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Inventor Danny’s Journey From Engineering to Entrepreneurship

Dan Cass, also known as Inventor Danny, serves as the Inventor and Executive Consultant of Liddle Speaker. This innovative Bluetooth speaker attaches to various surfaces, including the MagSafe iPhone charging spot and metal, wood, plastic, and glass surfaces. Liddle Speaker offers seamless connectivity to any Bluetooth-enabled device, including iPhones, Android devices, tablets, computers, and more.

Dan is a seasoned product development and launches expert with extensive experience in every aspect of the process — from ideation to manufacturing to business development and sales. Possessing a reverse-engineer mindset, he has successfully designed and developed several consumer products for the entertainment and consumer electronics industry, securing multiple utility patents.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[02:34] Dan Cass shares his professional background in engineering
[08:24] Entrepreneurial lessons Dan learned from his engineering career
[09:52] Dan explains how he became an entrepreneur inventing and patenting products
[13:35] The genesis of Liddle Speaker and how it works
[18:28] Dan talks about entrepreneurship, marketing, and branding
[21:25] Entrepreneurship challenges and successes in the retail industry
[25:58] What’s next for Liddle Speaker
[27:26] Dan’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

In this episode…

Are you tired of the daily grind of a nine-to-five job? Do you aspire to be your own boss, manage your own schedule, and pursue your passions? You are not alone!

Many people have abandoned traditional employment and ventured into entrepreneurship. Dan Cass, an inventor, experienced a similar transition. He acknowledges that shifting from an employee to an entrepreneur can be daunting but also incredibly exhilarating. As an entrepreneur, you can establish something that is genuinely your own. Dan shares his entrepreneurial journey of building a company that designs Bluetooth speakers that attach to various surfaces.

In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, Pat Yates sits down with Dan Cass, Inventor and Executive Consultant of Liddle Speaker, to discuss his journey as an entrepreneur. Dan shares his professional background in engineering, entrepreneurial lessons learned from it, how he got into entrepreneurship by inventing and patenting products, and the genesis of Liddle Speaker.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Episode Transcript

Intro 0:07

Hey folks, it’s the Quiet Light Podcast where we share relentlessly honest insights, actionable tips, and entrepreneurial stories that will help founders identify and reach their goals.

Pat Yates 0:32

Hello, and welcome to the Quiet Light Podcast again, I’m Pat Yates, we have a phone conversation today. A lot of times I like to just bring entrepreneurs on and pick their brains and I happen to run across Dan Cass when I was out on some Shark Tank speaking events, we would go and do pitches where we listen to products and talk to people about how to build their business, maybe position to exit, whatever we discuss. Obviously, I’m an entrepreneur and build products and build companies. So I always like to react suitable. Dan was always one of these guys with so much fun to have a conversation with because not only he invented a product, he used to be in the design and manufacturing industry, especially in engineering. And he actually took his passion and turn it into making a product has traveled to Japan to start working on electric cars early 2000s and pancaked that into a business career, where he’s now an entrepreneur with a great product. It’s growing amazingly in retail and online. So Dan owns the product a Liddle Speaker, and that’s L I D D L E, cool, play on names for the bad if you want to look up Liddle Speaker. But Dan is such a dynamic and fun guy, I just wanted to bring him on and see what kind of tips he would have to be able to talk about your business. And maybe you talk about developing a product you’ve always thought about and asking where to start. And again, we want to make sure that if you ever have any questions, a Quiet Light, you can reach out to me Pat Yates at [email protected]. But I’m hoping this conversation today will help you if you’re looking to manufacture product development or get into business in general. So I’m excited to talk to inventor Danny, so let’s get right to it. Danny, welcome to Quiet Light Podcast. Man. I’m excited to have you here today.

Dan Cass 2:03

Well, Pat, it’s an honor to be with you to be with a legend like yourself.

Pat Yates 2:08

Yeah, I don’t know about legend, you can ask my wife about that. She would say legend in my own mind. Maybe that’s probably where it resides. But you and I go back. We met each other at a lot of shows, we’re traveling around, we travel around with some Shark Tank Group and other people we talk and show products and develop, one thing I’d love for the people to understand who you are the sport entrepreneur conversation. So tell everybody your name, where you’re from, and all that Liddle stuff, and maybe a little bit of background on you.

