good morning. coming up msnbc east, "your business," the creator of this marshmallow shooter using his background in industry to get back. the co-foundersf instagram on what they learned to make the app a global sensation. that and so much more next on "your business." will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job. or fill a big order. or expand your office and take

on whatever comes next. for those who find new ways to grow their business, american express open proudly presents "your business" on msnbc. hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your growing business. you may be wondering why i'm holding a bag of marshmallows. today, we kick off with a store tla started with a marshmallow like this one. now, it's a multimillion dollar company. this is a story about following your dreams, following your instinct and taking everything you have learned throughout your life to build a business and have a lot of fun along the way. ♪ >> all my friends were telling me, have you lost your mind? you have to be crazy. >> there was a huge learning curve in the beginning. >> beaver and kim raymond knew

nothing about the toy industry when they started their company in 2005. >> it didn't start as a planned business. >> they were holding down big jobs in the fashion industry and planning an upcoming birthday party. >> 15 boys coming to spend the weekend. i realized friday night that i forgoto get par favors. >> beaver sat down and turned 15 pieces of pvc pipe into tiny, homemade marshmallow shooting blowgun party favors. >> it was a huge hit with the kids. >> that didn't surprise kim as much as what happened with the marshmallow blowers after the party ended. >> when the parents came to pick them up, they were having as much fun as the kids. >> this got them excited enough to dream big and get help to develop lots of new shooter designs. ♪

>> we kind of took a look at what the energy and excitement that was created and we thought, this could be something. >> that's what started the company. >> it was just a hunch, but with beaver's background in manufacturing and kim's knowledge of marketing, they started up a business around the shooters. they named it the marshmallow fun company and started showing their products to toy sellers. >> somehow or another, they said can you make some for us? we'll buy a container. i said, who is that and what is a container? >> once we realized we needed to produce 10,800 marshmallow shooters, we made the call, pulled the trigger and started the production. >> in their rush to fill that order, they insisted on using the highest quality plastic and the trendiest colors, two things they took from the fashion industry experience. veteran toy makers later told them, that was a mistake. >> they said, number one, the

colors are wrong. there's too much quality into it for a toy. i thought to myself, i have 10,800 piecesn the water coming to me. i am totally screwed. >> despite his concerns, when the shipments arrived, beaver's fashion instincts opened up the market for retailers outside the toy world. >> we got the attention of people like nordstroms, neiman marcus. it was coming from everywhere. it was based on a cool product with a lot of quality. >> they followed up with other fashion industry marketing practices like asking retailers what new styles they wanted for next year. questions that toy sellers don't usually get asked. >> we said what do you like? what are your color themes. they look at us like we are crazy. >> crazy because they don't tweak successful products. >> we were behaving the way we knew. >> what beaver and kim knew is new styles bring buyers back for

more. >> we do cheetah prints, peace signs, camo, classic, whatever the customer is looking for. it blew out at retail. >> this led them to another fashion business tactic, the private label or special editions branded in names of retailers like nordstrom, knee mus marcus and others. >> it's a limited amoun you are doing for a special cusmer. because is only in one place or one brand that they could charge a little bit more, which helps my margin as well. >> thanks to private labeling, they ended up in clothing stores, movie tie ins and food stores. >> we kill it at the candy show. we are the only toy at the candy show and we get a tremendous amount of attention. >> one of the accounts we met at toy fair several years ago was all the executives from

drugstore.com. we asked them if we could show them the line. they said thank you so much, but we are not a toy company, we are health, beauty and pharmaceutical. i said you can still have fun. three days later, we got a call and they wanted to put it on their website. that year, they sold over 100,000 marshmallow shooters and they said, we want a gold plated marshmallow shooter for our corporate office. >> why were they celebrating? >> we outsold viagra that year. if you have ever posted or looked at a picture on instagram, you can thank kevin and mike. if you can believe it was only 6 1/2 years ago they launched the app, they have 700 million users. willie geist has the story. >> reporter: instagram was a start-up idea whose beauty was

in its simplicity. take a single photograph of where you are, what you are doing, share it in realtime with the people in your life and give them an easy button to push to show they like it. that simple idea is now a global community. >> let's talk about 700 million monthly users. you set out to do this 6 1/2 years ago. did you ever dream being where you are today back then? >> no. i think we started, you know, know thag we wanted to bring this out to the world, but this is kind of beyond our wildest dreams when getting started. >> i remember looking at mike and being like, i think we are on to something. meanwhile, he's stressing out keeping the servers up. he's like, maybe. >> reporter: 33-year-old kevin and mike met studying at stanford university. kevin worked at a company later known as twitter. he shared a desk with current twitter ceo, jack dorsey.

