The Story
Casey Holiday is the co-founder and president of Qalo, a company that has sold over $100 million worth of silicone wedding rings. He went from working at a restaurant, living in his mom's house, to building a $30 million company - all from a simple problem he and his business partner Ted both experienced.
Casey moved to LA to become an actor but ended up bartending at a restaurant in Beverly Hills where Ted was the manager. Both had just gotten married and realized they were experiencing the same problem: traditional wedding rings were a pain. You take them off at the gym, playing golf, doing anything active - and constantly lose them.
They searched for a silicone alternative and found nothing existed. Despite having zero business experience, they decided to give it a shot. Ted had savings, Casey had time and energy. They crashed a meeting with a manufacturer at a fancy hotel and asked: "Can you make these out of silicone?" The answer was yes.
Key Insights
The Devastating Start
- •Emptied their savings accounts for the first batch of inventory
- •Casey was so broke he didn't look at his bank account
- •Moved in with his mom; his wife slept in their Fiat in the restaurant parking lot
- •When the rings arrived: the product quality was awful, every ring unsellable
- •Solution: Hand-trimmed 50,000 rings with eyebrow scissors while watching all 6 seasons of Lost
The Viral Moment
- •Sent a ring to Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals QB) through his wife
- •Months later: HBO's Hard Knocks featured 10 minutes about Andy wearing the rubber ring
- •"We could not have sent him a script that was a better way of articulating our positioning"
- •Next day: 3-4x sales, orders lined up all the way to the end of the house
Scaling the Business
- •Casey quit the restaurant to go full-time (Ted said they couldn't afford it)
- •Recognized they were first movers - had to go fast before competitors with more money crushed them
- •Grew to 13 people in a 200 sq ft office
- •Eventually: $30 million revenue, ~100 employees, 20% profit margin
The Philosophy
On Starting
- •"You don't really know what you don't know"
- •Best way to learn: talk to people who know what you don't
- •Focus on being better as a company, not bigger
On Fear of Judgment
- •"We are so concerned with other people's perception that it paralyzes us"
- •"It's really freeing to realize that people actually aren't thinking about you at all"
- •"You're being selfish by NOT solving the problem you know people have"
Key Advice
"Communicate the problem you're solving. Determine the product to solve it. Even if it's terrible, focus on getting it to customers instead of making it perfect. Talk to as many customers as possible about how to make it better."