Podcast appearances and mentions of august home

AI is changing so much about how we create content. So we thought we'd bring in the founders of a brand new tool for making rich, interactive 3D content using AI.We're talking with Co-Founders Charles Migos and Bharat Vasan.And together, we talk about how to make the most out of AI tools, including mocking up ideas, iterating quickly and taking risks.About our guests, Charles Migos and Bharat VasanCharles Migos is Co-Founder & CEO at Intangible. He has over 30 years of experience in the tech industry, specializing in UX and product design. He has previously worked for Microsoft and Apple. Prior to Intangible, Charles served as VP of Product Design at Unity Technologies, where he established a core design practice, principles and philosophy. He also founded a centralized design organization and drove double-digit NPS, CSAT, engagement KPIs and revenue improvement across their portfolio with product design efforts.Bharat Vasan is an experienced investor, executive and board member with 15+ years of leadership in technology. He has a strong track record as a founder and operator in multiple sectors:• Connected Sensors & Devices• Consumer Software and Media• Healthcare, Fitness & Wellness• IoT Sensors / Smart HomeBharat is currently a founder of Intangible.ai, which uses AI to build the world's simplest 3D storytelling tool for creators in games, film, web and XR.Prior to Intangible, Bharat was an investment partner at The Production Board, a $450M venture capital fund, where he built on his experience as an angel investor with a deep network of founders. He helped invest in and create value at businesses ranging from foundry/seed, all the way to growth/IPO. As COO for fund, he also helped the firm fundraise and navigate market cycles in 3 of the most volatile years in venture capital.Bharat also has a strong track record as a P&L operator for growth and early-stage companies, having led his businesses through multiple rounds of financing and acquisitions. Bharat has raised over $500m for his companies, with multiple exits (founded BASIS Science, acq. by Intel; President August Home, acq. by Assa Abloy; CEO of PAX Labs, achieved unicorn status).Bharat is an active public speaker and Board member for venture-backed startups, and nonprofits.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Intangible.ai:Mock up ideas. You can make effective prototypes of a content idea with AI. It lets you get your idea across without having to invest a lot of time or money in a first draft. Charles says, “A storyboard is probably the most important artifact in the process after the script itself. Why? Because it is very low fidelity, but there is very high bandwidth in what it communicates. So like, I as the cinematographer, the director, the set designer, the costume designer, the visual effects supervisor, whomever, looks at A 2D sketch and understands exactly what it means for them creatively. So that idea that you can work from very low or coarse levels of detail, but get to very high levels of detail over time in the way that the process requires is super important. And is as enabling for those film creators or game creators as it will be for these other use cases we hope to activate around live event and architecture, urban design, live event productions and theater and all of that good stuff.”Iterate quickly. Something not quite right with the first version? Iterate quickly using AI. It can even give you multiple drafts or versions of the same idea. Bharat says, ” If you're trying to do a Pixar movie or a documentary, or you're trying to make an interactive game, that's the stuff that feels harder. And it feels like AI can simplify some of that. I can give you a first draft, I can give you a second draft, and I can do it in real time.” Take risks. Because you're not having to spend too much time or money mocking up your ideas with AI, it allows you to take some risks. Get really wild and see how far your ideas can take you. Bharat says, ”One thing that's happened to businesses because budgets have gotten so big, everyone's super risk averse, so you get more lookalike content. And one reason you don't see great content on channels like we used to, or the box offices, because, you know, when your budget is that large, you can't afford to take a lot of creative risks.  