good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the kraert of this marshmallow shooter uses his background in the fashion industry to help his toy industry grow fast. the cofounders of instagram on what they learned to making the app a global sensation. we'll have that and so much more coming up next on "your business."

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 hold ago bag of marshmallows. that's because today we kick off the show that started with a marshmallow just like this one and you no it's a multi million dollar company. this is a story about following your dreams, following your instinct and taking everything you've learned through wrought your life to build a business and have a lot of fun along the way. ♪ >> all my friends were telling me, are you -- you've lost your mind. you have to be crazy. >> so there was a huge learning curve in the beginning.

>> they knew nothing about the toy industry when they started their company in 2005. >> it didn't start off as a planned business. >> back then, they both had their hands full holding down big jobs in the fashion industry. and planning an upcoming birthday party. >> we had 15 boys coming to spend the weekend. and i realized late friday night that i forgot to get party favors. >> that night, beaver sat down at his tool bench and turned 15 pieces of pvc pipe into tiny, home made marshmallow shooting blow gun party favors. >> it actually 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 on sunday, the parents were having as much fun as the kids. >> this got the two preers xieded enough to dream bigging 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, it made it to hemlacher schlemmer. they said can you make some for us? we'll buy a container. >> i said who is that and what is a container? >> we realized we needed to produce 10,800 marshmallow shooter, we made the call, pulled the trigger and started the production. >> in their rush to start that order, they insisted on using the highest color plastics and trendiest colors. two things they took from their toy making experience. veteran toymakers told them that

was a mistake. >> they said number one, your colors are wrong and there's too many quality into it for a toy. so i thought to myself, i was 10,800 piece t on water coming to me. i am totally screwed. >> despite his concerns, when the shipments finally arrived, beaver's fashion instincts for color and quality opened up his market to retailers outside the toy world. >> we got the attention of people like nordstroms, people like neiman marcus. it was coming from everywhere. but it was based on a cool product with a lot of quality. in 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're crazy in the toy world. >>razy because toymers dot tweak successful products. >> in the fashion wod, that's the dialogue that takes place. we were behaving the way we knew. >> and what beaver and xim knew

was new styles bring buyers back for more. >> we do cheetah prints, peace signs, all sorts of colors, cameo, classic, whatever the customer is looking for. and it blew out at retail. >> this explosion of styles led them to another fashion business tactic, the private label or special editions branded in the name of big retailers like nordstrom,nyman and others. >> when you do that, it's a limited amount you're doing, you're doing for a special customer. and because it's only in one place or only with one brand, that they could actually charge a little bit more which helps my margin, as well. >> thanks to private labelling, the marshmallow shooters ended up in clothing stores as movie tie-ins and even in food stores. >> we kill it at the candy shop. we're the only toy at the candy show. and we get a tremendous amount of attention. >> one of the accounts that we met at toy fair several years ago was all the executives from

drugstore.com. we brought them in and asked if we could show them the line and they said oh, thank you so much but we're not a toy company. we're health, beauty and pharmaceutical. and i said, well, you can still have fun. so 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 she said we want a gold plated marshmallow shooter for our office. why were they schedule brating? >> we had outsold viagra that year. if you have ever posted or looked at a picture on instagram, you can thank kevin and mike. can kevin and mike launched the app. the platform now has 700 million active monthlyrs. how did they do it? nbc's a willie geist has their story. >> instagram was a start-up idea whose beauty was in its

simplicity. take a single photograph of where you are or what you're 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. >> so let's talk about 700 million monthly users. you guys set out to do this 6 1/2 years ago. could you ever have dreamed being where you are today back then? >> no.. i think we started, you know, knowing that we wanted to bring this out to the world, but this is kind of beyond our wildest dreams when we were getting started back then. i remembering looking at mike and being like, i think we're on to something. meanwhile, he's stressing out trying to keep the service up and he's like, maybe. >> 33-year-old kevin sistrom and 31-year-old mike krieger met while studying at stanford university. kevin already had worked at a company called odeo which later would become twitter. he shared a desk with current

twitter ceo mike dorsey. mike had come to stanford from his native brazil. >> do you remember, mike, meeting kevin at stanford? >> i do. i specifically remember talking to kevin about odeo. and we mentioned the company that became twitter and we talked about it. we barely knew each other in college. >> but it was only when i had let me tell my job at a small start-up and i was like, i want to start something independently.. i met mike in a coffee shop and he was hacking on a projects and i was like, cool, he's hacking on a project. he seems really smart. >> while he stillas in colleg kevin turned down an offer from young entrepreneur to work at a company he was building. the entrepreneur was mark zuckerberg. the company was facebook. >> and i remember meeting one of my mentors and i was like, hey, should i do this facebook thing? and i remember the person say, ahh, it's a fab. >> in 2010 four years after graduating stanford, sistem and

