# Dyslexia, Deals & Devastation: Jez Williman on the Highs and Lows of Building Physical Products

- Show: [It's Only a Prototype](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype)
- Published: 2025-06-12
- Length: 1h 14m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic
- Listen: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/phil-staunton/episodes/Dyslexia--Deals--Devastation-Jez-Williman-on-the-Highs-and-Lows-of-Building-Physical-Products-e3h2epc

## Summary

Jez Williman, a British entrepreneur who scaled a crowd control business to over $100 million in sales, shares the story of his second venture in electric mobility that he ultimately lost to investors. He details the failure of trusting a major UK design firm for the product development, which resulted in unusable CAD drawings and significant financial loss. Williman explains how a minority investor used contractual clauses to block further funding, forcing the company into administration and allowing the investor to take full control. He concludes by discussing his return to the crowd control industry with a new smart technology focus and the parallels between elite athletics and entrepreneurship.

## Chapters

- [0:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=9) Introduction: Jez Williman's Background and Crowd Control Success
- [4:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=270) Dyslexia, Apprenticeship, and Building the Crowd Control Empire
- [26:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=1595) The Electric Mobility Venture: Prototyping and Design Failures
- [38:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=2301) Trusting the Wrong Design Firm and Manufacturing Realities
- [43:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=2611) Losing Control: Investor Takeover and Administration
- [54:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic#t=3298) Rebuilding in Crowd Control and Lessons on Resilience

## Topics

- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Prototyping & iteration](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/prototyping)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Intellectual property](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/intellectual-property)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up, early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- MIKA Group (company)
- Foxconn (company)
- Plexus (company)
- Bird (company)
- Lime (company)
- Spin (company)
- Sky (company)
- Ineos (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Square: Jim McKelvey. He Lost a $2,000 Sale, Then Built a $10 Billion Company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-02-23-square-jim-mckelvey-he-lost-a-2-000-sale-then-built-a-10-billion-company) (How I Built This)
- [Jeri Ellsworth and the demise of CastAR](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2018-05-29-jeri-ellsworth-and-the-demise-of-castar) (The Amp Hour)
- [Kickstarter, Open Source RC & Modelsource - Facinorous Financial Foulness](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-10-22-kickstarter-open-source-rc-modelsource-facinorous-financial-foulness) (The Amp Hour)
- [Chris Becomes Self Employed - Quixotic Quitting Quaere](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-02-12-chris-becomes-self-employed-quixotic-quitting-quaere) (The Amp Hour)
- [WORST DAY Bringing a New Product to Market](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2022-11-09-worst-day-bringing-a-new-product-to-market) (Predictable Designs Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-06-12-dyslexia-deals-devastation-jez-williman-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-building-physic. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to It's Only a Prototype.