Adam Tavin of Rabbit Product Design Tells Us the Similarity Between Bodybuilding and Running a Product Design Firm

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Adam Tavin: Just trying to make the best of things. I worked from home before COVID, so that did not change for me. I just miss seeing family and friends as my wife and I have not been out much except for dinner once per week at a restaurant with outdoor seating. Without that, I may be going so crazy.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Rabbit Product Design.

Adam Tavin: My background is in Mechanical engineering, and worked as an engineer for about 10 years before moving into C level management. I worked for 6 competitors, so I know the industry very well. I am a cofounder at Rabbit Product Design and run sales and marketing for the company. I also act as a business coach for my clients and help them formulate a goto market strategy when it is time to launch their products. My Cofounder Asif Ahsan heads engineering and operations and came from the corporate world, spending about half of his career as the Head of Worldwide Engineering and Research for Logitech. He is one of the top technology experts in the country. When Asif and I got together, we wanted to launch a different product design firm that targets entrepreneurs, inventors, and startup companies.

How does Rabbit Product Design innovate? 

Adam Tavin: On the sales and marketing side, I am an automation freak. I automate everything I can, and this is how I geek out on my weekends. We are bringing in similar revenue as the last company I worked for with 1/3 the sales staff. This is huge to our bottom line.

We are one of the only true end-to-end product design firms on the engineering and operations side and offer services our competitors don’t, such as Patent Research and Analysis. We only hire senior-level designers and engineers with an average of 27 years of experience. Our lean design process is heavily focused on mitigating financial risk by doing only what is necessary and the right services being done in the right order. 

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Adam Tavin: It seems like COVID 19 hurt some businesses and helped others. We are definitely one of the lucky ones where it helped. With everyone working from home and more time on their hands, reselecting old product ideas some have been thinking about for years, or a solution to help solve many of the problems needed due to the COVID 19 virus and its impact on our lives. Project volume has increased so much we needed to increase headcount by about 50%

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Adam Tavin: Fortunately, not. Since we were already working remotely, it has been business as usual, just more of it.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and Rabbit Product Design in the future?

Adam Tavin: I have been bodybuilding for over 30 years, so my outlet for stress is good old fashioned pumping iron along with some cardio to get the endorphins going. We run our company the same way I treat my body. I feed my body with high-quality proteins and carbs and keep the fat intake minimum. I provide the company with the right marketing strategies, including paid ads, SEO, and a newly launched affiliate program with the highest pay-out in the industry. Our design and engineering team and all senior-level staff deliver high-performance results in the form of manufacturable and marketable products for our customers to launch to the market. This will help the company to stay healthy for a long time. 

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Adam Tavin: Well, I have counted about 237 product design firms across the U.S. I plan to stay in the game by offering the most value.

Your final thoughts?

Adam Tavin: Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

Your website? 

 www.rabbitproductdesign.com