6 ms·

What robotics investors say they’re looking for in startup pitches

64 points by janober 9y ago

smaili 9y ago
Interesting tidbit around the founders: > Boniske said it comes “back to the founders” and that, in her view, an ideal robotics founding team probably has three people, including the CEO who’s “going to be the visionary and drive the strategy of the overall company; this person is going to be doing the fundraising and recruiting. Then you’ve got the technologist who’s going to go and build out the engineering team and who ideally has a lot of robotics experience.” The third piece — and it’s missing for a lot of teams, she said — is someone who can communicate the exact value proposition for the customer and speak their language.
- spyhi 9y ago
  > The third piece — and it’s missing for a lot of teams, she said — is someone who can communicate the exact value proposition for the customer and speak their language. So, basically, someone doing sales and marketing. I'd think that'd be a CEO/non-technical cofounder job in a very early stage startup, but maybe the capital-intensive nature of scaling up a robotics/hardware startup means the CEO should be entirely focused on raising money and securing partnerships while someone else is entirely focused on product leadership. I wonder why the investor settled on that division of labor.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  Former colleague moved back to Iowa to work on an agricultural start-up. Given how prominently agriculture features in most drone pitch decks, I asked him what he thought of them. "They're great! We check them out every time they come to town. Usually bring the kids, too." "How do people like them?" "They're nifty devices! Really futuristic." "I mean when they use them." "Use them? For what?" "..." "Haha, hell no. Those whippersnappers fly out here once a month at best. When I need something, I go to our local tractor vendor my family's done business with for generations."
contingencies 9y ago
China-based service-oriented robotics startup founder here. This is an interesting but very US-centric perspective... over here in China, I don't think it necessarily holds. What would be different? In my interactions with western and Chinese investors thus far, I haven't seen much emphasis on team makeup... most queries related to business model.
- comstock 9y ago
  In my experience all investors say team is really important. However, they rarely prove the team, ask much about their experience or background. I think it's probably code for "has done a startup before" and "I kind of liked them".
Animats 9y ago
What are the properties of successful robot startups? - iRobot - made enough on military contracts to enter the vacuum business. - Kiva - new, low-cost approach to warehouse operation. Changed fulfillment industry. Bought by Amazon. Those are about the only recent startups I can think of that made it. Startups not doing too well: - Rethink Robotics - Rod Brooks' startup. Heavy on the hype, light on the profits. - Abundant Robotics - apple-picking machine. VC financing, yes. Production hardware shipping and being used, no. In industrial robotics, the successes are all old-line industrial companies - Fanuc, Epson, Comau, ABB, and Foxconn.
- MegaButts 9y ago
  I'd argue DJI is a robotics company, although there are a lot of definitions you could use (you could also say self-driving cars are robots, in which case Cruise was a financial success). I think your point remains though. Robots really epitomize hype over profits. It's a tough industry where people ignore margins while trying to build impossibly-difficult tech.
  - RoboticsAU 9y ago
    I agree that DJI is a robotics company, and as somebody who has been keeping a close eye on the consumer drone market, it seems they are practically impossible to compete with.
    - mmjaa 9y ago
      DJI is a great consumer robotics company, but they're built on top of a mass amount of experience gained from the DIY world, and this can't be underestimated for its residual effects .. sure, you can buy a DJI consumer product anywhere for a few grand, but for the price of a single DJI you can build yourself a small fleet. And I think that is where they are going to get their competition from, ultimately .. the RCGroups.com crowd.
      - fest 9y ago
        3DR tried to compete with DJI in consumer space but failed. By now, DJI has more than a thousand of employees and at least a decade of experience in this area.

64 points by janober 9y ago

Interesting tidbit around the founders: > Boniske said it comes “back to the founders” and that, in her view, an ideal robotics founding team probably has three people, including the CEO who’s “going to be the visionary and drive the strategy of the overall company; this person is going to be doing the fundraising and recruiting. Then you’ve got the technologist who’s going to go and build out the engineering team and who ideally has a lot of robotics experience.” The third piece — and it’s missing for a lot of teams, she said — is someone who can communicate the exact value proposition for the customer and speak their language.

spyhi 9y ago
> The third piece — and it’s missing for a lot of teams, she said — is someone who can communicate the exact value proposition for the customer and speak their language. So, basically, someone doing sales and marketing. I'd think that'd be a CEO/non-technical cofounder job in a very early stage startup, but maybe the capital-intensive nature of scaling up a robotics/hardware startup means the CEO should be entirely focused on raising money and securing partnerships while someone else is entirely focused on product leadership. I wonder why the investor settled on that division of labor.
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Former colleague moved back to Iowa to work on an agricultural start-up. Given how prominently agriculture features in most drone pitch decks, I asked him what he thought of them. "They're great! We check them out every time they come to town. Usually bring the kids, too." "How do people like them?" "They're nifty devices! Really futuristic." "I mean when they use them." "Use them? For what?" "..." "Haha, hell no. Those whippersnappers fly out here once a month at best. When I need something, I go to our local tractor vendor my family's done business with for generations."

contingencies 9y ago

China-based service-oriented robotics startup founder here. This is an interesting but very US-centric perspective... over here in China, I don't think it necessarily holds. What would be different? In my interactions with western and Chinese investors thus far, I haven't seen much emphasis on team makeup... most queries related to business model.

comstock 9y ago
In my experience all investors say team is really important. However, they rarely prove the team, ask much about their experience or background. I think it's probably code for "has done a startup before" and "I kind of liked them".

Animats 9y ago

What are the properties of successful robot startups? - iRobot - made enough on military contracts to enter the vacuum business. - Kiva - new, low-cost approach to warehouse operation. Changed fulfillment industry. Bought by Amazon. Those are about the only recent startups I can think of that made it. Startups not doing too well: - Rethink Robotics - Rod Brooks' startup. Heavy on the hype, light on the profits. - Abundant Robotics - apple-picking machine. VC financing, yes. Production hardware shipping and being used, no. In industrial robotics, the successes are all old-line industrial companies - Fanuc, Epson, Comau, ABB, and Foxconn.

MegaButts 9y ago
I'd argue DJI is a robotics company, although there are a lot of definitions you could use (you could also say self-driving cars are robots, in which case Cruise was a financial success). I think your point remains though. Robots really epitomize hype over profits. It's a tough industry where people ignore margins while trying to build impossibly-difficult tech.
- RoboticsAU 9y ago
  I agree that DJI is a robotics company, and as somebody who has been keeping a close eye on the consumer drone market, it seems they are practically impossible to compete with.
  - mmjaa 9y ago
    DJI is a great consumer robotics company, but they're built on top of a mass amount of experience gained from the DIY world, and this can't be underestimated for its residual effects .. sure, you can buy a DJI consumer product anywhere for a few grand, but for the price of a single DJI you can build yourself a small fleet. And I think that is where they are going to get their competition from, ultimately .. the RCGroups.com crowd.
    - fest 9y ago
      3DR tried to compete with DJI in consumer space but failed. By now, DJI has more than a thousand of employees and at least a decade of experience in this area.