Hardware Podcasts

S3 E7: Building Bootstrapped Hardware That Sells with Christian Reed

The Builder Circle · 13 Jan 2026 · 55m

What this episode covers

Christian Reed, CEO of Reekon Tools, explains how he bootstrapped the company from a side project to an 8-figure business without VC funding, validating the idea with a $1.2M Kickstarter campaign. He details the manufacturing lessons learned at Formlabs, including how a supplier's factory fire forced a mid-cycle component swap, and describes building a 3M+ social media following through consistent, raw content creation. Reed emphasizes the importance of engineers thinking like entrepreneurs, focusing on product benefits and brand building rather than just invention.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Reekon Tools, Formlabs, AKM, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Stanley Black and Decker
Also
Kickstarter, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn

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