Rob Ward is a long time mate of ours here at The Daily Talk Show. He's such a fan that he's got his own The Daily Talk Show sticker on his car!
Rob is the director of Annex Products, a local Melbourne startup that focuses on implementing the best products and technology with an active lifestyle. If you ride a bike and love to bring your phone with you, odds are you're using a Quad Lock, one of Rob's products!
Rob and his team grew Quad Lock from $0 to a $9 Million business in just a few year!
Rob on Instagram:
@robyward
Quad Lock Products:
www.quadlockcase.com.au
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“overnight success took 8 years of blood, sweat, and tears to get here.”
“trust comes with time at the end of the day, doesn't it?”
“You can tell the storey without having bought the office.”
“It's fine to fail. It's absolutely fine.”
“where were you before Einstein when that was going on?”
“Everyone's killing it, everyone's getting up at 5 AM and they're perfect and they're having no issues, they've solved everything in their life by doing that.”
“If there's one thing I know about Josh is that He would have had that before he even did his first post.”
“It's not easy now. It's never going to be easy. And I think the other thing is you think, I don't know if everyone thinks that, I definitely do, you know, I just gotta get to here, I just gotta get to here. Like that, you never get to the finish line.”
How should a business set goals so they're actually actionable day to day?
Break a big, distant target (like annual revenue) down into a concrete daily metric such as number of orders, then figure out what mix of channels, geographies and product lines would need to happen today to stay on pace toward that number by year's end.
When is the right time for a business to take outside investment?
It depends on the business model and how fast you want to scale; building a self-funding business is slower but creates a robust model that can weather downturns, whereas raising money buys time and allows more experimentation but comes with pressure to hit growth targets and can become a full-time pursuit in itself.
How do you build trust with new employees and delegate effectively?
Show new people how the team usually does something, do it alongside them, then step back and let them try it their own way when the risk is low enough; trust builds over time through results, not immediately, and shared systems/checklists eventually let people operate without direct oversight.
Should a growing business wait until it has ideal resources (like a bigger office) before pursuing a bigger vision?
Start a minimum viable version of the idea now with current resources (e.g., fitting a few extra people into the existing space) rather than waiting for the bigger setup, because using a future plan as a prerequisite can become an excuse not to act today.
What should I consider before going into business with a partner?
Look for a partner who is in a similar life position to you (similar sacrifices, similar financial stakes, similar long-term commitment) and make sure you can actually work together daily, even when tired or stressed, not just when things are easy.
How should a new business decide where to spend money?
Invest only where it actually moves the needle; keep the business lean and underleveraged at first, and avoid spending on things that don't have a real impact just because they seem nice to have.
Rob describes how he and CP ran smaller side businesses (3D printing, laser cutting) that funded their early experiments, eventually rolling profits forward until Quad Lock itself emerged as the business worth focusing on.
Rob recounts how mattress company Casper raised funding at a $1.1 billion valuation, aimed to IPO even higher, but ultimately priced its IPO at $500 million and saw shares slide further, illustrating the danger of chasing unicorn status over sustainable profit.
Rob describes phoning CP with the idea of putting a bottle opener on the back of an iPhone case since it's the one thing people always carry, leading to their first Kickstarter campaign.
Rob recounts that he and CP effectively squatted in someone else's factory space in Oakleigh in the early days, and were robbed twice, including camera gear being stolen.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
Co-founders Rob Ward and CP bootstrapped the business by rolling profits from earlier side ventures (laser cutters, 3D printing) into Quad Lock, paying themselves modestly for years, and focusing on orders and customer acquisition rather than chasing funding rounds, which Ward says gave them a robust, self-funding business model after about eight years.
From episode 609→Rob Ward explains that revenue goals are too abstract to act on day-to-day, especially selling in multiple currencies, so breaking the goal into a concrete number of daily orders (and the channel/product mix needed to hit it) makes it something the team can actually plan around and measure against each day.
From episode 609→Ward says trust comes with time: new hires are first shown how the team usually does something and supported through it, then gradually given more autonomy; mistakes are treated as learning opportunities rather than failures, and shared checklists/templates eventually let people operate independently.
From episode 609→According to Rob Ward, Quad Lock began after his co-founder CP, working a new job in Sydney and riding his bike with an early jailbroken iPhone running Google Maps, had the idea of mounting his phone to his bike. This idea came after their earlier product, Opener (an iPhone bottle opener), which they launched via one of Australia's first Kickstarter campaigns.
From episode 106→Rob Ward said Quad Lock has sold over a million units, is available in over 100 countries, is stocked on apple.com, and the Melbourne (Prahran) team has 12 full-time staff.
From episode 106→Rob advises that partners should be in a similar life position (same sacrifices, same financial stakes, same commitment level) and be able to work together daily even when tired or stressed, rather than just being friends who see each other occasionally.
From episode 106→Mentioned on 20 episodes Robwasn’t on.
Quad Lock connection who wrote the first-ever Apple Podcast review and offered George a role.
Mentioned as someone with solar panels who might know how brownouts affect solar-powered homes.
Mentioned as the guest appearing on the show later in the week tied to the Adventure Club announcement.
Quad Lock contact who gave Josh insight into the iPhone 11 Pro's camera and screen improvements.
Mentioned in relation to logistics for delivering a ham before Friday.
Listener who won the Batoki Ham giveaway by listening at 1.5x speed and reacting fast.
Every episode featuring Rob Ward on The Daily Talk Show.
Rob Ward joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 609 (14 February 2020) — "Quad Lock's Rob Ward On Trust And Learning". Rob Ward, the co-founder of Quad Lock, joins us for Weekend Banter! We chat about profit vs revenue, investment and runway, being in a partnership, failing and learning, and we get an update on the Adventure Club!
Rob Ward joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 106 (11 June 2018) — "Rob Ward - Quad Lock and Episode 3 of Melbourne Geek". Our mate Rob Ward is the co-founder of Quad Lock, the most popular case for mounting your iPhone (and other smartphones) to your bike, car and more! What does it take to have a business partnership, the early days of the business and how becoming a Dad changes your perspective. We cover it all on...