make came from his native brazil. do you remember mike, meeting kevin at stanford? >> i remember talking about the company that became twitter and we talked about it. >> we barely knew each other in college. it was when i left my job at a small start up. i wanted to start something independently. i met mike in a coffee shop. she was working on -- hacking on a project. i was like cool, he's hacking on a project, seems smart. >> while in college, kevin turned down an offer from a young entrepreneur to work at a company he was building. that entrepreneur was mark zuckerberg. the company was faceok >> i remember meeting o of my mentors and i was like hey, should i do this facebook thing. the person said, ahh, it's a fad. >> reporter: in 2010, four years after graduating stanford, they got together to start their own company.

their first idea, a company called bourbon, didn't work out. they took what they learned from the experience and in the fall of 2010, launched instagram. in less than three months, 1 million people joined the open network. >> we stripped away everything and said, if we want to make this particular experience of taking a photo, sharing it and making that quick, how do we make that incredible. >> reporter: as you sat there, at your laptops, watching this thing explode, at some point did it feel like this is getting away from us? we are not ready for this much success? >> we are crossing 1 million. 999,999. it flipped to 1 million. we were just like, did we just do that? like, did it happen? who is that person. who are these people? i think we looked up who that was. it was getting away from us. in some ways, it is.

your job is catch up with it. >> reporter: 18 months later, instagram had 30 million use zers. among them, big names who fell in love withhe platform. as the company was growing, before you sold it to cebook, who were the craziest celebrities who joined instagram. you are like, oh, my god, that person is using it. >> the first was snoop dogg. >> snoop was the first? >> he really joined early around, you know, i think -- >> it matters. he makes it cool. stamp of approval and people flow in behind him. >> a team of eight or nine at the time and snoop dogg joins. you get a message his people want to come to the office. snoop's people -- i don't have people. do you have people? i went to the vatican to on board the pope. you realize they are so influential in the world and are using our product to get our message out in the world.

that's really special. >> reporter: that's got to be a moment when the pope signs up for instagram and help him. >> he touched the sign-up button. i was like i really hope this works. >> reporter: mark zuckerberg took note it of what was happening. he called kevin with a second chance to come to facebook. with less than two years into its life, instagram was sold to facebook in april of 2012 for $1 billion. kevin and mike stayed on to run instagram under facebook. even with their latest updates, stories and live, the instagram founders say they are just getting started on what's possible within instagram with designs on becoming a multibillion user platform. does virtual reality fit in? >> if we could use a teleporter for a wedding or missing vacation and allow y to

experience that, that is something that is on the horizon for instagram. >> reporter: they are moving fast into the future. they pause briefly to reflect on what they have built in less than seven years. >> every day, i wake up and work on the most amazing thing in the world. get to change 700 million people's lives every single month. that's crazy. i love working with this guy. it's just -- it's a dream. it's awesome. some of the biggest names in business are sharing their words of wisdom on twitter. but, which ones are worth our attention? entrepreneur.com gives five inspiring accounts we should follow. kevin rose is the co-founder of four start ups and at google ventures. with over 1.74 million followers, he shares his favorite new products and

services on twitter and engages heavily with subscribers. two, brur investor steve case shares interesting news articles and motivational quotes to help people grow their businesses. three, randy zuckerberg may have a famous brother, but shares business lessons with followers and introduces them to inspiring entrepreneurs. four, marketing gu rye, guy kawasaki tweets his take on current events, success stories to people in the industry. five, injure ard adams, the co-founder of elite daily and mentor. he posts daily motivation to inspire when you are in a rut. bad leaders can ruin everything. when i think about my own career, the places where i felt

most successful and the companies were most successful, a lot had to do with who was leading the team on all levels. lolly is the ceo of the leadership executive coaching firm. she is author of the book, "the leadership gap." what gets between you and your greatness. >> great to be here, j.j. >> this is everything. leadership is everything. so, i want to get down to your points about how you become a good leader. one is lead by example. i think so many people forget. >> absolutely. what does it mean to lead by example? a leader, if they want to be respected, if they want to be trusted, if they want their clients and their employees to be loyal, a leader needs to lead by example chltd they have to trust their employees to do their job well. they have to respect their employees in order to respect them for their talent and their skills. don't micromanage them. allow them to do their job.

