Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: We've said it a lot on air. We've talked about
Speaker 1: how disruption, times of stress and strain lead to innovation,
Speaker 1: and our next guest is really all about that. He
Speaker 1: and his Family Office hold over patterns of which have
Speaker 1: been commercialized, including the crust Spin toothbrush and Swiffer sweeper back.
Speaker 1: So let's bring in John Nottingham. He's co president of
Speaker 1: the Family Office. It specializes in innovation. Nottingham Spurk is
Speaker 1: the firm. He also serves on the boards of the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Clinic Board of Trustees, Case Western Reserve University's Tech
Speaker 1: Commercialization Board, and a lot more. He joins us on
Speaker 1: the phone from Cleveland, Ohio. John, first of all, welcome
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg. So nice to have you here. How are
Speaker 1: you and happy New Year? Well, happy to you, Carol,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. So tell me before we
Speaker 1: get into some of what you guys are doing, UM,
Speaker 1: is how the last twelve months have been for you?
Speaker 1: Um and the past week because I think as a leader,
Speaker 1: we've just seen you know, and as an investor, one
Speaker 1: tough headline after another in the last twelve months and
Speaker 1: certainly this week. So I'm curious kind of how you
Speaker 1: see and how you process it and how you think about,
Speaker 1: you know, the work that you do. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at the current events and you look at
Speaker 1: you look at the world at face value, and you say, look,
Speaker 1: how does that affect me? How does it affect my
Speaker 1: my partners, clients and and UH co workers, and and
Speaker 1: you look at you look past the noise, and you
Speaker 1: look for for opportunity, and you know there is opportunity
Speaker 1: and disruption. So that's what we're focused on. Well, tell
Speaker 1: me in terms of the disruption you're seeing and where
Speaker 1: that has led you in terms of innovation and opportunities. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we have the core of our firm here
Speaker 1: is a product innovation firm. So we are vertically integrated
Speaker 1: to have you know, insights and design and engineers and
Speaker 1: prototypers all at one location in Cleveland, Ohio. And when
Speaker 1: we see an opportunity, we grab it. So give me.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. As soon as as soon
Speaker 1: as the pandemic hit, we said, okay, uh, where's the
Speaker 1: where's the demand for product? We saw a hand sanitizer, Well,
Speaker 1: great hand sanitizer is great, but but one of the
Speaker 1: one of the problems is you have to touch it
Speaker 1: to dispense the product, so you know who's touched it
Speaker 1: before that. So what we did is we fast tracked
Speaker 1: a product into the marketplace that's hand sanitizer, but you
Speaker 1: don't have to touch it. It just dispenses it right
Speaker 1: in your hand. That's pretty amazing. How are we able
Speaker 1: to quickly do that? Well, we because we're vertically integrated.
Speaker 1: We have all the we have all the engineers and
Speaker 1: designers and people, and we can just fast track it.
Speaker 1: We we grab a factory, we we get we get
Speaker 1: a launch partner, and we just launched it. So if
Speaker 1: you go into Lows right now as an example, we
Speaker 1: we we launched it Lows. They bought everything that we
Speaker 1: could we could uh produce and uh you know the
Speaker 1: stack to the ceiling at Lows and then we're going
Speaker 1: to roll it out the other retailers as soon as
Speaker 1: we can. We can catch up with the band. But
Speaker 1: we've sold million we've made This didn't exist in March
Speaker 1: and we're making millions of product right today. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: pretty fascinating because you know, we focus so much, you know,
Speaker 1: We've been talking a lot about e VS and a
Speaker 1: ton of his vehicles. Like it's innovation often leads you
Speaker 1: to very very high tech stuff, but sometimes it's just
Speaker 1: some very simple solutions like what you guys are working on. Oh,
Speaker 1: it could be low tech. For instance, we work with
Speaker 1: a number of portfolio companies that have product and you
Speaker 1: know they have they have margin issues. Well, we could
Speaker 1: go in and take a look at that product, hear
Speaker 1: it apart and put it back together and uh delivered
Speaker 1: twice the margin they had before. Keep the price, but
Speaker 1: the margins multiplied. And so those are the kind of
Speaker 1: we have to react. We have to pivot, we have
Speaker 1: to be nimble, and we just have to react to
Speaker 1: the market as we see it to day dot not
Speaker 1: dot as we saw it yesterday. Your customer today is
Speaker 1: different today, They're they're thinking different, they have different pain points,
Speaker 1: and if we can react to that before anybody else.
