the company is called quirky, which also describes some of the products its members create. find out how this innovative business is helping inventors get their ideas into markets. and clothing queen eileen fisher on the importance of your brand translating online. that's all coming up next on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy. and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc.

hi there, everyone i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to your "your business." the show dedicated to giving you advice to help your business grow and succeed. his team calls him the world's least important ceo. but do not let that label fool you. ben kauffman is disrupting not only how the world invents new products but also the way you cultivate an innovative culture that fits the company's name, quirky. it's thursday night in new york city. and ben kauffman the dynamic 28-year-old founder and ceo of quirky, has invited me to be a panelist judging new product ideas as part of the company's weekly ritual.

>> you're working quirky product evaluation. special guest panelist tonight is j.j. ramberg. you remember j.j. ramberg? >> quirky describes itself as a company that makes invention acceptable. every week the employees sift through thousands of product ideas submitted by the company's community. they then select the best ones to bring to e-val to see if a new concept has merit. if it makes it to e-val the idea goes to the quirky community for a healthy debate and a vote. the evening, fuelled by pizza and beer is fun, fast and more than a little irreverent. >> j.j. what do you say? >> it comes down to price. i think there's a market for having cakes that look like this right? all these people who read martha stewart and are into crafting but cannot get it themselves. they would buy this but at the right price. >> once a product is given the green light at e-val, quirky's industrial designers figure out the viability of making the product, create a prototype, and

then bring the concept back to the community who help fine-tune the idea. >> you'll notice on every quirky product the photo of the inventor and the number of people that help that inventor is on the back of the box. >> what do you mean number of people that helped them? >> people who helped figure the colors, how much weight it would need to hold. >> from your community? >> yeah all these different people are making different contributions which make the product better. when one unit of this is a different target bed, bath and beyond and home depot, when one unit of this sells, all in this case 559 people get paid. based upon the impact they had on the successful product. >> wow. >> share the royalty with the community. >> kauffman may make it sound easy but believe me it's not. the culture at quirky is intense. focused and competitive. starting with kauffman himself, who, at the time of our chat hadn't slept in three days. are you demanding of your employees? >> yes. >> in what way? >> probably all of them. i mean i expect that stuff

happens quickly. speed is a big part of quirky. we say that quirky time is our weapon. we are faster than any company in the world. in order to do that, you need to work hard, and break down barriers every day. >> the breakneck pace has ideas being brought to market with unbelievably short turnaround times. their record just 29 days from idea submission to store shelves. for a product called plop. what does a week look like with your employees? >> everyone goes at a different pace. and then it's the pace that works for them. you know it's a creative business and creative people get turned out typically, and we want to prevent that. >> there is no doubt that ben expects his staff to work hard. but he doesn't want them to burn out. and so he figured out a way to avoid it with something he calls blackouts. >> so we actually shut down the business basically the philosophy is that when you take a vacation you're always worried about what's going on back in the office. and so to eliminate that we said how about if everyone in the office takes off time at the

exact same moment. >> i went sky diving. >> i adopted a mini german shepherd. >> we shut down the business three weeks a year and tell people to go and relax and learn something new or see their family or whatever it might be. >> rachel has been told she practices radical h.r. as the chief people officer at quirky her specialty is building companies with an entrepreneurial mind-set. >> we have a very work hard play hard eitheros here at quirky and i think the blackout period is a way for people to recover from our sprint. so it's a unique practice. i don't know that many other companies do it. >> and not many companies have annetteos like quirky where they hire fire and live by six values. getting things done impatience embracing conflict agility, being elfless and looking to the future. >> the dynamic of the core values is for every yin there's a yank. with impatience you have future.

they kind of balance you out. we want you to move now and move quick but we always want you to be thinking about long-term. you have embraced conflict. we want you to fight with everyone at the company but not fight for yourself. >> and what drives this culture is the fact that everyone is measured by this yardstick. every day. not just when review time rolls around. >> what's really interesting about quirky's culture is the blueprint was set early and ben's been very very clear about what's important here. it really vibrates through the company every day. people who are successful here embody those values. getting things done and being agile. these things are alive here and if people are out of step with those values they don't succeed here. >> kauffman preaches a culture of setting the bar high and always hitting it. >> it's always underpromise, overdeliver, right? we definitely don't do that here

so we try to overpromise and overdeliver. the very structure of our business is is tell the world what you're going to do and very quickly after that do it. most companies it's the other way around. do it and then telle world about it. we're on the hook. when we tell the world we're going to ship this by this date. guess what has to happen? has to ship by that date. >> and it's that sort of attitude that wrought this nimble, entrepreneurial and disruptive company to the attention of ge. a corporate behemoth who needed to reinvigorate their consumer products. >> we literally built a light bulb for ge in 100 days. they've been making light bulbs for close to 100 years. you would think they're better at it than anyone else. and they are. but sort of the corporate structure doesn't allow products to move quickly. we were able to do this whole thing in 100 days and build a light bulb that would have taken them a year. it's a great partnership. >> when eileen fisher started

