Brooklynite Almighty

[Fletch 219]

In before the lock!

[Race4LastPlace 31]

i've never broken a stick... knock on wood.

same here. id also be willing to buy more the same as wex mentioned

[Gummer12 134]

perhaps offer a blister pack, of 2 or 3 for 189.99, or 200...and/or make the option of buying a 6 pack or a dozen more readily available. I'm not too sure if you should pursue any Customizing options as in curves just yet...but keep it mind if the company comes more active in the market

[Chadd 916]

Regardless of technology, 12KKKKKKK, graphics, biblical references, weight etc etc.......from a "no name" company you are going to be hard pressed to sell a stick rivaling other top manufacturers in the ballpark of their pricing. For a startup company you are going to need to be bargain basement and build from there.

Keep in mind that the national average for startup companies, small business' etc etc is 18 MONTHS before turning your first dollar of profit. Be prepared for long nights, hard work, heavy expenditure in a variety of avenues to catapult your company, and then you might have the potential of turning a profit.

Just keep in mind that the odds are heavily against you, and the vast majority of the members of MSH are incredibly well informed, well educated (well....at least with regards to hockey they are.....Wex not included of course) and extremely skeptical with regards to new companies as we have all seen new start ups spring up every other week with an attempt to differentiate themselves (unsuccessfully I might add) from their more established competition.

Excellent points. Regardless of my personal feelings on the matter, the biblical stuff isn't going to appeal to most hockey players and will turn off some segment of the population before they ever check out the stick. That's just bad business.

I had a huge post ready to go outlining things to do, consider or plan, but I'm tired of giving away advice like that for free so other people can make money.

[Rustpot 1]

So why haven't Fury, Gear, Eagle, and other sticks been winding up en mass in the 'show it off thread'? People don't take chances on unknown names, regardless of price. The only people in the world who know anything about Joe's stick are his friends and us. You say you'd load up at $120 (closeout for top end sticks from the big boys)- that's assuming you've had the balls to try an unknown name and found it good enough to stock on. And what percentage of average hockey players stockpile? 99% of the ones I know in real life haven't gone through more than 2 sticks in 2 years and are excited to try new things when it finally comes time to try something else.

Marketing sells more sticks than good performance at first. He's done well to take an ad in US Hockey mag.

Drew- I wasn't saying that a high price means quality, but rich people will buy "the best", and hockey is mostly rich people's kids.

I wish him the best of luck with Brooklynite, and I'll keep my skepticism from letting me make any nasty comments.

[Griff 2]

The issue isn't if individual players break a stick or not. Lets just say that this new stick performs somewhere in the ST-SE range, at $150-$180 it's not going to be able to break into the market. There's not an incentive to give it a try over something you know is good. At $80 even without a warranty people will give it a shot. As long as the stick performs well enough and doen't break right away you have a chance to gain a share. How many people have bought Fury or Rebellion or Sande sticks at full retail price? Once those sticks are one the clearance rack for $60 then it's "well it's only $60, why not give it a shot".

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Make a batch and send them to us. This site has some of the most informed of players pertaining to their gear. People that are hard on sticks, easy on sticks, like certain feels etc... this woud be the place to test your stick in a market sample..

ps can we see a real life picture of the stick?

[Chadd 916]

The issue isn't if individual players break a stick or not. Lets just say that this new stick performs somewhere in the ST-SE range, at $150-$180 it's not going to be able to break into the market. There's not an incentive to give it a try over something you know is good. At $80 even without a warranty people will give it a shot. As long as the stick performs well enough and doen't break right away you have a chance to gain a share. How many people have bought Fury or Rebellion or Sande sticks at full retail price? Once those sticks are one the clearance rack for $60 then it's "well it's only $60, why not give it a shot".

Since you came close to one of my theories on the market, I'll drop this in.

Not only does a new stick/brand have to be better at any given price point than an existing brand, you still have to have a reason to buy it in the first place. Someone breaks a synergy in the first game, oh well just buy another. Someone breaks a new brand in the first month, it's a piece of shit.

[gxc999 7]

The Almighty is the very top end model, so to whoever suggested $80, I'll use restraint and not laugh. The two biggest factors in stick sales are branding and overall performance. There are generally 2 groups of people, 1 for each. Some buy everything Easton because it says Easton and they will never, ever be swayed and the other group buys based on what they've heard the most good things about, although branding is still a consideration for them.

I've always fallen into the latter and just got what I picked up the most positive feedback on. Those sticks always end up being better values, and usually cheaper, because those companies don't spend much on marketing.

