Editing The Pen Addict 223/transcript (section)

== Field Notes ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' We all do. I'm using my sailor today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You also like a good field notes, huh?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Who doesn't? I mean, come on. So, I got back from XOXO. That's where I was last week. The field notes this year were the best they've ever done. You think? By far. Yeah, by far. They're really cool. I mean, like, the last years were, I think, the best, the black ones. I mean, the purples are great, but, like, you know, I want something, like, more, you know? Like, just a solid color is real great, but, like, if I'm going to be at an event and pick up a special field notes, I want it to be, like, like nothing you can get, right? Right. And these are, like, nothing you can get. I don't even know how to describe it. It's like psychedelic paint splatters.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Who was the artist on this, did they say?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't know. They may have said, but I don't know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Or there may not have been one. There may have just been something they came up with.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Field notes have said that they have some extras again, and they're going to be putting them out for sale on the mailing list, so. Cool. Sign up for the mailing list. They have some extras. I will try and get some more, because I only have one pack.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'm going to try to get one, just because I have all the other XOs.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I couldn't help you out this year. Yeah. No big deal. They were locked down, and everybody wanted them, because they're so cool. Yeah. So no one was willing to give them up.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sweet. They look great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. They're a great addition. Really, really nice addition. They're just great inside. There's nothing special going on inside.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So yeah, I really like it. That's the way I like it. Great on the inside.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Great on the inside. All right. Main event time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We've been delaying long enough.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's why I cut out a bunch of links that I wanted to talk about, and we need to talk about, but they're just going to have to wait until next week, and probably ask TPA too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. We're just all Kickstarter all the time now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So this accelerated quite quickly, this product, I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Pretty quick, I think, in relation to how we do things. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, and I was joking around with you. We were chatting the other day. You were saying, finally, about this, about getting it done. And I was joking with you about the folio. Yeah, right. Right? But I think the folio is a good thing to highlight right now. That product has been in development since the beginning, but that one hasn't been able to be put into market yet. Right. The Lanier has only been around since just after Atlanta. That's when the prototype was created. Exactly. So what's the difference for why the Lanier can exist now, but another product like the folio can't?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think the usefulness within the product lineup, the differentiation within the rest of the product lineup, and us wanting to spread our wings a little bit within the product lineup, and as well as working with the outside manufacturer that we finally have a comfort level with on making the quality quantities that we need.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We'll come back to the outside manufacturer a little bit later on, because I have a lot of questions about that. But I'm pleased to hear your reasoning, because that's the reasoning I would have wanted to here, because it shows you're taking the business seriously. Right. Because the folio is a really nice product, but it has not got a big market. Right. Bags? Everyone needs a bag. And more importantly, computer-based bags, which this one is. Anything based around computers, iPads, laptops. That's where the money is. Because everybody needs to put their stuff in bags. And me and you have had this conversation, and I still genuinely believe this. As you guys move further and further into this world, it's game over. And I genuinely believe that. I think that's what helps Knock Co. just blow up. And for some reasons that we'll probably describe later on, I think we both know that this is not the product that does that, but it's an incredible first step into that. It's a very bold first step. It's a bigger first step than most people would make, I think, for a few different reasons. Do you think I'm speaking out of turn, or does that make sense to your thinking?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, that lines up directly with mine and Jeff's thoughts completely.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So we should talk about the design then, and maybe a little bit about why this isn't that bag. And it's in form factor. So explain the form factor and the decisions for the form factor, and answer the question, you know I'm going to ask.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure, sure. So I guess let's start at the beginning on how this even happened. We were at the Atlanta Pinshow, and I saw two or three people carrying around the Lihit Lab bag-in-a-bag, the A4 size. Really big.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it made such an impact on us that we both spoke about it on the show, didn't we? Bag-in-a-bag. And I wanted to buy one and couldn't, remember?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Yeah. Right. So it's very large, A4 size, and there's some things I loved about it, and there's some things I didn't like about it. But it's really a stationary-only bag, I find, because it has a three-quarter zip on it. So what that means is if you take a rectangle shape of the bag, the zipper runs from the bottom left corner all the way around the top all the way down to the bottom right corner. That's great for paper, but if you have any kind of digital devices in there, you need the protection that they're not going to slide out when you're not expecting it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, you need top zip.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So you need that security on the sides of the bag. I was like, well, you know, it really came about, like, if you think about what we're carrying these days, everything's a little bit smaller than what we used to carry, right? I don't need my backpack to carry my iPad in. Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And laptops are getting smaller as well.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I've been carrying this 13-inch MacBook, and Jeff's like, well, how about we make one around, like, your MacBook? I was like, well, how about we just make one A4, because that's going to fit all those things. Like, we're a stationary company at heart. A4 is a wonderful full-size pad. It's a common size. Because, you know, people can fit their large A4 Rodias and Leuchtturms and, you know, Life and all these other brands that make A4. And, oh, by the way, that dimension also fits a 13-inch MacBook Pro. It fits MacBook Air.

