Josh Williams and Eric Prum are the co-founders of @wandpdesign.
Q. Why did you decide to start your company? A. We co-founded W&P Design together in 2012 to create a platform that would allow us to create truly unique products in the food and beverage world. Unlike a traditional design company, we wanted to handle every step of a product’s life, from the spark of an idea through to a landed product on a store’s shelf.
Q. When did you know you were onto something special? A. We launched our company with one unique product on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter: The Mason Shaker. We were asking for $5,000 for the initial tooling for manufacturing and received approx. $75,000 from almost 2,000 backers. This overwhelming reception gave us confidence that there was an audience for our type of innovations in the food and beverage world.
Q. What has been the most difficult part of growing your business? A. One of the hardest parts of going from startup to a large® business as a founder is learning to let go. From day one as the founder (or in our case co-founders) you are responsible for doing everything. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. Over time, you have to move from just doing to managing, and that process of letting go of the things you normally do yourself can be difficult for a Type A, get-things-done founder.
Q. What’s one thing you wish you’d known before starting your business? A. Your business will become your life and as a founder, you can’t fight that. People talk about work-life balance, but we view it as more work-life integration. If you love what you do, it becomes your life and that’s ok, just make sure that whatever business you start you’re ready for it to be an ever-present pillar of your life.
Q. What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received? A. “You will be continually humbled by learning what you do not know.” What advice do you have for entrepreneurs when facing adversity? It’s cliché but true: the moments that define you and your company are moments of adversity. It’s on you to rise above in those moments, and how you handle that stress and difficulty will trickle down to everyone else. (📷: @sgbleicher) via Instagram http://ift.tt/2hpEozy