Dan Cass 2:34

Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Pat. Well, legends, I think any of us that are entrepreneurs, we turn into Legends because we create some novel products, right? But a background about myself. So my name is Inventor Danny, everybody calls me I am from the thumb coast in Michigan, so we can see Canada from our house. Yeah. So bow me though. I got a master’s in electrical. So I was actually in the field of electrical. And at a young age, I got bored, right. I mean, I got bored out of my mind. And I always knew I wanted to get more into engineering and stuff. So fortunately, I got headhunted by a company that works in automotive. And I worked on the electric car in year 2000 in Japan, they were looking for a guy that knew AC and DC. And like I say, I have my apex in that career. And I’m like, let’s go for it, I want to learn something new. So I went to Japan, and I started working on this technology with an automotive company, we were the largest wiring harness manufacturer in the world, privately owned. And what was so cool about it is they trained me to be a reverse engineer. So I mean, when you look at products, and you look at anything, it doesn’t matter, there’s always a better mousetrap. And we always talk about that, if we’re in a room or whatever, we all got to catch your mouse, we got to catch it in a different way. But it’s all in the same real estate. So they taught me how to look at products, look at things and solve problems in different forms. So I was fortunate to do that work on the electric car brought the first hybrid electric vehicle to North America, there was a group of us it wasn’t just me, my part was the connectors in the batteries and so when we talked about like the Tesla’s and stuff like that, I actually worked on the Panasonic battery before Tesla was born. So that’s where I started so you know, I was trained to be a reverse engineer then that was a career path me and sent me back to school to learn business because I didn’t have the business mindset right.

Pat Yates 4:44

You sort of walked into something that not only did it give you like a, I don’t know the best way to put this an ability to look at products and say, hey, here’s how I can be better. This I can improve it, which is a great trait for an entrepreneur but they also sent you to business school to be able to learn how to grow the market correctly. I mean, where were you living in Japan, that had to be a real pivot for you to be able to spend time over there, right?

Dan Cass 5:10

Well, I didn’t have to stay there. So I had to go back and forth, right. And so we went back and forth there. And then we took everything from there. And we are moving it to Mexico, because we’re bringing it to North America. So my postal route, go to Japan, grab what we need. And I had my interpreters here that helped me out of corporate, which was in Michigan, and then they said, we’ll help you start bringing it everything over, you need to implement it in Mexico. And that’s where I started doing my postal route from Monterrey, Mexico on a regular basis working on high voltage, power, connectivity that does distribution. So, but that’s where it all started.

Pat Yates 5:49

That had to be kind of wild to be on the Infancy like, I know, electric cars were worked on before that — I get it. But it was a developing technology isn’t that big, I’d had to be kind of fun just to go through that process at that time, right.

Dan Cass 6:01

24 years ago, everybody talks about electric cars today, I would kind of 24 years ago, guys tell everybody. I feel like one of the pioneers. Right? That actually worked on this stuff. But it taught me so much. And my people I work with were my greatest mentors, because they walked me through my weaknesses. I mean, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And that’s what you really need to find out. And so when the crash hit, that’s when my automotive days were kind of done just like everybody else when they started falling down like dominoes. Right. So because that’s where we are. And that’s what our state lives on as automotive business. But fortunately for me, I was picked up right away, and I was relocated again, out in Denver, Colorado. I was headhunted to go out there. And work on renewable power with battery technology, right, and wind energy, solar and energy storage. So I got picked up a couple of times, I became a single dad out there raising two boys. My boys were seven and 11 when I started raising myself, and boy, you want to talk about learning something, this is another piece of the entrepreneurial spirit, because anybody that takes care of their children by themselves, the single moms, single dads, you learn so much. And everybody always wondered, how do you do it? How do you just do it, but you always thought, you also see all the problems that we struggle with at home life, not only a business life, but in this kind of opened up my mind more and more. And so long story short, I was headhunted again to be the vice president of a subsidiary of Lloyd’s of London, for lost control in engineering and forensic investigation of battery technology.

