Entrepreneur Brings Engineering Expertise to Chemical-Free Baby Products

After working in the semiconductor industry for over a decade, Paul Wang decided to shift his engineering talents from silicon microchips to silicone baby bottles. A father of three, Paul had struggled to find baby bottles, cups, plates, and utensils free of BPA and other harmful chemicals — so he decided to make his own. In 2012, he co-founded Olababy, a Portland, OR-based company that makes a range of safe, chemical-free dishes, drinkware, utensils, and bibs for infants and toddlers. 

Paul launched Olababy by selling the company’s first products on Amazon. Doing so, he says, helped him instantly put his innovative wares in front of millions of potential buyers and quickly reinvest his profits in new-product development — allowing him to rapidly expand his product line, grow his business, and even hire new employees. 

Paul finds Amazon’s Seller Central dashboard — which offers independent sellers comprehensive, company-specific data analytics — particularly valuable. Seller Central helps him understand customer preferences and complaints, come up with new products, and make smart marketing and business development decisions. Those data-driven insights, in turn, have helped him expand Olababy into top-tier retail outlets including Nordstrom, Target, and Walmart, and improve sales through Olababy’s website. Still, 90% of the company’s sales come from Amazon, which Paul says is largely responsible for the company’s 40% year-over-year sales growth. 

An outspoken advocate for small-business-friendly digital tools, Paul recently met with Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield to explain how online marketplaces like Amazon help power small-business success — enabling them to compete and scale with unprecedented efficiency. “Amazon is perfect for inventive people,” Paul says. “Even if you only have one good product, you can immediately sell it globally. If people like your product, you sell it, make a profit, and then invest that profit in more products. There’s tremendous potential for growth.”

Learn more about Olababy at https://www.olababy.us/.