Testing for Business Viability with Adam Callinan, Co-founder and President of BottleKeeper

Here are three words that might ring a bell: The scientific method.

In its most basic form, the scientific method follows these steps:

First, you identify the problem or question. Then you hypothesize a solution or outcome. From there, you design and run an experiment to test this prediction. And finally, you analyze the results from your test to see if your hypothesis was correct.

The scientific method is the basis of all scientific thinking, but, even when we don’t recognize it, this process is also the basis of human thinking. Everyday we hypothesize, test our hypotheses, and draw conclusions.

It’s easy to see how this same process can be — and should be — applied to a growing business. And it’s a methodology that today’s guest has leveraged time and time again.

“[In math], you start with a problem and a solution -- it's up to you to figure out the stuff in between in the most efficient way possible. And that is entrepreneurship to the T... and leveraging the scientific method, which is just a hypothesis-based single variant test, is critically important, particularly in the world of software and technology.”

That’s Adam Callinan, the co-founder and President of BottleKeeper, a company producing an innovative insulated bottle designed to keep glass bottles and aluminum cans cold.

Since its founding, BottleKeeper has skyrocketed; today it is a multi-million dollar company consistently growing dramatically year over year. But it didn’t start that way. Early growth was slow, and it took careful testing and iterating again and again to achieve the success the company has seen. So what tools and mindsets did Adam and his cofounder lean into in those first couple of years that set them on the road to success? And what have they changed since launching that’s continued to allow them to grow far more than they could have imagined? Find out on this week’s episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Test, Iterate, Test Again: Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Adam turned to the scientific method as a way to test and verify his business assumptions. But don’t forget to retest those assumptions as the business grows and changes. For example, for years, Adam had built the business with the philosophy that he would never hire anyone else, but he was forced to revisit and retest that assumption as the company grew and new opportunities presented themselves.
• Leverage Video: For many consumers, seeing is believing. Find the best way to communicate how your product works and why the consumer needs it. For Adam, this meant focusing on video. (Bonus Lesson: Don’t wait until you have big marketing dollars to spend on making the perfect materials. Instead, take a page from Adam’s book and write, shoot, and edit those first ads yourself.)
• Get a Patent… and Be Prepared to Enforce It: Copycats will inevitably come to market after they see your success. Be prepared by filing for a provisional patent as soon as possible, and then filing for the actual patent once you can afford it. More in the episode about what this process looks like and why your patent is only as good as your enforcement of it.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

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