I’m Sara, I’ve made Tech YouTube videos for a decade and just launched a desk accessory brand. AMA 🔥

Sara Dietschy
35 replies
I’m Sara Dietschy (rhymes with peachy), I’ve made Tech YouTube videos for a decade and just launched a desk accessory brand. AMA. Hey Product Hunt! I’m a YouTuber who is obsessed with tech products and creative spaces. I launched LAB22 (https://geni.us/LAB22) last week. It’s the ultimate line of Tech Stands: Adjustable, Functional and Super Good Looking. LAB22 has been over a year in the making and WOW has it been a journey. I couldn’t do it without my friends at Moment and I am SO stoked about how it all came together. Ask me anything about the process of making LAB22, launching my first Kickstarter (nerve-wracking) or how I make YouTube videos! Anything really! I'll be answering questions on the 30th of August!

Replies

Karthik Kamalakannan
Hey Sara, Long-time follower of yours, and a sucker for great quality videos (which you are exceptional at) - thank you for putting in the hard work, mad respect. There are some videos types/topics I'd like to hear from you, where can we as viewers ask for those ideas? Like Slidebean's YouTube channel, would you use a tool like Hellonext to let users submit video ideas, and vote on them?
Vijay Khandekar
Hi @saradietschy Thanks for doing this AMA. What's your tool stack (Mic and webcam) recommendation to someone just planning to start with YT? Thanks!
Sefi Keller
Hi Sara 👋🏻 Can you please describe your video editing flow?
Sara Dietschy
@sefi_k Hi Sefi! Yes. So I switched to DaVinci Resolve from Premiere a few years ago. Each time I hop into an edit is different. Sometimes it's a straight forward talking video where I do a few rounds of jump cuts, add music, add graphics and text and I'm done within 4-5 hours. When I have to pull in footage from multiple days, do research on a topic, mix in scripted moments with real life moments - that's where things get a little more complicated. But finding the story in the edit is my fave. With those I first drop all of the talking footage in the timeline and cut it up in the order I think it will flow best. I make sure all of my clips are assigned to their respective Groups in the color tab sp color grading is easy at the end. Then I edit together any banger broll montages to place over the A roll or to set to music (I use Artlist.io and epidemic for music). And then text / graphics usually come at the end. I'm ALWAYS moving things around in the edit. One of the reason why I can't stand the magnetic timeline in Final Cut. I love throwing chunks of clips around to save for later ha. A lot of the time I don't shoot linearly so I really have to find what I'm trying to say after the fact. Not the most efficient but how I like to work.
Sefi Keller
@saradietschy thanks for the detailed answer! My wife is also a YouTuber and I'm a proud member of team Resolve :) She started making videos when COVID started since there were no more tourists around for her to guide. Now her channel has 1.2M subscribers. I've built a tool to save her time in video editing that might be relevant to you as well. It automatically detects and cuts silences and speech disfluencies. Basically, it does the boring "rough cut" for you. You can find it here: https://www.gling.ai/ I'd be honored to have you try it ☺️
Sara Dietschy
@sefi_k oh amazing!!! I’m going to check that out :) what is her channel?
Aaron O'Leary
Hey Sara! Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA, I've been a fan for years now! My question is where did the idea come from for Lab22? I adore the look of the iPad stand and I'm excited to pick one up!
Sara Dietschy
@aaronoleary Thank you so much 🥺 I've had a ton of companies try and send me their iPad stands but none of them ever seemed appealing. I just starting thinking what would the perfect iPad stand look like? And it was actually very simple.. I just wanted it to look good (not be plastic junk) and I wanted to be able to write notes and use the Apple pencil comfortably. I don't think the iPad is meant to use in the up position like a laptop most the time. It's a freaking iPad ya know!!!
Luis Poveda
What makes your content different?
Sara Dietschy
@luis_carlos_poveda I guess myself? There's not a second Sara Dietschy so I try to share my life through tech so it feels different :)
Furkan Akyurek
Congrats! Especially the magnetic iPad stand looks super slick
Debajit Sarkar
Thanks for your time Sara. I would like to know 1.how did you identify your customers? 2. how did you reach out to a prospect for the first time?
Sara Dietschy
@dsarkar hi debajit! When making something (a video or a product) I start with myself. What do I desperately want in the world and often times other people feel the same way. It’s not perfect but seems to be working :) When reaching out to people about the stand something I found to be different than other projects I’ve done is they instantly got it. Sometimes finding a white space that hasn’t been filled yet and starting SIMPLE is key 🔑 We might add charging to the iPad stand later on but the ergonomics and look I felt was more than enough for our intial drop. Thanks for the question!
Yang
Thumblytics
Thumblytics
What's the hardest or most painful part of your job?
Sara Dietschy
@yangp10 To be honest the fear of falling off. You have to be always changing to stay relevant but at the end of the day your job kind of relies on an ever changing algorithm. Recently YouTube has actually been giving me hope. They seem to give videos a longer tail to find the right audience but nothing hurts more than a video that ranks 10/10 in your YouTube Studio app. Sometimes it feels completely out of your control.
