1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Kevin Mako: Hello, product innovators. Today we learn from a past design lead at Apple and current head of innovation at Intel on how hardware startup should plan for product business success. 2 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:21,260 Narrator: You're listening to the Product Startup Podcast, the show that helps bring your product idea to life by chatting with successful inventors, 3 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:29,940 Narrator: product developers, and hardware industry professionals. Our goal here is to get to the bottom of what makes a product successful, from initial 4 00:00:29,940 --> 00:00:39,000 Narrator: idea to getting your product on store shelves. taken you step by step to build a functional product and scale your product business. 5 00:00:39,220 --> 00:00:44,760 Narrator: Hosted by Kevin Mako, one of North America's leading experts on hardware development for small 6 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:51,940 Kevin Mako: product businesses. Now, onto the show. Welcome back, everyone. Today, I'm very excited to introduce Kapil Kane to the show. 7 00:00:52,260 --> 00:01:00,900 Kevin Mako: Capil is the director of innovation at Intel and founded Intel's internal hardware invention incubator. Prior to that, he was the product design lead and manager at Apple. 8 00:01:00,900 --> 00:01:04,580 Kevin Mako: He's also a fellow keynote speaker. He's on two TEDx talks. 9 00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:13,140 Kevin Mako: Today, Capil is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can learn from how the biggest hardware companies in the world 10 00:01:13,140 --> 00:01:21,140 Kevin Mako: prioritize and qualify new invention ideas. He's even going to walk through the step-by-step pillars that Intel Incubator Innovations go through 11 00:01:21,140 --> 00:01:25,260 Kevin Mako: to prepare their idea for market success. Now on the episode. 12 00:01:26,610 --> 00:01:32,670 Kevin Mako: Hey, Kapil, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks. Nice to be here. Well, we're excited to have you on today to talk about both your experience. 13 00:01:32,690 --> 00:01:38,710 Kevin Mako: being in the product development sphere in Apple, and then as well now with Intel in their 14 00:01:38,710 --> 00:01:46,730 Kevin Mako: hardware development for your internal startups, creating new and innovative products with Intel core technology. So it's an incredible experience that you've got working for both 15 00:01:46,730 --> 00:01:55,610 Kevin Mako: those companies, totally different types of design in each. But fantastic experience to relay to our emerging startups who are looking to develop their products from the 16 00:01:55,610 --> 00:02:05,030 Kevin Mako: idea through to production and then scaling it from there. First and foremost, you've done two TEDx talks. So those are very difficult. So kudos to you for those. Thanks, man. 17 00:02:05,230 --> 00:02:10,470 Kevin Mako: Yeah, I know they've got like such a serious structure. It's like months to prepare and you've got to, you know, do it right. 18 00:02:10,610 --> 00:02:19,050 Kapil Kane: Otherwise it doesn't make the cut and all this sort of stuff, right? Yeah, the Terek Shanghai, you know, it used to be run by, there used to be Tarek Shanghai women. 19 00:02:19,330 --> 00:02:25,930 Kapil Kane: So it's like all women's team and they were like very serious. They had coaches. They have speech coach. We had lots of dry runs. 20 00:02:26,090 --> 00:02:33,850 Kapil Kane: We had, I think, check-ins every two weeks for a period of three months. And so they really got us prepared very, very well. 21 00:02:35,010 --> 00:02:39,850 Kapil Kane: But, you know, at that time, I was almost like thinking whether, you know, I should like drop out. 22 00:02:40,070 --> 00:02:47,710 Kevin Mako: It's like too much time commitment. But I think it helped me in the long run. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, congrats for pulling that off. That's quite cool. 23 00:02:48,250 --> 00:02:51,570 Kevin Mako: Can you give us your background before that? I gave a bit of a brief one earlier. 24 00:02:51,750 --> 00:03:00,490 Kapil Kane: How did you get started in this world? And how did you end up at such an amazing position that you're in today? I grew up in India in a very small province called Goa. 25 00:03:00,510 --> 00:03:08,090 Kapil Kane: It's like a beach town, very laid back. I happen to do my undergrad in engineering in India itself. 26 00:03:08,430 --> 00:03:11,110 Kapil Kane: And I always like to design cars. 27 00:03:11,770 --> 00:03:20,790 Kapil Kane: And I've got a job in Detroit. I worked at Johnson Controls doing interior designs, like seating systems and dashboards and stuff like that. 28 00:03:20,990 --> 00:03:30,410 Kapil Kane: And in a couple of years, I found that to be a bit slow, that whole industry, automotive industry. And I got into a master's and PhD program at Stanford. 29 00:03:30,510 --> 00:03:38,330 Kapil Kane: in design. So I quit that job and came to the West Coast. I did two internships at Apple during the summers. 30 00:03:39,230 --> 00:03:47,230 Kapil Kane: And on my third, actually my second internship, we were working on this really amazing technology, which was the very first multi-task 31 00:03:47,230 --> 00:03:56,730 Kapil Kane: screen. And it was so exciting that I dropped out of my PhD program and, you know, carried on working at Apple. Sadly, you know, we had to kill that product in a couple of years. 