Pat Yates 7:49

So you made that change. And now you’re working on a new progressive thing, and you had family stuff. I agree with you that sometimes, especially motherhood and fatherhood, even if you have a team out there, it’s not the easiest thing. So that had to add a little bit of stuff there. Let me guess this question about the time you were spending in Japan. Was it the electrical manufacturing or all the manufacturing and design you were doing? Or was the business training? What you picked up the most on, was the business something that project you to go on and decide, hey, I’m gonna stop thinking like an engineer, and I’m gonna think like an entrepreneur. Is that when that really kicked in, or was it before that?

Dan Cass 8:24

Yeah, so we’ll go into Japan, I mean, I was thrown in, you know, I was one of the late guys coming into the game, but we knew it was coming over. And long story short, it started with the Toyota Prius, the Prius started being built in the 90s. Right. And so we took that technology, and we brought it over to Ford is what we did. So we brought the first Ford hybrid-electric Escape to North America. But that taught me how to build a product from nothing to something right. And so we did that. It opened up eyes for me. So like I say, when I was a vice president of Alaska Training Engineering, our company got bought out. So we got bought out from the president down to marketing, and I was snowballed in that and they told me I couldn’t work. And they put me in what they called the Garden lead. And so when I couldn’t work, I’m like, I just can’t sit, go, I’m happy to take care of my kids. But that’s when I started inventing for myself, and that’s when it took off.

Pat Yates 9:26

Wow. So progressing into that and understanding the business, obviously, stoke your fire a little bit. Now, you talked about the time you were in Arizona, and you worked on a lot of stuff that had to do with batteries as well. When was it that you first took your own entrepreneurial step? I mean, maybe it was in conjunction with working with a company as a side hustle. Or when did it first kick in for you that you knew you could create products, especially at the consumer level?

Dan Cass 9:52

Well, in the automotive side, it actually started in 2005. So we actually were working on some mandates. which we call it the ROHS, which is the Restriction of Hazardous Substances. My job was to design a cable that met those standards that we could actually recycle and use something, make it lighter, make it go faster to transfer more data through. And I did so. But I did it with a guy I met. And I ended up working with him as like a side gig. And that’s how it really started in 2005. But I didn’t really take the fate of the big step by myself, until my own patents and technology in 2015, that’s when I started filing patents in my own name.

Pat Yates 10:42

So you’re almost a decade in doing your own products, and obviously, from the things that you learned. So I know we’re gonna go into the Liddle Speaker in a minute, which is one of the cooler names I’ve ever seen, just so people will know we’ll talk about that in a little bit. Was this the first product that you did or what were some other products invented? Did you just go out and start making things and seeing if they would plug into business?

Dan Cass 11:00

No, no. So the first thing I did is I created a shelf platform that goes by your bedside. And I patented it in audio, video and electronic charging technology. So what I did by that, think of a table by your bed, it slides underneath your mattress, set your phone on there and set your electronics on there or charge. So I came up with that. And I own all that real estate in those areas. In other words, you can charge multiple devices at once you could watch a movie on the ceiling, you could have a speaker that was built into the bottom of it to allow you to hear the Bluetooth connectivity. So that’s part of my patents. And not only did I do that, and I always remember my Shark Tank days because I watched Shark Tank just like everybody from year one. And Ally say Lord lawyer, you want to learn his favorite things, always make something that from kids to adults. And so I had the adult things covered so and I said okay, I got to make the kid thing. Well, I designed Mickey Mouse, which was the Mickey Mouse shell for Disney. And I actually have that in a patent. And not only did I design that they liked me, I designed the product for the movie Toy Story. Also, they started working with The Simpsons that Century Fox and designs for them. And then we were working on stuff at Warner Brothers. Long story short, the pandemic struck, and then that could scare that stuff. But in 2020, Pat, I got to be honest, we were the second hottest startup worldwide, a consumer electronics show that felt that did audio, video and electronic driving. Our name was listed next to GE in the smart home area. And everybody said never seen an all in one product that can do that. So I got patents, like I say I got patents and audio, video and electronic charging technology. Some of my patents are infrared and radio frequency technology, where you actually harvest the energy out of the air. And you convert it to DC where we never plug in ever again. That’s the patents, I hope.

Pat Yates 13:06

Wow. So then you’ve invented some products, you took some out maybe some are successful, some weren’t. Let’s fast forward a little bit. You now have a really cool product called the Liddle Speaker. I’ll let you kind of introduce that and you actually spell it differently because your name which is awesome. And the whole product. So how did you start the idea for this? You see a lot of electronics out there. You’re clearly an electronics guy. You got into the speaker thing of Bluetooth with phones. Tell us all about that because I was fascinated by the product. I use it as well.

