Billie Asmus didn’t set out to build a national retail brand — she just wanted a better way to pause a painting project when her daughter woke up from a nap. Standing at her mudroom sink, frustrated with plastic wrap and wasted brushes, she went to Amazon to solve her problem. When she realized the product didn’t exist, she decided to build it herself.

On a recent episode of the Made in Iowa Podcast, I sat down with Asmus to discuss how necessity sparked invention, what it takes to break into major retail, and the realities of funding and scaling a product-based business.

Here are four top quotes from the conversation with Asmus.

1. Innovation from necessity

“I went to Amazon to buy it … and then I realized it did not exist. I thought, ‘This is stupid. How come it doesn’t exist?’ This is a no-brainer. I was standing at my mudroom sink thinking there has to be a reusable, airtight solution for this, and when I couldn’t find one, that’s when I knew I had to create it myself.”

2. The first steps to success

“I poured my very first prototype … it was like 50 bucks all in. I ran to the dollar store, grabbed foam board and supplies, ordered raw silicone and just tested the idea in the most basic way possible. I needed to know if it would actually work before I invested real money into patents or manufacturing.”

3. The race to scale

“Eighty percent of companies fail within [the first few years] because usually it’s lack of access to capital. It’s not always that the product is bad or there isn’t demand — it’s that you run out of money before you can scale. When you’re manufacturing something new, the upfront costs for tooling, inventory and tariffs are massive, and you have to fund that growth before the revenue catches up.”

4. Battling the isolation of entrepreneurship

“It feels less lonely being in the product industry because [outside of it] it’s hard to find people that are experiencing what I’m experiencing. When you’re navigating manufacturing, retail buyers, supply chain issues and scaling inventory all at once, not many people truly understand that pressure. Connecting with other founders who are in the trenches building physical products makes a huge difference.”

Watch the episode

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All episodes are available to stream at businessrecord.com/bpcstreaming or wherever you get your podcasts.

To share ideas for future episodes, email Leisa Fox at leisajfox@gmail.com.