32 00:03:57,190 --> 00:03:59,510 Kapil Kane: But that turned into iPhone. And 33 00:04:00,510 --> 00:04:04,970 Kapil Kane: I moved on to various things, including, you know, designing the very, well, 34 00:04:05,550 --> 00:04:15,070 Kapil Kane: smallest MP3 player, the iPod shuffle, and then soon moved to China to help design the MacBook Airs because, you know, we were 35 00:04:15,070 --> 00:04:23,770 Kapil Kane: designing the product as well as the manufacturing process at the same time. If you guys remember, MacBook Air was, you know, carved out of blocks of aluminum. 36 00:04:23,950 --> 00:04:32,070 Kapil Kane: It was completely new manufacturing technique for us. And we thought it's better to have some designers in China 37 00:04:32,070 --> 00:04:41,510 Kapil Kane: making real-time decisions on design by looking at the capabilities of the manufacturing. So I volunteered to move there and I have been in China ever since. 38 00:04:42,090 --> 00:04:46,750 Kapil Kane: And about nine, 10 years ago, I left Apple 39 00:04:46,750 --> 00:04:52,620 Kapil Kane: to join Intel to design tablets. 40 00:04:52,620 --> 00:04:58,400 Kapil Kane: after doing the iPad, you know, everyone wanted to make tablets and Intel also wanted to make 41 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:06,480 Kapil Kane: tablets. So I came in there to have a bigger responsibility because at Apple, I was more mechanical product design. 42 00:05:06,780 --> 00:05:12,020 Kapil Kane: And at Intel, I could do like mechanical, electrical, software, 43 00:05:12,340 --> 00:05:16,820 Kapil Kane: services, everything. So, and then about five years ago, I co-founded this 44 00:05:16,820 --> 00:05:26,580 Kevin Mako: internal accelerator called Growth Acts, where we help our employees realize their ideas and find ways to turn them 45 00:05:26,580 --> 00:05:28,900 Kevin Mako: into actual products and businesses. 46 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,780 Kapil Kane: Yeah, so that's my story. 47 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:39,040 Kapil Kane: That's amazing. So what are the differences that you see from designing great products that everybody knows today for Apple and the way 48 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:45,200 Kapil Kane: that you're designing internal innovations for Intel today? I think in a way, I would say it was 49 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:53,740 Kapil Kane: easier to design stuff at Apple because, let's say, John, Johnny and his team would come up with this industrial design, right, ID. 50 00:05:54,420 --> 00:06:04,080 Kapil Kane: And we were, it was like, we had to figure out how to turn that into actual, like, you know, design product. And Sky was the limit. 51 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,760 Kapil Kane: So you could use any manufacturing processes. You could, you could come up with the very crazy designs. 52 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:17,000 Kapil Kane: So it was, you know, it was like, you know, it was the, and we never ever thought of like bomb cost. 53 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:26,180 Kapil Kane: You know, we never thought of that as engineers or as product designers. We simply figured out how to realize this idea. 54 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:28,300 Kapil Kane: And of course, there's always back and forth. 55 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:38,340 Kapil Kane: But those conversations, let's say with Johnny, right, you cannot just say, oh, I cannot do it because in the past I had done it, I don't think it's going to work. 56 00:06:38,420 --> 00:06:45,880 Kapil Kane: You had to always, to say like a negative thing, you had to design multiple ways and show why it wouldn't work. 57 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:54,880 Kapil Kane: I have tried it now. These are the results. What do you think? You couldn't just say, oh, it's not going to work. So if you say that, it's a sure shot way to get your ass fired. 58 00:06:56,820 --> 00:07:02,240 Kapil Kane: So not by Johnny, because Johnny was a super nice guy. He would, you know, he was very soft spoken. 59 00:07:03,540 --> 00:07:07,940 Kapil Kane: But the guys, you know, if you could never get into this, 60 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:17,700 Kapil Kane: you should never be recognized as a guy who is not ready to, you know, jump when, you know, a chat. challenges in front of you, right? 61 00:07:18,220 --> 00:07:25,370 Kapil Kane: So in a way, we could, all of our role was to figure out technically how to make something 62 00:07:25,370 --> 00:07:29,230 Kapil Kane: possible, either through design, either through manufacturing, through assembly. 63 00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:36,730 Kapil Kane: But in my current role at Intel, what we do is we build very basic technologies like 64 00:07:36,730 --> 00:07:46,110 Kapil Kane: chips, AI algorithms, different kinds of chips, CPUs, GPUs, like, you know, CPUs, like, 65 00:07:47,930 --> 00:07:55,270 Kapil Kane: FPGAs, neural computing. So these are very fundamental technologies, and there are infinite applications of these. 66 00:07:55,850 --> 00:08:02,340 Kapil Kane: So, and there are business units where planning from top down, you know, when they say, 67 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:10,240 Kapil Kane: I'm going to build this chip, and our products need huge investment. Each fab cost $10 billion, right? 