Chapters

Summary

Rhinohide sells ABS plastic panels that cover cars. It is like armour that protects the vehicle from scars. Marc Barryman is the parent of this fascinating product. His idea of car armour came from his experience of getting a scratch on his parent’s car when he was younger. It started as a little craft project with fridge magnets. After 15 years of working out in construction, Marc revived it and made it a reality. Here is his story of product launch and the Shark Tank effect.

The process was tricky. Marc had to source the materials and prototype with manufacturers. He was specifically looking for aluminium tooling to use in his product. There was a time when Marc had to return to his construction work. After a lot of hard work, he reached the point where he felt he needed to put all of his time into this project.

He ended up with his current manufacturer in China. Simon asked Marc if he directly met the manufacturer in China. Marc said he did. He flew to China and talked with the manufacturer about his requests. They ticked all of the boxes. Marc saw that reviews were mixed, as some people would say China will rip you off. However, he believes it is all about the relationship with the manufacturer. You have to build a relationship for it to work. As a part of that process, Marc shared his memory of having lunch with some potential contractors.

Next, Simon asked about the branding. The name Rhinohide had come from the phrase, “tough like rhino skin.” Marc thought his product was like putting on tough skin to protect the car. Simon also said that it reminds him of army camouflage. They found how the brand name was flexible for marketing angles.

Simon then asked how do you know that your product will work? Marc answered that there is no absolute way to know it will work. He continued and said you have to go with your guts. Marc also asked many people for their opinions. All of them constantly said it was a great idea. As he accumulated all of these comments, he gained enough confidence to try it out.

The topic moved to Shark Tank. Marc said the experience was intense. There were no second takes, no beforehand interactions, no soft approaches. It was all first reactions. The aired episode showed around 13, 14 minutes of Rhinohide’s pitch. However, the filming itself took much longer. After the airing, Marc and his team experienced the Shark Tank effect. Shark Tank gives a high product awareness to its participants. Rhinohide’s website crashed, and their numbers hit 140,000 visits. They decided to get a secondary host after this incident.

Simon asked if Marc had any advice for entrepreneurs looking for investment in their business. Marc said he saw many people forget to pitch to the investors because they are focused on what their business is. He recommended showing a clear flow of money to the investors. First, show where you will get your money. Say what value you will add to that money. Present the estimated results and how the investors will get their returns. Marc reminded us that investment is an investor’s hard-earned cash. They wouldn’t simply give it away. It is also crucial that you find the right investor for your business.

The next part of Marc’s journey is aiming toward U.S. expansion. He already had some contracts to participate in an event called the SEMA Show, one of the biggest automotive conventions. Rhinohide will present their Jeep Wrangler car armour, as the U.S. sold 1.5 million of that model. Marc shared his hope that this will drive some traffic to Rhinohide.

Marc also shared a bit about his partnership with KeepSpace. He said it was so much easier to leave the operations to KeepSpace. The warehousing costs were reasonable, and they would swiftly fix mistakes. He recommended other ecommerce businesses work with KeepSpace too.

The topic went back to Rhinohide’s U.S. expansion. Marc said that their focus (at the time) was very narrow. Only the Jeep model was getting exposure. The team decided to approach by catering for specific models requested by distributors. However, Rhinohide would present a minimum order volume (MOV). It means the team will be highly dependent on the distributors’ demand. This approach came from one of Rhinohide’s past mistakes. They were working on their second product launch for a Ford ranger model. They didn’t have a MOV set in place, and their order got cancelled. Rhinohide used $100,000 from this exercise.

This episode ended with Marc’s call to action. The point is to go out and make it happen. Procrastinating will only slow your progress. No one will do it magically for you. Marc also said to take time to reflect on your achievements to date. Be ready for many ups and downs when running a business. For a start in investment, he recommended looking at Equitise.