her clothing line in 1948 she had zero sewing experience and four samples in her hand. now with stores all over the world, her designs are a favorite with people who gravitate towards her simple style and comfortable fabric. we sat down with her during a visit to the company's headquarters in new york city and she talked about the importance of capturing your brand's essence online and why you need to diversify. >> i'm a really shy person and sort of by default i became a listener rather than a speaker. then listening becomes a huge advantage for me. in that i realized that by listening, other people helped me to even see my idea more clearly, or add to the idea. i wait to kind of express my own thoughts until i've heard from most other people. and then i filter what i've

heard through my own kind of inner sort of sensibility, and then, then i give my opinion. >> what's important about an internet business is just that you try to capture the essence of the brand. for us it was so much about feelings. we want to be able to feel the clothes. i think for us it's having great photos that you can really see it up close. and, you know, all around. one of my first battles was french terry. textured cotton knit. when everyone loved it and i became sort of known as the french terry lady. but what happened is i got a delivery of the fabric and the supplier had substituted a yarn. it performed differently. i had to stop the production. so i was getting clothes back from customers, and i really thought i was going to lose the business. i had to diversify.

so i started developing the styles in all different fabrics. my whole line just exploded. and then i was seen as not just the french terry lady but somebody who you know did these simple clothes in all kinds of beautiful fabrics. you know to just stop and take a few minutes, and however we do it, i journal, and sit in my purpose chair. and stop and think what's important every day. it's so easy to be distracted. and so just if we stop before the day begins and you know sit down and just take stock of ourselves, and what we care about, and what matters, then we're more likely to stay on track. getting feedback from your target audience is an important step when launching a new product or service. if you're looking for an

affordable way to survey opinion panels, check out our website of the week. a market research tool that allows you to conduct 30-minute online video interviews with the members of its consumer panel. the company has more than 3.5 million people in its pool so you can target people based on criteria and age and income. whether you are just getting started or you are already a seasoned tweeter you should be focused on building an engaged audience. here now are five ways you could tap into your followers' behavioral pattern to determine what resonates with them on twitter, courtesy of entrepreneur.com. one get inspired by influencers. use a media monitoring tool like mention to identify people who are leaders in your industry and see what content is getting the most shares. two be personal while being professional. sharing your personal hobbies and interests will attract like-minded followers. your switer biois a great place to test this out.

three, track unfollows. use fools like unfollowstat.com. four, find topics that engage the most. monitor the effectiveness of your tweets so you can make sure your twitter activity is as productive as possible. five, pay attention to your audience's activities. what, when and where they're saying things is extremely important to discovering what hashtags and other key terms your potential community is using and who is leading these conversations. we talked about crowd funding a whole bunch on this show and it is important to remember that there are different kinds of crowd funding. there are companies like indy go go and kick starter which allow you to donate to somebody's venture and then in return you get some kind of prize. and that should not be confused with equity crowd funding. that's where investors receive equity for their investment in your company. vincent bradley is here to talk about how this works and who can

invest. he's a serial entrepreneur with a diverse background in business and product development, and he is the ceo and co-founder of splash funders a no cost equity funding platform open for small businesses and tech entrepreneurs. so great to see you, vincent. >> thank you for having me. >> i think this is interesting because there's been so much focus on equity crowd funding because of the jobs act. which said that eventually anyone can invest in a company for equity. we're not there yet. >> yeah we're not there yet. congress actually excuse me the s.e.c. just came a little bit further on that. right now flash funders and everyone else in the equity funding space is allowing credited investors to purchase direct equity or equity through ftds which is a complex method. must be a credited investor now to invest. >> let's say i'm starting this amazing company, right, and i have some people who are interested, but i'm also looking for other funders. how does that work? how do i work with an equity

crowd funding platform? >> so edits core flash funders is a technology company that partnered with a broker dealer and securities law firm. we provide entrepreneurs the tools to raise capital efficiently. ar they have their own money, their own investors, their own family and friends that want to invest in a company we will allow them to do it at no cost very efficiently and because of our marketplace that we built around our utility platform investors from around the world can come in and access deals, as well. we've already had investment coming in from montana, from wyoming, from israel from constituent, from switzerland, from australia. >> you know but it's interesting though because, because a lot of times when people hear crowd funding they think it's this panacea, i put my company up there and it's amazing all of these strangers are going to see what i'm doing and want to give me money. when in reality, what crowd funding, what these sites like yours do right now is they provide a tool to make it happen efficiently. you still have to go out and find your funders and pitch your business. >> it's an empowerment tool but