krieger got together to start their own company. the first idea, a company called bur ban didn't work out. but they took what they learned and in the fall of 2010 launched insta fwram. in less than three months, 1 million people had joined the open network. >> we basically stripped away everything and said if we want to make this particular experience of taking a photo, sharing it, being proud of it and excited to share it, ohio do we make that incredible? >> as you sat there at your laptops and we were watching this thing explodes, at some point, did it feel like, oh, this is getting away from us, we're not ready for this much success this quickly? >> we were sitting us watching us cross a million and it was like 999,999 and then it flipped to a million and we were just like, did we just do that? like did that happen? who is that person and who are these people? i actually think we looked up who that person was. but yeah, it was getting away from us and in some ways it

still is and your job is to catch up with it on a constant basis. >> 18 months later, instagram had 30 million users and among them some big names who fell in love with the platform. >> so as the.can was growing before you solves it to facebook, who were the instant celebrities that you're like, oh, my god. >> the fist one was snoop dogg. >> snoop was the first? >> he joined early and just, you know -- >> it matters, right? snoop mes it cl. he gives his stamp of approval and people flow in behind him. >> you hav a team of eight or nine at the time ..snoop dogg joins. then you get a message that snoop's people want to come over to the office. you're like snoop's people? i don't have people. do you have people? this still happens, right? so in the past year, i went to the vatican and helped on-board the pope. and you just realize, like, these people who are so influential in the world are using our product to get their message out in the world. and that's really special.

>> that's got to be a moment when the pope signs up for instagram and you help him get on. >> what's your password going to be, your holiness? all you had to do was touch the sign up button and i was like, i really hope this works. >> mark zuckerberg called kevin with a second chains nce to com facebook. 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're just getting started on what's possible within instagram with designs and becoming a multibillion user platform. >> does virtual reality fit into this picture at all for you guys? >> if we could build a teleporter to take you to someone else's experience is, whether it's a wedding you're missing or an amazing vacation someone is having and allow you

to experience that immerse ily, that's absolutely something that's on the horizon for instagram. >> kevin and mike aring moving fast into the future, but they do pause briefly to reflect on what they've built in less than seven years. >> every day i wake up and i get to work on the most amazing thing in the world. i get to change 700 million people's lives every single month. that's crazy. and i love working with this guy. it's just -- it's a dream.. it's awesome. the. >> some of the biggest names in business are sharing their words of wisdom on twitter. but which ones are worth our attention? entrepreneur.com has done the hard work for us and is gives us five inspiring twitter accounts we should all be following. one, serial preer kevin rose is the co-founder of four start-ups and adviser at google ventures and a board member for the tony halk foundation. 1.74 million followers, he shares his favorite new products

and services on twitter. and engages heavily with his subscribers. two, entrepreneur investors and best selling author steve case shares interesting articles to help people grow their businesses. three, randi zuckerberg may have a famous brother, but she often shares business lessons with her followers and introduces them to other inspiring followers. four, marketing guru guy kawasaki tweets his takes on current events, the success stories of people in the industry .his favorite things to his more than 1.5 million followers. five, gerard adams is a millennial mentor and go founder of daily. he posts lines that are meant to inspire when you're in a rut. bad leaders can ruin everything.

when i think about my own career, the places where i felt most successful and where the companies were most successful, a lot of it had to do with who was leading the team on all levels. molly dascal is ceo of lead from within, a global leadership executive coach firm. she is author of the new bybook "the leadership gap." what gets between you and your greatness. good to see you. >> so great to be here. >> leadership is everything. so i want to get down to your points about how you become a good leader. number one is lead by example. which i think so many people forget. >> absolutely. so what does it mean to lead by example? a leader, if they want to be respected, if they want to be trusted, if they the their clients and their employees to be loyal, a leader needs to lead by example. they have to trust employees to do their job well. they have to respect their employees in order to respect them for their talent b and their skills. don't micromanage them.. allow them to do their job. and be loyal.