[Griff 2]

The issue here is whether or not you can get the stick into enough people's hands to build up a good reputation. It may be a top end stick but you won't sell any at a top end price. Honestly to break into this particular market the price probably needs to be less than an ST and it will have to be a considerably better stick. My other question is whether or not this stick will be in stores or just sold on a website? Is anyone willing to pay top dollar for a stick they can't touch sight unseen from a brand they don't recognize? And what incentive is there for a store to take a chance on ordering this stick?

[jimmy 194]

It is very hard to break a new product into the market. Just ask Salmingusa. As a retailer, it's very risky to stock an unknown because we never know how the market is going to take it. With Salming, Jason was kind enough to "consign" his sticks with me, and I paid him when they sold. No risk for the retailer. This is the best way to get your product out there and have people try it. Fortunately for me, all the Salmings sold. I tried to get more, but, oh well, we all know what happened there.

Still, there is one thing I despise is people flooding bulletin boards and self-promoting their new products. I'd rather they spend the money on advertising and build their product's reputation by having real people use and review their products. I hate to say it but anything can be said on a forum, and so many forum have "plants" and stooges who can easily laud about a certain companies products and nobody knows that it's the brother-in-law of the companies owner making the posts. There's this other hockey board who had rules about self-promotion of products, yet allowed "exceptions". Guess what, the rule of no self-promotion suddenly disappeared from their rules. This makes me feel that the board owners are receiving kickbacks to let certain people promote their products on their forums. Accordingly, I can't trust ANYTHING I read or hear about that product on that forum.

[li7039 0]

The Almighty is the very top end model, so to whoever suggested $80, I'll use restraint and not laugh. The two biggest factors in stick sales are branding and overall performance. There are generally 2 groups of people, 1 for each. Some buy everything Easton because it says Easton and they will never, ever be swayed and the other group buys based on what they've heard the most good things about, although branding is still a consideration for them.

I've always fallen into the latter and just got what I picked up the most positive feedback on. Those sticks always end up being better values, and usually cheaper, because those companies don't spend much on marketing.

well you see thats why pricing the stick at 150+ is going to kill Joe. Unless he gets like a super star to advertise it no one is going to pay that much for a stick that they may not even get to see before they buy it.

[gxc999 7]

I must agree that his sticks have to be priced attractively enough to entice consumers but still must be somewhat above cost. Less money spent on advertising arguably allows for a cheaper price and vice versa. However, that decision is something none of us can make. I personally think the best option is to balance the two competing ideas...

[li7039 0]

besides the 12KKKKKKKKKKK what makes this stick so special anyway?

[VakarLajos 5]

I'll agree with those who feel $180 is too high.

Maybe $120 for something marketed as a top-end stick. It's simply not working to put a bigger price tag on a name nobody has heard of right now.

Joe,

we've talked before and I respect your dedication and drive. Let the product speak for itself. Put it out there and follow what you believe to be the right decision. If you try and please every person on MSH you're not going to get anywhere. Don't ignore what they have to say, but remember it's your company at the end of the day.

Best of luck.

As far as the religious aspect of this. There's enough of the market driven by sin, why not something driven by redemption? He's no more forcing religion down our throats than Warrior and others are forcing sexual innuendos onto the rink. And this is coming from a skeptic/agnostic/whatever.

[Spreedizzle 1]

It is very hard to break a new product into the market. Just ask Salmingusa. As a retailer, it's very risky to stock an unknown because we never know how the market is going to take it. With Salming, Jason was kind enough to "consign" his sticks with me, and I paid him when they sold. No risk for the retailer. This is the best way to get your product out there and have people try it. Fortunately for me, all the Salmings sold. I tried to get more, but, oh well, we all know what happened there.

Still, there is one thing I despise is people flooding bulletin boards and self-promoting their new products. I'd rather they spend the money on advertising and build their product's reputation by having real people use and review their products. I hate to say it but anything can be said on a forum, and so many forum have "plants" and stooges who can easily laud about a certain companies products and nobody knows that it's the brother-in-law of the companies owner making the posts. There's this other hockey board who had rules about self-promotion of products, yet allowed "exceptions". Guess what, the rule of no self-promotion suddenly disappeared from their rules. This makes me feel that the board owners are receiving kickbacks to let certain people promote their products on their forums. Accordingly, I can't trust ANYTHING I read or hear about that product on that forum.

