The Hardware Entrepreneur – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode’s guest is Kistjan Vilosius of Katana, a startup from Estonia.

Working at a small-, medium-sized company, or startup you have to wear many hats and it happens often that there are simply not enough people to wear those hats. You have limited resources. Highly efficient way of working is therefore extremely important. How many times did it happen that you spent unexpectedly high number of hours trying to fix some issues when using your software, for example plain old spreadsheets, especially when those spreadsheets are connected, which handle different aspects of your business?

This episode’s guest is Katana’s co-founder and CEO, Kristjan. He has held different leadership positions in the corporate world as the group CFO then group CEO of Magnum, a multinational pharmaceutical retailer in the Baltics and Finland. Later he was the CEO of Up Invest family office investing in retail, media, healthcare and cleantech companies. Today he’s the CEO and Product Manager of Katana, a manufacturing ERP for makers, crafters, manufacturers.

We’ll talk about how they started out, back when Katana was just an idea. We discuss what solutions exist for managing inventory, production besides Katana’s solution. We go into details how their software works, the many integrations they offer now and they expect to offer in the near future. You’ll also hear about trends that you can expect in the b2c space.

Enjoy this episode.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• The story behind the first manufacturing and inventory management tool that helps small business scale faster [3:00]
• What makes Estonia one of the best countries to start a company [6:30]
• How Katana brings in the point of truth [8:54]
• Why focusing on a specific customer niche is a winning strategy for inventory management platforms [12:23]
• The ways in which Katana is trying to become an integrated app [18:08]
• How Katana supports manufacturers producing highly complex products [25:18]
• The differences between Katana and Excel that make your life and business easier [29:36]
• Trends for small manufacturing in 2019 and beyond [33:02]
• If you could go back in time in your 20s, what notes would you give yourself? [35:21]
• If you had to name a book, which one had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial career? [36:46]
• Why make your leg day in the gym on Monday morning [38:24]
• How to bring out the best of people in an international team [39:40]
• What is the best way to reach Kristjan? [37:40]

My podcast guest is Pete Staples, co-founder and president of Blue Clover Devices with locations in San Francisco, Hong Kong and of course, Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of Hardware.

This is an episode on some important aspects of production lines and its challenges. Without a production line you have no mass manufacturing so if you want to play in that field, it’s good to know about some current issues.

Pete’s company is originally and even now an ODM company. In this episode he will talk about what they do as an ODM. You’ll also find out about typical waste in production lines and what can go wrong with Work Instructions or SOP, Standard Operating Procedures that are typically used in production lines. Pete’s team has a solution to make teams’ life easier. Their product is for automating testing, but not the usual way which can set you back by a few hundred thousand dollars.

We’ve talked about many many more topics, enjoy.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• Why Blue Clover Devices are not afraid of competitors [3:25]
• The difference between ODM and CM and the benefits of using each of them [7:13]
• Why SOPs are good for consistency but becoming more and more obsolete for usage in Production Lines [9:53]
• A new level for remote work: “a teleporter” that automates the manufacturing and production process [15:40]
• How Blue Clovers Devices company applies the 10x improvement [22:00]
• If you could go back in time in your 20s, what notes would you give yourself? [27:45]
• If you had to name a book, which one had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial career? [30:00]
• How staying fit during work time is good for both the employees and the company [32:07]
• How to keep the balance when shifting between two different cultural and business worlds [33:45]
• What is the best way to reach Pete? [37:40]

My guest in this episode is Nancy de Fays, one the two co-founders of a company from San Francisco, California, which is called Linedock.

Have you ever wanted to work or play from anywhere but you ran into the issue of running out of power for your devices? Maybe you did actually want to work from a beach with your laptop, while navigating a drone in the air at the same time, while playing music on a speaker...for hours long. Nancy’s hardware startup wants to tackle this problem so one can become more location-independent.

Their company has received lately substantial traction via crowdfunding: their campaign brought in a few hundred thousand dollars of backing. To put it in context, according to Kickstarter stats from 2017 only 3% of crowdfunding campaigns typically get over 100 kUSD of support.

Nancy and Quentin, who she joined at the beginning of their venture, are building seamless electronics for creatives and professionals on the go. As for background she has a Master’s in Economics, and she started off as a Software Tech Consultant at Deloitte in Belgium and France, then decided to follow her heart: starting their “business” project with Quentin. Rest is history (even if their company is wearing baby shoes).

Enjoy this episode!

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• What Apple, firefighters and startups have in common - [2:45]
• How it all started: computer in a swimming pool and forgotten charger - [5:12]
• Human-like features for the more power-hungry devices - [9:30]
• What makes Linedock stand out among other similar products on the market - [11:44]
• Why hardware is hard and the place of crowdfunding in the process - [14:35]
• Advantages of Indiegogo over Kickstarter - [17:18]
• How to reach high numbers in crowdfunding with a limited budget - [20:30]
• Hardware-specific challenges: the 90 % done, but 90% remaining - [25:48]
• What is special about the crowdfunding world that makes it different from the rest of the world? - [31:18]
• If you could go back in time in your 20s, what notes would you give yourself? - [35:28]
• If you had to name a book, which one had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial career? - [35:54]
• What to do before diving in your tons of emails and phone calls - [36:57]
• Never take “no“ for an answer - [37:33]
• What is the best way to reach Nancy? - [39:14]

This is a second recording with Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, USA who has had recently a Kickstarter campaign. He is a fitness student, consultant and pioneer.

