Five years ago, Karla & Karen were tired of fetching their sons’
thrown baby bottles – so they decided to put a stop to it with their
invention, the NoThrow ®. In 2001, these twin sisters formed Twin
Beginnings, LLC with no startup experience and $2,000 from each of
their savings. Their investment in time and money has proven to be well
worth it. In 2005, their company earned nearly $500,000 in annual
revenues.
Karla and Karen have expanded their product
distribution to include more than 5,000 grocery stores and various baby
store chains. On StartupNation Radio, the sisters discuss some of their
guerilla marketing strategies which are contributing to their success.
Guerrilla Marketing Strategies:
- Tested the market –sample giveaways
- Researched – starting and expanding a business, economically
- Contracted with a manufacturer
- Formed a strategic partnership with an individual who had manufacturing experience and connects with a distributor
- Expanded distribution channels and product line
- Launched a PR campaign
The Sloan brothers interview the Twin Beginnings sisters to help you
“throw” your product into your potential customers’ hands…and keep it
there. Listen to StartupNation Radio to get your startup tuned for
success and your product into homes worldwide.
Read more about Karla and Karen’s Key Move: Taking On a Business Partner
About Karla, Karen and NoThrow ®
When the sons of twin sisters Karla Scanlan and Karen Kuhn were
toddlers, the families often traveled back and forth between Chicago
and Detroit , to visit each other. During those trips Karla's son Danny
kept throwing his bottle around the plane and Karen's son Alex kept
throwing his sippy cup all over the car. After one particularly
disruptive flight Karla called Karen and said "there has got to be
something out there to stop this bottle from rolling around on the
floor of a plane or my car." Well, there wasn't. So the twins
invented and patented the NoThrow ® in September 2001. The NoThrow ®
(as in DANNY/ ALEX ! NO THROW YOUR BOTTLE/CUP), was their answer.
Before becoming inventors, Karen was a stay-at-home mom who volunteered
once a week helping moms with kids who have special needs. Karla did
research in the field of comparative religions for various authors.