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290 | Owning Your Niche with Integrity | with Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul
Manage episode 433813990 series 2470924
Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul met at a pub in Santa Monica, California, and hit it off immediately. A shared interest in sound brought them together. Kris and Stephen's professional paths were quite different, but audio was a common thread throughout their lives.
Kris's PhD dissertation studied the effects of urban noise on the breeding behaviors of frogs. Stephen developed audio software for video games. Both shared a love for spreadsheets, food, and the glorious sound and invitingly impenetrable interface of the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.
A few years later, Kris was a professor and Stephen worked on increasingly complex audio problems in his day job. As an escape, they began experimenting with home-built synthesizers and wild DIY noisemakers. Stephen developed a Eurorack module over a weekend after a dare from a friend, and the synth community took notice.
That was the beginning, and in 2016 they quit their jobs and took Noise Engineering full time. Now a staple boutique developer, their hardware and software products are used and adored by hobbyists, composers, artists, and producers around the world.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- [00:59] Intro
- [01:26] A hobby into a full-time endeavor
- [02:18] Turning hackathon ideas into tangible products
- [03:26] Navigating the challenges of early manufacturing
- [04:25] Finding solutions through industry connections
- [06:13] Collaborating within a niche community
- [07:42] Gaining traction using marketing platforms
- [09:50] Episode sponsors
- [13:04] Balancing quality & price in a competitive market
- [15:35] Attracting early customers through trade shows
- [17:06] Educational content as top-of-funnel strategy
- [18:05] Connecting with people via face-to-face outreach
- [19:29] Tapping into LA's vibrant music community
- [20:00] Showing prototypes & gathering real-time feedback
- [21:50] Attending trade shows for customer interactions
- [22:33] Finding success with in-depth blog content
- [24:54] Expanding into software for flexible compositions
- [26:45] Developing innovative guitar products
- [27:53] High-quality instruments at Noise Engineering
Resources:
- Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
- Boutique musical instrument firm dedicated to making tools for any artist https://noiseengineering.us/
- Follow Stephen McCaullinkedin.com/in/stephen-mccaul-10842b1/
- Follow Kris Kaiser linkedin.com/in/kris-kaiser-77b345203/
- Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
- Done-for-you conversion rate optimization service storetester.com/
If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
429 episodes
Manage episode 433813990 series 2470924
Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul met at a pub in Santa Monica, California, and hit it off immediately. A shared interest in sound brought them together. Kris and Stephen's professional paths were quite different, but audio was a common thread throughout their lives.
Kris's PhD dissertation studied the effects of urban noise on the breeding behaviors of frogs. Stephen developed audio software for video games. Both shared a love for spreadsheets, food, and the glorious sound and invitingly impenetrable interface of the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.
A few years later, Kris was a professor and Stephen worked on increasingly complex audio problems in his day job. As an escape, they began experimenting with home-built synthesizers and wild DIY noisemakers. Stephen developed a Eurorack module over a weekend after a dare from a friend, and the synth community took notice.
That was the beginning, and in 2016 they quit their jobs and took Noise Engineering full time. Now a staple boutique developer, their hardware and software products are used and adored by hobbyists, composers, artists, and producers around the world.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- [00:59] Intro
- [01:26] A hobby into a full-time endeavor
- [02:18] Turning hackathon ideas into tangible products
- [03:26] Navigating the challenges of early manufacturing
- [04:25] Finding solutions through industry connections
- [06:13] Collaborating within a niche community
- [07:42] Gaining traction using marketing platforms
- [09:50] Episode sponsors
- [13:04] Balancing quality & price in a competitive market
- [15:35] Attracting early customers through trade shows
- [17:06] Educational content as top-of-funnel strategy
- [18:05] Connecting with people via face-to-face outreach
- [19:29] Tapping into LA's vibrant music community
- [20:00] Showing prototypes & gathering real-time feedback
- [21:50] Attending trade shows for customer interactions
- [22:33] Finding success with in-depth blog content
- [24:54] Expanding into software for flexible compositions
- [26:45] Developing innovative guitar products
- [27:53] High-quality instruments at Noise Engineering
Resources:
- Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
- Boutique musical instrument firm dedicated to making tools for any artist https://noiseengineering.us/
- Follow Stephen McCaullinkedin.com/in/stephen-mccaul-10842b1/
- Follow Kris Kaiser linkedin.com/in/kris-kaiser-77b345203/
- Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
- Done-for-you conversion rate optimization service storetester.com/
If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
429 episodes
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