{"id":38543,"date":"2023-10-20T14:57:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-star-wars-and-disney-wanted-this-melbourne-startup-to-build-a-new-death-star-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:57:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:14","slug":"why-star-wars-and-disney-wanted-this-melbourne-startup-to-build-a-new-death-star-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-star-wars-and-disney-wanted-this-melbourne-startup-to-build-a-new-death-star-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Star Wars and Disney wanted this Melbourne startup\u00a0to build a new Death Star – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Melbourne entrepreneur Sean Andrews has always been obsessed with the Star Wars franchise, even before signing a deal with Disney and Lucasfilm in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit of a Star Wars nut,\u201d he tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the consumers\u2019 minds were thinking about Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars. The reality is it had been ten years since the last movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

This inspired Andrews to create his own Death Star.<\/p>\n

At the time, he was running a distribution business while building Plox, a startup specialising in portable power devices.<\/p>\n

He was also studying entrepreneurship and business law at university.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started Plox in 2013 out of university, I wrote a paper on it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In early 2015, Andrews began developing a Death Star mobile speaker and called up a friend with a link into Disney Australia so he could show it to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe walked into the Disney office, put it in front of them and said we can do this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Death
Death Star version 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It wasn\u2019t an immediate \u2018yes\u2019 but Disney Australia was interested \u2013 very interested.<\/p>\n

It took \u201cseveral iterations\u201d going back and forth with Disney and Lucasfilm before Plox got the green light on developing an official, gravity-defying Death Star speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at [the first version] today, I kind of have a bit of a laugh,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Apart from presenting a good product, Andrews says Plox was able to demonstrate a proven track record in manufacturing and sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had already done a couple of products, there was a lot of reliance on our prior experience with distribution, retail strategy and execution,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisney liked us because of our execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plox had also\u00a0won a CES Innovation award for portable power that year.<\/p>\n

Being able to communicate a clear plan on how the startup would bring the product to life, while establishing retailers and distributors that not only represent Plox but the Star Wars and Disney brands well, enabled Andrews and his co-founder to seal the major deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to say: \u2018Here\u2019s our retail strategy, here\u2019s our merchandising, here\u2019s how we\u2019re going to train staff\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow we are going to promote this product and the brand, and make it come to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly a year later and Plox has now released the Death Star speakers to market.<\/p>\n