the first thing i tell entrepreneurs is we're not going to change the psychology of raising a check. you need to go out there and you need to hustle. i consider myself a hustler. i'm in a position that i'm in today, i started several companies, because they hit the streets, i meet with people and i make relationships. that's how you raise capital. you need to get out, you need to hustle. you've seen with kick starter the people that are successful, the crowd funding sites, they put a ton of prep work before they launch their campaign. so raising equity capital, getting someone to write you a 25, 50 100,000 dollar check requires even more work. >> but what companies like your company and others in your space do is they make it easy right? so you can put i can put my whole pitch online so that people can easily access it and then the back end of the funding is easier -- >> yeah yeah absolutely. an investor can come on and he can discover a deal and he can diligence the company on the platform via his pitch, via the data room where we have all of the documents. you can reach out to the company, engage in the conversation, and what we're seeing is those conversations

will start on a platform and then they'll be taken offline. >> right. >> and if he decides to invest he can invest in the company in under 15 minutes. that basically means he's going through banking compliance, he's going through accreditation, he's signing his documents on the platform. he's linking a bank account. transferring money. this is all stuff that used to be done by a securities lawyer and by a paralegal that would cost $250 an hour for a good paralegal, and $500 an hour for a securities lawyer and we're doing it at pay fraction of the cost. >> right. you're making the whole process more efficient. i know if there's so much regulation around what you do and you had to spend a lot of money and a lot of time in order to launch your company, so congratulations. >> yeah thank you. yes. it's not a lot of fun sometimes, and it's definitely very important to do it right. we consider flash funders creating a industry standard. >> thanks so much for coming on and talking to us about it. >> thank you for having me j.j. it's been awesome. >> still to come the small business question people keep asking. how do you monetize social media?

and we know bill murray likes them. but will our panel? our elevator pitcher shows us his feathered bow ties. american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets, traveler's cheques, a lost card. really? that worked? american express' timeless safety and security are now available on apple pay. the next evolution of membership is here. i redesigned my website recently and it is so hard to

compete with all the big retailers and all the big online beautiful stores out there. so instead of hiring an incredibly expensive photographer, which i couldn't afford, and going and hiring a big studio which i also couldn't afford, my friend recommended that i go to the corner kiddie photo shop in the mall with my model and shoot all the photos for my redesign and i think it was a brilliant idea i saved a ton of money. the site looks amazing. >> this week's your biz selfie comes to us from the owners at healing trail wellness in connecticut. looks like a pretty good place for a massage. now we would love to see your selfie so send us one of you and your business to your business@msnbc.com. or tweet it to us @msnbc your biz. please do not forget to hashtag it #yourbizselfie. >> today's elevator pitcher has

gotten the attention of some big hollywood stars. but does that mean that he's hit upon a fleeting trend or that he's developing a strong business? let's see what our panel thinks? tania yuki is the founder and ceo of social content analytics company, and jill sherman is co-founder of modalyst enables brands to get their products into e commerce and specialty shops. >> hi my name is jeff plotner and i'm a co-signer of brackish. we're a high end men's accessory line specializing in bow ties hand crafted with natural feathers. the idea started eight years ago when my co-founder and good friend came up with the turkey ties for his wedding. they're a huge hit, and the two of us coming to the 5 1/2 years later in 2012 and forming brackish. since then we've grown to have over 20 employees and have over 100 retailers all around the world. since then we've gained significant press coverage and celebrities such as bill murray jack nicholson and ringo starr

have been seen with our ties. we also have a strong mix of sales combined with e-commerce retailers, and trade shows, and we're seeking a retailers and trade shows. we're seeking a $300,000 investment in order to keep up with demand and fill orders we would like to upgrade our production facility and expand production. >> jeff, i have to say, these products are beautiful. congratulations on all of your success. >> thank you. >> two scores today. the first one on the left-hand side score the product from 1 to 10. the second one, score the pitch from 1 to 10. you guys have done some really amazing work. 20 employees so far. how many retailers? >> over 100. >> awesome. >> thank you. >> i will start with you, jill. you have a lot of knowledge about the fashion world.