Dan Cass 13:35

Yeah, that product I just talked about our intel a shell had the speakers molded into the bottom of the platform. And during the pandemic a customer called us and said I’d seen your interviews at CES, Consumer Electronics Show. And I see you’re all over the news and wondering if you could make us a shelf for our recreational vehicle which is an RV camper. Right? And they go but we would like to see the speaker if you could remove it so they can take it outside and use it by the campfire or take it to the picnic table. And lightbulbs started going off Pat and I’m like okay, here we are. The iPhone 12 coming out, right. And so and we started studying speaker technology, what’s the speaker do? A speaker only sits on a table or a countertop. They people have magnets that are on the outside that you can stick it on something. But what we did that’s different Pat is we put the magnets inside the housing that’s never been done. That’s our core of our patent right there. Were we able to not create interference and have a magnet underneath the speaker without creating interference inside a housing that goes through a piece of plastic and we’ll stick to anything so anything steel and then we created the ring that allows you to stick the speaker on anything that’s not metal like wood, plastic, or glass. So you get two of those adhesive rings also. But that’s where it came out from a customer call during the pandemic, to create this product. And we just studied it for a lot of time on our end. And that’s how we came up with it.

Pat Yates 15:18

That’s incredible. If you haven’t had one there on the desk and show people, the video will be out there. I know a lot of people are listening to your car and do not look at your screen if you’re in your car. But Danny is going to show us the Liddle Speaker and show everybody how it works. Yeah, really cool, folks. I’ve seen this several times when I’ve been with Danny especially at shows. Go ahead.

Dan Cass 15:38

It comes in a nice box with a window, and I’ll just open this one up. It’s right here on my desk right now. So this here is one of our — this is actually our most popular color. It’s the black color black. It’s a Liddle Speaker, and I mean it’s tiny. So Pat, what we did is we actually put the magnets inside the housing. So nobody’s ever been able to do that. Like I say most speakers just sit on the table or countertop, we put it inside the housing, and I can stick it on anything. See I can put it on my car bumper, my barbecue grill, my refrigerator, anywhere and wherever. This is the most coolest thing wherever you don’t have metal in the box, because we wanted to make sure we can stick to everything. So in the box, we give you these little adhesive rings and I don’t know if you can see them or not. I bring up both Yeah, we go this way. So you just peel and stick. So this is sticky like it’s stuck on my finger right now. Right so wherever I put this ring, the speaker will stick so yeah, it was enjoy everybody’s watching here I put one right on my shirt for you right there. I know it’s black, my shirts dark. But check that out. There it is Pat.

Pat Yates 16:46

thing out of your chest. That’s it. That’s so awesome. So folks remember to this Liddle Speaker you can find it online L I D D L E not little like L I T T L E and tell them how you came up with the name. That’s fun.

Dan Cass 17:01

The name is interesting. So my son, my youngest son we just took him to, move them into his college dorm at a university called Embry-Riddle University of Florida which has been in Daytona Beach, my two kids are pilots. So we took our kiddo down there and moved him in Embry-Riddle. And everybody’s gone. Welcome to Riddle. Welcome to Riddle, you got to remember I’m embedding this thing at the same time trying to come up with a name. And I’m like, Riddle, riddle. I said, I kind of liked that name. It’s got a little slang, you know, and I’m like, light bulb just went off. I’m like, my speaker is Liddle. And we did it.

Pat Yates 17:01

It’s a play on words, but it’s so easy to remember because it actually defines the product in a fun way. That’s a little different. I just think that’s amazing. So let me ask this, as you get going through your business venture, so you were a product engineer, then you went to business school, but you had not been an entrepreneur, you said even until 2015. So you come up with this product that’s obviously super successful. How did you learn the rest of it? Was it baptism by fire? Did you work with any mentors? How did you decide because I think a lot of people out there sitting thinking, how do I make the leap, I’m an engineer too, I’m sitting at my desk nine to five, nine to five, nine to five, and I can do what he’s doing. What made you take the leap, I think that’s one thing people would really want to know.

