Co-founder of SimpleSense, a Reno-based IoT startup, talking with entrepreneurs, investors, and users in Reno and beyond as we try for the mythical success of product-market fit.
How 3D printers, a patent-pending light-up drum set, and the UNR makerspace brought John, Daniel and Michael together to form NCS Cylinder, graduate the InNEVator accelerator with SimpleSense, and co-found NV Jumpstarter. If you need a hardware concept prototyped rapidly, these three will accomplish in a day what takes a much larger team over a month! We’ve worked with them since October and they’re not only super-friendly but also super-helpful with solving basically any hardware problem.
How two Daniels met in middle school, started Breadware in Santa Barbara, lived with their IoT startup team in a mansion, and met Ron Justin at Impact Hub, who connected them to Reno. Now here for just over a year, Breadware has become the most talked-about growth stage startup in town. We at SimpleSense hope to emulate their rapid success!
How Matt Starrett pulled a coffee-fueled all-nighter to start TRU Venture Marketing after a falling out at a previous company. He’s one of the best hustle-learners we know, totally self-taught with insight worth a lot more than what he currently charges. Matt's cold email marketing campaign actually brought SimpleSense to the InNEVator accelerator in Reno last October.
How a $250k Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) on a Bitcoin mining ASIC chip and experience at TrackR led Ron Justin to bootstrap GroupGets...and then, through a chance encounter with Eugene Wong, move his startup and another startup, Breadware, out of their Santa Barbara wine country mansion to the Innevation Center in Reno.
A dot-com startup, ultimate frisbee and an 11,000 foot mountain brought Matt Westfield to the “armpit of America” a decade and a half before Tesla. Matt's become a major instigator of the now vibrant startup scene, between Entrepreneurs Assembly, teaching at UNR, mentoring startups like SimpleSense, and his own six companies.
What do competing digital signage startups, Case Western, CES, GroupGets, SmartTEMPS, Elevate Ventures, Pringles, and a cold-emailing marketer Matthew Sterrett promoting the InNEVator accelerator have in common? They brought Mark, Alex and Eric together to found SimpleSense! Remove any one piece and none of us would be in this current venture. Thanks to Bob, Ron, Mike, John, Gavin, Matt, Rose, Jim, Eugene, and Sashi for making this possible!
What do the Xbox, BBQ grills, a mansion in Santa Barbara, and an IoT makerspace have to do with SimpleSense being in Reno? I sat down with Jim Sacherman, director of the University of Nevada, Reno, Innevation Center to learn more about the history behind the Innevator Accelerator that brought us out West. https://www.simplesense.io
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