Getting the first customers is supposed to prove the idea works. Eric Kurbanov learned that it only answers one question: whether somebody wants what you are selling.
His first water-filtration sales came from people he worked with after he solved the problem for himself. The harder lessons came later, when he started the business through the 2009 recession and had to work out how to fund physical stock without the cash to pay for it upfront.
Eric spent roughly 17 years building RKIN Water Systems. A supplier deal became the mechanism that kept the company moving because RKIN could sell stock before paying for it. Years later, slipping quality forced him to confront a different problem: every unit that needed inspecting and repacking made scale harder.
In this episode, we get into what demand doesn’t solve, why consultation became part of the product as RKIN moved into whole-house systems, how Amazon changes the economics, where Eric is using AI, and what staying with one business for 17 years has changed for him.
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Key takeaways
1️⃣ Demand doesn’t mean you can scale
Sales proved people wanted the product, but demand didn’t solve the operational side. Eric describes a supplier shipping units that RKIN had to inspect, clean and repackage. If every system needed that intervention, higher volume would only make the problem worse.
2️⃣ Supplier terms can fund growth
RKIN’s manufacturer agreed to front the product, with payment coming from sales afterwards. Eric calls it the deal that made the business possible. For a physical-product company, supplier terms can change how much growth the business can afford before cash comes back.
3️⃣ Helping customers choose is part of the sale
Whole-house systems made the buying decision more complicated. RKIN built consultation into the product so customers could work out what equipment matched their water, household and flow requirements. The sale depends on reducing decision friction, not simply listing more information online.
4️⃣ More information makes trust more important
Buyers now arrive with reviews, social content and AI-generated research. Eric argues that easy access to information doesn’t remove the trust problem. It’s one reason he believes the founder has to become more visible.
5️⃣ Automate the work customers never see
Eric is using AI for customer-service drafts and accounting workflows, but he still wants human review around customer-facing work. His direction is clearer for internal processes: anything the customer does not see is a candidate for automation once the system has earned enough trust.
In this episode
00:00 Intro to Eric Kurbanov
00:58 Selling the first water systems
06:30 Going all-in during a recession
10:28 The supplier deal that made growth possible
12:13 When poor quality makes scale impossible
14:20 Whole-house systems need consultation
17:45 Selling to better-informed buyers
21:14 The real cost of selling on Amazon
23:28 Automating the work customers don’t see
28:21 The personal cost of 17 years
31:37 Building an audience while running the business