Speaker 1: We went John, you know, we're gonna take a break
Speaker 1: in a moment, but we've got about forty five seconds here.
Speaker 1: You know what has changed about the consumer in the
Speaker 1: last year that you think really stays with us longer term?
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I mean, yeah, we're I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, that we're everybody's at home, all right. Guess what?
Speaker 1: There is a boom in home products. I can tell
Speaker 1: you specifically after the break, but uh, there's a big
Speaker 1: boom in home products believing. All right, Well, we're going
Speaker 1: to continue the conversation. Sit tight for a second because
Speaker 1: I do have to do a little bit of news,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna come back with John Nottingham, he's co
Speaker 1: president at Nottinghamsburg on the phone from Cleveland. I also
Speaker 1: want to find out because they recently opened up a
Speaker 1: big innovation hub in Cleveland specifically, which is where he is. Uh,
Speaker 1: and they're doing an alliance with Ernstein young E Y
Speaker 1: and that is opening the spring. So we'll get into
Speaker 1: that in just a moment. I want to get right
Speaker 1: back to John Nottingham, co president of Nottingham Spurk. It
Speaker 1: is a family office. It specializes in innovation. John still
Speaker 1: with us on the phone from Cleveland, Ohio. It is
Speaker 1: really fascinating to read about kind of what you're doing, John,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, we think about investing in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. You know, obviously directly through the market.
Speaker 1: You can go into a venture fund and angel fund,
Speaker 1: but you guys really are there, you know, in the
Speaker 1: thick of it, creating the innovation. How does it all work?
Speaker 1: How long does it take for you to create something
Speaker 1: that ultimately a P and G or you know another
Speaker 1: big company you know sees it and says, okay, we
Speaker 1: want to run with it. There's a product here for us.
Speaker 1: Um how does it work? Well, you know, it all
Speaker 1: starts with a customer. You know, you look at you
Speaker 1: look at the customer, and like we said, today's customers
Speaker 1: is thinking totally different than than than that customer was
Speaker 1: a year ago or six months ago, and you've got
Speaker 1: to sort of tap in. So we've and customers into
Speaker 1: our innovation hub, into our center. We have a focus group.
Speaker 1: We watched them through a two way mirror today and
Speaker 1: we say, what what is their pain points? What are
Speaker 1: they thinking about? What? What do they want? And then
Speaker 1: and then we have our engineers and designers watching them,
Speaker 1: what seeing the twiggle in their eyes, seeing their their
Speaker 1: body language. And then we run downstairs and we build it.
Speaker 1: We we you know, we design it, we build it,
Speaker 1: we put it together, we fast track it through a factory,
Speaker 1: and we get it in that customer's hands as quickly
Speaker 1: as possible. You've got to strike while that iron is
Speaker 1: hot and be the first one out there. I have
Speaker 1: to say. There's a listener who's hearing our conversation, said,
Speaker 1: you kind to ask him about polar Delight. Um, I
Speaker 1: mean this is another thing that you guys were involved in. Correct. Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: so we've invented We've invented a new way to consume
Speaker 1: premium ice cream. Okay, it's not out there yet. We're
Speaker 1: working on it. We're fast tracking it, and it is
Speaker 1: going to change the way people think about ice cream,
Speaker 1: the same way that your egg and espresso change changed
Speaker 1: the way people think about coffee. Just think about it.
Speaker 1: Is this something we'll have in our homes potentially? Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, probably it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna go
Speaker 1: out for two convenience stores first. But it's a technology.