In this second episode you get to hear about the lessons learned from his crowdfunding campaign. In the first episode he talked about the campaign preparations.

We’ll analyze his campaign, why it was a success for Joey, the hypothesis he wanted to address. He explains what went well and he gives also some ideas on how he could improve his future campaigns. What were some of the tools or tactics he used to get his results? We go into details also on these. At the end of the interview he also discusses the next steps, how he wants to grow in a sustainable way and will give a creative idea on how he wants to rely on his new customer base in the future.

Enjoy this episode.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• A short summary of the SCULPTAFIT concept - [2:16]
• Hypothesis check: how math algorithms can help you when you launch a project on Kickstarter - [4:30]
• The importance of pre-marketing in big-ticket items sales - [11:54]
• Surprising and not so surprising buyers on his Kickstarter campaign, and the value of follow-up - [13:48]
• A video walk-through – making it transparent, simple and easy for the client - [20:03]
• Three tools that brought Joey success during his Kickstarter campaign - [23:50]
• Evergreen phase: future steps for SCULPTAFIT - [27:47]
• “That person sounds just like me”- [31:15]

I’m back again on the podcast with an episode where I’ll be talking about the timing of innovation. This means I don’t have a guest in this episode.

Why do many startup ideas fail, what’s the main reason for it? What are some of the other implications for your business in case you fail due to that one reason? It turns out actually timing is crucial. And with timing I don’t mean when you get your team together, or when you get the funding. Timing entails here something else: when you should come out with the innovation.

In this episode there will be many examples, hardware examples for companies, projects that didn’t see the light for a long time and I will touch on a few reasons why it happened so. An example is Kodak which invented digital photography but did not make a business around it or also Pebble will be mentioned, which is a more recent story.

Enjoy this episod!

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• The single biggest reason why startups succeed – [0:50]
• Educating the market – examples of the past and present – [2:18]
• A light bulb – nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come – [5:05]
• Questions to be asked by both startups and established companies – [7:24]

This is an interview with Raja Younes of Startupsfund, Futuris Technologies, Lebanon. We wanted to look at the Lebanese startup ecosystem, especially in hardware, so for producing physical products. We don’t hear about Lebanon enough, even though we should as there are some strong reasons for it - you can find out in this episode about some of these reasons.

All tech startups run into a problem sooner or later which is connected to their workforce. There is actually a megatrend related to this, which can become a huge bottleneck for further growth worldwide. Other topics Raja will talk about is some facts on Lebanon and its effects on making the Lebanese startup ecosystem a unique one in the region or in the world. Why should startups or established companies seriously consider going to Lebanon? What are some examples for companies doing that? We will touch on these questions, and Raja’s initiatives to alleviate these issues.

Enjoy this episode.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• A guide to Lebanon and its startup ecosystem - [1:58]
• Underlying problems in today’s world and Raja’s solution to them - [4:00]
• Main incentives of the Lebanese ecosystem that make it attractive for investors and entrepreneurs - [6:42]
• Success stories from Lebanon and major international companies in the country - [10:04]
• Missions of Futuris Technologies and Startupsfund and key benefits of their services - [12:37]
• If you could go back in time to the time when you were in your 20s, what notes would you give yourself? - [16:33]
• If you had to name a book, which one had the biggest impact on your thinking and on your career? - [17:58]
• Some habits that help Raja stay organized and relaxed at the same time - [18:55]
• Some observations Raja had on cultural differences throughout his career - [20:02]
• What is the best way to reach Raja? - [22:20]

We have a different episode than usual as we’re taking you on a ride on a Kickstarter campaign. My guest was Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, from Florida, who is a fitness student, consultant and pioneer.

In this set of episodes you get to hear about the before and after cases for a hardware product. This is the first episode which was recorded just before launch.

How familiar are you with the concept No pain, No gain? I guess, actually very familiar. But does fitness really have to be that grueling? Is it really justified that we’re supposed to give our best, to kill ourselves in exercises from day 1? Joey challenges this philosophy with his thinking, program and now his machine. With his techniques he simplified fitness and he has distributed his programs to every country; his top selling programs have been translated into 5 languages.

He will tell his story about how fitness became central in his life, his many years of struggles, and during the whole time his entrepreneurial thinking will also shine through. His venture is self-funded which is a rare feat in hardware, when you want to bring out a physical product. Joey will tell us how he came to the idea of his product, some of the manufacturing challenges he overcame, the target audience which is very important for quick adoption of his product. Last but not least, he’ll talk also about some considerations for his Kickstarter campaign. Check out his campaign, which might be out by the time you hear this interview.

