Meet Brett Littlewood and Buck Van Laarhoven | Designer/Manufacturer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brett Littlewood and Buck Van Laarhoven and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brett and Buck, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Well, we could thank COVID for the formation of King Gubby. Buck and I have known each other since junior high and we have stayed in touch over the years – not necessarily “every weekend” stay in touch, but we have always been really close. When COVID hit, we started spending a bit more time together, as friends. Both of us like to tinker – very much so in different ways – but we both geek out on things we are interested in. Our hanging out turned more into how we could keep tinkering together. We both had been working on our own (independently) and, looking back now, both wanted more of a partnership business model. Anyways, we started goofing off with a laser engraver that he had bought not too long before and he had designed an upgrade for it using a 3D printer, that was also in the shop. After coming up with a few concepts that really improved the mechanics of the laser, we setup an Etsy shop just to see what the response from the community would be. We were stoked to see there was a decent amount of interest. So, once we had proof there was something there, we knew we were able to keep tinkering together. Since then, we’ve just kept designing upgrades for a lot of the lasers that have been hitting the market and buying more 3D printers to increase our output.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What we love about the business model that we have is its unparalleled versatility and efficiency. We can have an idea designed, printed, tested, refined and on to V2, retested, and ready to ship in 24 hours (depending on the scale of the product). We have actually had version eight of a product printed and tested all in a 24 hour period before. We saw potential issues before we printed, so we made six initial designs and printed them all at once, then made two changes after we found the best solution. That really shows the versatility of the 3D print model. It also speaks to its efficiency – how many products go through weeks, moths, or years of design before they hit the market? Another example of the efficiency comes from the ability to scale. Right now, we could scale our business up, by thirty percent, in about fourteen days; we could do fifty percent in roughly twenty. And this would only cost us around two thousand dollars (for the 30% option). We can also take one of our products and – if need be – send the design file to another print farm or an injection molding company where they can supplement our production. There was no prototyping process that we had to wait for, tweak and refine, and wait to receive and test again. The laser upgrades were our first niche that really served us well, though, we have tons of other niches and designs that we have been working on. With our business model, we can design new subsidiary companies that service a single niche and automate the production (by scaling or outsourcing) and the fulfillment (through FBA or another center). This allows us to focus on the problem-solving portion of the business and chase things we are interested in more freely.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Buck and I would definitely have separate weeks planned for these visitors. But I would take them to Black’s Beach or La Jolla Shores so we could surf, play bocce ball, snorkel, etc… for a day or two. BBQ at mission bay one night and watch Sea World fireworks. Take the kids to Belmont Park for the rides and play laser tag. Go for a boat trip and try and string some tuna then try and catch the concert at Humphry’s By The Bay from the deck. We would absolutely show them Raised By Wolves & Grass Skirt (because everybody loves speakeasys). We’d have brunch at Second Nature in Pacific Beach then dinner at Trilogy Sanctuary – where we would stay for the full moon party afterwards. Possibly a Mexico trip to get lobster tacos and ride atv’s on the dunes – or maybe a horseback ride on the beach.

Buck would time their trip around ComicCon. I know he would want to hit Lego land and the Zoo. Buck would be the best tour guide for the out-of-staters to have their first dispensary experience. Then a logical next place to visit, after that, would be the Science Museum in Balboa Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh yeah, We got lots of people to thank. Like every business owner nowadays, we have learned through trial and error… and YouTube & community forums. So, it would feel off to not recognize the role that some of the creators from our thumbing history have played in our formation.

Some people we are super appreciative of are:
Jim Edgeworth from The Edge of Tech (on YouTube)
George Simon from Aperture Laser
Bronson Kenny from Kenny Hack (on YouTube)
Art Benson
Trevor Davies from Madira Designs (Instagram)
Dave Miller from D Miller Designs (Instagram)
Ben Conroy from Conderosa Creations (Instagram)
David Lawes
Gil Araujo

There are so many more people that have been a piece in helping us get here and so many that we have just enjoyed talking shop with, but for the sake of brevity we will just say thanks to all of our customers, friends, and family. Our community is really creative and awesome to be a part of.

Website: www.KingGubby.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kinggubby.designs/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KingGubbyDesigns

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxwfjNNFf1Prn0NimxvrjNg/videos