Genius “Kitchen Safe” idea To Curb His Cookie Addiction → $150K/Month

Hello Rebels,

🏖️ Creative Entrepreneur fun one-liner:

Why do entrepreneurs love the jungle? Because it's full of wild and untapped opportunities!”

Onto Today’s story….

David Krippendorf had put on extra weight from snacking on junk food.

He was unable to stop eating junk food.

So he invented a product called the Kitchen Safe, to lock his food and the safe couldn’t be opened for some time.

Customers loved it and now he is making 150k/Month

Here is how he did it.

David Krippendorf a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio had put on some extra pounds from snacking on junk food.

He was facing a personal struggle - he couldn't stop snacking.

Despite his best efforts and attempts by his wife Jenny to hide the snacks, David kept finding his way into the cookie jar.

He knew he needed to get control of his junk food cravings that had caused him to gain weight.

After years of playing "hide and seek" with treats around the house,

David, had an idea - what if there was a container that locked away snacks that he couldn't access until a timer went off?

But he kept telling himself that he is not capable and the idea may not work.

His idea sat dormant for years until one day he realized how years have passed away and his dream was still unfulfilled.

He realized that if he didn’t commit to making it happen, he would look back and regret it.

So, he made the commitment to making the Kitchen Safe a reality.

David didn't have any experience building a product or starting a business.

He connected with his college classmate Ryan Tseng, who was good at design.

Ryan helped him with the design of the initial prototypes.

Creating an effective product took months of iteration.

Originally David considered adding an override function or reset button but realized these features would undermine the integrity of the lock.

David also began building out the rest of the Kitchen Safe business.

This involved securing the domain name, creating a Shopify online store, hiring a photographer, and developing the website and branding.

The initial site was basic but critical to start bringing in customers and feedback.

Since they didn’t have enough money to hire professionals, they hired a person from Craigslist to take photos of their product.

It was all done within a budget of $500 in less than a week.

He then started a kickstarter campaign, which went successful.

This validated there was demand and he got some money upfront too.

He then started producing his products.

David says, A great product and great customer experience is the best form of marketing.

A product that is fun, effective and simple to use and works well makes people happy, he adds.

The Kitchen Safe was the world's first time-lock container and was designed to help people avoid junk food and other temptations.

The users simply placed an item in the Kitchen Safe, closed the lid, and set the timer.

Once the timer is set, and the button is pressed, they are locked out!

The safe remains locked and cannot be opened until the timer reaches zero.

There are no overrides or secret back-doors - once it’s locked, it’s locked!

The timer can be set in one minute increments for up to 10 days.

With the Kitchen Safe, they need to only muster 10 seconds of will-power, to put items in the container, in order to avoid snacking for an entire week.

Positive word-of-mouth spread and Kitchen Safe saw exponential growth.

David made it a priority to respond to every customer inquiry.

This earned him loyal followers, even when occasional shipping mishaps occurred.

They also received a lot of press due to their unique and interesting concept.

It was featured on Time Magazine, USA Today, Today Show, Good Morning America, Shark Tank and a host of others.

The product was called "brilliant", “life changing” and “a smart cookie jar”.

The key to great press, they found, was to be responsive.

When someone from the press reached out to them, the team behind Kitchen Safe was always ready to send a free sample and answer any questions.

This generated rave reviews and consequently went viral.

For their website, they initially just started with pictures of the product.

But slowly step by step they improved it.

Now it has pictures of people using it, shows some of the features, explains uses, answers common questions, and shows off the great press they received.

They made several improvements including a complete redesign.

David says … “The best way to start is to start. What I mean by this is, open for business.”

“Our website wasn’t anything special, but it got us going. Over time, we learned what worked well and what didn’t.”

They also did google Ads, which proved effective to bring in more customers.

People started asking them for bigger sizes to lock their iPads, video games and remotes.

They introduced two more sizes of Medium and XL.

They started getting orders from other countries too.

Sales continued to increase.

Now they are making $150k/Month

David built his simple yet genius invention into a million dollar business through tenacity and customer obsession.

David says… “The secret is that no one knows how to start a company until they start a company.

We all learn best by doing. So, if you want to start a company, then start a company!”

He adds…

“Apple started with a couple of guys making the computers by hand (that’s true, you can look it up). So, don’t worry about every step, just start with Step #1, then once finished go to Step #2, and with hard work and luck, you’ll build a great company!”

8 reasons why he succeeded

1. He went ahead even though he felt incapable

• David's idea sat dormant for years because he kept doubting his capabilities.

• He knew he would regret at the end of his life for not fulfilling his dream.

• He finally committed to making the Kitchen Safe happen even though he had no experience.

2. Recognized his own problem as a business opportunity

• David struggled for years to control his junk food cravings

• He realized a timed lock container could help people like himself

• Identifying this unmet consumer need was the genesis of his business

3. Validate demand before going all in

• David validated demand via a Kickstarter campaign with a $500 budget

• The campaign enabled him to see if people were interested in paying for the idea

• It also generated some upfront money to put towards creating his product.

4. Zero cost marketing

• They leveraged press coverage in Time, USA Today instead of buying ads

• Responded quickly with free samples to press inquiries.

• Viral growth occurred when journalists described it as "brilliant" and “life changing”.

5. Took a start and improve approach to build his biz.

• David started with a barebones web site just showing product pictures

• This enabled him to quickly start bringing in revenue

• Then he incrementally improved his website based on customer’s testimonials and reviews and Press coverage.

6. Solving a real problem

• David built the Kitchen Safe to address his own struggle with junk food cravings

• The elegant, user-friendly solution resonated with customers as it solved a real problem

• Positive word-of-mouth and press coverage were natural byproducts of a great product

7. Expanded his products thoughtfully based on customer demand

• Customers wanted larger sizes, for their iPads, gaming devices and remotes.

• Based on this customer feedback, David introduced 2 new expanded sizes

• A medium and an XL size, which brought in additional revenue.

8. Didn’t let his money problems stop him

• Instead of a professional photoshoot, he hired someone cheap from Craigslist

• The $500 budget delivered good enough photos within a week

• Instead of Ads, he focused on free press coverage

🍹

Hope you liked the story and the tactics which made them successful.

Let the good times roll for you!.

Yours “Rooting for your success” Vijay Peduru