Enjoy this conversation!

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• By universal design - [2:34]
• What sparked the fitness interest in Joey and what it evolved into - [5:33]
• Rediscovering playgrounds - [11:36]
• Self-funding that turns the tables 180° - [16:50]
• How to find a company for serial production of your prototype - [22:11]
• “What about my husband?” – first validation experiences - [29:15]
• The potential of Kickstarter beyond your own capabilities - [35:48]
• If you could time travel and go back in time, what notes would you give yourself? – [39:18]
• Which book had the biggest impact on his career? – [40:30]
• Non-negotiable habits for a better quality of life – [43:36]
• Some cultural differences that Joey observed throughout his career and examples of how he overcame them – [47:38]
• Changing the no pain, no gain game – [51:12]

In this episode I wanted to give you an overview on an essential topic that can make or break your business - the chosen business model.

My goal now is to give you an overview of two major business models, B2C (Business to Consumers) and B2B (Business to Business) with all its pros and cons. I approach this topic based on my own recent experiences that you will learn about, as well as based on interviewing many entrepreneurs; lastly by relying on some good old logic. I will also make an announcement in this episode which will serve as pillars to this episode on what I have to share about B2B vs B2C.

I think this is an important topic that I wanted to write and talk about for a long time, so please enjoy.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• An announcement to make, a distinction to clarify and lessons to share - [0:44]
• What do you do when a constellation happens? - [2:11]
• A crash course in b2b and b2c – pros and cons illustrated with examples - [5:14]
• Trends, connections and overlap in Silicon Valley - [10:08]

My guest this time was Gregory Inauen of the ETH Entrepreneur Club in Zurich, the youngest individual on this podcast so far.

Well, why having a student on the show? I think we should talk not only about people who have acquired a lot of success, but also about the upcoming generation. I’ve known Gregory for about a year now and by bringing him onto the show I wanted to show how a student-run organization that cared about entrepreneurship is run. Moreover, he’s from the Zurich where I also live which is another reason to feature him on the podcast, so this way we could describe the local ecosystem here.

Some hardware topics do come up in this episode, but we wanted to focus more on entrepreneurship from students’ perspective. Gregory talked about the 3 pillars of how they want to reach their mission, highlights of his time with Entrepreneur Club that includes speed-dating and how someone managed to land a CEO position this way. He also talked about the startup ecosystem in Switzerland and some specialties of Switzerland, e.g. craftmanship which has been attracting worldwide attention recently because of its uniqueness and effectivity.

Enjoy this episode!

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• The youngest podcast guest so far and his story about ETH Entrepreneur club’s mission - [2:32]
• Inspiring highlights from ETH Entrepreneur Club - [6:52]
• How has a global movement attracted tremendous attention in Switzerland? - [11:01]
• Why is university not enough when you want to be an entrepreneur? - [13:45]
• The Swiss hardware startup ecosystem, its advantages and relation to the universities - [16:03]
• Key points that differentiate ETH Entrepreneur Club from other similar clubs worldwide - [18:40]
• If you could time travel into the future, what would you give yourself? – [22:42]
• Which book had the biggest impact on his career? – [24:13]
• Gregory’s morning fueling routine – [25:05]
• Challenges that Gregory had to overcome throughout his experience with the Entrepreneur Club – [26:04]
• What is the best way to reach Gregory? – [28:02]

I had as guest Greg Fisher of Berkeley Sourcing Group (BSG) and Hardware Massive.

Greg is very experienced in the hardware field, since he’s been running BSG for more than a decade, assisting more than 900 hardware startups, operating from the US and from China. There is tons of information on manufacturing in China, but I think information on this topic never seems to be enough. Greg talks about typical timelines for developing consumer products, the different steps one has to take; he gives tips on how to stay lean and agile. He’ll talk also about Hardware Massive platform, how it all started out and the yearly event that connects to it called Hardwarecon, the premier global meeting for startups, taking place actually in April this year. The lineup and topics look pretty amazing so you might want to check out that event soon.

Enjoy this episode as much as I did interviewing Greg!

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• His first successful hardware project and marketing tips obtained during Tour de France - [3:15]
• The essence of BSG and the types of companies Greg works with - [4:55]
• Manufacturing in China vs the U.S. – which direction to take? - [9:12]
• From first production run to shipping – a standard timeline overview - [12:00]
• Do it right the first time - [16:47]
• Best ideas are born in early morning hours - [19:08]
• A premier hardware innovation event that gets it all together - [22:49]
• What makes a business successful, according to Greg - [25:39]
• If you could time travel and go back in time, what notes would you give yourself? – [28:20]
• Which book had the biggest impact on his career? – [28:43]
• What is a frog doing in Greg’s daily routine? – [29:30]
• Some cultural differences that Greg observed throughout his career – [30:45]
• What is the best way to reach Greg? – [34:36]