So a couple of months ago a saw a friend in class with one of this things, "looks cool" I thought, some days later my girlfriend tells me she wants to buy one, "hmm that's a coincidence" I reckoned. Now, I live right next to San Diego, so this may be a Cali trend, but my God, I began to watch this water bottles EVERYWHERE
I shit you not, it seems that everywhere I go, someone is carrying one of these, and its getting worse every time. Since these water bottles seemed to me to appear out of nowhere to become the latest trend, I decided to dig a little deeper, first thing I find out, they are EXPENSIVE (between $30 and $60). This caught me off guard, how did this guys manage to sell so much, at a more expensive price, and become so popular in a market that I always viewed as saturated?
I continued with my research. As it turns out, the company uses an old technology used in thermos called "double wall insulation" that makes the contents of the water bottle remain cold for 24 hrs or hot for 6 hrs. It also appears that they are famous for their colorful designs and their products include a life long warranty.
This is all very nice, however I still find myself scratching my head wondering how did this guys pulled this off. I see the value skew (having your beverage remain hot/cold for extended periods time, cool designs, life-long warranty) but I still can't seem to connect the dots for almost 50% increased price and an explosive popularity. Perhaps the lesson here is that, as always, the market has the final word, and that maybe you should not throw away an idea based on your personal view on it (I wouldn't buy this / I wouldn't use it/ Its not good enough / etc...) but you should rather present it to the market and let it decide.
On a side note..
I also researched about the founder, Travis Rosbach, and this guy is an absolute Fastlane success!!! . He sold Hydro Flask 7 years after he founded it for $210 million. Started the company in his 30's, did not know anything about manufacturing of water bottles at the time, had to move back with her mother to pay for the first batch of hydro flasks, his then wife and co-funder leaved him while they were running the company and he persevered, I think that's the smell of process..
Anyway, what do you guys think? Was the value skew on the core components of the product?, the designs?, the marketing? All of it? What valuable lessons did you get from this? I would love to hear about it!
I shit you not, it seems that everywhere I go, someone is carrying one of these, and its getting worse every time. Since these water bottles seemed to me to appear out of nowhere to become the latest trend, I decided to dig a little deeper, first thing I find out, they are EXPENSIVE (between $30 and $60). This caught me off guard, how did this guys manage to sell so much, at a more expensive price, and become so popular in a market that I always viewed as saturated?
I continued with my research. As it turns out, the company uses an old technology used in thermos called "double wall insulation" that makes the contents of the water bottle remain cold for 24 hrs or hot for 6 hrs. It also appears that they are famous for their colorful designs and their products include a life long warranty.
This is all very nice, however I still find myself scratching my head wondering how did this guys pulled this off. I see the value skew (having your beverage remain hot/cold for extended periods time, cool designs, life-long warranty) but I still can't seem to connect the dots for almost 50% increased price and an explosive popularity. Perhaps the lesson here is that, as always, the market has the final word, and that maybe you should not throw away an idea based on your personal view on it (I wouldn't buy this / I wouldn't use it/ Its not good enough / etc...) but you should rather present it to the market and let it decide.
On a side note..
I also researched about the founder, Travis Rosbach, and this guy is an absolute Fastlane success!!! . He sold Hydro Flask 7 years after he founded it for $210 million. Started the company in his 30's, did not know anything about manufacturing of water bottles at the time, had to move back with her mother to pay for the first batch of hydro flasks, his then wife and co-funder leaved him while they were running the company and he persevered, I think that's the smell of process..
Travis Rosbach speaks about Hydro Flask at Berkeley Forum event
Hydro Flask co-founder Travis Rosbach spoke about his journey and intended purpose for the water bottles at a Berkeley Forum event Tuesday.
www.dailycal.org
Anyway, what do you guys think? Was the value skew on the core components of the product?, the designs?, the marketing? All of it? What valuable lessons did you get from this? I would love to hear about it!
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