What do a clinical psychologist and mechanical engineer have in common? No, it’s not the set-up for a joke. They’re each one half of Dame Products—a sex toy company founded by women, for women, and 80% staffed by women.
Alexandra Fine graduated from Columbia University with a Masters in Clinical Psychology concentrating in sex therapy and Janet Lieberman is a MIT graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering focusing on consumer product design. Together Alexandra and Janet created the brand behind Eva, a uniquely engineered and wholly original couples’ vibrator aimed at closing the pleasure gap. Eva is also Indiegogo’s Number 1 crowdfunded sex toy to date as Dame recently hit their $1million mark in pre-sale revenue. Janet and Alexandra discussed sex toy tech and the business behind the adult product industry on today’s ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg.’
“I’m such a GIF porn fan.”
“In the world of sex we have excelerators and breaking points. GIFs are good way to not break the moment.”
“I fell out of love with therapy and wanted to own my own consumer goods company.”
“I became a therapist because I thought we could be more fluid with our sexuality at the age of 6.”
“With sex, teachers aren’t thinking about what the children should know. They worry about if they should be the one to tell them.”
“When I was working at Makerbot I was thinking about what I wanted to do in the back of my mind. I was also a sex toy user.”
“If people who were product development experts couldn’t figure out how to make a sex toy work, then I knew there was a better way.”
“When women didn’t laugh about my joke about making well engineered sex toys, I realized that there was a need.”
“I had given up on finding a co-founder. But when we met it was marriage on the first date.”
“A lot of sex toys companies are started by porn producers.”
“If you have a vulva you’re going to be more excited about making these products than men are. It’s not sexist.”
“Even those these products are for women, they shrouded the products in shame and slapped a porn star on it.”
“There’s a big cultural wave going on in feminism and that women like to use vibrators and its acceptance in mainstream culture.”
“It was 15 years ago that Sex in the City had the Rabbit episode.”
“You have to believe in your company. I thought we were going to do 4 million dollars.”
“You have to be practical and see what other successful campaigns in your industry has done.”
“It was like going through puberty again launching the Indiegogo campaign.”
“Make sure that you show the concept that this can definitely get made.”
“Have people use the product beforehand. Make sure it works.”
“Don’t run your crowdfunding campaign until you have made your prototype.”
“That first few days of your crowdfunding campaign are especially crucial.”
“Be ready to go with your product. Build confidence around your product.”
“Eva is a clitoral vibrator that has wings to nestle into the labia so it can be worn during sex.”
“We wanted to make a couples vibrator that wouldn’t get in the way.”
“There are always iterations and product changes.”
“I knew it was going to be the hardest to get the wings to work. What was going to fit the general size of women’s labias?”
“By the time we finished the alpha and beta testing, and changes we were making were effecting the fit of most women.”
“We kept having tweak everything often.”
“I do think we’re more a hardware company than a tech company.”
“Technology is so much more than software. Clothing companies are more than retail.”
“When we look at our business model, we are truly a consumer goods brand.”
“We kept the software and electrical side of our business simple to make sure we kept our brand robust.”
“To have something held in the labia during sex is a technical advancement.”
“The process that we use requires a lot of iteration and software testing.”
“We can’t iterate and get products out there as fast as software companies can.”
“We actually had to try really hard to make sure we weren’t making decisions based on gender.”
“We’ve been really lucky to have amazing candidates apply for jobs of every gender!”
“You have to validate the reason you’re making their product. Find how many people have the problem to kick off market research.”
“You can’t watch 5 people use a sex toy prototype of the product in a one-sided mirror.”
“There’s definitely pre-conceived notions of every industry not just sex toys.”
“We have a father and son investor team and the dad had no problem telling us about his experiences using the product with his wife.”
“People like investing in markets they know and understand.”
“Sex is a human experience that literally everyone in the boardroom has had.”
“When you’re comfortable then the conversation can stay comfortable.”
“People love talking about sex and they often don’t get a chance to.”
“There are very few generalizations that people can make about sex.”
“45% of people who buy our product are male.”
“Most people find out about us through PR and press.”
“We knew that our biggest challenge was explaining how Eva works. The first drawings we got were so medical looking.”
“A little cartoon makes something that people feel uncomfortable with be able to understand.”
“We have an employee vibrator program to get people to do reviews.”
“Reviewing vibrators is so much less fun that you think it is.”
“We’re always taking feedback from customers trying to make the best product possible.”
“We want to make the world a happier place one vagina at a time.”
Join ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ LIVE from Radio Row at the Democratic National Convention. Special guest Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks to join! Only on Sirius Business channel 111 at NOON ET!
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