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His house burned down. He used the insurance money to build PopSockets.

1 month 2 weeks ago

Does a consumer hardware company need to get on the VC treadmill to succeed? Eleven years and 290 million products sold across 115 countries later, PopSockets has proven that the bootstrapped, low-dilution path more viable than the industry gives it credit for. The global consumer hardware brand was built on less than $500k, no institutional capital, and a philosophy professor’s determination.  Watch as founder and former CEO […]

Theresa Loconsolo

How PopSockets broke the VC-backed consumer hardware mold

1 month 2 weeks ago

Does a consumer hardware company need to get on the VC treadmill to succeed? Eleven years and 290 million products sold across 115 countries later, PopSockets has proven that the bootstrapped, low-dilution path more viable than the industry gives it credit for. The global consumer hardware brand was built on less than $500k, no institutional capital, and a philosophy professor’s determination.  On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Dominic-Madori Davis […]

Dominic-Madori Davis, Theresa Loconsolo

The Brands That Stay Closest To Customer Problems Win

1 month 2 weeks ago

Decades ago, in the annals of advertising agency history, BBDO had an approach to creating winning communications. It was called The Four Point Process. The Four Point Process was a really big deal because, at the time, ad agencies had the best, most innovatively profitable research departments in town. The Four Point process made use of BBDO’s groundbreaking – and since widely-copied – Problem Detection Study. On the surface, the BBDO Four Point Process seems...

Joan Kiddon

15 Hidden East Coast Towns Perfect for Slow Travel (2026)

1 month 2 weeks ago

Picture this: You’re sitting on a porch rocker watching boats drift by. The café owner just remembered your coffee order. You have nowhere to be for the next three hours. And for the first time in months, you’re not checking your phone. That’s slow travel. And it’s changed how we explore the East Coast. We’ve personally visited all 15 destinations in this guide. Here’s what we learned: the best travel memories don’t happen when you’re racing between attractions. They happen […]

The post 15 Hidden East Coast Towns Perfect for Slow Travel (2026) appeared first on Better Living.

Heather

Revive, Reframe, Or Retire: The Strategic Choices For Memory Brands

1 month 2 weeks ago

I have a special spot in my heart for Memory Brands, because I have worked on so many of them and found them to be rather misunderstood. Memory brands are not smaller benchmark brands. They have high awareness. They have distribution. They often have decades of household penetration under their belts. This is comparable to benchmark brands. What they lack is active relevance, which a benchmark often has. They are remembered. They are not chosen...

Sweta Kannan

The Hidden Risk Of A Strong Brand Halo

1 month 2 weeks ago

For years of working with organizations to refine and implement vision and core values, I’ve told the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol story. You’ve probably heard it. In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area mysteriously died after consuming Tylenol. An investigation quickly revealed the victims’ capsules had been laced with cyanide, with no indication of how widespread the threat was. The manufacturer of Tylenol, the legendary company Johnson & Johnson, took no chance. They pulled...

Robert Glazer