Dan Cass 18:28

I think I was gifted in a couple of ways, one, understanding and seeing things differently as a reverse engineer, and then to being trained also to be a technical sales manager. So whatever we built in my automotive days, we had to, we have to sell it, you know, to the big OEMs of GM, Ford, Chrysler, whoever it is. So, communicating with people became a natural to me in selling something that we invented was a passion. And that’s kind of like the entrepreneurial spirit right there. So, it didn’t matter what I made. It was my baby, but I wanted to tell the world about it and show all the features and the problems that had solved, right. So yeah, it was a learning curve. There’s no doubt I mean, especially, this is the most important thing, Pat and going back to what you said about people working in front of your desk every day. When I worked for a company that was $17 billion, I went to a trade show. Everybody knew who I was, they were looking for me, right? They wanted to talk to me because I’m working on futuristic technology. When I went on my own, I thought I could carry that same torch. Here I am gone to my first trade show, and it’s like, nobody knows me. I was a nobody. So I had to learn how to market myself, market my brand, market my name. And so we started learning ourselves from all our mistakes and what we learned that works for us if we use PR for traditional marketing, I have a PR group. And then I do my digital marketing for social media and stuff. Now I hired out people for social media, but I’ll tell you Pat no one knows your product better than you. So you should really be the brand ambassador, if you want to be your own entrepreneur, that’s the way it works for us. That’s why everybody knows me as inventor Danny, the Liddle Speaker guy. And so because I’m branded, branded, branded, and so what it is, and when they search it, they find it, my name is everywhere. They write articles about me, and they do interviews just like you. And it helps build my SEO. And that’s what carries me. So when I spend money on Amazon, advertising, I don’t spend that much, because people find me from my social. And so it really helps out.

Pat Yates 20:52

That’s definitely the case. I think that you’re right, I think the more that you get into that, the more you can build it. And I love the idea of people understanding that you’re the best to be able to take your brand out. And while some people don’t have enough time in the day to be able to do every social covering and make sure they have everything done. There is time to be able to make that work. So let me ask this as you came in, and it wasn’t always going to be easy. There were things you probably struggle with things you weren’t great at that you had to really learn. What were the kind of headwinds you felt when you were first launching your business? What things were difficult for you to get past as a new entrepreneur?

Dan Cass 21:25

Yeah, there’s definitely headwinds. Everything’s challenging. Getting into the buyer network at the big box store was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with selling online, we’re successful at selling online, and spreading news advertising, doing, boosted our posts or whatever, we did that to drive traffic, there’s no doubt about that. But trying to get into the buyer network, it’s a relationship issue. So when we got kind of fortunate where we signed up with range me. And still to this day, we get a lot of people looking at us, but you know, nobody will call right, we’re a new company. But Lowe’s actually had a pitch contest called into the blue. And so we pulled it all out, right. So it was a pitch contest, filled out everything. And now Lowe’s accepted, they had over 1,000 people that applied. And it was kind of like a shark tank thing, pitch your product to Lowe’s, we’re looking for a new product innovation, right? Innovation creates competitive advantage. So we pitched our product to Lowe’s. And they narrowed that list from over 1000 companies down to 125 companies to come into their new corporate office and pitch to buyers. And there was three levels Pat, so first level, you pitched to a buyer, if they liked it, you go you get yourself a blue ticket, then you go to the next level, you pitch it to a bigger group of buyers, they like it, you get yourself a golden ticket, then you get to the executive, the VPs. If they like it, you get a platinum ticket. Well, the Liddle Speaker, I’m proud to say, is in 1,362 Lowe’s stores nationwide, and we were the number one product for their pitch contests in this category. Number one.

Pat Yates 23:17

That’s absolutely amazing. So, how many people were in that I’ve got? Do you even know? Or did they go through different layers of putting people in?

Dan Cass 23:26

There was only 15 people that got the platinum ticket and each ticket is rated at a different dollar. So when we did it because we are year one, it was like $50,000 for gold $100,000 — or no? I’m sorry. $50,000 for blue $100,000 for gold ticket, Platinum tickets with a $200,000 purchase order? Well, Pat, I can honestly say that my purchase order was more than two times that because they love their products so much. So we did really, really well. And I just had my call with my group there we sold 20,000 pieces in a matter of six weeks.

Pat Yates 24:05

Your sell-through has been good too. And you’re getting ready to expand that it’s amazing.