So one reason we started the company where we are is if we can make that beginning process easy, if it's easier for Netflix to review more pitches, if it's easier for them to get a better scent, maybe they start taking more diverse bets.”Quotes*” When we found ourselves in this moment around generative AI, I knew that the time had come. Like we could apply generative AI in a way that was designed for creatives to do their best work ever. And I'm an ardent believer that creativity is a team sport.” - Charles Migos*” There's a lot of anxiety about, is AI gonna take over jobs? What is it gonna do to the creative industry? I see it slightly differently. I see it as a way to revert back to the original joy.” - Bharat Vasan*” Those people who feel somewhat threatened by the technological advance, we want to re-weaponize them so that they have more tools and skills that they can employ in different ways to ensure that bright, creative minds are in charge of the content that we enjoy as lovers of the space and consumers of that content.” - Charles Migos*” If you're trying to do a Pixar movie or a documentary, or you're trying to make an interactive game, that's the stuff that feels harder. And it feels like AI can simplify some of that. I can give you a first draft, I can give you a second draft, and I can do it in real time. But the agency that people feel when they're able to do that in real time is really, really powerful. And they share that with other people, other people give them feedback. At least when I build stuff, that gives me energy. I made something as a kid, you know, with my little Lego bricks. I shared it with my friends. They go, ‘That's really cool.' They want to build it with me. That's the fun part about being in this business.” - Bharat Vasan*”Now that AI has come along, we feel like that's the last unconquered thing. You can set up a 3D set, you can figure out how to film it before you spend a dollar on production. And then people know what it looks like, feels like, when you're pitching that to a client, to a movie studio, they get a sense of what that's like as well. And so everyone gets more confidence on the creative project before going into production. And one of the things that's broken about the business is everyone has to place that bet in millions and millions of dollars without knowing what's going to come out of it at the end of the day. And often it might not even be a storyboard, it might just be a script or a blurb. And then you're just hoping and praying that someone's going to do something good with it.” - Bharat Vasan*”A storyboard is probably the most important artifact in the process after the script itself. Why? Because it is very low fidelity, but there is very high bandwidth in what it communicates. So like, I as the cinematographer, the director, the set designer, the costume designer, the visual effects supervisor, whomever, looks at A 2D sketch and understands exactly what it means for them creatively. So that idea that you can work from very low or coarse levels of detail, but get to very high levels of detail over time in the way that the process requires is super important. And is as enabling for those film creators or game creators as it will be for these other use cases we hope to activate around live event and architecture, urban design, live event productions and theater and all of that good stuff.” - Charles Migos*”One thing that's happened to businesses because budgets have gotten so big, everyone's super risk averse, so you get more lookalike content. And one reason you don't see great content on channels like we used to, or the box offices, because, you know, when your budget is that large, you can't afford to take a lot of creative risks.  So one reason we started the company where we are is if we can make that beginning process easy, if it's easier for Netflix to review more pitches, if it's easier for them to get a better scent, maybe they start taking more diverse bets.” - Bharat VasanTime Stamps[00:55] Meet Intangible.ai Co-founders Charles Migos and Bharat Vasan[01:34] Charles' Early Inspirations[03:26] Bharat's Journey and Inspirations[04:26] Founding Intangible AI[04:30] The Vision Behind Intangible AI[05:59] Challenges in the Creative Industry[09:38] The Role of AI in Creativity[20:42] User Experience and Design Thinking[26:01] The Complexity and Fear of AI in Creativity[27:53] Supporting Creative Intent with AI[29:06] Generative AI and the Future of Content Creation[30:33] Revolutionizing B2B Marketing with AI[36:07] The Role of Taste in Creative AI Tools[42:14] Simplifying the Creative Process[46:44] Empowering Original Ideas and Risk-Taking[51:19] Final Thoughts and Closing RemarksLinksConnect with Bharat and Charles on LinkedInLearn more about Intangible.aiAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