be loyal. if they mess up, have their back. a leader needs to lead by example in order to be trusted, respected and have loyalty given to them. >> i think they need to write down, here is how i want my managers to lead their team. you can see it in other people, often. think, okay, am i really doing that myself? >> absolutely. it has to start with the leader themselves. >> let's move to the next one. share information. there's been a big change in the way business is being done over the past many years. there used to be the management team where they know everything, don't tell ,anyone people find out there's a cnge when they read it in the newspaper. there's much more openness in companies. >> communicate, communicate, communicate. communicate the bad, communicate the good. people know when you are withholding information. people know something is going on in the company that isn't being said. when that happens, people create

stories within their own mind, right? they make up stories, this is happening and that's happening. usually, the stories they are making up is more, i think is worse than what the reality is. so, it creates suspicious within a company. a leader must communicate at all times about what is really happening in the company. >> how do you deal with it when there are things for a variety of reasons? partnership deals, whatever, and you cannot communicate it. employees know something is going on. itis a fine line to walk. >> absolutely. that's important what you are saying. it's a smart question. what do you communicate and what do you not communicate? if it affects your employees, they need to know. if it doesn't directly affect them, they don't need to know right away. they need to know and understand what is happening. >> knowing how to delegate. we started talking about this earlier. it can't be just all about you. your company won't grow and no one is going to want to work

with you. >> a leader, they think they know it all. they have to do it all. when a leader has that kind of mind set, they become a leader that is a micromanager. they don't allow people to be who they need to be. i hired you for a reason. then do your job. create and do your talent and your skill. when a leader doesn't delegate, it sends a very bad message. >> yeah. >> it's very, very important that a leader be very good at delegating and putting the right people to the right job, to do it the right way. >> when you see them doing something in a different way than you would do yourself, stop yourself. right? if they don't then get the results, then maybe that person is in the wrong job or needs to be trained. in that beginning time, stop yourself and see if they can do it. >> right. watch, look and listen. allow them and challenge them. challenge them to step up to the plate. if they are not doing it exactly like you like it, challenge them. don't tell them how to d it,

show them. that's the difference between an effective leader and great leader. >> be a quick decision maker. you never want to be the roadblock in your company, ever. >> absolutely, j.j. that is so important. you need to be the kind of leader that knows when to make decisions, but make it right away. if you are sitting on a decision, people see you as a leader that is inactive, not really a leader. a leader takes a actions. >> a leader makes quick decisions. you need to be a quick decision maker. >> it's frustrating. as a leader, you want people to make decisions fast. you don't want to find out something didn't get done because it's stuck in a committee. lead by example. you have to get it done. finally, when you talk about celebrating diversity, i know you mean bring people in that are diverse, but what doo you mean by celebrate? >> there's unique individuals. you and i are very different.

we are different for different reasons. we have different stories, different backgrounds. it's important to celebrate diversity. we each bring something unique to what we do. if we all want to be cookie cutters, you have a company that is mediocre. it's important to celebrate the uniqueness of each individual to see what they can bring to the company. >> thank you so much, lolly, we brees appreciate all this. when we come back -- looking for a place to hang out with rover? our elevator pitch and rover have an app for that. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job,

or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. as a minority female recovering sorpt executive, what would you recommend for those of us in the financial services industry in the startup world to succeed a n a male dominated industry. >> as a minority in a male dominated industry, i don't have to tell you to work hard or long, and my opinion? u already learned those lessons in the process of getting to where you've gotten. my tip is to remember that it's a marathon and not a sprint.

you know how to work hard. now work smart. when folks are taking business meetings on the golf course or people are rubbing elbows with potential clients, it feels like fun, but the reality is those are the deep sort of connections that will get you to the next level. what got you where you are now is not necessarily what's going to get you to the next stage. figure out how to work smart. you already know how to work hard. i'm go founder of slobbr. dogs are family. that means we want to include them in every aspect of our life. going out to dinner, traveling, and so much more, but try planning a day out with your dog or even a vacation.

it's a headache. enter slobbr. it's an app that allows you to live life with your dog. there's a map that shows you dog friendly places around you. when users check in, we donate kibl to a local shelter. you as investors know the pet industry is a $70 billion industry. one referred to as recession proof. slobbr is looking to focus on advertising and programs like with lyft. ask yourself this. do you slobbr. >> i hope your answer is no, but how much money are you looking for? >> $200,000 for 5%. i need two numbers from you.

