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The Hardware Entrepreneur

Balint Horvath interviews hardware founders around the world on designing, manufacturing, funding, and selling physical products.

67 episodes · 37 hours · since 2016

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Its last episode came out on 15 May 2019. The whole back catalogue is still here to explore, every episode with its summary and chapters.

The Hardware Entrepreneur is filed under founder stories, startups, product development and interviews. Its most recent episode published on , so it sits in the archive rather than the active listings. Listeners have left 8 ratings on Apple Podcasts, averaging 5 out of 5.

Latest episodes

The 10 newest episodes of The Hardware Entrepreneur, each with a summary and chapters.

  • · 44m

    #068 - Challenges of small manufacturers to organise their production and inventory, with Kristjan Vilosius of Katana, Estonia

    Kristjan Vilosius, CEO and co-founder of Katana, explains how the Estonian startup provides a manufacturing ERP for small businesses, addressing the limitations of spreadsheets for complex inventory and production. He details Katana's focus on direct-to-consumer manufacturers, its integration with Shopify and accounting tools like QuickBooks, and its ability to handle multi-level bills of materials. Vilosius also discusses the shift toward Industry 4.0 for small workshops, the challenges of building an international team, and trends in the small manufacturing sector.

    Direct-to-consumer & e-commercePricing, margins & unit economics
    10 chapters

  • · 38m

    #067 - How to speed up your New Product Introduction - Production Line Tool, with Pete Staples of Blue Clover Devices, USA

    Pete Staples, co-founder and president of Blue Clover Devices, explains how his San Francisco and Shenzhen-based ODM company addresses production line inefficiencies through its new Production Line Tool (PLT). He details the high costs and rigidity of traditional automation, contrasting them with the PLT’s ability to automate testing for IoT devices at a fraction of the price, citing clients like Tesla, Volkswagen, and Scoot. Staples highlights the operational pain point of maintaining obsolete Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and describes how the PLT enables remote firmware loading and testing, offering a 10x cost improvement over conventional systems.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringScaling production
    8 chapters

  • · 41m

    #066 - How to apply lean startup principles to hardware, with Ash Maurya of Leanstack, USA

    Ash Maurya, founder of Leanstack, explains how Lean Startup principles apply to hardware by prioritizing problem validation over solution building, using Tesla and Apple as key examples of companies that manage high-risk physical product development through staged rollouts and software-defined infrastructure. He details the three stages of development—Problem-Solution Fit, Product-Market Fit, and Growth—and introduces his Customer Forces Canvas and Jobs To Be Done framework to help innovators understand the psychological triggers behind customer purchases. Maurya emphasizes that hardware startups can compete with software companies by focusing on the speed of learning and using tactics like small batch production and over-the-air updates to iterate quickly.

    Validation & product-market fitCrowdfunding & preorders
    7 chapters

  • · 34m

    #065 - How to care about sustainability to get rid of plastic bottles (and still make a profit), with Moritz Waldstein of Mitte, Germany

    Moritz Waldstein-Wartenberg, co-founder of Mitte, explains how his company replaces plastic bottled water with a home purification system that adds essential minerals to distilled water. He details the company's journey from a Berlin fab lab to a €10.6 million funding round, highlighting the strategic use of Kickstarter and Indiegogo to validate demand and attract investors like Manifesto Ventures and Kärcher. Waldstein also discusses the technical innovation of using heat-pump distillation to mimic nature's mineralization process and the organizational shift to agile 'work streams' to manage multidisciplinary hardware development.

    Crowdfunding & preordersFundraising & investors
    7 chapters

  • · 12m

    #064 - To transform or not to transform your hardware company to an all agile one next year, with Balint Horvath, Switzerland

    Host Balint Horvath discusses the necessity of agile transformation in hardware companies, citing examples like Tesla, Bosch, and Mercedes-Benz to illustrate the risks of rigid waterfall development. He details a Swiss high-tech company's shift from functional silos to cross-functional teams to improve synchronization and accountability. Horvath highlights specific Scrum tactics for hardware, such as modular design with defined interfaces and T-shaped skill development, while referencing Paulo Samicelli's book 'Scrum for Hardware'.