start with the product? >> the product a 10. the pitch 59. i would love to hear more about the market opportunity, how big it is. the red carpet weddings perhaps is where else you're hitting up. >> tanya? >> i'm giving the product an 8. it looks really cool. i see the appeal. it's not for me personally, but you have gotten great traction. it looks beautiful. i'm giving the pitch 56. i see there's a high amount of detail in creating product. i'm wondering how will you scale that when you broaden your operations? how will you keep that quality consistent? so that it still feels special and not mass produced? >> i think you have a good story, too. you could craft this into an amazing pitch. >> thank you. >> congratulations with everything. we expect to see a lot of these

on the red carpet. >> thanks. >> thank you guys for your advice. this was fantastic. if any of you out there want the chance to pitch your idea in the elevator on the show just let us know. send us an e-mail to yourbusiness@msnbc.com in that e-mail, a short summary of what your company does how much you're trying to raise, and what you intend to do with that money. i can't wait to see what you guys have been working on. it is time now to answer some our your business questions. jill and tanya are on the set with us. the first is from al. how would you recommend a company that is up-and-coming to get more media time? let's start with you. it's hard. you've got something great but you want attention. >> i would recommend standing up strong finding a way to position yourself so you're the go-to person for people to

understand more about whatever your industry is. >> how do you do that? how do you get people to think of you as a thought leader? >> look at press, see what's going on out there in the world, contribute articles or pieces on your blog tweet at reporters who are coming up with the press. so they know to come with you. you get wider distribution. >> what do you think, tanya? >> i got to say, it's one of the biggest challenges. the temptation is to talk about your widget or service, but you want to focus on what's going on in the news and world that maybe something your company does can help drive the conversation. jump on to something that's already trending. the second thing is if there's a way to partner with an established company or an established brand, somehow have some of their halo brush off on to you, it's easier to get noticed and cut through the

clutter of up and companying-and-coming companies. >> i always ask what's your goal? if it's customer acquisition, media, press, may not be the best way to get it. it might be but you may want to do something more direct. if it's branding media may be important for you. >> that's correct. particularly if you do get lucky enough to have the media time, trying to rayavoid that temptation to sell. >> and becoming a thought leader. >> the next one is a question about turning your social strategy into cash. >> how can i actually make great roi with social media? not talking about brand awareness or visibility but how can i actually get paid business as a result of social media? >> it is a good question. i think she might be disappointed with the answer. >> firstly, i would say please

reconsider what you're thinking about as social media roi. a big reason why people are there on social is to build a brand, particularly as an up-and-coming company you want to get that out there. make sure the reason people choose your company is not down to price. it's paw they know you and trust you. when it becomes it driving specific clicks back to your site for purchase craft your social consent differently. typically when you craft a facebook post or a tweet, it's about making that content in its that people can enjoy on the social network. if you're trying to hook them to go somewhere else you have to give them just enough to keep them interested but have the promise of deeper content back on the website. >> the beauty is she can test but oftentimes i've heard over and over from companies, when you have interesting conversation, you get shares retweets likes. when you try to sell something,

it falls flat. >> exactly. question what you're trying to get out of it. is it lead generation or sales? if it's lead generation include a link to your site. if it's sales, look at other companies and learn from them. sales through a platform like facebook. >> let's movee last question. my domestic assistants business is an s corp. i have a natural products business. should i change to an llc or keep both as s corps? you may not have the answer but where can he go to find the answer? >> i don't pretend to know the answer to this i would reach out to networks and ask them.

find a list serve or group where one has a similar business and had same issues or questions. ask for their advice not only advice but once you find a person, ask for contacts. lawyers, often conversations with lawyers are free advice before they ask you to come in as a client. make sure you drive in many conversations around the same topic. >> tania? >> both an s corp and ll can have the same similarities. the same tax benefits, the same benefit of protecting yourself from personal liability. the big thing is the kind of business and scale you're anticipating. if you're going to be paying yourself a salary and have these excess profits, an s corp is probably a better decision for you. it's a bit more expensive to set up. it will have complications with state level taxes f you're just

getting started, building it up you're happy for that to be a pass through on your tax, an llc is probably easier. you can do it online. you don't have to worry about the additional implications. >> okay. great. appreciate your advice. as you all know we get all of these questions from our audience. send in yours, we will give you some answers. send us an e-mail to to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. thank you very much for joining us. if you wanted to learn more about the show head over to our website, openforum.com/yourbusiness. once you get there, hit the show link to submit a question or e-mail us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. next week how do you attract enough customers to make sure your product or service is not a passing trend?

>> we gave people what they were looking for. we kept it fresh. we kept it new. with competition, it keeps us on our toes. coming up with new ideas. really it makes sure you're on your a game you're giving the best experience out there. >> we'll tell you why constant innovation giving customers plenty of options and a glass of wine or two have ensured a colorful future for one company. until then i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets, traveler's cheques, a lost card. really? that worked? american express' timeless safety

and security are now available on apple pay. the next evolution of membership is here. can the president's executive action survive? all right. good morning. thanks for getting up with us today. a lot to talk about. a lot of news happening, around the world and around the country. a lot we'll be getting to starting with breaking news overnight. the mall of america confirming it has increased security after being named in an apparent video by a somalia-based terror group. we'll have much more ahead on that. minnesota senator amy klobochar is