percentage of time or energy it takes you, the gross margin, and then how much joy each one of those things brings you. And it's not a perfect science, right, because time, energy and revenue can figure out gross margins. But the joy and stress is important, Right. If something is bringing you a lot of stress, but it's only bringing in 5% of revenue, maybe it's not worth doing. It sounds like I'm mainly hearing I kind of don't really want. Want this to continue to take over my life, Right?

[Alex Plant]

That's correct. I really like that idea of an exercise because that's something I definitely struggle with, is I created this business to be happy and be with my kids more. And I find I'm spending so much time with the weddings when I really enjoy making the products and I enjoy making the wine and the lavender, but that's where I get to spend the least amount of my time. So I like that exercise of kind of figuring out. And you were also right about being a perfectionist. So part of the reason I bottleneck every single wedding decision is because I'm a perfectionist and I'm too afraid to let go. So I guess I just have to kind of just swallow that pill.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, I mean, I think Dave and I think you can speak to this for sure, which is because I know I've spent time with you and your kids. And I mean, not every business should be scaled. And in fact, many, many businesses that I know of are far more successful than massively scaled businesses. They're profitable, they're sustainable, and they enable the founders, the owners, to have a sustainable lifestyle. Right. I mean, is turning this into a million dollar a year business or two million dollars a year business going to qualitatively improve your life? Probably not. I mean, I don't know. Only you can answer that question. Is it if you're doing 300,000 a year, but you have 30% of your time back, is that More worth it. And I think a lot of people might say yes in that case, if you can afford to do that. Right. I mean, that to me, lifestyle is definitely an important consideration when you're thinking about what to do with your business. Right. I mean, Dave, you. I think you have figured out how to manage that in a way that enables you to also be a parent and a dad and be present.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, that's a great point, Guy. When we started Priority, I was working every night, every weekend, and to Alex, you know, to what you're doing, making sure everything was perfect. It took until we got to a larger size that I could start to really hire the people that could take things off my plate and that I could say, I'm not going to micromanage this. I'm going to let them run with this. I hired the right people, they know what to do, and I'm going to monitor the data. The way that the guy's saying you need to set up the data and make sure it works and then monitor the data and hire the right people to do it. It sounds like you have a really successful, successful event planning business. You need to. If you want to grow the other side of the product business, you gotta find a way financially to hire the right person or people or promote the right person or people to do that work so that you can focus on the next version of the business and at the same time finding the important time to be a parent.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. And also I would add to that, Dave, that deciding to sort of pull back a little bit and slow things down doesn't mean you can't ramp it up again in the future. Right. You can still set out a goal to grow the business in a smart way, you know, with different kinds of help, with better pricing, with a certain plan for hiring and outsourcing. But you may not want to do that for two or three. How old are your kids now?

[Alex Plant]

Nine and seven.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. So you may not want to do that for a couple years. Look, soon I'm going to have kids out of the house. Right. My teenagers are going to be gone and I'm going to have a lot more time on my hands. So your priorities change and your time horizons change. And so it doesn't mean that you can't scale this up again. You can ramp it up. I'm sure there aren't a whole lot of places around you that are doing what you're doing. No, but it's probably worthwhile thinking. How do you keep it sustainable, manageable, and allow you to be A sane person. And like any parent, you probably want to spend time with your kids.

[Advertisement Voice]

Right?

[Alex Plant]

Yeah, I appreciate that. And I think just thinking about, I've just got excited over the last seven years and it's growing, it's growing and I've just kept going with it. And yeah, now here I am working seven days a week. So growth doesn't always necessarily mean more profit or more happiness. So I can just think about, think about my priorities.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, but focus, I would focus on, on what is sort of bringing in the revenue and how much time it takes, the margins on that and then how much stress it brings you, you know?

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah.

[Guy Raz]

And, and if you're looking at that and you're saying, okay, this just doesn't make, it's going to be clear what doesn't make sense. Yeah.

[Alex Plant]

All right, I appreciate it.

[Guy Raz]

Cool. The business is called Kinloch Farmstead. Alex Plant, thanks for calling in.

[Alex Plant]

Thank you.

[Guy Raz]

Good luck.

[Dave Weiner]

This is such a hard question. You know, as parents, our most meaningful investment is raising kind and capable children. And at the same time, as an entrepreneur, all you want to do is grow your business. And there's so much enjoyment in that. And it's a, it's a hard struggle.

[Guy Raz]

It's a hard struggle. And look, you know, I think when you're running a business that doesn't depend entirely on, you know, earning a certain amount, if you have the luxury and the ability to scale it back to have more time with your family, to me it's a no brainer.

[Dave Weiner]

Agreed.

[Guy Raz]

All right, we're gonna take another quick break, but we'll be right back with one more caller. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening to the advice line right here on How I Built this lab. Audible's romance collection has something to satisfy every side of you when it comes to what kind of romance you're into. You don't have to choose just one fancy. A dalliance with a duke or maybe a steamy billionaire. You could find a book boyfriend in the city and another one tearing it up on the hockey field. And if nothing on this earth satisfies, you can always find love in another realm. Discover modern rom coms from authors like Lily Chiu and Ali Hazelwood, the latest romantasy series from Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, plus Regency favorites like Bridgerton and Outlander, and of course, all the really steamy stuff. Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30 day trial at audible.com wondery that's audible.com wondery welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz and today I'm taking your calls with Priority Bicycles founder and CEO Dave Weiner. Dave, let's get back to it and take another call.

[Dave Weiner]

Put them on.

[Guy Raz]

All right, let's bring in our final caller. Welcome to the advice line. You're on with Dave Wiener. Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business.

[Advertisement Voice]

Hi, Guy. Hi, Dave. I'm Sabrina Garcia, the founder of Idaho Barkery and calling from Boise, Idaho. We make plant based hypoallergenic dog treats inspired by my own dog, Rocky, who has food allergies. Alongside our wholesale and online business, we also offer a customizable branding opportunity by stamping any logo or design onto a clean ingredient dog treat.

[Guy Raz]

Okay, welcome to the show. Thank you for calling in. Sabrina, what kind of dog do you have?

[Advertisement Voice]

I have a lab mix. I adopted him in 2019 and he's over 100 pounds.

[Guy Raz]

100 pounds?

[Advertisement Voice]

Yes.

[Guy Raz]

That's a big dog, man. My dog's 55 pounds. One of my dogs, my other one 10 pounds. Kiki is little, but our big dog is 55. Wow. And she's a powerful dog. So, okay, so these are dog treats that you make in Boise, Idaho. And tell me a little bit about that. You stamp them into shapes of a logo or you stamp the logo onto just like a round bone shape of the dog of the treat.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah, exactly. So we use an in house 3D printer to make custom dog stamps. Like you would imagine a cookie cutter. But it has a stamp on it as well, which allows us to make literally anything you can dream of. So any logo, any design.

[Guy Raz]

And what's the shape of the dog trees? Is it round? Is it square?

[Advertisement Voice]

It can be anything. Yeah.

[Guy Raz]

Oh, I see. It can be anything you can stamp out from. I'm thinking like sugar cookies. You can just create a stamp.

[Advertisement Voice]

Exactly.

[Guy Raz]

Custom made stamps. So it could say like Tesla or Coca Cola. Like you could just have dog treats in the shape of those logos. Oh, that's cool. And tell me how you start. Like, tell me how this business started.

[Advertisement Voice]

So I started this business in 2020 as a side hustle, again, really for my own dog who has significant food allergies, I found a recipe that really worked for him. Very minimal ingredient, very clean, didn't have any meat product in it. And my friends started to love it so much that I started to offer it at farmer's markets and kind of grew from there. Now Offering it in wholesale businesses in Idaho.

[Guy Raz]

And what was your main hustle at the time?

[Advertisement Voice]

I'm a pharmacist.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. Okay, tell me what I'm looking at the website. So you've got peanut butter flavor, you've got pumpkin flavor, Is that right? Those two flavors?

[Advertisement Voice]

Yep, just those two flavors. So we really try to capitalize on the customizable ability of making dog treats and keep our recipes really simple.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. These are vegan dog treats.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yes.

[Guy Raz]

Wow. Who. I didn't. I've heard that pumpkin is good for dogs.

[Advertisement Voice]

It is.

[Guy Raz]

I didn't know about peanut butter.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah, it's a great protein source as well, the peanut butter.

[Guy Raz]

Ah, I see. Okay, so tell me before we dive in further, tell me what your question is for us.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah, so we've actually seen a big demand locally from some dog friendly hotels and resorts for custom dog treats. And we'd really love to lean into this side of the business because it seems to be what our customers are asking for. So my question is, what strategies do you recommend to help us identify and connect with larger corporate brands or hospitality groups that might want custom branded dog treats?

[Guy Raz]

Got it. And just to be clear, you're selling this only direct to consumer through your website right now.

