Editing The Pen Addict 64/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pen Design ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So question one, you've talked about designing the Visionaire, but you also talk about not having much fountain pen experience. How much of the actual design is yours and how much is pre-made parts?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Question number two, did you fit your specs into an existing design, or is this 100% original design?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Number three, are any new tools or dyes being made to produce these pens, or will existing tooling be used for manufacturing?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Number four, the full manufacturer of your pen is Chinese. Why should someone buy the Visionaire instead of a Hero pen from the most well-known Chinese pen manufacturer that looks similar and only costs $4? And that's the last thing, the link to the same pen I sent you. And the last question, number five, you mentioned several times that your margins are low for this project, yet you increased the number of early bird backers exponentially, allowing more backers to get the pen at a cheaper rate. What was behind the decision to allow this if the margins are so low? So that was my list of questions.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That last question.

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

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, that's interesting. And I've seen a couple of people mention that. My thinking would be his margin probably was low. Yeah. When he was selling a couple of thousand. Right. And now, and this is how I would do this, if I start to get to the point where I have 4,000 backers, 4,500 backers, my volumes increased so much, that I can offer it for cheaper because it will bring even more people in cutting that margin. Because the cost of all of this stuff, like the cost of, I mean, I've never made a fountain pen, but I understand a little bit about production. I mean, I do production of paper, right? Sometimes quite a bit for my living. Or my day job. I don't know if it's my living.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The main cost for us is starting the machines. Right. Every time you start and stop that machine, that's the cost. It's not the paper. It's not, and it's not the ink. It's not the people. It is the physical starting and stopping of that, of the press. That is what costs us the most money. Everything else we can get down. You can't get those prices down. So, if he is able to turn around to his Chinese manufacturer and say, I have 6,000 of these, he's going to make a lot more money. So, he can charge them at $37. Because if he sells them for $37 rather than $45, he might make more money for himself. Right. Because that $10 difference is a chunk of the price when it's $37. Mm-hmm. You know? For basically, it's like a quarter of the price off if you're buying a $45. So, that would be my thinking on that. That sort of stuff you should communicate, I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But if that is his reasoning, which I think it probably is, then I think that he's made the right decision because he's been able to give that price to many more people. He's been able to give a lower price because of the sheer volume means he can pass the saving along to the customer, which is that old sort of car showroom infomercial.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know? Passing the savings along to the customer, which is probably what he is doing. You know what? I feel like this is, Brad. Mm-hmm. This is a man who has very little experience in everything that he's trying to do here. Right. So, the business, the actual manufacturer of the pen as well. The problem is, he's selling it to 4,500 people when he maybe only intended to sell it to 20% of that if he was lucky.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A couple, you know. Right. A thousand. Max. I think that's the problem that he's found himself in.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I think so too. I think it's gotten into the mainstream and that mainstream comes along with it, people who have experience with the product that he's trying to sell.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How did this happen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have no earthly idea. Zero idea. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, this looks really nice and I thought it was quite cheap. I got in at $37. Mm-hmm. So, I was like, that doesn't, you know, that's not too expensive. $10 shipping as well. Right. So, it's $47 for me. So, it's like 30 pounds. Mm-hmm. So, it's not that much providing this is a good pen. Right. That's like, I don't know, price and a bit for a Lamy? Right. Maybe two Lamy Safaris? Yeah.