Timestamps: 2:35 - How Switzerland fell short in the 90s 15:00 - Suffering and the creative process 23:21 - The challenge of designing an office chair  31:28 - Design or die   33:30 - What is a venture designer? This episode was sponsored by NordPass. Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Yves Béhar: Yves Béhar is a venture designer, the founder of the fuseproject, co-founder of TELO, August, and Canopy, and Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone, August Home, and TELO. He holds a BSc in Industrial Design from the ArtCenter College of Design (in Pasadena, California) and worked in consulting for many years before starting fuseproject in 1999.  fuseproject was born out of a wish to create an integral version of design: not just designing something within the boundaries of the industrial design discipline, but actually thinking about branding and about creating an experience as well.  Yves is a big believer in working tirelessly at your dream even if you don't show impressive amounts of native talent. He recalls that from his friends at ArtCenter, he was the worst draftsman, but his idea for what he wanted to do with design and his tireless work carried him far regardless. Yves thinks suffering is part of the creative process, and that it is worth pushing through, because pain is temporary, but “suck” is forever. Out of his wish to work long-term with resource-strained startups came the concept of “venture designing”: instead of charging startups like a consultant, he co-founds their ventures. Throughout the years he's worked with 90+ startups. He believes this is the most mutually beneficial form of collaboration, since excellent design is usually the product of long term work and coexistence. Don't forget to give us a follow on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.This week we're doing another special roundtable discussion with a focus on the seed stage market. Joining us are Jenny Fielding of Everywhere Ventures, Kirby Winfield of Ascend, and Nate Williams of UNION Labs.This whole conversation was focused on seed stage investing. We spent most of our time discussing how the market reset affects seed-stage decision-making, fund sizing, and reserve strategies. We also touched on what they are seeing and hearing from LPs that invest in seed funds. If you're a VC investor, then I'm sure you already know about Sydecar, the go-to platform for emerging VCs to manage their SPVs and funds. Sydecar is on a mission to make private markets more accessible, transparent, and liquid by standardizing how investment vehicles are created and executed. Their powerful software allows VCs to launch SPVs and funds instantaneously, track funding in real time, and offer hassle-free opportunities for early liquidity.Whether you're syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back-office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.With all the recent ups and downs in the private markets, the last thing you want to worry about is whether your back office is operating smoothly. Sydecar's responsive and proactive customer support team is there to assist, helping you build trust with your investors and tackle the challenges of building your firm.Visit sydecar.io/ventureunlocked to learn more.About Jenny Fielding:Jenny Fielding is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Everywhere Ventures. She is one of the most active global pre-seed investors, having invested in 300+ companies as the first money in. Jenny has built a thriving community of 500+ founders and operators who help source, diligence, and invest in the next generation of startups across 3 core verticals: money, health, and work.Prior to Everywhere, Jenny spent 7.5 years as the Managing Director of Techstars where she invested in a portfolio of companies with a current market cap over $10B. Jenny is a 2x founder, a lawyer by training, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Cornell Tech.About Kirby Winfield:Kirby Winfield is the Founding General Partner at Ascend.vc, the most prolific pre-seed stage venture fund in the Pacific Northwest.Kirby has been operating and investing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning since the 1990s. His first startup pioneered the use of semantic AI for web search. He advised the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence on the launch and growth of its highly regarded Ai2 Incubator program, and has backed 30+ AI startups as a VC.Early in his career, Kirby was a founding team member and operating executive at back-to-back tech IPOs, with Go2Net and Marchex. He is also a two-time venture capital-backed CEO, with AdXpose (DFJ, Ignition) acquired by comScore, and Dwellable (Maveron, VersionOne) acquired by HomeAway.About Nate Williams:Nate Williams is the co-Founder and Managing Partner of DeepTech seed fund UNION Labs Ventures and formerly an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Kleiner Perkins focused on opportunities in Climate, PropTech, and Mobility. Nate's track record includes senior leadership experiences executing through startup, growth and turnaround stage culminating in successful exits for 4Home (to Motorola '10), Motorola Mobility (to Google '12), Motorola Home (to ARRIS '13) and August Home (to Assa Abloy '17).Prior to Kleiner Perkins, Nate was CRO & Head of Platform PM at August Home, Inc. a leader in Smart Home Access where he secured August commercial growth with market leaders and integration partners including Airbnb, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Honeywell, Comcast, and Google/Nest. Nate was also Senior Director of Marketing & Business Development at Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility (following their acquisition of 4Home where he was CMO & Head of Business). Earlier in his career, he was an Analyst in the Digital Home Group of Intel Corp.Nate earned an MBA from The UCLA-Anderson School of Management and a Bachelors in Communication Science from The University of Connecticut. He is named in several Communications Infrastructure patents, entrepreneurial, and comfortable building cross-functional teams introducing products under significant market uncertainty.In this episode, we discuss:(03:09): The challenges first-time founders face, especially in fundraising and navigating the current economic climate(04:17): Trends in pre-seed and seed round sizes including the reasons behind increases and their impact on startups(06:52): The importance of a founder's ability to fundraise in the current economic environment is stressed as critical for startup success(08:21): Venture Capitalists' adjusted expectations for startups progressing from seed to Series A(11:59): The need for founders to adapt their strategies in response to market changes, moving towards building sustainable businesses(16:21): The effects of significant valuation step-ups during seed rounds on the investment ecosystem(20:39): Current trends in seed valuations and round sizes and implications for the startup and investment community(25:52): How seed investors are adapting their reserve strategies to better support startups through to Series A rounds and beyond(27:09): The impact of the funding environment on LPs investment decisions and strategies(34:43): The challenges GPs face in fundraising efforts are explored, including navigating expectations and market conditionsI'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jenny, Kirby, and Nate. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Chris Kim, the co-founder and managing partner at Union Labs, talks about supporting deeptech entrepreneurs with empathy. Chris shares his journey as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist. He explains, with real-life examples, why the founder's character ultimately matters and shares his thoughts on high-speed fundraising deals.In this episode, you'll learn:[4:56] VCs who can share their operator experience empathetically can be of great value to deeptech founders.[8:17] The founder's character ultimately matters.[13:52] Cool technology is great, but can you present a well thought out process to the vision?[16:21] Brilliant founders are total nerds on their topics, and they influence everyone they meet with their passion.[19:42] How high-speed fundraising can undermine founder/investor relationship buildingThe non-profit organization Chris is passionate about: Korean American Community FoundationAbout Guest SpeakerChris Kim is the co-founder and managing partner at Union Labs. Chris has been a serial entrepreneur and angel investor before starting Union Labs. Previously, he was the CTO for smart home security company August Home (acquired by Assa Abloy) and prior to that he managed cybersecurity and consumer e-commerce products at Bank of America, eBay and various other startups.About Union LabsUnion Labs is a Silicon Valley-based deeptech seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in exceptional founders from diverse backgrounds who are applying deep technologies to solve hard problems in the physical world. Union's core focus areas include: Industrial IoT, Consumer IoT, Health, Climate Tech, Insurtech, Cyber Security, AI/Machine Learning, Autonomous Technology and Manufacturing. Union labs portfolio companies include: Urban Machine, Rendered AI, EncircleLabs, camect, butlr., zerofy, Antimatter among others.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode. Follow Us:  Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook

In this episode we get to hear a home birth story from Missy! Missy is a holistically-minded Family Medicine physician that practices Obstetrics. She also did a midwifery fellowship after her residency. After witnessing hundreds of births, she knew she wanted a low-intervention and physiologic birth. I know you all are going to love hearing this story! You can find Missy on Instagram @mellyneums. Thank you so much Missy for coming on and sharing your story! 

DIY House Medic Podcast Show NotesSponsored by Roy Worley Voice OversSeason: 3Episode: 125Episode Title: August Home Maintenance Checklist & Is It Time To Switch Over To LED BulbsEpisode Summary:Contractor John goes through the August Home Maintenance Checklist and we dive into how to figure the Savings by switching to LED bulbs throughout your home. Plus regular segments Tip of the week to ya, Jeopardy fact of the week and the Listener Call Of The Week.Resources mentioned in this episode:Furnace FiltersSee Contractor John's Updated Show Schedule hereCutting & Charcuterie Boards; Table Saw Creations by Contractor JohnWe are no longer partnering with the Painted Tree Boutique/Makers MarketAsk questions, post comments at the Contractor John/DIY House Medic Facebook PageVisit the Contractor John website and receive a free monthly Home Maintenance Checklist for followingContractor JohnVisit the Contractor John YouTube Channel and please Subscribe to my channel.Support the show

Yale has been manufacturing locks since 1840. Put another way, they have hardware on lockdown. Software, on the other hand, has been a relatively new addition to the company's repertoire. In this episode, Jason Williams, President of August Home, Yale Real Living, and Smart Residential Global Accounts, shares his thoughts on the journey his company has been on since they started manufacturing smart locks and the lessons they have learned along the way.  We discuss: The story and strategy behind acquiring August Home Lessons from learning the language of software Reasoning behind entering the smart lock space Advice for companies starting their IoT journey Follow Yale Real Living and August Home on Twitter: @YaleHome  @AugustHomeInc  Never miss an episode of Over The Air by subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Over the Air in your favorite podcast player.

Yale has been manufacturing locks since 1840. Put another way, they have hardware on lockdown. Software, on the other hand, has been a relatively new addition to the company's repertoire. In this episode, Jason Williams, President of August Home, Yale Real Living, and Smart Residential Global Accounts, shares his thoughts on the journey his company has been on since they started manufacturing smart locks and the lessons they have learned along the way.  We discuss: The story and strategy behind acquiring August Home Lessons from learning the language of software Reasoning behind entering the smart lock space Advice for companies starting their IoT journey Follow Yale Real Living and August Home on Twitter: @YaleHome  @AugustHomeInc  Never miss an episode of Over The Air by subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Over the Air in your favorite podcast player.

Byron and Pat discuss CT August Home Market Stats and where they see the market going for the rest of the year. Giveaways provided by Martin McKinney at Service Station Equipment: bit.ly/ServiceStationEquipment Connect with Byron Lazine: Website: https://www.byronlazine.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByronLazine/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byronlazine/ Connect with Pat Kenny: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theotherpatkenny Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notpatkenny/?hl=en

Nate Williams, ex CRO of August Home, Inc., former EIR at Kleiner Perkins, and current Founder & Managing Partner at UNION Labs Ventures shares a trend of sales, BD, & HR hires happening sooner.