[Advertisement Voice]

So we actually sell wholesale. So through we have about 65 stores in Idaho that we sell through. We also sell online and then we have a bunch of partners who are like local resorts that are dog friendly in Sun Valley that want just something that's unique for their dogs that visit the hotels.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. Okay, cool. Dave Wiener, I want to bring you in here. I don't think you don't have, you're in New York City, you don't have any dogs. It's hard to have dogs in New York City unless they're tiny.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, I wish we did, but no yard means no dog for us. Yeah, but you know, I really. Sabrina, what a. I'm looking at the website. What a great product in terms of the health of the dog and the customizable aspect. I mean, I love what you're doing. The first thing that comes to my mind when I'm looking at this is the journey we went on when we started selling to consumers and then hotels became very interested. Now between hotels and corporate campuses, we have over 1,000 locations using our bikes, which is amazing. It's an amazing revenue stream. And in addition to an amazing way for consumers to learn about our product in these hotels or corporate campuses. The first step for us, it took us a while to figure this out was we had A website sort of like yours, where we sold to consumers and we sold to corporate campuses and hotels. And at some point we realized that our website was very consumer focused and that a hotel buyer, for example, or a corporate campus buyer was going to Google or whatever search engine. And they were looking for a different, they were looking for different keywords. They were looking for fleet bicycles, not low maintenance commuter bicycles. And so where our website was doing very well in the giant algorithms of SEO out there for consumer bikes, we were not doing really well for fleet bicycles. And so the answer that really helped our fleet business was to create a whole new website we have. It's Priority Fleet bicycles dot com.

[Guy Raz]

That's amazing.

[Dave Weiner]

And that website talks to fleet buyers, whereas our core website talks to consumers. There's a little link in there that says, hey, interested in fleet? Click here. But they're two totally different landing places and the extra expense to do that is not significant. And now you start to get into the algorithm so much differently and you can speak to the different buyers.

[Guy Raz]

I think that's such an interesting. So basically she's got Idaho Barkery for consumers who want to buy the product. And I have some feedback for you on your website. But then she has a separate one that's really for corporate clients who want to do custom branded dog treats for their employees or their clients or something like that.

[Dave Weiner]

That's it.

[Advertisement Voice]

That's amazing. I love that feedback.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's such a good point, Dave, because you have, I mean, one of the secrets of your success has been putting priority bikes everywhere. I mean, I go to hotels and I. It's just like amazing how they're, you know, when bikes have, when hotels have bikes to lend out to their guests, it's almost, I'm almost always seeing priority bikes and that's just an amazing sort of promotional opportunity.

[Dave Weiner]

That's it. It's great for the brand and it's great for sale. So you just got to figure out how to talk to those two different buyers differently.

[Guy Raz]

Sabrina, one thing, a couple thoughts for you. I'm looking at your website here and then if you click. And again, I agree with Dave. If you can separate those two things, it would make a lot of sense. You know, just a completely different way. Maybe call it Idaho Barkeri custom treats. I don't know, something or maybe even on this website have a big button that says, are you a company that is looking for a cool opportunity logo? I don't know, something like that. Obviously you want to go. If you're looking to work with bigger Brands you want to think of aligned brands like are there pet friendly hotel chains? I think there are. There must be out there. Are there pet friendly coworking spaces out there? You know what are some brands that are big brands that are notable for being pet pet friendly? Like are there any airlines known for being more pet friendly? Maybe they're interested in working with you. You know subscription box companies like Bark. Wouldn't Bark love to sell bark branded or, or maybe give away bark branded dog treats to customers as a gift. I, I would target 10 to 15 brands that you really want to buy be in business with. Right. That are really just are going to have some kind of alignment with dogs. Right. And you find out who is the buyer or who's the brand manager or who are, who is the partnerships manager there not hard to find by doing some searches on LinkedIn and you make a custom box for them. You, you make raising canes logos, you punch them out and you send them a box with pre made. I mean I'm not saying I want you to do this but people will send me stuff with how I built this logos on their things and it always catches my attention. Right. And so you mail it to them with a note and you follow up a week or two later. I mean that is going to catch someone's eye and if it's not going to cost you that much to 3D print one of these logos. I would just go for it. I would just try it and see. You know, start with 10 companies you want to target and see what happens.

[Advertisement Voice]

I love that idea and I can think of so many brands right now that are dog friendly that we could send custom treats to. So thank you for that advice.