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

to create stories within their own mind, right? and they make up these whole kinds of stories. this is happening and that's happening. usually the stories that they're making up is more -- i think is worse than what the reality is. and so it creates suspicion within a company so a leader must communicate at all times about what's really happening in the company. >> and how do you dial with it when there are some things for a veert of reasons, right? partnership deals, legal issues, whatever it is that you cannot communicate it. but your employees do know something is going on. it's a fine line to walk. >> absolutely.. and i think that's important whab you're saying. it's a very smart question that you have. it's like 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, maybe they don't need to know right away. but i think what affects them, they need to know and they need to understand what's happening. >> okay. and knowing how to delegate, we started talking about this earlier, but it wasn't just be all about you. first of all, your company can't

grow. second of all, no one is going to want to work with you. >> so a leader thinks they have to do it all, they have to know it all. when a leader has that mind b set, 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 skills. but when a leader doesn't delegate, it sends a very bad message. so it's very, very important that a leader be very about at delegating and is putting it right people to the right job to do it the right away. >> and when you see them doing something in a different way that you would do yourself, stop yourself. right? if they don't then get the results, well then maybe that person is in the wrong job or needs to be trained, etcetera. but in that beginning time, stop yourself and see if they can do it. >> right. watch, look and listen. >> yep. >> allow them and challenge them. i would say challenge them to step up to the plate. if they're not doing it exactly like you like it, challenge them and don't tell them how to do it. but show them how to do it.

that's the difference between an effective leadser and a great leader. >> and be a quick decisionmaker. you never want to be the road block in your company, ever. >> absolutely, j.j. and that is so important. you need to be the kind of leader that knows when to make decisions, but you need to make it right away. if you're sitting on a decision, people see you as a leader that is inactive and not really a leader. a leader takes actions. a leader makes quick decisions. so it's very important to be a very quick decisionmaker. >> and it's so frustrating. as a leader, you want the people who are working for your company to make decisions fast. you don't want to find out something didn't get done because it's stuck in a committee somewhere. to your first point, leads by example. you have to get this stuff down. phenomenally, when you talk about celebrating diversity, i know you mean bring people in that ever diverse, but what do you mean by celebrating it? >> i think it's very important that a leader recognize that in their company, there's unique individuals. you and i are very different.

and we're different for different reasons, right? we have different stories, we have different backgrounds, and i think it's very important to celebrate diversity because we each bring something unique to what we do. and if we all want to be cookie cutters, then you just have a company that's mediocre. i think it's very important to celebrate the uniqueness of each individual to see what they can bring to your company. >> right. thank you so much, lolly. we really appreciate all this. >> thank you. when we come back, advice for women entrepreneurs that want to succeed in a male-dominated industry. and looking for a place to hang out with rover? today's updated picture and her four-legged friend has 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 corporate executive what would you recommend for those of us now in the start-up world, particularly in a financial services technology industry to succeed in a very male-dominated environment? >> as a minority in a male-dominated industry, i don't have to tell you to work hard, i don't have to tell you to work long. in my opinion you already learned those lessons in the process of getting to where you've gotten. so my tip is to remember that it's a marathon and not a

sprint. you already know how to work hard, now it's time to work smart. when those folks are taking business meetings on the golf course, people are taking long vacations and rubbing elbows with potential clients, it feels like fun, it feels like not work, 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. figures out how to work smart. you already know how to work hard. ♪ ♪ i'm john. co-founder of slobber. this here this is rock. for me and the other 70 million dog people out there 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. trying triplanning a day out

with your dog or a vacation, it is one big headache. enter slobber a web and app platform that allows you to live life with your dog. all the dog friendly places around you, add favorites, share photos and so much more and we encourage our users to check in and when they do we donate kibl to a local shelter. we've been branded the four square for dogs with heart. you as investors know the pet industry is a $70 billion industry one that is often referred to as recession-proof. so for us, slobber is looking to capitalize on in market concierge services, advertising and self-supported programs like we just launched with lyft. ask yourself this, do you slobber. >> i hope your answer is no to that. how much money are you looking for? >> 200,000 for 5%. >> fantastic. all right. i need two numbers for you and i forget my notes. here. now, now you can give the two numbers. okay. i got so excited about getting near rocky.