Speaker 1: It's a platform technology, and platform technologies you can just
Speaker 1: grow and grow and grow. It's fascinating. Another listeners saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: so are you guys manufacturing in the United States, Like,
Speaker 1: how do you kind of get your hands around some
Speaker 1: of the discussions we've had this year, whether it's supply chains,
Speaker 1: whether it's a thinking about kind of developing industries here
Speaker 1: and you guys are obviously working on a global scale,
Speaker 1: but uh the need for sustainability, the impact on climate,
Speaker 1: like how does that affect some of your innovation that
Speaker 1: you're doing. And obviously it sounds like, you know, you're
Speaker 1: looking at the consumer who now wants things like directly,
Speaker 1: maybe we want to cut out you know, e commerce
Speaker 1: just got kind of a kick in the pants over
Speaker 1: the last twelve months specifically, so how do you kind
Speaker 1: of work all of that in as well? Oh see
Speaker 1: that See that's what excites us. I mean, it's all
Speaker 1: about opportunity, right and so, uh so what we do is,
Speaker 1: you know, we have this partnership with Ernston Young and
Speaker 1: we we've we've we've labeled our hub the e Y
Speaker 1: and uh not Engams for innovation Hub. We bring a
Speaker 1: company in the top managers of the company in for
Speaker 1: an intense day or two session and they just lay
Speaker 1: out their issues, they lay out the products, and then
Speaker 1: we at the end of the day we have a
Speaker 1: game plan to address these issues. And part of it
Speaker 1: is factory for part no, it's automation. It's the next
Speaker 1: generation of manufacturing. We don't have to go offshore. We
Speaker 1: can do it here in the United States. It doesn't
Speaker 1: you know. And then sustainability. I look at it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity, not as a problem. It's a big opportunity.
Speaker 1: We have some technologies we're working right now that's going
Speaker 1: to to change landfills. You know, I think of these
Speaker 1: mountains of landfills for these products. You don't have to
Speaker 1: design products like that. You can design a circular product
Speaker 1: that that you can control from cradle to great circular.
Speaker 1: You know. That's something that I feel like. I've talked
Speaker 1: with the CEO of Unilever, I've talked with the folks
Speaker 1: at Patagonia, I've talked with to Put, lots of different companies.
Speaker 1: They are thinking about this in a big way. Well,
Speaker 1: we're not thinking about we're doing it. Are actually in
Speaker 1: we are, We're hands on. We have a prototyping facility
Speaker 1: better than anything I've seen in the world. So I
Speaker 1: am fast track it. So okay, So I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: our audience, smart investors. They're listening to this, So what
Speaker 1: are the things, what are the trends that they should
Speaker 1: be watching out for, specifically based on some of the
Speaker 1: work that you guys are doing. And I know, you
Speaker 1: can't tell us everything you've told us, which is really wonderful.
Speaker 1: But what are the what are the trends that maybe
Speaker 1: aren't getting a lot of attention that you think they
Speaker 1: have to be paying attention to. And they might be
Speaker 1: high tech, they might might be low tech, but will
Speaker 1: nonetheless be disruptive exactly. I mean you know low tech
Speaker 1: is fine. I mean it's whatever whatever can can factor
Speaker 1: in that pain point. For instance, I talked about home before.
Speaker 1: One of our companies is Jacuzzi. So you can imagine
Speaker 1: which can be better? Can I just say it can
Speaker 1: be better? Oh yeah, Well about to see if there's
Speaker 1: a pain a pain point, so all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: all right, So here's the opportunity. So people aren't going
Speaker 1: on vacation, but you can vacation in your backyard. So
Speaker 1: you look at hot tubs, which haven't been innovative since
Speaker 1: the Reagan administration? Am I right? Right exactly? And lots
Speaker 1: of pain points. I look at that as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to improve it, to make it better and make it
Speaker 1: what you what you believe you want to have. And
Speaker 1: that's what's going to happen. All right, don't judge me.
Speaker 1: This is going to maybe sound like kind of silly
Speaker 1: and quirky. But I have to say, um, working from home,
Speaker 1: being at home in our bubble, um, we don't have
Speaker 1: I live in a city environment, have a small backyard
Speaker 1: and actually got an inflatable hot time that actually was
Speaker 1: a really sweet thing for us to have. Um. So
Speaker 1: it's just it's certainly kind of some of the things
Speaker 1: that you're talking about. John, we have to run, please
Speaker 1: please come back. I love this kind of stuff. Have
Speaker 1: a safe weekend, a good weekend, and I hope we
Speaker 1: can talk real soon. Be well. John Nottingham he's co
Speaker 1: president of Nottinghamsburg on the phone from Cleveland. What a
Speaker 1: fun interview, Um, what a fun conversation.