# An Interview with Christina Cyr

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2020-01-20
- Length: 1h 13m
- Episode: 475
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/475-an-interview-with-christina-cyr/

## Summary

Christina Cyr, CEO of Detour and creator of the Circle Phone, discusses the development of a circular, dual-display smartphone and her recent experience exhibiting at CES. She details the challenges of sourcing components from large vendors like Qualcomm, navigating complex tariff codes for batteries and LCDs, and the financial realities of hardware startups, including high NRE costs and the difficulty of getting support for low-volume production. Cyr also shares lessons learned from her first Kickstarter campaign, particularly regarding market validation and the pitfalls of gendered marketing assumptions.

## Chapters

- [0:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=58) CES Experience and Booth Logistics
- [26:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=1583) Market Research and Marketing Failures
- [36:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=2190) Product Design: Form Factor and Displays
- [46:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=2778) Supply Chain and Vendor Relations
- [51:25](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=3085) Regulatory, Tariffs, and Financials
- [1:07:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr#t=4056) Software, Android Customization, and Resources

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Detour (company)
- Circle Phone (product)
- CES (other)
- Eureka Park (other)
- Sands Expo Convention Center (other)
- BBC (other)
- CNET (other)
- The Daily (other)
- CTA (other)
- Wyze Cameras (company)
- WeWork Labs (other)
- Metrix Create Space Makerspace (other)
- Seeed Studio (company)
- Mobile World Congress (other)
- The Telegraph (other)
- Qualcomm (chip)
- Snapdragon (chip)
- Samsung (company)
- Huawei (company)
- Apple (company)
- Essential Phone (product)
- Snapchat Spectacles (product)
- Tau Glass (company)
- AT&T (company)
- T-Mobile (company)
- Verizon (company)
- Unity (company)
- Android (other)
- iOS (other)
- DigiKey (company)
- Soto Makerspace (other)
- Commotion Labs (other)
- SUNY Albany (other)
- Nalan Chow Petcharasopan (other)
- Anna Chow Petcharasopan (other)
- Scotty Allen (other)
- Strange Parts (company)
- Beau Amber (other)
- Kickstarter (other)
- Formlabs 2 (tool)
- Glowforge (tool)
- Extra Slice (other)
- Microsoft (company)
- Satya Nadella (other)
- Aileen McGraw (other)
- Mike (other)
- Chris Gammell (other)
- Dave Jones (other)
- Joel (other)
- 3D Printing Nerd (other)
- Sage Chandler (other)
- How Dare I (other)
- Make Magazine (other)
- Los Angeles Library (other)
- Bellevue Library (other)
- Chicago Downtown Library (other)
- Apple Watch (product)
- Spotify (other)
- Facebook (other)
- Facebook Messenger (other)
- Snapchat (other)
- Circlephone.com (other)
- Twitter (other)
- LinkedIn (other)
- Instagram (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [510: The Secret Chip](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-09-19-510-the-secret-chip) (Embedded.fm)
- [When our phones are just phones with Kai Tang and Joe Hollier of Light](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-08-10-when-our-phones-are-just-phones-with-kai-tang-and-joe-hollier-of-light) (How I Built This)
- [251: I Agreed at the Time](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2018-06-29-251-i-agreed-at-the-time) (Embedded.fm)
- [Hard Earned Lessons Learned with Wayne Frick of ChirpSounds – Part 2](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2020-06-22-hard-earned-lessons-learned-with-wayne-frick-of-chirpsounds-part-2) (Predictable Designs Podcast)
- [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)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-01-20-an-interview-with-christina-cyr. 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 The Amp Hour.