PopSockets founder David Barnett talks about building a viral business

David Barnett has learned a lot since first launching PopSockets more than a decade ago.

As the story goes, the former philosophy professor was looking for an easy way to hold his headphones, and went on to create one of the most ubiquitous phone accessories of all time: a device that would attach to the back of a phone and be used as a kickstand or handle — known as PopSockets.

Barnett sat down with Equity this week to talk about his journey building this company out of his garage, why he decided against traditional venture capital funding, and some of the lessons he learned while scaling the business.

“I was a philosophy professor, so I had no experience in manufacturing,” he recalls, adding that he also lacked experience in business, taxes, accounting and finance. “I spent a lot of money with no revenue,” he continued, adding that he had “wave after wave of manufacturing defects” during the early days.

However, he managed to push through and managed to make it to a local toy store where he would often stop to watch how customers interacted with his brand. “Sales have been very slow,” he said. He tweaked the Popsocket a bit, and that’s when everything started to take off. “That was the point where I thought, ‘OK, this could work in retail.’

From there, he talked about the successes and failures of entering retail (including a dispute he had with Amazon that briefly led to him pulling his product from the site). He talked about tweaking the product further, protecting intellectual property, and when he knew it was time to step down as CEO and let someone else take the reins.

“The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that it’s all about the people,” he said, adding that he was looking for that trait in his successor. “I think this is the most important skill one can have as a leader.”