# 106: Building Your Hardware Product Team Early

- Show: [Product Startup](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup)
- Published: 2021-12-15
- Length: 38m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early
- Listen: https://productstartup.com/

## Summary

EA Csolkovits, founder of GIVERS University and a veteran who has brought 75 products to market in the health and wellness space, explains the critical importance of building a high-quality team early in a hardware startup. He outlines a framework for selecting team members based on 'giver' versus 'taker' behaviors, emphasizing the need for a mentor who has actual experience rather than just book knowledge. Csolkovits details a seven-step acronym, DISCERN, for forming and managing an inner circle of 2-12 people, arguing that the right team is the single most important factor in avoiding catastrophic failures and achieving scale.

## Chapters

- [0:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early#t=47) Introduction: EA Csolkovits and GIVERS University
- [1:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early#t=104) Csolkovits' Origin Story: Toll Manufacturing and 75 Products
- [7:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early#t=426) The Importance of Mentorship and Giver vs. Taker Dynamics
- [17:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early#t=1065) The DISCERN Framework: Decide, Invite, Seed, Convene, Establish, Rotate, Numbers
- [28:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early#t=1722) Case Studies: Federal Express, Henry Ford, and J. Paul Getty

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- GIVERS University (company)
- Mako Design + Invent (company)
- Federal Express (company)
- McDonald's (company)
- Henry Ford (other)
- J. Paul Getty (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#043 - How to avoid mistakes when building a team - lessons from mentoring 1200+ hardware entrepreneurs, with Alan Clayton of SOSV](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-12-06-043-how-to-avoid-mistakes-when-building-a-team-lessons-from-mentoring-1200-hardw) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [For Hardware Startups by Hardware People: Building The Builder Circle with Host, Sera Evcimen](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-builder-circle/2026-01-06-for-hardware-startups-by-hardware-people-building-the-builder-circle-with-host-s) (The Builder Circle)
- [Surviving Conventional Wisdom](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-08-16-surviving-conventional-wisdom) (Oxide and Friends)
- [#025 - How to benefit for your startup from the one and only hardware accelerator of Southern California, with Shaun Arora of Make in LA, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-05-10-025-how-to-benefit-for-your-startup-from-the-one-and-only-hardware-accelerator-o) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [Ep. 39 - Starting a Hardware Company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-05-15-ep-39-starting-a-hardware-company) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-12-15-106-building-your-hardware-product-team-early. 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 Product Startup.