Dan Cass 24:09

Yeah, once we hit that South Care Now you know what’s happening Pat I just had other retailers reach out to me. I didn’t have to call them.

Pat Yates 24:20

They all want to be a part of it. It’s amazing because what sets you on the process of that? How’d you find out that from Lowe’s or was it just publicized? Did you find someone that told you?

Dan Cass 24:29

Yeah, no, it was publicized. Actually, it was on our range made so we signed up for a company called range me where you submit your product in and you can submit it to all the buyers. That’s the only way you’re gonna get in but it’s still a relationship thing and so range me we actually did range me for free. Today we are members of range me now we are members. But yeah, that’s how we got through because no entrepreneurs we don’t have a lot of money. We’re trying to get our product off the ground and do is working out of our living rooms, right? And so, but that’s how we did it. And it’s no difference when I took the supermarket but it’s your first time I tell everybody the same story, I don’t know if it’s gonna sell, I don’t know if it’s gonna sell. Well, we didn’t know what the Liddle Speaker was going to do. So we took 1,000 units to a trade show, like I said earlier, and we sold out in six hours, 1,000 units, and we’re at additional purchase order. That’s how I knew I had something.

Pat Yates 25:30

That is great. So again, we’re speaking with inventor Danny with the Liddle Speaker L I D D L E, want to make sure everybody has a chance to do that. See how it goes on the back of the phone, too. So I What’s amazing is you took a career in product development, found out how to reverse engineer things, which would have you improve about any product out there, got a business degree, then became an entrepreneur and you’re killing it, obviously, with the Lowe’s thing, what’s in store for a Liddle Speaker in 24 other than Lowe’s continuing to grow?

Dan Cass 25:58

Yeah, we’re still focused on Lowe’s. And now we got some other retailers calling also. But our goal is obviously to continue to work with the direct-to-consumer, the DTC side. We love that side of the business though, because we’re just shipping on a regular basis and stuff. I do my live shows sometimes, and I’ll get on live on my social media, in the highest viewing I had on my live show, welcome to inventor, Danny’s live show right? Here I am talking about the Liddle Speaker, pet this. I had 354,000 people watching me on my live show, and we sold out everywhere. Sold everywhere.

Pat Yates 25:58

You’re just killing it. And all these things are continuing to grow. I think what’s funny about this is and I’ll brag on you a little bit, Dan and I sort of, inventor Danny and I sort of met each other at a show when I was there speaking and doing pitch pros. But every time I talk to you, you just gets more exciting. You’re always fun to be around, you’re always fun to talk to what is your best philosophy. If you’re talking to people about like it, they’re out there saying, you know what, Inventor Danny, he may be smart, but I’m just a smart, but I got to learn what he learns what would be the first thing you tell people to do if they decide they want to try to take that entrepreneurial path, which obviously you’re killing versus working in product development, let’s say if they want to control their own income, say they want to retire, maybe they want to do this, what would your advice be?

Dan Cass 27:26

Yeah, no matter what the product is, make sure it solves a problem, you got to solve a problem. And then the number two is, does this product hit the mass market because some people invent some stuff that, hey, I can only use it in a certain area right then or is it seasonal? Now, you want to develop a product that hits the mass market, from kids to adults. And it can be used year-round. So I know we all have great ideas. So but that’s what I focus on step one, and step two, step three, then I do my due diligence, I started looking on online to see if anybody’s got anything similar to what I have, then I’ll start looking at the patent offices, I’ll go to the crowdfunding campaigns and see if anybody come up with anything like this. Because I don’t want to spend all this money and time if it’s something out there. But I’ll be honest, Pat it doesn’t matter if something’s out there. And you can make it better. You can reverse engineering and get around a patent. There’s always a way, it’s the guys that have the continuation patterns are the ones you’re never gonna get around. And those are the guys like me, because most people only filed one patent, they get it. And then they think they got 20 years of coverage. Well, Pat, I found my first patent in 2015, that product still not fully accepted to the market, right. But my continuations of that product, which created the Liddle Speaker references back to that date, that gives me an extra 20 years. So I just got another patent on that shelf platform in December of 23. So now I’m good to 2043 with my patents, and that’s where nobody can get around me. Great idea, right? Even though I’m not taking it to the market yet, because I’m so absorbed on this. But once you build it, you build off it, you create your tree of where it can go where it can be and stuff. And that’s how you get multiple patterns and claims. And everybody says, hey, I got a patent. Well, that’s great. You got a patent, but what is your claims in your patent? Because that’s where guys like me will say, well, he only claim this. So, I can claim XYZ. So get and get around it.

