#565 The Simplest Ideas Win: How Danny M. Goldberg Turned a Sweaty Forehead Into Crowne Cloth
The Simplest Ideas Win: How Danny M. Goldberg Turned a Sweaty Forehead Into Crowncloth
Some of the best business ideas are not born in a boardroom. They are born at a nice restaurant, when a girlfriend looks at you wiping your forehead with a washcloth and says, quite plainly, that is not classy. That single sentence set serial entrepreneur Danny M. Goldberg on the path to his newest venture, Crowncloth, and the story behind it offers a genuinely useful lesson for any business decision-maker thinking about product innovation.
An Uncomfortable Dinner and an Idea Born From Necessity
Goldberg, based in Dallas and, in his own words, follicularly challenged, had long carried a washcloth to manage the Texas heat. After his girlfriend's blunt feedback, he reached for the obvious alternative, a silk pocket square, and discovered it absorbed nothing whatsoever. The breakthrough came later, at a hotel check-in in New Jersey: combine the two ideas. Merge a functional microfiber towel with the silk pocket square, and create something that looks sharp in a blazer pocket while actually doing something useful.
It is worth pausing on why nobody had done this before. Microfiber towels already existed in abundance, but almost exclusively for gyms and workouts. The pocket square, meanwhile, had remained a purely decorative accessory for decades. Goldberg's insight was not a new material or a new technology. It was noticing that two existing, unremarkable products belonged together, and having the willingness to build the thing nobody else had bothered to build.
From Prototype to Product: Eight Months, Ten Materials, One Factory in China
Turning a good idea into a shippable product is where most founders discover how much they do not know. Goldberg cold emailed manufacturers, focusing on ones already producing scarves and pocket squares, and found no viable partner in the United States, which he candidly called disappointing. A manufacturer in China became the development partner, and the first attempt, a washcloth simply paired with silk, was too thick to work. What followed was eight months of iteration, roughly eight to ten different material combinations, tested back and forth across the world, before landing on a fabric thin enough to function while remaining durable.
That process matters more than the finished product itself for anyone building something physical. There is no shortcut around sourcing, prototyping, and iterating with a manufacturing partner who understands materials better than the founder does. Goldberg, whose background is in public speaking and authoring books rather than physical products, treated the unfamiliarity as part of the challenge rather than a reason to avoid it.
Building Sales Channels Before Knocking on Retail's Door
Goldberg is candid about a fact many first-time founders learn the hard way: when you approach a major department store, you are not the first person knocking that day, you are one of thousands. His strategy is to build recognition first, through the company's own website, men's accessories and dressing influencers, public speakers who understand the problem firsthand, and wedding planners looking for groomsmen gifts, before pursuing the Harrods and Macy's of the world. A parallel opportunity lies in college licensing, though Goldberg's team learned that without an existing sales history, that door stays closed until momentum builds elsewhere first.
Staying Family Owned, On Purpose
Crowncloth is entirely self-funded and, for now, entirely family owned. Goldberg is open to outside investment if the business scales quickly, but after twenty years as an entrepreneur, he is equally clear that he values control, and is not in a hurry to give it up. That is a deliberate strategic choice, not a limitation, and it reflects a broader truth about early-stage growth: capital is not always the constraint that matters most in the first year of a product's life.
Why Serial Entrepreneurs Never Really Retire
At fifty one, with two decades of entrepreneurial success behind him, Goldberg could reasonably slow down. His answer to why he keeps starting new ventures is simple: he loves the process of building, more than any hobby could replace it. For business leaders evaluating their own next chapter, that is perhaps the most transferable insight of all. The willingness to enter an unfamiliar industry, tolerate a genuinely brutal learning curve, and build something new from nothing is not about needing the money. It is a mindset that compounds, one venture at a time.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast's and podcast's transcript, read below this article.
Is excellent leadership important to you?
Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsbrabandt
Website: www.NB-Networks.biz
Crowne Cloth: https://crownecloth.com
Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Entrepreneurship. You might have heard of people who started a business, and people who get into competitive spaces, and some people have an idea where you think, hmm, how did they get to that idea, and how do they want to get it off the ground? What is the whole product about, and why did they actually do it? And we have an expert on the matter with us here today. Hello and welcome, Danny Goldberg.
Danny M. Goldberg
Niels, thank you. It's great to be back.
Niels Brabandt
Thank you very much for taking the time. You just founded a business which is called Crowncloth. Can you tell us a bit more on the details of Crowncloth?
Danny M. Goldberg
Yeah, it's— it's a market we've never gone into. You know, I'm a serial entrepreneur for the last 20 years, and because I am follicularly challenged and I live in the south of Texas, or I live in Dallas, it's hot here all the time.
So I usually carry around, like, a washcloth or something to wipe my forehead because I'm sweaty. And I was with my girlfriend last summer, and we were at a nice restaurant, and she looks at me, I pull out the washcloth to wipe my forehead, and she says, "Please don't do that. That's really gross. That's not classy."