Your point with regards to flooding forums with nothing more than self gratifying posts (masturbating your company) I honestly despise, and hence why any mention of the company was deleted from "my" forum (I use my lightly). That being said, we have a number of manufacturers reps on MSH, as well as a handful of company owners on here who do NOT use MSH as their personal form of advertising, despite the prospect of their companies products being superior to other companies.

Here is a shameless plug, but I feel that it is deserved. Defiant bags are probably the most well thought out, engineered, and nicest spec'd bags that I have seen (can't wait for mine to arrive) and the companies owner is a CONTRIBUTING MEMBER of MSH in all aspects of the game as he has a vast amount of knowledge on a number of topics related to the hockey industry. NOT ONCE have I seen one of his posts make an attempt at self gratification or promotion of his company....that is a pure class act. Quite the stark contrast from Brooklynite who is shamelessly using the forums in the industry to promote his product and gain traffic on his sites. After being booted off of MSH initially he countered back with "thanks for booting me, my site is getting more hits now than ever". Personally...due to that mentality and the way that he is currently, and previously carried himself on both MSH and IW.....I won't even fart in his general direction.

[eric42434224 1]

Looking forward to my MSH bag too. I will be having a burning ceremony for my $19 30" bauer duffel bag.

[kosydar 0]

The Almighty is the very top end model, so to whoever suggested $80, I'll use restraint and not laugh. The two biggest factors in stick sales are branding and overall performance. There are generally 2 groups of people, 1 for each. Some buy everything Easton because it says Easton and they will never, ever be swayed and the other group buys based on what they've heard the most good things about, although branding is still a consideration for them.

I've always fallen into the latter and just got what I picked up the most positive feedback on. Those sticks always end up being better values, and usually cheaper, because those companies don't spend much on marketing.

While I didn't specifically say $80 was a fair price, I don't understand why its laughable. You admitted earlier that you hadn't tried the stick, yet you claim its a "very top end model". What leads you to this assumption? Just because Joe or whoever told you it was an amazing stick doesn't mean it is. A lightweight stick with a presumably high price tag does not mean it will be anything close to a top end model. I understand you have a relationship with the companies owner, and that is fine. If I created a stick that weighed 400 grams and I said it was going to sell for $200, would you tell people its a top end stick? It might be top end for Brooklynite, but that doesn't mean anything about how it compares to the rest of the market.

I don't disagree with your description of the market, but I think that group #1 far outnumbers group #2. You're in the minority of hockey consumers. You not only research what you buy, but you're a member of a community like MSH which provides information that very few people get.

[Thockey17 1]

Like it or not, people buy things based on looks, and everything you've got going looks very cheap. From the stick graphics, to the ripoff Genesis gloves, to the template monster based website.....it just does not LOOK good.

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

ding ding ding

[Goonsquad 209]

Looking forward to my MSH bag too. I will be having a burning ceremony for my $19 30" bauer duffel bag.

Keep the bag.. you can stow all the backup gear in it..

[eric42434224 1]

Looking forward to my MSH bag too. I will be having a burning ceremony for my $19 30" bauer duffel bag.

Keep the bag.. you can stow all the backup gear in it..

I was kidding. Im not burning anything :)

[gxc999 7]

It's the very top end model for his line. I have a hunch $80 wouldn't cover his costs. The release date is soon enough, so everyone will get to see and decide firsthand. BTW: The Exodus gloves look superb and the Almighty graphics look clean and neat. But you're exactly right, Einstein, everything not made by or resembling Easton or NB product looks cheap. Way to think for yourself.

[Rustpot 1]

It's the very top end model for his line. I have a hunch $80 wouldn't cover his costs. The release date is soon enough, so everyone will get to see and decide firsthand. BTW: The Exodus gloves look superb and the Almighty graphics look clean and neat. But you're exactly right, Einstein, everything not made by or resembling Easton or NB product looks cheap. Way to think for yourself.

You forget Thockey is an artist.

I have a feeling Joe would rather sleep in a box in an alley than let the company fail.

Since the stick is made at the same factory as many big names... I find it hard to conceive it's any better than something a big name can produce. Unless one of Joe's partners is a PhD materials engineer.

[gelowitz 0]

It's the very top end model for his line. I have a hunch $80 wouldn't cover his costs. The release date is soon enough, so everyone will get to see and decide firsthand. BTW: The Exodus gloves look superb and the Almighty graphics look clean and neat. But you're exactly right, Einstein, everything not made by or resembling Easton or NB product looks cheap. Way to think for yourself.

gxc, it's his opinion. Thockey was expressing his. Even though he didn't have to say it looked like a ripoff, he has a point. If the public doesn't like the overall design of the product, they likely won't take a look at it.