世界最大の錠前メーカーでAugust Homeが、新製品August Wi-Fi Smart Lockを発表。 以前はBluetooth接続だったが、今回のモデルはオンラインであればいつでもスマホの画面からドアの施錠と解錠ができるし、他の人に操作の権限を付与するなど、他にも多くの機能を利用できる。 ★August Home https://august.com/ ★Youtube紹介動画 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjS9nPA1oiI&feature=youtu.be ★TECH CRUNCH JAPANの記事 https://jp.techcrunch.com/2020/01/10/2020-01-09-august-home-ditches-the-bridge-and-yale-launches-a-smart-lock-in-europe/ ★だいじろうのTwitter（ご意見お待ちしてます！） https://twitter.com/daijirostartup #海外　#スタートアップ　#スマートロック #錠前 #カギ #ロック --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/daijirostartup/message

On today’s Tank Talk! We welcome our two guests Nate Williams & Chris Kim Co-Founders and Managing Partners at UNION Labs to discuss, “Deep Tech Investing at the Early-Stage”Nate & Chris both have an incredible experience in building and scaling deep-tech startups given their mutual background at August Home where they both met back in 2015 and helped grow the company to over $75mm in sales before being acquired.Nate's career originally started at Intel in the Digital Home Group and eventually went on to lead BD at 4Home and Motorola before it was acquired by Google in 2011. Nate eventually became the Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Partnerships at August Home where he led deals with AirBnB, Walmart and Amazon.Chris started his career as a Product Manager at Bank of America and then moved on to eBay and then CSAA and eventually joined August Home as VP of Product when it launched in 2012. Chris became CTO of August and led the product development team of new smart locks for homes and offices.On today's talk, we ask Nate & Chris why they decided to launch a hard-tech fund that both backs and builds early-stage startups vs just creating a venture studio or traditional VC fund. We dig into the areas of deep-tech they are most excited about today and what areas of consumer deep tech they are already invested in and where they see the industry going.Nate’s Book Recommendations:High Output ManagementThe Score Takes Care of ItselfChris’ Book Recommendations:The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop TalkingNate’s words of inspiration - “Be authentic, life is too short to be something you are not and invest in yourself first!”Chris’ words of inspiration - “Startups are hard but they can be a huge amount of fun! Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

On today’s Tank Talk! We welcome our two guests Nate Williams & Chris Kim Co-Founders and Managing Partners at UNION Labs to discuss, “Deep Tech Investing at the Early-Stage”Nate & Chris both have an incredible experience in building and scaling deep-tech startups given their mutual background at August Home where they both met back in 2015 and helped grow the company to over $75mm in sales before being acquired.Nate's career originally started at Intel in the Digital Home Group and eventually went on to lead BD at 4Home and Motorola before it was acquired by Google in 2011. Nate eventually became the Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Partnerships at August Home where he led deals with AirBnB, Walmart and Amazon.Chris started his career as a Product Manager at Bank of America and then moved on to eBay and then CSAA and eventually joined August Home as VP of Product when it launched in 2012. Chris became CTO of August and led the product development team of new smart locks for homes and offices.On today's talk, we ask Nate & Chris why they decided to launch a hard-tech fund that both backs and builds early-stage startups vs just creating a venture studio or traditional VC fund. We dig into the areas of deep-tech they are most excited about today and what areas of consumer deep tech they are already invested in and where they see the industry going.Nate’s Book Recommendations:High Output ManagementThe Score Takes Care of ItselfChris’ Book Recommendations:The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop TalkingNate’s words of inspiration - “Be authentic, life is too short to be something you are not and invest in yourself first!”Chris’ words of inspiration - “Startups are hard but they can be a huge amount of fun! Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!

Listen now (43 min) | In this episode, we speak with Nate Williams, Co-founder and Managing Partner at UNION Labs. Nate Co-founded UNION Labs in 2018 with his partner, Chris Kim while an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Kleiner Perkins. Nate is a seasoned Operator and angel investor including August Home, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Business. Following their acquisition in 2017, he went on to join KPCB as EIR where he spent time helping entrepreneurs and sourcing investments including Proxy. While EIR, Nate formed a thesis on the opportunity in verticalized IoT which he published in TechCrunch and began to see a lane for a new type of fund. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

Episode Themes (timestamps below)Shelli's upbringing in Australia as a refugeeHer non-linear career path (Scientist → Real Estate → Venture Capitalist)The importance of networking & taking chancesProptech investment themes across APAC & impact of COVID-19 on startupsThoughts on cultural & gender barriers in the workplaceAbout Shelli TrungShelli Trung is the Managing Partner for REACH Australia and Southeast Asia. REACH is a scaleup program for the real estate industry created by Second Century Ventures (SCV), an early-stage technology fund backed by the National Association of Realtors®. SVC is among the largest proptech funds globally with a portfolio of 100+ investments across mortgage, finance, marketing, big data and hardware including success stories such as DocuSign (IPO $6B+), August Home (sold to Assa Abloy), HouseCanary ($63M+ Series C) and Updater ($1B+).Prior to this, Shelli was an active proptech angel investor with a global portfolio of startups from New York, Shanghai and Australia. She was the Investment Fund Manager for Queensland University of Technology CEA where she oversaw a portfolio of 30 seed/Series A investments. Shelli has spent 10 years in corporate innovation successfully deploying new technology across the banking, medical and transportation sectors.https://nar-reach.com/australia/About PDFRemember to subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Facebook & LinkedIn. Also sign up to our newsletter:http://professionaldevelopmentforum.org/Timestamps1:55 - Introduction2:55 - Shelli’s refugee experience; resilience & work ethic.10:00 - Thoughts around refugees & migrants.12:30 - Growing up in Australia, Australian vs US entrepreneurial culture, lack of guidance, lack of diversity in senior roles.18:00 - Advice for young professionals in advancing their career, power of networks, being open to opportunities & experiences.26:00 - Shelli’s non-linear path from neuroscience to real estate.32:00 - Seeing investment opportunities after the global financial crisis, the opportunities in Asia now, Australia not utilising our Asian talents & capabilities.39:00 - Examples of Australian startups with Asian roots, Australia & the Asian Century.42:00 - What is REACH Australia? Venture capital & real estate tech businesses, the opportunities in APAC (Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia).47:00 - What sort of businesses / startups does the REACH scaleup program accept? Digital transformation vs the traditional mindset of real estate landlords. Impact of COVID-19 on startups.58:30 - Thoughts on venture capital “dry powder”. Is this a problem? Don’t focus on the funding, focus on the customers1:02:00 - US vs Australia entrepreneurship, founders, startup culture.1:06:00 - Thoughts around cultural & gender barriers in the workplace. There is no glass ceiling in the investment industry.1:09:30 - Wrapping up, future plans, how to contact Shelli.

Jason is the CEO of August Homes and has had incredible success as an entrepreneur. But life has not always been a crystal stair for Jason. Born into poverty and challenges most of us can't even fathom, he worked hard to make his life story a success. When you read his Wikipedia page you see all the professional accomplishments that Jason has achieved but this episode talks about how he got there. His story is absolutely fascinating. 

This week we talk with Jason Johnson, founder of August Home locks about what it takes to secure the world from your phone. Ma'ayan and Adina Epstein prove that being smart does not necessarily make you really good at trivia.

Assa Abloy, the world's largest lock maker and the parent company of August Home and Yale, announced some new products at CES this week. The company didn't talk about doorbell cameras at all — it could be related to recent Ring's controversies. As a well-known brand when it comes to smart lock in the U.S., August Home is iterating and refining with new products without any groundbreaking change. This time, the company is introducing a new August Wi-Fi Smart Lock.

The rise of "connected technology" and new contact channels should be creating more valuable, convenient experiences for customers. Instead, they often create more complexity and headaches. In this interview from CCW Vegas, speakers from August Home and UJET reveal how to avoid this complexity - and create digital interactions that your customers actually want to pursue.

Big news. We're brokering a partnership between Uber Eats and August Home to bring you mimosas from the kitchen straight to your couch via an app. Tech workers in the Mission will love it. In this holiday spectacular, we say good riddance to Paul Ryan, add a warm glow to your Mac's screen, and look for the bright spots in 2018. Items 1 and 3 may be related.

