UPPAbaby: Bob and Lauren Monahan

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.7 • 31.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a product developer, Bob Monahan worked with some iconic brands: the Pump at Reebok, the Taurus and Mustang at Ford. When he moved on to work at a baby products company, he happened to discover another set of wheels that caught his eye: a sleek-looking stroller that could accommodate a car-seat or a bassinet. Bob was itching to start his own venture, so in 2006, with the help of his wife Lauren, he launched UPPAbaby and started selling a European-style stroller at an "entry-level luxury" price. As a dad himself, Bob guessed that other dads would be intrigued by UPPAbaby's design; meanwhile, big-name celebrities started to use the stroller, and photos of them pushing it helped accelerate sales. The brand grew quickly, and 15 years after its launch, UPPAbaby employs over 100 people and sells strollers in more than 50 countries.

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:31.0	We were in an old shoe factory. We had an elevator that was a cargo elevator.
0:38.0	No air conditioning, and the way we did furniture there, when you're done with a piece of furniture, you put it in the lobby.
0:44.0	And then when you wanted a piece of furniture, you just went and got it and put it in your desk.
0:47.0	So we didn't buy any furniture.
0:49.0	So we had somebody in customer service sitting at a second-grader desk.
0:56.0	From NPR, it's how I built this.
1:00.0	A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:07.0	I'm Guy Ross, and on the show today, Paul Lauren and Bob Monahan found the sweet spot for selling their high-end
1:18.0	up a baby strollers by capturing two key markets.
1:22.0	A list of celebrities and everyday dads.
1:30.0	If you've ever been discouraged from pursuing a business idea because someone tells you the market is saturated,
1:37.0	all you need to say is burgers.
1:40.0	It's estimated there are more than 50,000 burger joints in America.
1:45.0	And yet, wherever you are right now, somewhere in America, a new burger restaurant is about to open.
1:52.0	Because burgers in the US alone rake in more than $115 billion a year.
1:59.0	So saturated or not, there is still clearly an opportunity.
	...

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