Niels Brabandt
Mm-hmm.
Danny M. Goldberg
And, you know, I thought about it, and I'm like, you know what, she actually has a pretty valid point. So I thought about that, and I thought, you know, I'm going to go to the pocket square and use that. Well, the pocket square is silk and doesn't absorb anything whatsoever.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, it doesn't absorb anything, right, yeah.
Danny M. Goldberg
So I had an epiphany when I was in New Jersey at the— at a hotel checking in, talking to the— talking to the front desk. And it was basically combining the two. And so what we did is we found a good microfiber towel to combine with the silk pocket square. So really, and you know, I'll show it to you, it's basically just a functional pocket square. You know, pocket squares don't do anything.
Niels Brabandt
True, exactly. That's one of them.
Danny M. Goldberg
This one, yeah. This one can do a lot of things too. So there's nothing like it on the market right now, and we're just starting to sell it and promote it. But there's nothing on the market.
We've got a patent outstanding right now for it. We're really excited about it. You know, when I mention it to people, a lot of people get kind of excited, like, "Man, that's a great idea. I don't know why I didn't— why I wouldn't—"
Niels Brabandt
Exactly. My first question was, how could— how could people overlook— I mean, this existed, but I mean, it's not getting colder for quite a while. So heat isn't— I think heat isn't Dallas around for quite a while, safe to say. So how come no one ever thought of this?
Danny M. Goldberg
It's a great question. I think, you know, a lot of the best ideas are the simplest ideas. And this is a very, very simple idea. And when I started doing some research, I found a lot of microfiber towels, but not for this purpose. It was just, you know, really for workouts.
And so we went this route. And like I said, you know, I do public speaking, I write books. You know, I'm more of a service industry guy. This is obviously something completely different.
So finding the manufacturer, finding the right material, going through lots of prototypes for the past year, it's been a unique— it's been a fun experience.
Niels Brabandt
Because that would be my next question. When you had the idea, from idea to finish, especially when you have something which is a tangible product that needs to get shipped out there.
So first, you usually don't get the right product in the first attempt. Second, there will be some regulation. Third, where to produce this, how to ship this, how to store this.
So how did you get started to find the right product when you say there are probably a billion different products out there that tell you, "We get water or sweat from the body into some other fiber"? So how did you find the right one there? Did you just test 500 different pieces?
Danny M. Goldberg
We tested a lot of things, but really the first thing I did is, and I just cold emailed a bunch of manufacturers. And what I started focusing on is manufacturers that do multiple things, but do scarves and pocket squares as well. And I found one out of China. I didn't find anything in the U.S., which was kind of disappointing, honestly.
But the one out of China, we tried just the washcloth with the silk pocket square. It's too thick. So we went through, and it was his suggestion on a lot of stuff. He's like, "Try this material. Let's give this a shot."
So that was last summer, July, August, and we really finally found the right product in April or May. So we probably tested 8 to 10 different materials and did a lot of research on it and came up with, "This is the most sustainable that is thin enough to work as we want it to."
Niels Brabandt
Mm-hmm. But that means you had the whole curve of, "Oh, yeah, look at this. Yeah, it doesn't work. Oh, look at this. Yeah, not that one." So you had all of this going back and forth between the other end of the world and Dallas.
Danny M. Goldberg
And what's happening now too is I'm giving some of these products out to, you know, select people just to try it out, and they're coming up with ideas. Say, "Hey, why don't you do this? And why don't you do this?" I'm like, "Well, yeah, that's a great idea. I wish you would have thought about it three or four months ago."
So it's going to grow and expand. If this thing takes off, which I think it will, it's going to grow and expand quickly, honestly.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, because I think when you look at— when you look at where heat is an issue, I mean, and especially with the situation in which we are with the planet, it's not getting any colder in the foreseeable future. I mean, talking about scalable businesses, that is probably the definition of being able to scale to international size, isn't it?
Danny M. Goldberg
Yes, yeah. 100%. You know, like, my son is in college, and we talk about AI all the time. And, you know, what businesses, what industries are going to be eliminated? This is not an industry that's going to be touched by AI. You know, this is going to be hopefully very prevalent.
Niels Brabandt
AI is not going to swipe your forehead, no.
Danny M. Goldberg
It definitely isn't. So, and again, it's multifunctional because, you know, yeah, it can be a pocket square, but you can just keep it in your pocket. Women can keep it in their purses if they need to, you know, bring something out, wipe their glasses, wipe the kids' nose, you know, anything and everything. It's a classier way to do things.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah.
Danny M. Goldberg
And I think, and this is— we're going to talk— I haven't talked to you much about my dating app that's coming out, but I think that in society over COVID, we went so casual on everything that I think there's a pushback, and that's a market research we've done, to being more dressy, more classy, and coming back to where we were 10, 15 years ago.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah. So do you plan to sell this from your own website, or do you plan to go to retail? What are the sales channels you plan to use it for and from?
