Interview with No Pong
Product name: No Pong
Description: natural deodorant from certified organic ingredients
Creators: Melanie and chris Caley
1. Can you tell us a bit about your brand, how you chose “no pong” as the name and what inspired you to create it?
No Pong was actually born on a surfing trip in the hot and sweaty tropics. Melanie had been working for quite a while on a deodorant, as she was very conscious of putting questionable ingredients on sensitive areas like our armpits. I started using her deodorant on the trip, and in the absence of running water or laundry managed to wear the same shirt for 3 days and didn’t smell. That’s when we really knew she was on to something!
We came up with the name No Pong pretty easily. We’re pretty straight shooters, and No Pong definitely did what it says on the tin!
2. What roadblocks and challenges have you encountered while creating no pong?
Keeping up with the business while it’s scaled in size has been the most challenging thing.
We read somewhere recently that as a rule of thumb, every time you 10x a business, you have to completely revamp and redo your systems and processes.
Given we started literally selling a handful of tins when we launched and we’ve grown quite a bit since then, we’d have to agree!
We’ve outgrown mail logistics teams, web servers, and various suppliers, and revamping them is always challenging, and always seems to come just when we’ve thought we have everything under control! As everyone says, it’s a great problem to have but we really don’t want to disappoint our customers, so this has been one of the things that has probably kept us up at night more so than anything else.
Luckily we’ve always asked ourselves the question “is it scalable?” and if it’s not then as a small team we know we literally can’t afford to do it. That said, as a small business, constantly learning it’s inevitable that we ended up making decisions we thought we scalable at the time but turned out not to be.
3. How have you juggled family life, working and developing your brand at the same time?
As the business started out very small, and has grown quite organically over the last 3 years it’s really been quite a natural transition. In the early days we were both working in our day jobs, and working on No Pong on the side, but as it grew we were able to move full time onto the business.
Melanie is also a Midwifery Consultant and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and someone that feels a true calling to that in her identity and career, so she continues to work alongside No Pong.
As I’m sure you can imagine, it is quite easy to talk about the business and work on No Pong all the time, as happens in a lot of couples who have a business together. Melanie and I make sure we take time just for us and prioritise the things we love doing together, such as surfing and travelling. It is so important to make time separate from the business for ourselves and our family.
4. What’s your biggest motivation for continuing to work on no pong?
Our customers are our biggest motivation, for sure. From the moment we started receiving feedback from customers we knew we were on to something, and it’s our customers that have taken No Pong to some of the furthest reaches of the globe. We’ve been sent photo’s of No Pong at the top of Kilimanaro, in Nepal and on the Kokoda trail. It’s so humbling to hear stories of how No Pong is with them when they’re out there doing amazing things!
5. What’s next for No Pong? Any more products? :)
We’re always thinking about ideas for new products including listening to customers to see what they want. We’ve heard and had some pretty interesting ideas, but as a small, but fast growing business, we really want to stay focused on doing one thing, really well J
6. You obviously have amazing work ethic and strive to deliver quality in your brand, what is the biggest lesson you’d like your kids to learn from you?
Actually, Melanie and I don’t have children, but do think a lot about the future generations! The world we would like to leave to generations that follow is a sustainable one, which is as much, or more about giving than taking.
As I said before, Melanie is also a midwifery consultant and passionate about reducing maternal and infant mortality, particularly in developing countries. Unfortunately, there is a very real problem in countries that we literally share borders with. This means we’re travelling a lot and juggling this vision and the business, but at the end of the day we strongly feel that it’s important to give back.
We’re all in it together, and it’s only going to work for future generations if we’re prepared to give a little back!
7. What would you tell others who are also looking to create their own product line and brand?
We would say that when you’re at idea stage, it’s really important to remember that “you’re not in business, until you’re in business with someone”.
For us that means our amazing customers. For other businesses, it may mean other types of customer or clients.
The key thing however, is that just because you have an ABN and an idea, you are still a not business until you have some kind of customer!
So, before you invest too much time and/or money in your idea, find low cost ways to test it with real customers (not just friends). This will give you valuable feedback and help determine whether your idea is viable or not, without putting too much on the line.
We’ve learned this lesson the hard way on previous ventures, and we were very conscious not to repeat it with No Pong!