Sep 8, 2023
Best of Tech 2023 - Part 1 from Smart Homes & VC Funding, to Tracking & Robots in Factories
- AZ TRT S04 EP35 (198) 9-3-2023
Clips of past Guests on Tech on BRT
What We Learned This Week
- Kenmore is Home Electricity Made Easy - Modernize the Smart Home from Appliances to the Electric Grid w/ CEO Sri Solur
- How do Startup Founders Raise Capital w Chris Smurthwaite
- Factory Automation + Robots w/ Brett Dooley of Bosch Rexroth
- Track What Matters Most by Pebblebee w/ Founder Daniel Daoura & CEO Doug Bieter
Seg. 1
Clips from:
Kenmore is Home Electricity Made Easy - Modernize the Smart Home from Appliances to the Electric Grid w/ CEO Sri Solur
- BRT S04 EP19 (181) 5-7-2023
Full Show: HERE
What We Learned This Week
· Kenmore is home electricity made easy. Kenmore is on a mission to modernize the home. Live More & Live Better. Also need to make it Affordable.
· Clean Tech goes w/ the smart home, smart appliances (that connect to the home) and the electrical power grid for better living
Electrical Grid needs to be modernized – cannot handle the current & future power demands
· Homes built Pre-1990 run on Electric Panels that are outdated – costs of $40K + to modernize to handle charging EVs at home
· Design of the Future House would have a Battery in it that could recharge your appliances and electronics during down hours.
· Solving problems in electricity and energy also have the same issues with working on better water and clean food. It is more than just an energy and electric issue.
Guest: Sri Solur, CEO, Kenmore / Brands
https://www.linkedin.com/in/solur
Sri Solur, CEO, Brands
Sri Solur is chief executive officer of brands for Kenmore at Transformco. An industry veteran with 25+ years of experience, Sri has a rich history of success leading high tech products and businesses. He previously served as CPO and GM at Berkshire Grey, a leader in industrial robotics, and was a member of the leadership team that took the company public. Sri also served as CPO at SharkNinja, and was instrumental in bringing the Shark IQ Robot vacuum and NinjaFoodi products to market, while also holding a leadership role to take the company public. Sri spent 20 years at Hewlett Packard, serving as founder and CPO of CloudPrint, the company’s wearables and IOT business. In his career, Sri has created products for world-renowned brands including Hugo Boss, Movado, Ferrari, Juicy Couture, and more. Sri holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from NIT and an MBA from Boston University.
As Earth Day approaches (April 22), Kenmore is empowering greener homes and people.
The trusted appliance maker recently unveiled a new “Home Electrification Made Easy” program that looks to simplify the electrification process and reduce overall costs in transitioning to electric appliances.
Kenmore has set an ambitious goal with the program to electrify one million homes that will ultimately save homeowners one billion dollars over the next decade.
Kenmore’s innovation and energy programs are driving a new generation of electrification for today’s home ecosystem. Some of the company’s core innovations include:
- Expansion of electrification and smart products for every room in the home.
- Addition of electrification enablers, such as smart electrical panels and dynamic Level 2 EV chargers, that help eliminate roadblocks many homeowners have in wanting to electrify their entire home.
- Simplifying rebate and savings programs, such as Congress’ Inflation Reduction Act, to help customers cut costs by taking advantage of available local and national funding and discounts.
- Building relationships with industry leaders in product, service and consumer education to supplement and amplify their mission to electrify American homes.
This electric push comes as a new generation of homeowners seek to invest in smarter, greener home solutions and previous generations are coming up against new government standards making accessibility to like-for-like replacement equipment for their home obsolete.
With Kenmore’s electrification program delivering a quick onramp to affordable green energy homes, homeowners of all backgrounds and budgets have a more attainable path to smart, green home adoption.
Seg. 2
Clips from: How do Startup Founders Raise Venture Capital? w/ Chris Smurthwaite of VC Insider
- BRT S04 EP05 (167) 1-29-2023
FULL Show: HERE
What We Learned This Week
- EX VC or ‘Recovering’ VC who now works with Startup Founders to help them raise $ money & build their business.
- Startup Founders need to research VCs to understand what type of fund they have, do some research on the fund, industry & and who they work with
- What VCs do not appreciate - How to Contact a VC, do not spam, make the email personalized, this is a commitment, build a relationship
- Startup Founders need to learn how to Tell Their Story, then work on the Pitch Deck with Problem / Solution Model
- What is the Exit Strategy? Exit by Acquisition, or by IPO (go public)
Guest: Chris Smurthwaite of VC Insider
https://www.linkedin.com/in/csmurthwaite/
Chris Smurthwaite is an ex-venture capitalist.
He consults with & advises Startups on navigating the complex world of Venture Capital. He spent the last decade in corporate strategy, business development and growth operations on both the investor and innovator sides of the table.
At age 30, was hired to run a corporate venture capital fund for a $1.4 billion company.
Among other accomplishments, the fund made:
- A Seed level investment in a health tech company in 2018 which sold for $425M in 2021
- An early stage investment in a company that was acquired for $106M — 7x valuation gain over initial investment.