Dr. Heidi talks with some of the interesting technology visionaries at the IDTechEx Show 2018. From Wearables and IoT to what makes them work. This episode is a bit more on the techy side, but I think you will enjoy learning more about what is inside some of these amazing innovations. Vincent Ball is the visionary force behind Nytecs' Product Innovation Center. Over the years, he has expanded Nytec globally, and formed a talented interdisciplinary team to deliver industry-leading innovative consumer lifestyle products, industrial and IOT through design, engineering and manufacturing management solutions for some of the top Fortune 50 companies. Ball leverages his innate ability to combine his deep business experience and holding over 26 patents gained over two decades of design, management, and leadership expertise ensures Nytec is able to help clients turn dreams into reality. John Field, talks about the amazing opportunities in thin-film battery development at ULVAC. John Field lives and works in the Silicon Valley in California.  His Chemical Engineering education prepared him for a career oriented to Micro-electronics and fabrication technologies. After college, John went into the semiconductor industry taking on a number of increasingly responsible roles. He started as an engineer working in semiconductor fabrication, then moved into Product Line management for equipment OEM’s, and eventually had several Vice President roles in Sales and Marketing. After leading two start-ups to corporate acquisitions, John began consulting with companies helping them with business planning. He now runs the Silicon Valley region for ULVAC. He is responsible for working with industry leading companies to establish relationships that leverage ULVAC’s technology in Semiconductor, Display, Solid State Battery, MEMs and other technologies. ULVAC is a Japan based company, with global operations, and the company is known as a leader in all aspects of vacuum processing. https://www.ulvac.com/. Tejash Unadkat is the chief executive officer of Motiv Inc. Previously, he was a General Manager of the platform and partnerships group at August Home (acquired by ASSA Abloy). He has deep experience building both consumer and enterprise products. Prior to August Home, Tejash built the product management team at Basis Science (acquired by Intel), initiated new social and ebook products at Adobe, and launched PayPal’s first Partner API Platform. He began his career building enterprise software at Vignette (acquired by OpenText) and Epicentric (acquired by Vignette). He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Motiv was started in 2013 by four forward-thinking entrepreneurs with a desire to build products that fit seamlessly into people’s lives. This group of friends share a passion for disruption, as well as a breadth and depth of experience in product design, consumer goods, and startups. Headquartered in San Francisco, Motiv is dedicated to developing revolutionary solutions that connect the human body with technology in an almost magical way. Social Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Carl Byers is the chief strategy officer of contextere, an industrial software company creating AI-powered solutions focused on human performance. He has spent over thirty years helping businesses increase knowledge capture, decision-making and individual performance using simulation, augmented and virtual reality, and machine learning. He is the past president and current treasurer of the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA), a member-based organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of augmented reality in the enterprise. He is an active contributor to World Economic Forum (WEF) initiatives on the future of work through contextere’s membership in the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Byers is also a co-founder of United World Voices, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable persons and communities in Canada, India, and Africa through skills development and entrepreneurship. Byers holds an MBA, a Master’s in Human Security & Peacebuilding, and a Bachelor’s in Engineering Physics. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cdwbyers/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/cdwbyers?lang=en contextere contextere is an industrial software company creating AI-powered solutions focused on human performance, helping companies capture value through increased productivity and safety while reducing equipment downtime. contextere sees a future driven not by more job losses due to automation, but by more job opportunities created with technology. The company is making sense of the overwhelming amount of data and information generated from smart machines and enterprise analytics to help workers perform better, to increase their competencies and skills, and to close the global gap in skilled workers. Website: www.contextere.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contextere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/contextere

David Gogel (WG'18) speaks with Charles Birnbaum (WG'11), Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. BVP is a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests across enterprise, consumer and healthcare. Charles focuses on financial services, consumer and education investments. David and Charles speak about building investment and industry theses, opportunities in the cryptocurrency market, trends in insurtech, and the evolution of the tech-enabled specialty industry. Charles is a partner in Bessemer's New York office. He focuses on financial services, consumer and education investments. Charles is actively involved with many BVP portfolio companies, including Main Street Hub, BrightBytes, Bread Finance, and August Home. He currently serves on the board of Zopa, United Capital, Fabric, Spruce and Eave and was involved in the exits of Yodle, 2U, and Kroll Bond Ratings. Charles’ startup experience has been important to BVP’s early stage financial services portfolio, which includes high-potential companies such as Betterment and Quantopian. Prior to joining BVP in 2013, Charles spent more than three years at Foursquare, the location-based mobile application company based in New York, helping create and bring to market some of Foursquare’s first merchant-facing tools. As the company grew, Charles became the director of mobile and international business development, where he focused on building strategic partnerships with carriers and OEMs while leading the company’s business development efforts in key growth markets such as Brazil, Russia and Turkey. Prior to Foursquare, Charles spent six years in investment banking and equity capital markets focusing on the technology, media and telecom sectors, and executed more than 50 equity and equity-linked public offerings. Charles holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School, a Master of Arts in international studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Arts in history from Northwestern University.

