Entrepreneur Q&A: Doug Burgoyne of FROGBOX
institute B: What drove you to create FROGBOX?
Doug Burgoyne: My business partner and I had been searching for a business to create for a while. Our approach was very methodical. We met weekly to discuss businesses that we admired and worked backwards to extract the reasons we liked those businesses. A few themes kept popping up. First was a high level of customer service. Second was the ability to offer a product or service that is better than alternatives for the environment. Third was the potential to build a cool brand that would easily enable word-of-mouth marketing. Using those themes as our guide, we went looking for problems we could solve with a company that met all three criteria.
With FROGBOX we embraced those three characteristics. FROGBOX is the convenient, affordable and eco friendly alternative to cardboard moving boxes. Customer service is a huge focus for us. We know that reusing FROGBOXES is better for the environment than using cardboard boxes. And we think we created a cool brand that is easy to talk about!
iB: How did you know it was going to work?
DB: We didn’t! We thought it was a no brainer for people moving, but we wanted to test it in the market before jumping in completely. My partner and I both held full-time jobs for the first year in business. We worked on FROGBOX evenings and weekends. After year one, we realized the business was viable and scalable, so I quit my full time job to put all my effort into growing the business.
iB: And what lessons do you have for fellow entrepreneurs through your experience.
DB: First, it’s very helpful if you’re passionate about the business you start – it will consume nearly every waking hour and lots of sleeping hours as well.
Second, understand the size of the market for your product or service – I see lots of entrepreneurs fail to understand the big picture of market size.
Third, learn how to remove your personal biases and put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Understand that even though you’re passionate about the business you may not be the target market –that’s a tough thing for entrepreneurs to do.
Guest blogger: Doug Burgoyne, founder of Frogbox.