>> two numbers. from one to ten, what do you think of the product and what do you think of the pitch? >> well, i gave the product nine, and your presentation was fantastic. and i gave ten for the dog. just the cutest thing. i love this idea. i'm a dogma ma myself. and i have had that challenge of trying to figure out how we can get around. i love this idea and i love that it has a social aspect to it as well. >> i gave an eight and eight. that's a high end on my scale. i thought the product's interesting. a couple of the guys in our office just got dogs. watching them try to scamable for services or plan or dog sit or pick up the dog and take them

for a walk and where they can take them takes a lot of time which is impacting productivity. and the pitch? i thought you delivered a well spoken clear concise, knew what points to hit on and delivered it in a short period of time. great job. >> one last question. can you tell us anything about traction? >> when you invest, we will happily the tell you about traction. >> all right. you got them interested without telling them. i think that's usually one of the things you usually need to talk about. thank you both. now, if any of you out there want to come on your business and pitch your company just like you saw john do, the best way to do that is end us a video of you doing your one minute elevator pitch. send it to us at yourbusiness@msnbc.com. include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to raise,

what you intend to do with the funds. we look forward to looking at your pitches and seeing some of you on the show. here with the top tip to help your business grow is audi williams. she's the fonder and owner of d.c. home buzz. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> you see things from the investor side, and you've built two successful companies. what's something you learned as you started your comnies and now own these sizable companys? >> what i have learned is that being an entrepreneur is a lonely place, and one of the things that has been really helpful is finding a tribe. the tip that i have for other entrepreneurs is to try to find a tribe of people who understand your language, who you can commiserate with who can be candid and supportive. not a network. you're not trying to gain their business. you're trying to have them be a peer support group. >> that's a good idea.

sometimes you need someone to vent to or you need someone to ask advice of that isn't totally business. it's not like how do i market? >> but i was up at 4:00 in the morning. >> being an entrepreneur is a 24-hour thing. you're also a family member, a mother, a sister, wife. so trying to find people who understand that you don't just go to work from 9:00 until 5:00. >> and who you can be honest with which you can't always do when you're doing business. >> exactly. thank you. and brad harrison, i think something that happens, we've all done it. we have a product. we think it's a fabulous idea. and we put it out there, and it fails. >> and the reason why is because you did not get customer feedback before you launched your product. and i thi that's the most important thing. go out there and actually get

feedback from your real customers before you launch your final product. whether you do that in a focus group, whether you do that in a survey. it is the most critical thing. i think the more advanced companies use things like their net promoter score and other things to gauge how customers view their product. but i've always seen companies that have made product changes not gotten customer feedback, launched the product, and had a catastrophic response from their customers, because they're missing key features, or they have done something wrong. so the best way to avoid that is ask the people who are going to use the product before you launch the product. >> by the way, i believe customers like being involved in today's day and age. no matter how big or small your company is, if you have dropped a relationship with your customers, i think they like giving feedback. >> with wbigger companies, you can use kpanls like twitter and they're monitoring those

channels. i put something out the other day. i put out something that was there's an app called docoin ba. i put out something that the app was crashing. when five seconds i got a response from the lead investor, and the product manager an they monday they fixed the product. >> that's the second thing. monitor what people are saying to you. it can be helpful. thank yoso much. >> thanks. this week's your business selfie comes from the owner of last call 4 cup cakes. the name gives you a little bit of an idea as to why her cup cakes are for adults only. they are infused with premium spirits and liquors. send us your selfie. we love seeing pictures from your companies from around the country. include your name, the name of your business, your location,

and use the hash tag yourbusinessselfie. >> we love hearing from you. if you have any questions or want to say hi, e-mail us. also go to our website. we posted all of the segments from today's show plus a lot more for you. and don't forget to connect with us on our digital and social media platforms as well. we so look toward forward to seu next time. remember, we make your business our business. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order

or expand your office and taken whatever c next. find out how american express cas and seices can help prepare you for growth at open.com. good morning, and welcome to politicsnation. president trump is in saudi arabia this morning, and in the next hour he's expected to deliver a speech aimed at muslims around the world. he's expected to urge muslim unity in the fight against terrorism. msnbc will carry that speech live. trump arrived yesterday as he began his f