When it comes to product research for eCommerce, most entrepreneurs invest a significant amount of time, money, and effort - all in the hopes that they get it just right and their product is a runaway success. Sadly, for many entrepreneurs, an outcome like this is often the exception and not the rule. As a result, these would-be eCommerce business owners, end up wasting months of time, losing thousands of dollars, and often giving up entirely. What if there was a better way? What if you needed to only spend $1,000 and invest a few days to know if your product idea was going to fly? Well...I have good news! Such a way does in fact exist. In today's episode my guest, Colin McIntosh, founder & CEO of Sheets & Giggles - one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer bedding brands in the US. In this episode, Colin shares with us exactly how he was able to quickly and inexpensively validate his product idea in less than a week. Furthermore, you'll also hear Colin break down the exact steps that he took to raise $300,000 for his new company via Indiegogo.  After having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years, it is rare that your humble host is really blown away by the raw smarts of a guest. Today is one of those epic days, and my interview with Colin is nothing short of a Masterclass in product research for eCommerce entrepreneurs. Don't miss it! The questions I Asked Colin: Company Overview 3:30 What does your company sell? 5:37 What made you pick the niche you are in, and how did you research it? 8:35 Tell me about the landing page you created 11:46 How did you do the targeting on Facebook 13:00 How many emails did you capture? 13:20 What was your cost per email? 14:15 How many emails do you need to make a sale? 15:00 How did you figure out if the business was going to fly based on this first week long test 16:50 Tell me about how to be successful on crowdfunding 19:04 How did succeeding with crowdfunding affect your company in the early stage 21:18 How did you end up raising $300K on the crowdfund? 23:30 Tell me about the product and what you have done to make it unique and memorable 24:58 What do your gross margins look like? 26:35 How much money did you raise? 27:17: How did you raise the money? 29:40 Why did you shy away from institutional money? Marketing Related 30:51 What is your YOY growth rate? 34:07 Why did you launch the throw blanket 34:50 How did you do the keyword research for search term frequency 35:30 Where are you getting most of your new customers? 37:29 What are you doing to engage in direct dialogue with your customers? 39:55 What is your best marketing activity? 40:20 What other activities do you do? 41:40 How many people do you have in the marketing department 45:19 What is your CAC? 47:08 Are you profitable on the first sale? 47:21 What is your AOV? Process Related 50:55 How much effort have you put into creating SOPs so far? link Resources: https://sheetsgiggles.com/ Show Notes: https://brightideas.co/colin-McIntosh-interview/