Alex Bass
Looks super cool! Appreciate someone putting this level of care to products like this. There's so many cheap junky options on Amazon. Congrats on the launch! That said, I'm sold - I just added 1 of the phone stand and I'm trying to add a second one to get shipping down (so it ships together for my wife and I). Usually Kickstarters allow you to add a second or third to the same household to cut down on the cost of shipping. Any idea why it doesn't allow for adding multiple? Well done on the launch!
Marc Barros
@alexhbass marc here from moment. we've been helping sarah get lab22 off the ground. post campaign we let you add more items to your pledge so you can add more at the same price. i think KS limits it one campaign per email address so you'd have to login with a different account to make a second pledge. they treat it more like a pledge and less like an e-commerce experience.
Alex Bass
Sounds good! I'll add another one then :)
Kartik Sundar
Congrats! Can't wait to check out your new products. Does the phone stand still work if you have a phone case?
Anne Robertson
Hi Sara! Best wishes for your launch! Wondered how long did you have to prep before launch and what did you wish you had spent more time on? We are launching our new product soon and wanted to learn more through those who have done it! Thanks so much!
Sara Dietschy
@anne_robertson Hi Anne!! We started working on LAB22 1.5 years ago. So it's amazing to finally see it out in the world! Because it took awhile to figure out our final design and manufacturing I actually had an ample amount of time to think about the Kickstarter launch. The video took a full week to edit haha. Maybe I wish I had spent more time building up the Twitter / Instagram socials BEFORE launch. Just all of my focus was on the kickstarter so the dedicated socials were something I knew I would get to after even though that's probably not ideal. However, I had previewed the product in 2 YouTube videos a couple months before and shouted out an email list. That was HUGE for the beginning of the kickstarter. We smashed through our funding goal with just the email list alone! So I'd definitely recommend an email list.
Tanya Kapoor
Hi @saradietschy Congratulations. Keep up the good work!
Scott Kosmach
Congratulations on releasing a product to the market. I too funded a physical product on Kickstarter back in 2016. So my question is through the lens of what might have changed from then to know. 1) How did you source your manufacturing? Has the increase in tariffs and inflation in the last 5+ years influenced your decision? 2) How did you garner attention to the campaign leading up to the launch? Minus the large following you have, which by the way congratulations on your success! Your content looks really high quality. Watching your interview with the Zuck as I write this. 3) What are some suggestions for founders looking to create content to build a community around their product from early building stage to launch? Are there any hacks to maintain production value while not taking away focus of the core project? Anything short of cloning Kyle.
Tariq Waseem
Congrats and wish you the best!
Prent Dossey
@tariq_waseem1 What do you think about presenting your work on other platforms? For example, many authors use YouTube to publish their main material and engage in advertising or meeting viewers through Instagram or Facebook. Do you want to become a public person who will manage several social networks at the same time, and is this your goal? Also, I'm wondering how you feel about promoting videos through services like https://www.tubeboost.net/buy-cu.... Is it okay to gain popularity this way, or do you think it's unethical? Thank you.
Jaybod
Congrats to LAB22.. I hope someday you can help me to "make a YouTube video", for my newly released product Jaybod..
Koda Katsuro
Congrats. I wish your launch will get more attention.
Radha rani
congratulations great
Allen
How do you differentiate your products from others in the market that provide the same functionality, build materials, but at lower price points? Do you feel that the Moment Markup puts your products just bit out of reach from your longtime supporters and potential Peachy fam members? What made you decide not to put any of your 'Peachy' branding and identity (logo, color) on any of the products? How should we view the Lab22 brand in relation to your longtime 'Peachy' branding? Thanks!
Mike R
How do you deal with the high stress that comes with balancing a busy lifestyle? I find it very hard to find time to relax when working a part time job and being in college whilst also trying to balance relationships and passions
Sara Dietschy
@mikerrs First! I’ve stopped putting the added pressure and guilt on myself for FEELING like I have to have the perfect “work life balance”. It is different for everyone! I love to build stuff so I’ve started to find more joy in the process vs some magical destination. And then it’s help me a ton moving to Texas closer to family where I can go hard during the week and then hang out with my family on Saturdays. Everyone has to find their balance 🧡
Christopher Mackintosh
When’s your next Halo stream? (Or any stream I guess lol) 🤘
Sara Dietschy
@chrismack32 oh man!!! It’s much overdue :) You have encouraged me to stream some halo this weekend!!