Pat Yates 29:46

Yeah, that’s great advice. We always tell people trademarks and patents are so big. If you’re coming into selling Quiet Light, obviously you’ve taken care of that something we always encourage people to do. So let me just a couple other questions that are kind of sew this up. Are there other products you’re working on? Alliterations of this are other things to bring to market, that could be completely different. You don’t have to give up trade secrets. By the way, if you’re working on something, but just curious…

Dan Cass 30:11

I can tell you what’s cool about the Liddle Speaker, one of the Liddle Speaker, we transmit data two times faster than older speaker technology. When we came out with this in 20, we started development in 21. So we transfer data two times faster, we go four times the distance. In other words, I can be 30 feet away. But I can also pack pair two of these together to give me total stereo surround sound. So I can take two speakers putting together have surround sound. So what we did, what we’re doing in 2024, is we’re actually coming up with them one speaker, and it’s called the Liddle Speaker pro that’s coming out where we actually, it’ll be two times louder, and it will have a microphone in it, it’ll have wireless charging in it, and a bigger battery lasts longer. We just passed our last audio test. Now we’re going into bull tooling for it should be ready within about six weeks for the first prototype, and it’s coming. I expect May 1, it’ll be out the door, somebody will have it in your hand.

Pat Yates 31:16

That’s amazing. So you’ve got so much great stuff going on. And obviously, we’re working with you a little bit to try to help you get some other marketing help. And people ever need help, they can always reach out. But So Danny, if people want to get in touch with you, I know you’re probably on LinkedIn, what’s the best way to reach out if they wanted to talk to you?

Dan Cass 31:30

Yeah, you can definitely find me on LinkedIn, you can go to our website, liddlespeaker.com, there’s an email right there that connects us right to our house box. And I do get a lot of people asking me, you know, hey, I want to work on some stuff. And I’ll tell you Pat, I’ve worked on some stage shows with you now going out there being a public speaker at trade events. And every advice I’ve given everybody has been free. I never charged anybody for anything. And I give back because I don’t want to see them dragged through the mud, give up their equity, pay X amount of dollars for someone to do it when they can do it themselves, if they just have a little guidance. And I share that with anybody that asked me that question. It allows you to take constructive criticism, understand your strengths and your weaknesses. Because no matter what you build your strengths, you’re going to be buried with what you know, to get it to market and your weaknesses. You need to get someone to help you in that area, and guide you and get some support. So don’t spend all your money on everything. Spend your money on your weaknesses to get where you need to be. So if you’re not an international guy manufacturer, ask somebody to help you. So and I help. I help a lot of people you need a manufacturer. Yeah, just send it over to my buddy. I don’t need nothing. We’ll just build it for you. And you can pay people to join. So we’ve done that a few times. And again, I never charged, never charged Pat, I help people out. It’s given back to people just like us, they want that financial freedom. That’s what entrepreneurship is.

Pat Yates 33:09

Well, you know what I usually talk a little bit about Quiet Light, when I’m finishing up the podcasts that gives me a real opportunity because that’s exactly how we feel, we want to be actionable with helping people with their businesses. We judge ourselves by the quality and number of conversations, not whether or not we get closings. And I think when you and I talk that seems to come out because I’m always willing to help anything you have. We always try to talk ideas, you can do it. I think the group you put around it, it’s really amazing. And I hope people do if they have inventing ideas or if they say hey, where do I start? Maybe reach out but definitely go to the Liddle Speaker and pick one of these. These things are really, really slick. Inventor Danny, I got to call you that it’s like an official title. You can’t like Bear by our name. Inventor Danny, it’s been awesome having you on the Quiet Light Podcast today. I appreciate you joining me.

Dan Cass 33:52

Thank you Pat, greatly appreciated.

Outro 33:57

Today’s podcast was produced by Rise25 and the Quiet Light content team. If you have a suggestion for a future podcast, subject or guest, email us at [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week.