    Scaling productionLeadership, teams & culture
    1 chapters

  • · 18m

    #063 - Your (hardware) product is not your product - think in terms of business models, with your host Balint Horvath, Switzerland

    Host Balint Horvath argues that hardware entrepreneurs must prioritize business models over product perfection, warning against the 'product trap' where founders fall in love with their solution before validating the problem. He illustrates this with Audi's Le Mans victory through efficiency constraints and Tesla's staged rollout to mitigate range anxiety risks. Horvath outlines key business models for hardware startups, including Hardware-as-a-Service, hardware-enabled services, and the consumables model, citing examples like Fitbit, Nespresso, and the failed startup Pebble.

    Validation & product-market fitPricing, margins & unit economics
    1 chapters

  • · 54m

    #062 - How a hardware SaaS company wants to help you not get lost in your data during product development, with Michael Corr of Duro Labs, USA

    Michael Corr, co-founder and CEO of Duro Labs, explains how his cloud-based SaaS tool helps hardware companies manage product data from prototype to production, addressing the inefficiencies of using Excel or antiquated PLM systems like SAP and Oracle. He discusses the gap between rapid prototyping technologies like 3D printing and the slow, manual nature of mass production, arguing that digitizing supplier interactions and implementing version control for CAD files are critical for agile hardware development. Corr also shares personal advice on networking and the importance of process in scaling startups, drawing on his 20-year background in telecom, IoT, and clean tech.

    Scaling productionEDA & CAD tools
    7 chapters

  • · 43m

    #061 - RERUN - How to avoid mistakes when building a team - lessons from mentoring 1200+ hardware entrepreneurs, with Alan Clayton of SOSV

    Alan Clayton, who assesses hardware startup teams at the venture capital firm SOSV and its accelerator HAX, explains how to build effective founding teams using the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). He uses a Star Trek analogy to describe four types of intelligence—Captain Kirk (vision), Spock (analysis), Scotty (execution), and Dr. Bones (empathy)—and argues that successful founders must consciously adopt these different perspectives to avoid project delays and pitch effectively. Clayton highlights that over 70% of crowdfunding campaigns fail or are late due to a lack of basic project management talent, which can be mitigated by understanding team dynamics.

    Leadership, teams & cultureMarketing & brand
    6 chapters

  • · 49m

    #060 - Future global data connectivity without worrying about your costs, with Guy Zbarsky of Keepgo, Israel

    Guy Zbarsky, co-founder of Keepgo, an established Israeli telecom company, explains how they pivoted from renting iPhones to selling global SIM cards and developing virtual SIM technology to solve roaming costs for travelers. He details the technical differences between their virtual SIM standard and the eSIM/eM standards, noting that their approach avoids operator dependency by transferring profiles from physical SIM banks. Zbarsky predicts that the adoption of SIM-free devices will enable a 'shared economy' for mobile data, allowing users to buy and resell connectivity like Airbnb, potentially disrupting major telecom operators by 2022. He also shares his management philosophy, emphasizing the use of tools like Trello and Slack, and personal habits like karate and power naps to maintain focus and well-being.

    Wireless & RFStarting a product company
    7 chapters

  • · 15m

    #059 - Where IoT/AI are heading to - impressions from IoT Tech Expo Europe, with Balint Horvath, Switzerland

    Balint Horvath shares insights from the IoT Tech Expo Europe, highlighting the rise of AI and IoT investments and the need for realistic expectations, citing companies like Aiir Innovations, Asgard, and Circuit. He discusses specific applications including predictive maintenance, livestock monitoring, and global connectivity solutions like Keep Go and Hyper. The episode features an interview with Cassandra Lore of Aiir Innovations, detailing their computer vision system for automated airplane engine inspections. Horvath emphasizes the strategic approach of assisting inspectors before moving to full automation, supported by partnerships with KLM and cloud computing resources.

    AI & machine learningConnected products & IoT
    6 chapters

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