YouSaid · the spoken record

Kat Nouri

lines on the record: 82
first: 2021-11-22
most recent: 2021-11-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Kit Dombrovsky was my first buyer, and she said, you know, I like you and I like your product. And they remained as some of my best friends to this day.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Then I take some water and pour it on the mat, and I take an iron and I'd put it on the mat and I take some crumbs and I put it on the mat. I'd say nothing goes through it, it can withstand heat you can throw in the dishwasher and it'll last you forever. And they would buy it. Not in high quantities, it was always like really cool high-end stores, like the SF momas of the world.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would basically say this is one of the most innovative products in the marketplace and it's a hand silk screen product that's been made with love. We hand still screen it. We present the work of independent artists on the surface and it's durable, its heat resistance, and there's nothing else in the market like it. And they would touch it, and it was really the touch that sold the product. I mean, it just feels like there's nothing else like it in the marketplace super soft and silky.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I would stay up all night and I'd look for manufacturers that could produce what I needed. And I found a factory in China that was really good at working with me to experiment to get it right. And I applied to the first like the biggest show for gift, for the gift industry that sort of like catered to the independent specialty mom and pop retailers.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I first produce the place mats, the table runners, and the coasters and the wine tags, wine tags. I remember that was my first one.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I was kind of crazy with that, I would say, that I started borrowing money against our credit cards. And I started borrowing money against our home, and I probably went into debt for, at gosh, I would say I probably took out a good. Hundred thousand dollars.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was because it was durable and it would last. And I think that's half the issue about anything that we produce is that it ends up deteriorating and going into our landfills and into our oceans.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I wanted to produce place mats and table runners and coasters that were for the table for entertaining. That were made out of hand silk screen silicone that were beautiful to the touch that were super elegant, and you could throw them in the dishwasher and they would last you forever. The same for baby bibs. You know, I wanted your baby bib to last you through four kids.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So as I mentioned to you, I created this little PJ pocket hidden product, but I wanted to come up with, I had a feeling that people could knock me off pretty easily with a sewn product. So I started searching the internet and, you know, I was starting to think about from my days when I was at my husband's company where there was so much plastic waste. Like they would make parts and the part would only be like a tenth of the piece and the rest of it would go on the ground and it would be wasted and then it would be thrown in the garbage And that really sat with me, and I kept thinking. How can it had a translucency to it too and I had a design sense to me and I thought there are all these plastic things out in the world. How can I come up with something that is more design driven, that performs better than plastic?”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was looking around and I was tagging along with my friends that were doing shows at the San Francisco Gift Show and that were manufacturing products and had agents. My husband came home one day with this little box that was a, it looked like a little Japanese anemone box where it had a hidden compartment. And one of his Japanese customers had given it to him as a gift. And I remember when I would take a nap with my daughter that she would go and she would take the pajamas after I folded them, put it under her pillow, and she'd throw on the floor after I just folded it. So I thought, well, what if I came up with something that had a hidden compartment that we could hide her pajamas in? And we would call it like a PJ pocket. And it would look like a Japanese in a mini box that was hidden. And then you flip it up and you put the pajamas in it.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so at this time I was like hanging out with a bunch of other moms that were really creative and they were taking their ideas to the market and figuring out ways to manufacture them. And I found it really interesting that I knew manufacturing and I knew sales and I love beautiful products and I definitely had a sense for an eye for design. And I just kind of connected the dots like how can I possibly come up with something that can go to market that I can manufacture and sell to the public”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, surprisingly enough, I let go and they did just fine and I stayed home with the kids and I kid you not, out of all the things that I had done, staying home with the three kids was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we were all crazy busy because I was in there with him I would literally bring my two boys, I'd drop one off and bring one to the back office and breastfeed them and have them go to sleep and then go do the accounting and then do my sales calls and then go change diapers and then go back and pick up the other one and then come home and make dinner. I mean, it was just crazy. I actually felt like if I left his company that it would fall apart because I had such a big part in helping”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So they manufactured test interface products for the semiconductor industry. And I don't know how to say that in an easier way, but it's the test and burning industry making receptacles and icy sockets”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think maybe it was five to ten thousand dollars. And I ended up getting stuck with it and they wouldn't take it back.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I paid for it. Listen to self, never pay for something that you don't know that what you're going to receive at the end of the day.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Next day, Chris, I decided that I wanted to do an antique business because we met a couple in Mexico who had an antique business and they lived in Ohio or something. And they promised that they would send me this beautiful truckload of goods and I could sell them and start my own store.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I had a corner spot in front of the orbit room cafe where there's a Whole Foods now in upper market because we lived in San Francisco at that point. And I had a flower stand and we did weddings and catering and all that, you know. So it was a nice little business, but your inventory dying and then also your cash would disappear because you'd have people that were working the shifts, various people and it had a big turnover of employees. So your cash would somehow not be what you thought at the end of the day. So it was a tough thing and I moved on pretty quickly to other venues. Inventory dying just killed it for me.