Owning Your Niche with Integrity | Kris Kaiser & Stephen McCaul | Noise Engineering
On this episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul. Kris and Stephen are co-founders of Noise Engineering, a boutique musical instrument firm dedicated to making tools for any artist. We talk about turning a hobby into a business, educational content as top-of-funnel strategy, balancing innovation and costs, and so much more!
Honest Ecommerce · Chase Clymer with Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul
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Show Notes
Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul met at a pub in Santa Monica, California, and hit it off immediately. A shared interest in sound brought them together. Kris and Stephen's professional paths were quite different, but audio was a common thread throughout their lives.
Kris's PhD dissertation studied the effects of urban noise on the breeding behaviors of frogs. Stephen developed audio software for video games. Both shared a love for spreadsheets, food, and the glorious sound and invitingly impenetrable interface of the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.
A few years later, Kris was a professor and Stephen worked on increasingly complex audio problems in his day job. As an escape, they began experimenting with home-built synthesizers and wild DIY noisemakers. Stephen developed a Eurorack module over a weekend after a dare from a friend, and the synth community took notice.
That was the beginning, and in 2016 they quit their jobs and took Noise Engineering full time. Now a staple boutique developer, their hardware and software products are used and adored by hobbyists, composers, artists, and producers around the world.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- [00:59] Intro
- [01:26] A hobby into a full-time endeavor
- [02:18] Turning hackathon ideas into tangible products
- [03:26] Navigating the challenges of early manufacturing
- [04:25] Finding solutions through industry connections
- [06:13] Collaborating within a niche community
- [07:42] Gaining traction using marketing platforms
- [09:50] Episode sponsors
- [13:04] Balancing quality & price in a competitive market
- [15:35] Attracting early customers through trade shows
- [17:06] Educational content as top-of-funnel strategy
- [18:05] Connecting with people via face-to-face outreach
- [19:29] Tapping into LA's vibrant music community
- [20:00] Showing prototypes & gathering real-time feedback
- [21:50] Attending trade shows for customer interactions
- [22:33] Finding success with in-depth blog content
- [24:54] Expanding into software for flexible compositions
- [26:45] Developing innovative guitar products
- [27:53] High-quality instruments at Noise Engineering
Resources:
- Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
- Boutique musical instrument firm dedicated to making tools for any artist https://noiseengineering.us/
- Follow Stephen McCaullinkedin.com/in/stephen-mccaul-10842b1/
- Follow Kris Kaiser linkedin.com/in/kris-kaiser-77b345203/
- Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
- Done-for-you conversion rate optimization service storetester.com/
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