The Courageous Podcast Episode #21: Eric Ryan (co-founder of Method Soap)

1:32 - Quarantine Back In March Felt Like a Holiday; Not so much now

2:35 - Does he take pride in his advertising roots? Or does he run from that identity?

4:15 - Eric explains being in his 20's when he started Method

5:15 - Eric shares his two hiring rules back at Method

7:18 - Eric discusses the 3 separate cultures he's currently part of

8:40 - Finding those little ways to keep the team feeling unified

9:40 - Eric explains the "All Welly Wednesday" Zoom call

11:26 - We get Eric's response to a few Business Haiku's

12:21 - Covid was an accelerator to a new world and a new way of working

14:52 - The reality of imposter syndrome

17:38 - How Eric goes about testing his business ideas

19:09 - Creating little steps of confidence at a time

20:07 - Eric shares how he starts by looking at categories that are ripe for disruption

22:25 - "I sex up boring things that are part of everyday life. And I do it in a way that gives it scale fast. And that’s the Target partnership which really helps with that.”

23:57 - Their first meeting with Target: "It's a Snowball's Chance In Hell."

25:15 - "Any success story has an element of luck to it..."

26:12 - Eric raves about the creative leadership he sees at Target

28:48 - "Products are just the souvenir of the culture."

30:15 - Eric shares his artist and operator model

31:31 - Creating the space for the artist and the operator to work really well together.

32:48 - Does Eric see himself as the Artist? The Operator? Or something else?

35:18 - We get into the creation of Welly

36:23 - The differences between Eric's time on Method, Olly and Welly.

38:53 - The importance of learning and growing

40:38 - Trying to create space during the pandemic to think

42:18 - Eric shares a few life-after-Covid "we'll never go back" moments for his companies.

43:15 - "I believe in the slow hunch."

43:46 - "I need all the legos in the room again"

45:14 - Eric explains how he is a product guy: Culture first, Product second. Sales and marketing will follow.

47:39 - Discussing "Play Culture"

48:40 - Building brands is like putting on a play

50:11 - Method value: What would MacGyver do?

50:50 - Does Eric run his ideas by his kids?

52:32 - Eric has his next two company names ready to go...

53:16 - "If you're not growing you're dying"