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, actually, when I left IBM, I did get married right around that time, I would say, where I was sort of exploring different avenues.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I got to know him and he really liked my energy and he said to me one day, he said, Cat, did you ever know that you're actually an entrepreneur and you're working for a corporation? And it's funny how in your life most of the things that happen to you and that you might take a chance on are always right under your nose, but you just don't sort of see them until somebody kind of like in a very simple way tells you that.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, completely. You know, I was sort of like the entrepreneur in my background as an immigrant was coming out because my parents had had every business under the sun. So I started like I started interviewing the people that owned the businesses. Like, why did you? Because I was dealing with distributors and folks that had their own businesses of all sizes. And I remember I met this one guy, he's a Persian guy. His name was Farzad Naimi. And he was working for this Japanese company. And I was there to try to sell him his system.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I was selling software and hardware actually at that point to other businesses. I mean, the training that I got in marketing and sales was amazing. I remember walking into one company, into South San Francisco with my sales manager, and she said, Kat, you got to walk into this account with me. And we walked in, she says, watch. They kicked me out every time. And we walk in, they say, hello, Miss Johnson. And she says, hello. And she say, as you know, I'm Gail Johnson from IBM. And they'd say, yes, we know and you know where the door is. She would walk me again. She'd say, I just want you to know you should never be afraid of that happening to you.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. And I got in. I got in. I wanted to be a lawyer. And so that was like one of the biggest winning points in my life where I thought that my efforts could really change my direction”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was basically forging my mom's name and signing absent slips with my best friend and hiding in the closet every day. I used to hear my parents in the house while they were there and assuming that I was at school. They found out that I wasn't going to school and my mom intervened and she said, what's going on with you? And I said, I don't fit in and I don't want to be here. I don't want to live this way. And so she said, she talked to her sister and she came to me and she said, I think I found a solution for you where you can see that the world is a much bigger place than this little corner that you think is everything that the world has to offer to you.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I went to Northgate in Wallet Creek. And I was really different than everyone around me. And they treated me that way. And so, you know how they say what happens in high school stays with you in high school or something like that. Definitely stayed with me. It scarred me for a long time. And I refused to go to school because of it”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I was pretty much that. And I was like the Goth kid, more like in her looks where, in her appearance where she was a goth girl that didn't fit in and didn't care to fit in and really didn't care if you weren't her friend because only the people that got her were allowed to be her friends.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know it's really, that's a great question because When I got here, I actually felt like I didn't speak English at all, barely. And I remember that I used to mix up the word want and have it so difficult for me when I got here, I was in fourth grade and my parents put me into school and I remember I pretty much didn't understand anything that the teacher said. And I had really poor eyesight and my parents didn't know that because on top of not speaking the language, I didn't want to be called four eyes. So I didn't want to tell them that I couldn't see. So it was a pretty miserable move for me. I felt really out of place and the kids laughed at me all the time. Felt very different And so I was kind of looking for an identity. And if anything, I always say I turned into Ali Shidi when I was in high school from Breakfast Club.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My parents did from the get-go, they started investing in property. And that was probably one of the best things they ever did. They started buying some real estate. My dad was really both of them. They were such a good team when it came to managing their money and working together to start a business. Just thinking of how they would support us, we never felt like we lacked anything as kids. Even if they felt it, we never felt it.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Those were kinds of the, you know, and then other things that I remember is that I remember right when we got here, we just didn't want to be apart from each other. And we went to Montgomery Wards and we bought blankets and pillows. And even though we had three rooms in the apartment, we all huddled up around a TV with the blankets and the pillows in one room together, the four of us, and none of us wanted to use the other rooms. We just wanted to be together because it already felt like we had like left our home. And now we were going to be in separate rooms. So it was just very lonely when we first got here.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we had an English teacher in Iran whose brother lived in Walla Creek. And I remember to this day when he picked us up from the airport and driving over the Bay Bridge and we were two kids, my brother and I, my mom and dad. And I remember distinctly that the guy kept turning around and looking at us. And I kept asking my parents, why is he like looking at us? Now, of course, you know, when I was 16, I learned how to drive. We learned that that's what you do when you're changing lanes.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Had heard that California is like heaven. He said, you know, California is so green and there's so much opportunity for us to have our own business and to start a new life together as a family and you guys can get educated like you can all have the best education and not like wonder what you're going to do after school if there's work opportunity for you. And that was just something that was really important to him because he was three years old when he lost his mother and he was brought up by his brother. In fact, when we, my dad lost his father and his brother, my dad just couldn't stand living there anymore and being associated to his business where he sort of saw the shadow of his brother every day. And that was such a blow to my dad that he pretty much picked us up and said, We're packing up our bags, and we're going to California.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I had vertigo twice in my whole career. One time was when I was on Shark Tank. Some of the judges are not that nice. And if you don't know your business inside out, they're going to eat you alive.”
2021-11-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT