Chris Roepe of Figgy Play On Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup

Authority Magazine Editorial Staff
Authority Magazine
Published in
13 min readNov 9, 2022

Breathe. Nothing is ever perfect, and you will have sleepless nights. If you go into your new venture knowing that problems will happen, you will be better prepared. Usually, it isn’t as bad as it seems and you will figure out how to make things better.

Startups have such a glamorous reputation. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Uber, and Airbnb once started as scrappy startups with huge dreams and huge obstacles. Yet we of course know that most startups don’t end up as success stories. What does a founder or a founding team need to know to create a highly successful startup? In this series, called “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup” we are talking to experienced and successful founders and business leaders who can share stories from their experiences about what it takes to create a highly successful startup. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Roepe of Figgy Play!

Chris Roepe began his career as an engineer. Soon after he led a number of teams while taking on supply chain and manufacturing roles, significantly contributing to companies like Motorola where his career took off! Today he is business leader in his field where he continues to take on leadership opportunities like Managing Director and Vice President of Sales Operations…. More recently moving into the path of entrepreneurship.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I went to school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where I studied industrial and manufacturing engineering. I worked as a teaching assistant and served in an advisory role in the engineering department, I even taught classes. Soon after I started working for corporations like Intel, Motorola, GE, and Lands’ End, and more recently in sectors like financial services and healthcare. Because I’ve worked in many industries, I’ve been able to learn the tricks of the trade from each sector. This experience led to leadership roles at many large organizations/companies and in areas like project management, IT, procurement, operations, new product development and even innovation. I took that knowledge and decided to start my own company.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

I had just left a job at a retail company and one of my good friends (now my business partner) showed me a kids play couch she thought could really be improved. I came over to her house and did a mini focus group with her five kids and we tested out the product. I cringed when I saw kids jumping off couches onto this play couch and could hear their feet slam into the floor. I saw them use the product as a ramp and try to climb up onto the furniture, but the product easily gave way to their weight. I thought the play couch was great, but clearly it also had room for improvement! That’s when my product development background kicked in and I told her we could make the product amazing with some minor, but game changing improvements. She asked if I wanted to start a company and I excitingly agreed- that’s how Figgy Play was born!

Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your own business?

We reached out to as many people as we could in our industry. We looked up people on LinkedIn and asked if they could meet. It’s amazing how many people want to help you. We learned many lessons from others who had taken our path and how we should proceed.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

What makes us stand out is that our play couch is made for kids and we keep it simple. All of the competitors are the same version of a couch that was made for a dorm room. The materials are weaker and kids were never at the heart of the design. I’m proud to say we are the only kids play couch on the market with patented Velcro connectors to make sure your builds stick, however we also focus on quality, function and using non-toxic certified materials like Oeko-Tek fabric and CertiPUR-US certified foam.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Our focus has always been to inspire imaginative play and to get kids off of electronic devices. Childhood play is so powerful and necessary for overall development- physically, emotionally, and socially. We have extended our concept into a tool for occupational therapy and have partnered with DotCom Therapy. Their therapists are now using the Figgy to help children maintain and develop gross motor skills. It is really amazing to see what we have been able to do.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?

1. Listening

2. Challenging

3. Empowering

Listening is at the core of everything you do. Humble leaders always listen. There is no need to be the smartest person, surround yourself with motivated people and they will come up with more ideas than you ever can, but you will have to hear them. I think that most people have a vision of a strong leader that knows everything to do, but that is short sighted.

Our world is a constant battle of overcoming problems. We are all human and we all encounter stress. It is much easier to tackle a problem with others. At Figgy we have solved problems by just listening (even to the youngest of people). Kid’s minds aren’t structured like ours. Sometimes they will see something we can’t and they can show you how to fix a problem that is so simple.

Challenging is an amazing trait to have because it is the only way change occurs. Innovation is purely the ability to be faced with a problem, challenging that it could be better and then creating an outcome that is better. When we sought out to improve the classic kids play couch we wanted to make something modular. All the competitors sew two cushions together to make a hinge, our challenge was to make something so simple that everyone just got it and it also allowed for thousands more opportunities for play. We thought about zippers and magnets, but the simplest idea was to make a double Velcro hinge. We were inspired by the old magic hidden wallet. This is the wallet where you see your money in one direction, flip it and all of a sudden, your money disappears. We use Velcro to keep the Figgy together and it works so well.

Empowering others is key to driving out fear in an organization, but also to get the most out of your people. I have been in many organizations where the people doing the work are not at the table. When I joined a retail organization, we once had a big problem. It was one of the first weeks I was leading this organization and I attended a meeting where all the managers came to brainstorm what they needed to tell their people to do. I asked where the people who were responsible for the work were and someone told me that they were in the room. I realized that everyone in the room was used to telling people what to do instead of including them in the discussion. I asked us to reschedule the meeting but to include the people who were responsible, not just those that were accountable. In the next meeting the experts told us how the work actually got done, the issues we had and the tricks we could use to fix the problem. This was the first step to making people feel important and also that they could speak without being worried that they would get in trouble.

Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?

The worst messaging I ever received is that of a manager who was mentoring me and said the best leaders are the ones you don’t even realize are there. I think they were trying to say that if you empower your workers they will have autonomy to make their own decisions. The unfortunate thing about this is that it goes against situational leadership. There will be situations where you are the expert, and your employee is the novice. To complicate this sometimes the employee will realize they are the novice and sometimes they won’t. In situations where the employee needs direction, you absolutely should help them. It can be really frustrating when you don’t know how do your job and you won’t magically figure it out on your own. The other side to this is that there will be times where you need to coach an employee. This is where difficult conversations come in. If you are not involved in constructive dialogue you are doing a disservice to someone’s career.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

When we started our company we sourced product overseas. It was a great strategy to start up a product company because we could collect our payment up front and use it to source the product…. but then the cost of shipping unexpectedly increased by five times the price! It really forced us to learn as much as we could and do it quickly. We shifted our strategy to sourcing only smaller parts overseas to cut down on shipping and partnered with some amazing people in the US to source other parts. Those partnerships live on today and we are better off for it!

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? What strategies or techniques did you use to help overcome those challenges?

I’ve always been in the business of turning around failing businesses. Just like any job or business, you get comfortable with practice. I guess the environment of challenge and unknown can also be something you can get good at and create coping mechanisms for. Professional athletes say that the game slows down when you figure things out. I feel the same thing can be true in tense situations. Once you learn how to tackle problems, you can get into a groove.

One of the best methods I learned for disaster recovery comes from the automotive space. There is a process called 8D. In a nutshell it just makes you slow down, stop the bleeding, identify the problem, creative corrective actions and fix root causes.

The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy and is filled with challenges, failures, setbacks, as well as joys, thrills and celebrations. Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?

I think the best way to tackle the challenge is to set goals and to beat them. Don’t set goals that are unattainable but set achievable measurable goals. When we started our company, we knew we needed to get enough exposure to create a big bang on our launch date. We set a goal that we could get 2,000 followers. We were amazed when we got ten times that.

Let’s imagine that a young founder comes to you and asks for your advice about whether venture capital or bootstrapping is best for them? What would you advise them? Can you kindly share a few things a founder should look at to determine if fundraising or bootstrapping is the right choice?

What we’ve learned is that it depends on the business type. Some businesses require a lot of funding to build up inventory. That can be very difficult to bootstrap. If you’re in a service based industry it does become easier. Overall, it is a challenge because you want to retain as much equity as possible but still fund your business for growth. Finding balance is key.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Many startups are not successful, and some are very successful. From your experience or perspective, what are the main factors that distinguish successful startups from unsuccessful ones? What are your “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup”?

1. Brand and Message

2. Simple

3. Path to Margin

4. Strong Top of Funnel

5. Breathe

Brand and message is what makes people want to associate with you. Your brand needs to differentiate itself from others and make people want to buy your product. What do you stand for and why are you important. What you look and feel like makes people want to associate with you/your brand. Many companies are successful based on brand alone.

Keeping it simple is key. I always loved the iPhone because it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. If you can show someone your product and they know how it works and why it is awesome without instruction, you’re halfway there.

Margin will sustain your business and keep you from needing to get more funding. If you can be slightly better than breakeven you will have a much better chance of surviving. You should also understand what the next steps are to improving margins. Do you need a strong partner that can bring cost efficiency? Do you need more volume to reduce input costs? Try to understand what it will take to make more margin and work to get there quickly. Many think revenue is king, but I would argue that if you run out of money you will never have enough time to drive revenue.

The sales funnel is a great mathematical tool. You draw interest to your brand, some look around and fewer buy. This is a great tool to understand where you need to drive improvement. At first try to get as much attention at the lowest cost possible. If you can get quality traffic to your brand at the top of the funnel, the math will play out and you will get sales. Over time you will build tactics that will sharpen the quality of your leads and the conversion rates but at first get as many people to your front door as possible.

Last of all breathe. Nothing is ever perfect, and you will have sleepless nights. If you go into your new venture knowing that problems will happen, you will be better prepared. Usually, it isn’t as bad as it seems and you will figure out how to make things better.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

I think the biggest mistake CEOs and founders make is underestimating how much time, effort and cost it takes to start something new. There is always a growing period where you don’t produce revenue but have costs. Smart people are expensive, and inventory is even more expensive. You must be lean at first to get started and people have to do multiple jobs to figure out how things work. We all want to move fast to get through this startup phase as quickly as possible but unfortunately the world is just slow. It takes longer than you think to get customers and that can be discouraging. Many CEOs will cut expenses right when they are starting to grow, this can be crippling. I think it is better to start small and create minimal viable products as fast as possible. The faster you can get to revenue the better.

Startup founders often work extremely long hours and it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends. What would you recommend to founders about how to best take care of their physical and mental wellness when starting a company?

Work out every day. When I take the time to burn 500 calories my clock is reset. It only takes 45 minutes to get a good workout in but you will feel energized, refreshed and will have a better mood. When you are dedicated to a task it can be hard to peel yourself away so it is always best to plan and schedule times when you can get a workout in.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Figgy is all about family and community (and play of course). Family and community are the fabric that binds us together and supports one another. If we have strong community and family upbringing, we are less likely to fall on hard times. Since family is a generic term I think it is hard for people to act on it. I think the easiest way to employ it is to help one person a day. Even if you were to compliment a stranger on something very simple you may change the course of that person’s day. We need to rethink our social norms. Instead of being inward looking we should be outward looking and help others succeed. The funniest thing about it is that helping others can be so rewarding to yourself (and feel so good). If you can experience helping others and create positive feelings it can become habitual, if a society acts in this way we can solve so many problems.

We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Adam Sandler or Bill Murray would be at the top of my list. I’ve always thought that comedians were some of the smartest people on earth. The ability to use language, read a room and make people laugh so hard that they cry is such an ability. These two are some of the nicest celebrities and I would love to learn from them.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Sign up for our newsletter at figgyplay.com

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

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Authority Magazine
Authority Magazine

Published in Authority Magazine

In-depth Interviews with Authorities in Business, Pop Culture, Wellness, Social Impact, and Tech. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable.

Authority Magazine Editorial Staff
Authority Magazine Editorial Staff

Written by Authority Magazine Editorial Staff

In-depth interviews with authorities in Business, Pop Culture, Wellness, Social Impact, and Tech

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