The NightCap Story: Innovation & Impact

Speaker 1: [Music] just going for it is so important I think we waste a lot of time just thinking oh maybe one day I'll start that idea but just jumping into it and trial and error and learning from your mistakes is the best way to go and I think that's what most of us do figuring it out along the way that's what we've done and it's worked out for us we just get very wrapped up in the idea of perfection I'm Melanie bar welcome back to the Sheil it podcast your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave I'm here to talk about everything from Having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges I live in the city now but I grew up in a town of a thousand people I've navigated major life leaps a senior level corporate career worked in professional sports and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business technology family and making meaningful connections with you and the Sheil it Community I also love a good workout and dose of self-care magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so turn up the audio open your favorite Notes app grab your favorite drink and here we go welcome back to the sheel tip podcast thank you for joining us Shir share with us the moment when you decided to create night cap and how your company came about yeah so Nik cap is a drink spiking prevention company we sell products that double as scrunchies or keychains but also cover your drink and also we have disposable products as well I started night cap when I was 16 I had a college friend that was roof feed at the bar and a few weeks later I went to bed one night and I thought of Night Cap the scrunchie idea in a dream when I was sleeping and when I woke up I sat down with my dad and created the first prototype out of my mom's stockings and a scrunchy from my room I was in a rush because I wanted to show him so badly what I had thought of instead of explaining it to him I wanted to create a little visual for him so the stockings were involved I taped them together and I created this little prototype explain that to us how did the stockings and the scrunchie how' that all come together the picture of my head it was a scrunchie that also covered your drink I had an old one in my room that I could grab and then on the other hand I was like what fabric can I use to show what I'm thinking I was going through like who her socks and then I found her stockings and I was like oh this is perfect cuz it's a thin fabric we ended up taking this prototype and giving it to a local seamstress and she would come over every other week and she would basically come with a new prototype type it would be like gymnastics leotard or socks or textbook cover and it would always be something different and it would be like rainbow colors because we weren't even worried about what it looked like we just wanted to figure out the functionality of it she was sitting down with us we were talking about what we wanted to do differently and then when we got it to where we wanted it to be we took that final prototype and we sent it to a manufacturer to start creating and we sat down with a patent attorney we found a graphic designer and then my dad that morning was like it's either night cap or top hat and I was like it's not going to be topad so yeah I love your Innovation and drive to make it happen and staying with it until you you hit on the right thing yeah I think I was always just like a kid that was doing art projects and wanting to do anything that would take my mind off school because I didn't really enjoy school so I was always like oh what projects can I do now so when night capap came to me I was like this is really interesting and I think this could be a really big thing I think it could save a lot of people I don't think I realized the scale or the impact that I was going to create but the idea that it could save lives was definitely there and I think you're probably saving so many when I was 22 living in Los Angeles I went out for drinks with friends and I had a longtime boyfriend for 3 years he was with me I had a drink we were with friends I was usually pretty particular about watching watching over my things but I ended up having it happen to me he knew and all my friends knew that I was not acting myself so I'm just so thankful I it's the only time I've ever experienced in my life thankfully but I'm so happy that I was with people that knew me well enough to know that I was not a normal behavior I have a 10-year-old twins girl boy but I think about my daughter as she goes out to the into the world and thinking through experiences that I've had and ways to protect her too and she's much like you loves art projects is always creating things I had to make her an art table in the garage because it's just the glitter and the projects were exploding out of her bedroom and now I'm like do whatever you want in the garage just don't paint the car as long you don't paint the car we're good but I think about how to protect her and she's always looking for keychains and ways to protect herself we're in California and if she wants to go with her friends have a little bit more freedom what are those little ways can protect her from potentially very serious things yeah I think the best part of products like night cap are just the convenience and trying to scare people into using the product because the situation and the issue is just so disgusting and serious you want to go out you want to have a fun time you don't want these people to have to remember their drink cover or make it so serious so that's why we try to make all of our products very fun a fun solution ious problem we're on Tik Tok and we try to be that fun company that is also on a mission so we're not scaring people into a really serious but you never know when something can happen so why not have fun and also protect yourself at the same time it's just like wearing your seat belt or locking your car door it's the extra safety precaution and it's one of those things too where you put it on your drink it's not for leaving it and going to the bathroom room that's not what it's for your should always be in your hands you should always be watching your drink and even with a drink cover on it that's what night cap is for it's a it protects you but it's also a deterrent so it tells the bad actor not to mess with you and it's also allowing you to have more fun you've got that peace of mind it's like when I leave my house and my house alarm is set I just have that peace of mind gives you that little added layer yeah exactly for people who want it or even victims who couldn't go out before they've had it I feel peace of mind when I use it I can't imagine how many other people out there feel the same way yeah can you share with us a business challenge that you had going to Market or in product creation that you were able to overcome yeah nobody wanted it in the beginning going to Market was super hard because it was one of those products where you have to prove that it's necessary cuz over the last two to three years drink spiking has been a topic on social media and before that nobody was really talking about it and still to this day people think it doesn't happen so it's like why have I been drinking for the last 20 years and now I need this cover for my drink we had to get people to understand