#402 – An Interview with Ben Einstein

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This week’s show was sponsored by Arrow.com, who want to hear from engineers like you. They’re offering 30% off a first order for new customers and free overnight shipping for everyone. Check out their online selection for your next project!

Welcome Ben Einstein, founder of Bolt!

• Bolt is a Pre-Seed
  • 0h 1m 10s
• Downtown Boston
  • 0h 1m 47s
• They started around 2011/2012
  • 0h 2m 30s
• Twiddle with atoms instead of bits
  • 0h 3m 13s
• Went to school in Boston
  • 0h 3m 42s
• Inherited a product consultancy
  • 0h 3m 57s
• Maury Ballstein
  • 0h 7m 12s
• Startup within a startup
  • 0h 8m 6s
• Lightbulb went off
  • 0h 8m 28s
• First iphone bluetooth accessory
  • 0h 9m 6s
• Sometimes the lucky thing is picking Apple instead of picking Palm
  • 0h 10m 36s
• Brad Feld of Foundry Group based out of Boulder CO
  • 0h 13m 14s
• Institutionalized hardware/software investing
  • 0h 13m 48s
• Makerbot/Sphero
  • 0h 14m 0s
• Invested in first fund
  • 0h 15m 2s
• Ben is a big introvert
  • 0h 16m 59s
• Trust and intimacy
  • 0h 17m 41s
• Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends”
  • 0h 17m 50s
• Raising Venture Capital (VC) wasn’t right from first fund
  • 0h 22m 41s
• In early VC started where it was their money
  • 0h 23m 52s
• Vast majority is a management fee
  • 0h 23m 58s
• GP = General partner
  • 0h 25m 19s
• LP = Limited partner
  • 0h 25m 29s
• Why didn’t this hardware model exist previously?
  • 0h 26m 51s
• Bill Gross at IdeaLab
  • 0h 27m 6s
• “Hardware by itself is not an attractive business”
  • 0h 27m 39s
• Software breaking out of the screen
  • 0h 29m 26s
• Number of companies pitching has increased
  • 0h 31m 44s
• Bolt.io
  • 0h 32m 4s
• Looking for companies that will be worth 100M in 5-7 years
  • 0h 32m 55s
• Early meetings with prototype
  • 0h 33m 56s
• Bolt provides an early investment with a 100K to 1M check
  • 0h 34m 5s
• Nutty things pitched
  • 0h 35m 27s
• Spherical iphone
  • 0h 35m 58s
• Only been around for 5 years
  • 0h 36m 34s
• They spend 18 months with companies
  • 0h 41m 8s
• 80% of the founders at Bolt companies haven’t done hardware
  • 0h 43m 45s
• The best companies are built from the best product, not just hardware
  • 0h 44m 38s
• They have a strong belief that companies should not build the perfect product
  • 0h 46m 3s
• Consumer vs industrial
  • 0h 49m 3s
• Everyone talks about consumer connected hardware companies
  • 0h 50m 15s
• 20% are consumer
  • 0h 50m 26s
• Recurring revenue is a very strong theme.
  • 0h 52m 9s
• Why Juicero’s press is so expensive
  • 0h 56m 22s
• AvE’s take on the Juicero
  • 0h 57m 32s
• Product development
  • 1h 1m 56s
• Suggested reading: The Illustrated Guide To Product Development
  • 1h 2m 4s
• Suggested reading: The Complete Guide To Building Hardware Startup Teams
  • 1h 3m 57s
• Team is more than just the employees
  • 1h 4m 0s
• Teams coming in are 2-4 founders
  • 1h 7m 30s
• Proof of concept prototype
  • 1h 7m 48s
• Sometimes they invest in people instead of companies, like Mike Phillips from Sense
  • 1h 8m 51s
• Joe Bamburg from Sense has been on the show before.
  • 1h 9m 11s
• Tyler runs engineering at Bolt, former iPhone engineer
  • 1h 12m 3s
• Thinking about Industrial Design (ID) early on
  • 1h 14m 0s
• Prototyping engineers in the shop
  • 1h 14m 8s
• Tempo automation
  • 1h 14m 45s
• Dragon Innovation / Scott Miller
  • 1h 15m 34s
• A $200 Roomba vs a Dyson
  • 1h 18m 46s
• James Dyson on “How I Built This”
  • 1h 19m 27s
• Looks like / works like prototypes
  • 1h 21m 20s
• Engineering prototype
  • 1h 21m 30s
• How far are people expected to go on that check from Bolt?
  • 1h 23m 36s
• Silcon Valley (the show) is a farce and has truth
  • 1h 26m 59s
• Bolt is like the bumpers at the bowling alley
  • 1h 35m 48s
• Want to reach Ben? You can email him
  • 1h 36m 35s
• If you’re looking to pitch, it’s better to reach out via Bolt.io/pitch
  • 1h 36m 45s
• Follow Ben on Twitter as @BenEinstein
  • 1h 37m 23s
• Follow their fantastic blog as well!
  • 1h 37m 59s.