Ep. 027: How to Launch a Pillow Company and Awaken a Sleepy Industry — The Mike Lindell Interview

Hear the extraordinary success story of Mike Lindell, the Founder of MyPillow, Inc. Learn how he overcame a deluge of rejection, legal mistakes and drug addition to rapidly grow into a $500 million dollar company. Discover how he ignored “expert” advice to manufacture his product overseas and, instead, created a U.S.-based factory that now employs nearly 1600 employees in his state of Minnesota. Leave a Rating & Review in iTunes for the Product Launch Rebel Podcast Episode Outline: 0:46 – Introduction to Mike Lindell, the Founder and CEO of MyPillow, Inc. 3:18 – Beginning of the “Give Me The Basics” Podcast Segment 3:30 – Mike talks about why he saw a new pillow concept as a business opportunity. 4:26 – Mike talks about being in business for 13 years and whether he thinks the time went by fast. “My expansion seems so surreal.” 5:08 – Mike explains what makes his MyPillow concept so unique. 5:57 – Mike shares his current revenue figures of $400 million to $500 million. And the number of units sold: 26 million. 6:10 – Mike tells us about his current number of employees: between 1500 and 1600 employees. “That just keeps going up.” 6:28 – Mike talks about the types of products offered from MyPillow. 7:07 – Mike talks about the uniqueness of the MyPillow concept and how his initial assumptions about the business changed in the early days. He explains how he had to offer strong guarantees and then “guarantee with everything I had.” 8:16 – Beginning of the “Tell Me How” Podcast Segment 8:30 – Mike talks about whether or not he had to raise capital for the business. He talks about how he was never able to use a bank. He talks about the times he tried to raise capital. And he cautions aspiring entrepreneurs to be very careful because some money financers can threaten to take the business away. 10:03 – Mike explains his rationale for manufacturing in the United States (Minnesota) instead of seeking an overseas manufacturing partner. “I micro-manage that way, I’m built that way . . . I think a lot of entrepreneurs are.” 11:51 – Mike talks about the number of prototype iterations (94) he did to arrive at the concept that he felt confident about. “The excitement was beyond belief.” 12:43 – Mike talks about the pillow fill options he tested as he developed the concept, and working with engineers, and tearing “hundreds of pieces by hand” to make it work. “I had a lot of divine interventions.” 14:23 – Mike advises inventors to put themselves in the shoes of the consumer when they develop a new product. By listening to consumers, it helps inventors add the right features to the product. After that, “the money takes care of itself.” 16:42 – Mike talks about who did the original pillow sewing, and where they produced the pillows. He further explains the constant rejection they received from major retailers when he presented the product to them. 17:39 – Mike recalls some of the early issues they had when they first manufactured the product. “Yeah, I made them the wrong size.” “I made my first 300 pillows – when I was out of money – I made them too wide and too long.” “That was scary.” So he sold them as a “very special limited edition.” 19:01 – Mike talks about how, early on, he approached retailers to sell the product and the constant rejection he received. “I knew I had a great product.” They advised him to try selling the product in a kiosk in a mall. The kiosk didn’t work well, and he spent a lot of money...