'''Unknown:''' Both iPads.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All iPads. All iPads, including the Pro, which that was a big, big thing for us, you know, fit the Pro and a keyboard. Thank you. You know, an external keyboard. You know, it fits the Acer Chromebooks that are so popular right now, and that's a 14-inch laptop. So, like, A4 fits so many digital things. So, we decided, well, what if we build something to carry, like, your laptop and then the few other things that you need? And I was like, well, this is what I need today. Like, on a daily basis, when I'm driving from my house to knock, I don't need a backpack full of crap, full of bricks, power bricks, and extra hard drives. And, you know, I need my laptop, I need a pad, and I need some pens, and, you know, a place to carry my earbuds. So, we started sketching out the design, working on that. And, you know, like, our first prototype, it fit the 13-inch MacBook, like, super tight. I was like, okay, this is cool. I think we got something. I started carrying it, and I started showing it off to our friends in Atlanta, and, you know, they were like, oh, that's kind of cool. It's a very small bag. Like, it's not, this is not a do-everything-for-everyone bag, and that's on purpose, right? It's designed to do just enough for today. Yeah. And, you know, it's a bag that you want to load up, go to a meeting, load up, go to the coffee shop and work for a few hours, go to your co-working space, you know, go to the office. It's not made to be a messenger bag or a backpack that you can throw everything in, you know, your lunch and your water bottle, sling it on your back, and off you go. Those designs are great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The way that I've been describing this to people is the linear is your other bag. Yeah. It's your other bag. So, like, and it's so small, it fits into your other bag, and then you just take, you know, so you're going somewhere. Like, I think about when I go to conferences and stuff, right? And sometimes, like, I'm in a conference, like, I'm going to one later on in the year, I'm going to UL, and UL is in a hotel.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I've taken my Topo bag, and I don't like to carry my Topo bag around because it is full of everything. Like, my Topo bag is my go bag. Like, I have every charger, every cable, every power brick. I have two power bricks in it. Like, it is the bag where, like, everything is in there, nothing's forgotten. So, I hate just taking that around on a daily basis. Mm-hmm. So, I bought a Tom Bin Ristretto, which I kind of like. Mm-hmm. I don't like the one shoulder thing, to be honest. I like either handles or backpack straps. Like, I took the shoulder strap off of my Topo. So, when I'm in somewhere like UL, I just need to put my iPad and a pen and paper. Now, previously, at conferences like that, I'll just carry them down. Right. From my hotel room down to the conference thing, and then I'm carrying them around all day, and then I'm kind of leaving them on the table because I don't want to, like, be carrying around all this junk when I'm going to get some coffee or whatever. But now, I'll have something like, well, I will have the linear because I already have one. Talk about that in a minute. And I can just throw my stuff in there, and I've got it on hand securely, and will also have a little bit more than I would have carried, right? Like, I'll have extra little things in there just because I can put more stuff in. It's great. I really, really, really do like it. I was sent one a little bit early, and I have been using it. I've been taking – basically, when I've been leaving the house, I've been taking a bag where I may not normally take a bag, so I can just kind of get used to it. Right. And I'm just getting used to remembering to pick it up, right, because it's a little bit different because it's always put down. It's not on my back. Right. But I really like the form factor. I really love the bag-in-bagness of it all, and I like that it's forcing me to travel lighter than taking my Topo. So I am a big fan.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, thank you. I mean, I think you understand what we're trying to accomplish, and the design was purposeful. I mean, the biggest feedback we have so far, and ever since we started taking pictures of it, is it needs a strap. Yep. And I understand if you want a bag with a strap, this bag is not for you, and we're okay with that. It's not big enough to handle a strap properly for the design of the bag. It's – we would – the bag's so thin, it's one inch in thickness. So you can add loops and D-rings to the side. That's fine. That would look fine. And you can have the clips for a strap to go on there. So the strap we would have to provide if we did something like that would be as thin as the handles on the bag, which is one inch webbing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's an unacceptable strap.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. That's not a quality strap. Yeah, I would prefer – It's going to hurt.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, I would honestly prefer no strap because that strap is just so kind of like nothing.