the problem and admit that they've been drugged and tell their stories and share that with other people because for so long we've been suppressing our stories and just not sharing them CU people are embarrassed or ashamed telling them so really talking about the issue and bringing up the conversation has shown people okay this actually does happen maybe I should protect myself and so in the beginning literally nobody wanted night caps and what changed that was just marketing on Tik Tok and going on Shark Tank and showing people this is a fun solution this to a serious problem also let's take safety into our own hands when I knew we were talking today I thought should I share my story because you think it's not going to happen to me and you think I'm going with friends I know and a longtime boyfriend and I'm in a tightened group that's watching over everything and again it's don't be scared but I thought I am going to share that story because your product is going to help a lot of people yeah and thank you for sharing I think a lot of people ignore it and I think that's what we're trying to change and having people be a voice so that we can be a voice for them honestly is really helpful to us because now we're trying trying to literally change laws and go to bars and be like this is what you're doing wrong but we can only do that if we know what is actually happening out there so when people share what's going on it's very helpful for us to create real change in the future for this crime to not happen anymore because it is on the rise and it's happening to just people everywhere college campuses students are victims of these crimes and you don't have to be a young woman to experience drink spiking either it's happening to men people are targeting men for their watches or their nice clothes because they know that they can be targeted for robbery so it really doesn't matter who you are anymore and our whole mission now is creating products for no matter who you are and what you're drinking because it could happen to anyone and I shared these stories with my daughter too I tell her I'm not doing this to scare you I just want you to be aware I want you to go have fun but be mindful yeah you have to be it's so important that's a huge part of our business is just talking about it and spreading awareness this recent video that we started doing is I'll go out with my friends and I'll put little candies in their drinks and I'll take videos of it and I'll clip it up and I'll say like spiking my friend drinks with Swedish Fish or gummy worms and our latest video has 15 million views with half a million sends on it people are really resonating with what's going on because it's happening and I think it's a great one minute clip to show people like this is what's happening this is how easy it is it can happen with water it can happen with a beer bottle doesn't matter what you're drinking and it also most likely could happen with people that you know so don't be letting your guard down at a house party because this stuff is literally just happening everywhere you're also giving people a voice too to open up and talk about it to say it's happening to so many people and probably people that you might think it wouldn't have happened to and don't have to feel so alone if it's something that has happened to you yeah that's a really important part for victims just like for the healing process realizing that they're not alone realizing that they aren't the only person in the world that has experienced the crime because a lot of times they feel like that and created a group on Facebook that's for victims or just Advocates of drink spiking to allow people to share their stories in a private setting because it's I would say a little ridiculous that people are sharing a lot on social media and there's nowhere for us to tell them to go we created this group to be like hey if you want to have more of a safe space you can talk in in here instead because it's just so out in the open even though that's fine we want to provide a space for people also the awareness too for someone that might not be thinking about it at all yeah for sure what is the most fun thing about your product the scrunchie aspect I wear my scrunchie in my hair all the time and it's washable and reusable we also realized that not everybody wants to wear scrunchie so we took it and put it in a keychain version for a more unisex option so you can have it on your keys you can wear one in your hair or your wrist the most fun part is like also just like tapping someone at the bar and being like hey watch this and oh my God what yeah it's fun it's a conversation starter people want to know what it is they want to know where to get them so if you have one on your drink you'll probably make a lot of friends too what do you like the best about being an entrepreneur and building a business o so many things i' I really like product development and creating things thinking of an idea and turning it into something creating something from nothing essentially and I love marketing love being able to create like video when you're out with your friends and have it reach millions and millions of people that's the coolest thing ever and we were never able to do that five years ago I mean you were but not on this scale that it is now you could start a business today and literally Reach people in every single country so it's a good time to start a business if you want to because of the potential of just reaching people everywhere that you never would have before so true what advice would you give to some someone that has this idea in their head like you had what's the first thing you would tell them to do I would say don't over complicate it I would say just start and don't make it perfect get a prototype probably with someone that you trust not to steal your idea hot product protect it that is very prevalent today protect your idea but definitely just going for it is so important I think we waste a lot of time just thinking oh maybe one day I'll start that idea but just jumping into it and trial and error and learning from your mistakes is the best way to go and I think that's what most of us do figuring it out along the way that's what we've done and it's worked out for us we just get very wrapped up in the idea of perfection so true perfect is the enemy of the good and it can hold you back from so much and feel the fear and do it anyway is my favorite whenever I'm feeling that I'm holding myself back try to do that little reminder I love that quote Feel the fear and do it anyway I feel like whenever I'm scared of doing something I want to do it more I feel like the universe like rewards you for that truly just go for it and I think it's good to make yourself uncomfortable and when you're too comfortable sometimes it's not going to challenge you and not going to make you grow try it right I love it thank you for joining us today your product is so great and I it's going to help so many can you please share with us how and where we can find you yes of course you can find us on social media night cap it and then nightcap it.com we're on Amazon Forever21 I also have a podcast season two coming out that's called inyour dreams podcast thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheil it on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave