132: Invention Success in the Construction Industry

Todd Drouillard is the Science and Technology Business leader at HED, which is one of the world’s leading architecture firms for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution center buildings. Todd has been in architecture for 25 years, has his Masters in Architecture, is an AIA director, and is on the Construction Code Commission Board of Directors in Michigan. Today Todd is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers are changing the way they move products to their end customers, and what inventors with construction-related inventions can do to succeed in getting their innovations to market.

Today you will hear us talk about:

• Warehousing innovation is becoming increasingly more important to the success of a scaling hardware product business
• Construction inventions and innovations are happening very quickly in new building design, fabrication, and maintenance.
• How do you get your construction product into the market to get into new or renovated buildings.
• Less labour, more product. This is prefabrication, and there is a lot of room for new construction inventions in this space.
• Product manufacturing and architecture are merging
• To pitch your construction innovation, show that it reduces risk, increases quality, is more reliable, is easy to install.
• A big advantage when designing your product, is to either make it easy to work with other products, or include what used to be multiple products into one
• There are lots of problems on a construction site, solve them with your construction inventions.

EPISODE LINKS

Todd Drouillard / HED Links:

• Website: https://www.hed.design/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-drouillard-aia-b9a7a629/

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

• Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent

Mako Design Links:

• Website: https://www.makodesign.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MakoInvent/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/MakoDesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakoInvent/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MakoInvent/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MakoInvent/

Kevin Mako Links:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry’s leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about Mako Design + Invent!