PopSockets founder David Barnett talks about building a viral business

David Barnett has learned a lot since PopSockets first came out 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 viral phone accessories of all time: A device that attaches to the back of the phone and can be used as a stand or grip — better known as a PopSocket.

Barnett sat down with Equity this week to talk about his journey building this company out of his garage, why he decided never to take on 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 with manufacturing,” he recalls, adding that he also had no experience in business, taxation, accounting and finance. “I burned through a lot of money with no revenue,” he continued, adding that he had “wave after wave of manufacturing defects” in the early days.

However, he pulled through and was able to land a local toy store where he often stopped by to watch how customers interacted with his brand. “Sales have been pretty slow,” he said. Tweaked Popsocket a bit and then 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 breaking into retail (including a dispute he had with Amazon that briefly caused him to pull his product from the site). He talked about customizing the product even more, protecting intellectual property, and when he realized it was time to step down as CEO and let someone else take the reins.

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