Hustler Series: The Premise
02: The Premise
This project started out as a simple question. “Why isn’t there a brand of locally made smartphone cases?” After researching the production costs, the market potential, and the anticipated competition, I didn’t really have an answer. It just seemed like a niche that no one had knocked out of the park yet. And, given my skillset and product design experience, I thought I could be that person who finally answers the question: is the niche simply unprofitable or has its potential just been overlooked?
This series will detail exactly how I’ve tried to answer the question. How I went from “there might be something here” to “this can be much bigger than just a simple phone case.” The deeper I went into answering the question, the more opportunity I saw. Not only the opportunity to create a business, but the opportunity to create a business that gives back to the community. And most importantly, an opportunity to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to work hard towards achieving their own goals.
So with the underlying premise out of the way, here’s a brief intro to who I am and what this product is about. This is all the background info you should need before the series really gets underway in the next post.
Who am I? I’m a designer. I started as a UX/UI designer in high school making iPhone themes then went to college and studied mechanical engineering and art so I could design physical products. In 2015 I graduated from college, moved to Silicon Valley, and started working at a product design consultancy shortly after. Though I’m only 24, I’m comfortable doing everything from communication design to detailed engineering thanks to my broad experiences. That’s why I’m able to execute this product launch as a one-man team and why I can show you exactly what it takes to do so. Please check out the rest of my website if you want to learn more about me or my experience.
What is the product? The product is an iPhone X case. I’ll go into more detail in a future post about why that particular phone was chosen for the first product launch. But the case itself is made from high quality materials and 100% designed and manufactured in America. It was designed to be an exceptional product that’s also locally made.
What is the business called? Hez Cases. The goal is to sell honest, hard-working cases and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to work hard towards accomplish their goals. I’ll go into more detail about where the name came from and the branding in a future post.
What’s the business model? Hez Cases will be an online retailer. It will have a main website where consumers can go to learn about the case, the company mission, and also buy the product, and the case itself will be warehoused and sold through Amazon. Additionally, 10% of each sale will be donated to the charity After-School All-Stars. I’m serious about inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs and love how this program helps kids gain the confidence they’ll need to succeed in school and in life.
Why a blog series? It’s definitely a risk. There’s a very real possibility that I completely fail, lose a lot of my own money, and make a fool of myself in front of the world. But putting my experience out there is the best way I can think of to show potential entrepreneurs what it will take for them to launch their own product. Regardless of if I succeed or fail, others can learn from my experience. Additionally I hope this series can inspire others to get out of their comfort zones and work towards accomplishing their bigger goals in life.
How long will this series be? I’m pushing to release a new post every weekday for one month. So it should be a 20-part series that culminates with the product launch.
How do I follow this series? Be sure to like the Hez Cases facebook page and check back regularly for new posts. Once I have the Hez website up and running I’ll start uploading posts there too. But you’ll always see the latest post as long as you like and follow the Hez facebook page.