Episode 358 | Zach Supalla - Internet of Awesome

Guest:

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Zach Supalla talks with Dave Rael about starting a business, making bets, hard, software, manufacturing, caring, and the Internet of Things

Zach Supalla is the founder and CEO of Particle, an IoT startup that’s making it easier to build, connect and manage internet-connected hardware on an enterprise scale. Zach launched Particle on Kickstarter in 2013 with the vision of making the Internet of Things easy and accessible. Particle has grown to have the largest developer community in the Internet of Things with over 125,000 engineers. Particle devices are used at 50% of the Fortune 500 and ship to more than 100 countries. Particle has been featured in WSJ, Forbes, Wired, Engadget, Fast Company, TechCrunch, the Discovery Channel, and many other publications. Zach has spoken as an authority on Agile Hardware and the Internet of Things at prominent events such as OSCon, GMIC, and Launch. Zach earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and an MEM (masters in engineering management) from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern. Before Particle, Zach worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, advising Fortune 500 companies on strategy, operations, and product development. He is a graduate of HAX, the world's first and most prolific hardware accelerator.

Chapters: 0:36 - Dave introduces the show and Zach Supalla3:33 - Being able to provide livelihood for people5:14 - Origins and motivations of Particle and it's early story11:48 - Transition from specific consumer products to hardware and software supporting products and making them easier to build16:55 - Diverse products and experiences being created using Particle20:56 - Lessons from manufacturing, hardware, and software applied to one another and the differing constraints and goals of each27:32 - The broad engineering disciplines and challenges at in the Internet of Things space, specifically at Particle, and bridging gaps33:13 - Valuable employees, motivation, remote culture, and dealing with limitations and advantages of location41:26 - Incentives and impact and skills and jobs42:47 - Zach's stories of failure - voicing anxiety and concern along with the team instead of easing them, pitching without data48:19 - Making voices heard and amplified50:25 - Zach's book recommendations55:48 - Zach's top 3 tips for delivering more value57:28 - Keeping up with Zach

Resources: Particle The Particle Blog Zach on Medium Nest Rachio Smart WiFi Sprinkler Controller The Spark Socket Kickstarter HAX Shenzhen Message on toasted bread Tesla''s Iterative Approach Andreessen Horowitz

Zach's book recommendation: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - Daniel H. Pink The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers - Ben Horowitz

Zach's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Care about the things you do, the people you interact with, the products you create Focus on problems, not technology Don't let the bad stuff get you down