[Dave Weiner]

And Sabrina, you can even start with an email. You know for us we often start with an email that is a mock up, a photorealistic of what their custom bike would look like with their colors and their logo and that's effective. Now if you can send a heavy mailer that's always the best. But the cost of producing the mold and producing the product can get there. If you can start with the bag, what the bag would look like and what the treat would look like and just email that out. I think it would catch a lot of eyes especially these hotels that are dog friendly and say this would be the treat in your. In each room.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah, right. Giving them a visual that makes sense.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, yeah. I mean it's such an interesting idea. I don't think anyone's doing something like this. It seems like a really interesting opportunity. So I would start there and let us know how it goes.

[Advertisement Voice]

I appreciate the advice.

[Guy Raz]

Sabrina Garcia of Idaho Barkeri, thanks for calling in.

[Advertisement Voice]

Thank you, Dave.

[Guy Raz]

By the way, do you guys have like, are some of the hotels you work with like Nomad or some of these hotels, do they ever kind of want their logos or their branding on the bikes as well or like certain colors?

[Dave Weiner]

Every single hotel wants, at minimum their logos. But, but we also do custom paint almost every day and we can do blends of paint and multiple colors and switch out tires and grips. And we really try to specialize the bike. Customize the bike into whatever the hotel's identity is.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Dave Weiner]

So it can make their guests feel special and then of course, be a low maintenance bicycle ride. So the bike is very reliable while the guest is on their experience.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's cool. I know your guys are at like Le Meridian hotels. I've seen that one. I stayed with that one in Santa Monica a couple years ago. You're there and I think you're in a bunch of hotels in Santa Monica, understandably, because people can ride right to the beach. And it just makes sense, right, that they're going to have their kind of branding on your bikes. And it makes sense for both, both parties. It's a great, it's just a great collaboration.

[Dave Weiner]

Total win, both sides.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. Dave, before I let you go, quick question for you that I ask every guest who comes on, which is now that you have all this experience under your belt, not just with bicycles, but your previous experience as a CEO of a small tech company and you know all the challenges there. If you go back when you were starting priority, right when you were about to start the Kickstarter and it was just stressful and you could, you could give yourself some insight or some advice or some wisdom, what would have been helpful for you to know that you now know?

[Dave Weiner]

Guy, I think that earlier in my career I felt a strong need to be right, to have the best ideas, the sharpest insights, get the final word, especially with coming out with an underdog company. I believe that being right was the way you showed your value. Over time. I learned in business and being an entrepreneur that being right isn't always the best and isn't. It's sometimes the most knowledgeable and the most confident leaders are the first to admit that they don't know the right answer or that they're even wrong. I think effective leaders know when to slow down, when to listen deeply and understand all the perspectives before acting. And I think that shift for me, from needing to be right, to instead striving to get it right has made me a better teammate, a better leader, and a better entrepreneur.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's awesome. It's really, really, it's good advice. That's Priority Bicycles founder and CEO Dave Weiner. Dave, thanks so much.

[Dave Weiner]

It's a pleasure to be on with you, Guy.

[Guy Raz]

So great having you. And by the way, if you haven't heard Dave's original How I Built this episode, please go back and check it out. It's a really great story. Starts with Kickstarter. I mean, a Kickstarter brand. It's awesome. You can find a link to it in the podcast description. And here is one of my favorite moments from that interview. Now you're a full year into the business, right? August of 2015.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah.

[Guy Raz]

And you had that really successful initial Kickstarter, but a year later, not much, not much action.

[Dave Weiner]

Yeah, the classic bike was still doing well. So I knew that we had a win that could carry the company, though it couldn't carry me. Yeah, and now I'm pretty deep. I have one successful product. I have one unsuccessful product. I know that the way I can grow this business is simple in theory and hard hardened reality. I need to have a bike that changes everything.

[Guy Raz]

Hey, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. And by the way, please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for [e-mail] or on substack. And of course, if you're working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one minute message that tells us a little bit about your business and the questions or issues you are currently facing because we would love to try and help you solve them. You can send us a voice [e-mail] or call us at 1-800-433-1298. You can leave a message there and make sure to tell us how to reach you. And by the way, we'll put all of this in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Carla Estevez with music composed by Ramtini Rabloui. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our engineers were Maggie Luthar and James Willits. Our production staff also includes Alex Chung, Elaine Coates, Neva Grant, Casey Herman, Chris Masini, Sam Paulson, Kathryn Seifer, Carrie Thompson and Rommel Wood. I'm Guy Raz and you've been listening to the advice line on how I built this lab. If you like how I built this, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.