Since 2013, I have:
- Advised ambitious Founders whose companies are valued from $500K to $250M
- Established multi-million dollar business development partnerships with emerging companies
- Made early stage, on-and-off balance sheet investments
Seg. 3
Clips from: Factory Automation + Robots w/ Brett Dooley of Bosch Rexroth
BRT S04 EP24 (187) 6-18-2023
Full Show: HERE
What We Learned This Week
- Rexroth does factory automation, assembly lines, and robotic manufacturing – they setup the whole process + software
- Factories in recent years have gone more and more to automation and robotics. The idea being zero people on the factory floor or ‘lights out’.
- There are also transport robots, AI or autonomous robot transports. They deliver goods and parts around the factory floor.
· Brad Dooley has a background as an engineer (post career in the Navy) he is the only Rexroth employee in Arizona. His job is to create business relationships with EV, battery and chip industries.
· Factory Automation - The planning cycle could be several years. These big factories could be making millions of parts for example - spark plugs in the auto industry.
· Modern factories are a collaborative workspace, people in machines in the same space in a safe manner.
Guest: Brett Dooley - Senior Technical Sales Engineer, Bosch Rexroth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dooleybrett/
Brett Dooley is a mechanical engineer at Bosch-Rexroth. He collaborates with business owners as well as engineers to develop targeted solutions for motion control and automation challenges. Brett uses his wide experience in business development, industrial repair, and a decade as an electronics tech in the US Navy submarine force to ensure delivery of an effective and robust automation system.
Bosch Rexroth
https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/us
YOUR PARTNER FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF MOBILE MACHINES
Whether driving or working, hydraulic, hybrid or fully electric, Bosch Rexroth offers highly efficient, low noise and powerful electric motors, generators, inverters and hydraulics combined with modular software modules.
2017 - Today: Bosch Rexroth drives the digital transformation of the Factory of the Future, exceeds the limits with Connected Hydraulics and sets the stage for Transforming Mobile Machines. All products and solutions contribute to a more sustainable development of machines, manufacturing and daily life.
2001 – 2016: Move to one brand for software driven and interconnectible Drive & Control solutions
The merger of Mannesmann Rexroth with Bosch Automationstechnik establishes a global leader for Drive & Control solutions. They reach new levels of seamless integration of all relevant technologies for improved energy efficiency and safety.
Seg. 4
Clips from:
Track What Matters Most by Pebblebee w/ Founder Daniel Daoura & CEO Doug Bieter - BRT S04 EP20 (182) 5-14-2023
Full Show: HERE
What We Learned This Week
- Pebblebee has small lite weight trackers with long battery life + rechargeable, & eco-friendly
- Has global range, so you rest easy knowing your items are always within reach - GPS + Bluetooth
- Ease, Efficiency & Expandable - Choose the size tracker to suit your specific needs
- AI + Safety - prevent miss-use of tech
- Market Size of $4 Bil & growing
Daniel Daoura
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-daoura-3b363a7/
Pebblebee – Founder / CTO
Pebblebee is a multifaceted trackables company giving people peace
of mind with our patented tracking solutions. We've engineered best
in class, feature rich solutions that help you keep track of what
matters most. Our Pebblebee product line caters to both consumers
and businesses alike. We help connect consumers to their valuables
and loved ones with wireless technologies such as LTE cellular and
bluetooth.
Learn more at www.pebblebee.com. We work to give you Peace of
Mind.
Daniel Daoura, Founder & CTO, Pebblebee
Daniel Daoura is founder and chief technology officer of Pebblebee. A serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience, Daniel has emerged as a visionary leader in the trackables industry. Daniel’s journey to Pebblebee began at the University of Washington, with his thesis focused on predicting satellite communication traffic for military asset tracking systems. This would lead him to Boeing, where he spent over 10 years in lead engineering roles developing global software and hardware systems for military asset tracking communication systems. Leveraging this experience, Daniel ventured into the finder space, creating Pebblebee to help people track what matters most to them. To date, Daniel has more than 30 patents in the trackable and finder market. Daniel holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, as well as an MBA in Finance from Seattle University.
Doug Bieter, CEO, Pebblebee
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-bieter-18643a/
Doug Bieter is chief executive officer of Pebblebee. In his role, Doug oversees business direction and operational plans to ultimately drive company growth. This includes managing corporate, financial, go-to-market strategy/execution and ultimately performance of the overall business. Doug is a Silicon Valley veteran with over 20 years of experience launching innovative new consumer products both domestically and internationally, and working with many early-stage companies from inception to exit. In his career, Doug has been responsible for strategy and go-to-market development in brands such as TiVo, Dropcam, Nest, eero, Owlcam, and more. Most recently, Doug has been Managing Director of Sourcenext US, driving corporate investments and partnerships in early to mid-stage companies looking for capital to drive international growth. Doug studied Economics, Marketing and Finance from the University of Minnesota.
Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech
More - BRT Best of Tech
Best of AZ Tech Council: HERE
Best of Biotech from AZ Bio & Life Sciences to Jellatech: HERE
The Founders – How Tech Impacts All Areas of Business from Clean Energy to Smartwatches, E Bikes, Data & Investing - BRT Best of Tech 2022 Part 2: HERE
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