Tell us more about Enventys Partners? What is your role at the company?
Enventys Partners is the industry’s leading full-service, turnkey product launch agency. They combine start-to-finish, all-encompassing product development services with digital marketing expertise to create innovative products and bring them to market. As a global leader in product development and marketing with offices spanning the globe, Enventys Partners designs, prototypes, manufactures, fulfills, crowdfunds, and markets new products and startup businesses. Enventys Partners has raised more than $350 million for clients through crowdfunding and has been involved in the development, prototyping, launching, and/or marketing of over 2,500 products. For more than 20 years, clients have utilized the agency’s combined services to take their consumer product from napkin sketch to production. For more information, visit https://enventyspartners.com/.
I’m the co-founder and President of Enventys Partners.
We assume as a top digital marketing agency, your company gets a lot of inbound inquiries from product brands wanting you to represent them. What are the key things you look for? What are the red flags that cause you to turn down a potential client?
Enventys Partners is in a unique position, as we’re able to work with products in a variety of verticals, and at various stages in their business. We look for clients with truly innovative ideas. For us, there aren’t necessarily red flags, but opportunities to engage with potential clients on their journeys once we know where they are. If a client comes to us with an idea alone, we can help them vet it, produce prototypes and take it to market. If they want to improve an existing product, we can do that. If they need help only on the marketing side, we’ve got a team of experts ready to engage.
COVID-19 has shaken up the retail world. We assume it also changed the way brands launch on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. How do you see the rewards-based crowdfunding industry changing? What advice would you give to a product start-up who is thinking about launching their idea on Kickstarter or Indiegogo today?
Rewards-based crowdfunding has weathered the pandemic remarkably well. Part of this is because backers for crowdfunding campaigns are accustomed to waiting for the rewards themselves to be fulfilled. We’ve seen a number of creators bring ideas to crowdfunding for pandemic-related items including masks. I think product start-ups that are forward-thinking will always find room for success in crowdfunding.
We have noticed fewer overall projects, but that’s more a reflection of the overall economic climate we’re all facing.
I see on Linkedin that you run ProductHype & host the Art of the Kickstart podcast and are on a number of advisory boards. Love to learn more about these roles but more importantly, where do you find the time?
ProductHype is the leading newsletter in crowdfunding. With more than 300,000 active members in our community, we’ve helped crowdfunding campaigns raise more than $175 million over the past 4 years.
In 2015, I acquired Art of the Kickstart and took over the day-to-day operations of the podcast. Art of the Kickstart helps creators navigate the world of crowdfunding. With over 300 episodes, we know that it can be overwhelming to a first-time creator, so by interviewing those who’ve done it, I can help future creators see success.
Managing these properties, and time on advisory boards all around the globe is important to me. I make the time for it because it helps me keep a pulse on what’s happening in a variety of entrepreneurial and innovative circles. I love the entrepreneurial spirit and am energized by meeting with and talking with passionate entrepreneurs who have exciting ideas. It doesn’t feel like work.
What do you like about working with Retailbound? How is Retailbound different from other agencies that you and your clients have worked with before?
Retailbound is great to work with for a number of reasons. When we have a client who makes it to the end of a campaign, it’s important to bring in the right additional partners to help them scale. Our team can certainly handle many of the marketing, manufacturing and production aspects, but we’d never be so bold as to say we can handle “everything.” That’s simply not the case. Retailbound’s team of experts and relationships help our clients achieve their goals of inking deals with retail chains. This is supplemental to what we’re doing on the inbound marketing side.
Retailbound shares the same mission as Enventys Partners – to help our clients succeed. First, in crowdfunding, then in their transition to retail.
