A studio pulls a movie people actually like because it didn’t open big enough.
A public company kills a product line that’s two quarters from working.
The decision was fine. Nobody let it finish.
Here’s what I’m realizing about decisions. Once people finally start making them, they expect the result to show up right behind. The decision is the start of movement. It’s not the outcome.
When my partner Craig and I decided to give DryFins a shot, that was just the first of many decisions. We’re going to make these - but there was 18 months of work in those five words.
After we figured out how to make a prototype, we learned we needed a designer. Then it was slow sampling back and forth with her firm. Fit adjustments. Fabric selection. Color choices.
Do pockets need velcro?
That took months.
Once we had a formal tech pack, we had to shop for a manufacturer. Want to find a cut-and-sew shop in America? Few and far between. And most weren’t keen on working with a startup brand.
So now we shop overseas. FedEx and DHL packages arriving several times a week with samples of what they already make. Emails back and forth offset by a 12-hour time difference. We learn what minimum order quantity is, and have to decide how many pairs we want stored in our garages.
Even more months.
Now we select a factory. They get the tech pack. First we have to choose the right blue - dip samples of swatches of fabric. Multiple rounds. Then they sew a custom sample of shorts in that color. $100 a pair. Every pair that comes to me gets forwarded to our designer to review. Fit needs to be adjusted. Tolerances tightened. We needed to add an additional gusset.
Round after round.
More months.
Meanwhile, we’ve told friends and family what we’re building, and we’re getting the questions.
“Whatever happened to that swimwear thing you talked about?”
Finally, 14 months after we decided to make DryFins, we placed the order.
It took 90 days to make them.
Another 45 to get on a boat to Los Angeles and trucked to us in the southeast.
Nobody saw any of that. They saw swim trunks show up for sale.
If anyone had been grading us quarterly, DryFins dies at month four. Nothing to show but a FedEx bill and a stack of blue swatches.
The question isn’t whether it’s working yet. It’s whether the work is happening.
Those look identical from the outside. They are not the same thing.
You decide to make the cake. Then you gather the ingredients, mix them, preheat the oven, and wait.
There is no microwave. No EZ Bake oven.
You can’t frost it while it’s in batter form.