“If you’re branding consumer home security, you have great power, but you also have great responsibility.” (click to tweet) Times are changing quickly with all the options we have for personal security. But what about our homes? Now more than ever is an interesting time for experimentation with smart home products. Consumers are starting to become more comfortable with smart home systems, which are becoming more available on the market in big name retail stores. Right now, industry professionals are working towards helping consumers have a better outcome and gain more trust to use these extremely valuable products. Some are joining us today to discuss the past, present, and future of IOT security in the home market! Roel Peeters is the CEO and founder of Roost. Roost built a home telematics platform focused on the property insurance industry, and works with IOT devices. Ian Swanson is the CEO of Data Science, Inc. Data Science offers a platform as well as Data Science as a service, working with many IOT companies. Ohad Zeira is the Director of Product and Strategy for Verizon Smart Home Nate Williams is the Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Business at August Home, a market leader in home access control. “We are now moving to a layer of ‘yes they work,’ but now we need that trust layer.” (click to tweet) Highlights Nate: If you look at consumer IOT, the first 5-10 years of users of these products were very early adopters, self installers, or even possibly required to be engineers to use. We’re now moving to another stage, where we’re starting to see big retailers selling these products. Security concerns are in the top three reasons why people are reluctant to adopt smart home products. Roel: The responsibility lies within the product vendors to gain trust within consumers, by providing products that are secure, and have built-in security from the beginning. Nate: Where we’ve seen lapses in the industry is with the companies who want to take shortcuts, often by trying to bring products to market faster You can’t take shortcuts when building a brand, and you can’t take shortcuts when you’re trying to please consumers with great products. It is very difficult to design products knowing that there is a polarity between user experience and security. We don’t want to make people fearful of putting these products in their homes, because they (the products) drive so much value. Analyze the data as the device company to ensure you are delivering on the value you are promising. As you’re developing partnerships to build or enhance what your product can do, you need to understand “what does the consumer actually want?” Ask yourself, “How can we make these experiences better?” with usability. Security is a use case that brings a lot of people into smart homes. 22% of US households have professionally modeled security. The consumer has to be put first. “Analyze the data as the device company to ensure you are delivering on the value you are promising.” (click to tweet) Resources https://www.datascience.com/company http://august.com/ http://www.getroost.com/about-roost

“We have to make sure we don’t put people at dead ends in product development. They want to be in a world where they have choices.” (click to tweet) We welcome you back for part two of our discussion regarding home security systems, and the past, present, and future of this exciting technology. Returning from last week includes: Roel Peeters is the CEO and founder of Roost. Roost built a home telematics platform focused on the property insurance industry, and works with IOT devices. Ian Swanson is the CEO of Data Science, Inc. Data Science offers a platform as well as Data Science as a service, working with many IOT companies. Ohad Zeira is the Director of Product and Strategy for Verizon Smart Home Nate Williams is the Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Business at August Home, a market leader in home access control. “The market has three segments right now: DIY solutions, professional installment, and capable consumers that have the “do it for me” attitude.” (click to tweet) Highlights In a home, the replacement timelines are very long. In fact, most people don’t even buy their washer or dryers, it just comes with the home, giving them little to no choice over their buying options. Simplicity and ease of use is essential: With the battery, it’s one of the smart home products that can be sent to consumers and they know what to do with it. It’s just as easy as your basic light bulb. The focus should be on “how can we make these products easier to install?” There’s an emerging trend right now with professional installation within this industry, where companies are working to make it easier for you to install your own smart items. However, some products are not the easiest UX or UI to set up, and will require professional installation. The market has three segments right now: DIY solutions, professional installment, and capable consumers that have the “do it for me” attitude. Fun Fact: It took 45 years for 50% of US households to have dishwashers! It took less than ten years for 80% of US households to have broadband. This is an amazing success with new technology! Consumers only want one neck to choke. They do not want to call ten different people for the same issue. They want to call one person. Ohad: Voice interactions are going to be across a lot of devices very soon, into the home or outside of the home. We have to make the products so sewn into the home, that consumers can’t imagine going back to a life without these products. “You’re not asking people to change their environment, you’re leaving existing functionality, and simply adding to it.” (click to tweet) Resources https://www.datascience.com/company http://august.com/ http://www.getroost.com/about-roost

It's the smart home prediction show & CES 2017 wrap up all in one super-sized episode. I brought back two of my favorite guests: Nate Williams of August Home and Adam Justice of ConnectSense. You can find out more about their companies at: www.august.com www.connectsense.com Also, do me a favor and check out www.thespoon.tech if you want to learn about the future of food, cooking and the kitchen! Talk me up on Twitter at www.twitter.com/michaelwolf Thanks for listening! http://knit.audio/podcast-advertising (via Knit)

Hate the 4 hr window for cable company appointments? This week Michael sits down with co-founder and CEO of August Home Jason Johnson to find out how to hack the system. Also, you can watch on youtube - http://bit.ly/2fVPNT6 -