Danny M. Goldberg
So we are exploring everything right now. We've got a website. It's crowncloth, crown with an E, dot com. We're going to try to go to the big retailers, you know, department stores. We're going to try to—
Niels Brabandt
That is not— when you knock on these doors, you're not the first person knocking on their door. You are one of probably 10,000 calling them every single day saying, "I have the product you've all been waiting for."
Danny M. Goldberg
100%. And that's why it's— we want to start out, I don't want to say small, but we're going to start out on our website. We're going to try to go through influencers, men's accessories and men's dress influencers.
We're also looking at public speakers. I mean, that's one of the reasons why I came up with this, because, you know, we're always up in front of an audience, and it happens to everybody. Plus, we're looking at wedding planners as groomsmen gifts as well. So there's a lot of different avenues we're pushing out.
You know, ultimately, we do want to get it into, you know, the department stores of the world, the Harrods, the Macy's, the Dillard's, etc. And hopefully we'll be able to go that route, but I want to gain some name recognition before we do.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, absolutely. So do you plan to keep this as a 100% family-owned business, or do you plan to get investors in that can push it somewhere further?
Danny M. Goldberg
You know, it's— right now it's 100% family-owned, and we have funded everything ourselves.
Niels Brabandt
Proper American family-owned business, 100% the owner does the business, everything.
Danny M. Goldberg
100%. Now, if we grow exponentially, if I do get investors, you know, that's a different conversation. I'm open to it. But being an entrepreneur for 20 years, I like control. And so I really— I don't want to release much control. So right now, this is the right route for us to go.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, absolutely. So when you now have probably the prototype of the first couple of products out there, do you plan to expand it into different designs and product lines? And this is more for children, this is more for men, women, anyone else? Do you already have a plan where you want to go with this?
Danny M. Goldberg
So we've got six designs right now out there on the website. We're going to do a contest to get the next few designs. We're going to expand it exponentially. We could go with— I've actually looked at licensing to colleges to put their logos on their products.
Niels Brabandt
That would be my next idea. When you only, in the American college system, say, you only get it to American college sports and keep it classy, branded. If you only get into the top, let's say, 1% of colleges, you're probably done and dusted.
Danny M. Goldberg
100%. So that is an effort in itself. We tried to go that route initially, but we didn't have the sales history to get it approved. Once we get moving, we're definitely going to go that route because, you know, it could be all over college campuses, sold in the college stores, for the teams as well. They could be on the sidelines.
My friend keeps on telling me, he's like, "You need to expand this because, you know, there's golf towels, etc., but they don't look good. You know, they're a towel. You know, this looks good, this looks classy. Put the team logo on there, and you're going to sell a lot."
So like I said, there's a lot of different avenues we're going to go, and we're at that exploratory phase right now.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah. One final question I have to ask. I mean, you're a serial entrepreneur, so we can assume you're probably doing reasonably well.
The question is, why another? Because at a certain point, people could wonder, "Look, mate, you make your money, you could live your good life, just enjoy from there."
Because when you start from scratch into a new industry where you haven't been before, you know that the learning curve is tough, and the learnings are brutal. So it's not one of these where you say, "Been there, done that, going to be relaxed, right?"
What's your motivation to go again into another venture?
Danny M. Goldberg
You know, I just turned 51, and everybody's like, "Why aren't you looking at retiring in the next few years?" And I always thought I was going to go that route.
Niels Brabandt
I mean, I know why I'm an entrepreneur by myself, so I could probably know why, but I just want to hear from you.
Danny M. Goldberg
Yeah, no, I'm with you. Because, you know, I could go that route where, you know, I'm retiring, or I'm starting to slow down on my speaking and just giving it to other people and booking people, which I'll probably end up doing that. But I love what I do. I love coming up with new ideas. I love running businesses.
My girlfriend's always on me. She's like, "Well, you know, why don't you have any hobbies?" Because I basically work out and work. And I told her, "This is my hobby. This is fun to me."
To try to figure this out, going into a completely new industry, really two new industries with these companies, it's a challenge. And I really want to do— I want to generate generational wealth for my kids. And I think, you know, I've done pretty well for myself, but this is that next step.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, brilliant. Here we see proper American family-owned business. The American dream for live event in color. So when now people ask, "Hey, how can we get in touch? Where can I buy it? How can I get in touch with you if I'd like to have you as a keynote speaker for our conference or whatever else?" Can you give us the details for that as the final question for this interview?
Danny M. Goldberg
You can go to our website on Crown Cloth. That's crown with an E at the end, cloth, dot com. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Danny M. Goldberg as well. We do a lot of keynotes. And my other company, our main company is Gold, S as in Sam, R as in Ricky, D as in David, dot com, where we have all of our courses out there and all of our topics.
Niels Brabandt
Brilliant. I think these are the perfect final words. So you see there's a product coming up there, and you better get it quickly. So at the end of this interview, there's only one thing left for me to say. Danny, thank you very much for your time.
Danny M. Goldberg
Thank you.