Meet the Guest 

This week’s guest is Kevin Mako, whose life goal is to build optimistic, world-changing businesses, constantly learn, support his family, be surrounded by virtuous friends and colleagues, and give back to education. His design firm aims to take sophisticated, senior-grade physical product design and apply this to hardware startups. Whether they are inventions that are electronics or non-electronics, as long as they are consumer marketable, they are a contender for Mako Design Firm.

Mako Design Firm

Kevin started Mako Design Firm 28 years ago when he found that getting a product from design to production was almost impossible on your own as an entrepreneur. So with his idea of making the design process through production from big brands and applying them to startups, Kevin started talking to people in the industry. 

While not getting a positive response because the big businesses didn’t want to deal with startups, Kevin didn’t stop pushing forward with his idea. After going through college, he was offered many jobs. However, Kevin wanted to build his dream, helping startups design to production.

Discover how he has grown his company organically without debt or financing using client value, why customer service is the one item you can do cheaply and exceptionally well, and what he considers his most distinct personal brand attribute.

Here’s your highlight guide to the episode:

[01:40] Kevin’s journey to building Mako Design + Invent.

[06:40] His first two early inventions that started his entrepreneurial journey.

[10:05] Kevin reviews each one of his organic business’s growth phases.

[19:41] How his personal brand has helped his business grow.

[27:38] The deciding factor for Kevin to take on a client. 

Quotes

“A painpoint someone has in their life is the best source of ideation.”

“Innovation comes from people, not from big corporate.”

“I focused on one core offering – design to production for hardware startups.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

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