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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 thre

by 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."

by smaili 9y ago

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."