>> he's hanging out. >> amazing job here. >> yeah. >> two numbers from one to ten, what do you think of the product and then what do you think of the pitch? let's start. >> well, i gave the product 9. and the presentation was fantastic. >> thank you. >> and i gave 10 for the dog. just the cutest little thing. i love this idea. i'm a dog mama myself and i have had that challenge of trying to figure out how we can just get around and i love this idea and i love it has a social good aspect to it as well. >> great. >> brad will be tougher. not much. >> i gave an 8, which as j.j. knows -- >> is good. >> the high-end of my scale. but i thought the products really interesting, you know, a couple of the guys in our office got dogs and watching them try to scramble 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 up a lot of time which is -- >> productivity. and then the pitch i thought you delivered a clear and concise, well-spoken knew what points you wanted to hit on and were able to deliver it in a short period of time. >> one last question for you. can you tell us anything about traction? >> so when you invest, we will happily tell you about traction. >> all right. that's -- you got them interested without even telling them. i think that's usually one of the things you need to talk about. thank you, both. congratulations. good luck with everything. and thank you for bringing rocky in. we appreciate it. >> of course. >> if any of you want to come on "your business" and pitch your company like you saw john do the best way do that is to send us a video of you doing your one-minute elevator pitch. send it to us at yourbusiness netanya yourbusiness @msnbc.com. please include a short summary of what your company does, how much money you're trying to

raise and what you intend to do with those funds. we look forward to seeing all some of your pitches and all of you on the show. >> here with the top tip to help your business grow is cereal entrepreneur audi williams founder and owner of dc home buzz, a real estate roqbrokerag firm in washington, d.c. you see things from the investor side and built two companies successfully yourself. congratulations. >> thank you. >> what's something you learned as you started your companies and now own these two sizable companies? >> well, so the what i have learned is that being an entrepreneur is very lonely place, and one of the things that has been really, really helpful is finding a tribe. so the tip that i have for other entrepreneurs is try to find a tribe with people who understand your language, who you can commiserate with, who can be supportive and candid with you, not a network, you're not trying to gain their business, you're trying to have them be a peer

support group. >> sometimes you need someone to vent to or ask advice of that isn't totally business, it's not how do i market this thing, but i was up at 4:00 in the morning, this what is i'm worried about, make me feel better about it. >> being an entrepreneur is a 24-hour thing, it's part of your identity but you're a family member, mother, sister, wife, trying to find people who understand that you don't just go to work from 9:00 to 5:00. >> be honest with and let down your guard with which you can't always do when trying to get business with them. >> exactly with us is brad, the founder and ceo of scout ventures. i think something that happens, we've all done it, we have a product and 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 think that's the most important thing is to 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 mosts critical thing. i think the more advanced companies use things like their net promoter score and things to gauge hcustomers through their product, i've seen companies made product changes, not gotten feedback and had a catastrophic response from their customers because they're missing key fier features or have done something wrong. ask the people who will use your product before they launches the product. >> by the way, believe that customers like being involved in this in today's day and age, right. no matter how big or small your company is, if you have developed a relationship with your customers i think they like giving feedback. >> the amazing thing is with bigger companies, you can actually use channels like twitter and they're monitoring those chams. i put something out other day,

we were talking about cripto currency and i put out something there was an app called coin base, which is a cripto wallet and i put out something that the app was crashing an within five seconds i got a response from fred wilson the lead investor and then the product manager and by monday they had fixed the product. >> that's the second point which is monitor what people -- even if you're not asking for it directly monitor what people are saying. it could be helpful. >> thank you so much. >> thanks. >> your biz selfie from nick kia preval the owner of last call 4 cupcakes. the name gives you a little bit of an idea of why her cupcakes are for adults only. they're different because they're infused with premium spirits and liqueurs. now pick up your smartphone and take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us at yourbusiness @msnbc. or tweet it. we love seeing pictures from your companies from around the country. include the name, the name of

your business and use the #yourbizselfie. thank you for joining us today. we love hearing from you. if you have any questions or just want to say hi, e-mail us at yourbusiness @msnbc.com. also please go to our website it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. we have posted all of the segments from today's show and a whole lot more for you. don't forget to connect with us on our digital and social media platforms as well. we so look forward to seeing you next time. until then i'm j.j. ramberg, remember, we make your business our business. brought to you by american express open. visit openforum.com for ideas to help you grow your business. 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. hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters in new york. 8:00 a.m. in the east, 5:00 a.m. out west. day 128 of the trump administration with new and explosive allegations against senior adviser and the president's son-in-law jared kushner. the growing questions about his links to russia. after nine days in five countries president trump heading home soon and we have fresh reaction to his first overseas trip. meanwhile, back at the white house, an nbc report on the team there setting up a literal war room of sorts to fight back against accusations against the administration and russia. plus, these new arrests, the uk