68 00:08:10,340 --> 00:08:16,520 Kapil Kane: So we have a lot of things, you know, we have to plan way ahead, like, 69 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:24,030 Kapil Kane: imagine what where our chips and technologies are going to be used, like two, three years down the line. 70 00:08:24,590 --> 00:08:34,290 Kapil Kane: And so what we are trying to do here is that we're looking at our core technologies like these chips and trying to figure out what could be in organic areas 71 00:08:34,290 --> 00:08:43,390 Kapil Kane: of growth for Intel using our current, let's say, core technologies and do a little bit of work on top to 72 00:08:43,390 --> 00:08:50,210 Kapil Kane: open up completely, you know, like new markets. For example, if we use like an ASIC in network 73 00:08:50,210 --> 00:08:58,590 Kapil Kane: processing, can we repurpose that for, let's say, genome sequencing? And what could be the pain point it could solve? So it's a lot of experimentation. 74 00:08:59,410 --> 00:09:08,980 Kapil Kane: And so here you're looking at more uncertainties in business because technology, we are more confident. But it's the business side. 75 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:15,480 Kapil Kane: Where should be the investment? What should be the market system? And we should go to what could be the product? who could make the best benefit. 76 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:21,500 Kapil Kane: So it requires a different way of, you know, your development. 77 00:09:21,780 --> 00:09:30,040 Kapil Kane: And here we are mostly developing business, whereas at Apple, we're doing pure product development, you know, starting with, you know, your proto bills, then design verification, 78 00:09:30,340 --> 00:09:36,800 Kapil Kane: engineering verification, production verification. And that part was like, you know, just like a clear process. 79 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:45,840 Kapil Kane: But it was very, very innovative ways to solve technical challenges. And in my current role, it's all about business uncertainties and how 80 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:47,720 Kapil Kane: do you look at your 81 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,800 Kevin Mako: business model, look at, you know, your key assumptions. 82 00:09:53,220 --> 00:10:02,820 Kevin Mako: And from that, look at what are your, the most critical assumptions, which, if proven wrong, your whole business falls apart. 83 00:10:02,940 --> 00:10:11,340 Kevin Mako: And how do you create tests to validate those businesses? So even before you start prototyping, you can run test. 84 00:10:11,820 --> 00:10:18,420 Kevin Mako: really figure out if you're on the right track and then iterate based on your market feedback. So it's like a completely two different worlds. 85 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:27,540 Kevin Mako: Both are exciting and challenging, but just requires different skills. It sounds like your current role is very akin to what a lot of 86 00:10:27,540 --> 00:10:32,620 Kevin Mako: hardware startups and even small established hardware manufacturers doing as they develop their 87 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:41,140 Kevin Mako: new product as they're thinking about their product because really any inventor or any business that's creating their next version of a product or whatever else is thinking about 88 00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:50,100 Kevin Mako: How does it succeed in the market? How do I make money off this? Where is the market and can I fill it and does my design match it? And let's get into talking about that. 89 00:10:50,220 --> 00:10:57,440 Kevin Mako: But before we get into kind of the tips and trips that you're seeing on the innovation side and how to apply that to understand the business of the product, 90 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:06,080 Kevin Mako: to make sure the product actually succeeds, I just want to talk a little bit about some of the value ad that you saw designing for Apple because one of the things I heard you say, 91 00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:14,420 Kevin Mako: which I think is incredibly valuable for any design team or engineers out there is looking at finding a solution, not finding a problem. 92 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:23,740 Kevin Mako: And you really highlighted that, and I've heard this before from a number of different team members at Apple, that you weren't allowed to say no. 93 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:31,080 Kapil Kane: You could say no so long as you backed it up with how you think it could be solved and a solution. And that solution 94 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,820 Kapil Kane: oriented thinking can be very powerful, especially when you're in mechanical engineering, but really 95 00:11:35,820 --> 00:11:39,520 Kapil Kane: at all levels of design, industrial design, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, 96 00:11:40,180 --> 00:11:46,060 Kapil Kane: prototyping, production, a lot of the time, it's easier for an engineer or designer or developer 97 00:11:46,060 --> 00:11:53,700 Kapil Kane: to just say it can't be done, as opposed to saying, well, it can't be done and here's why, and here's how we think we can solve that problem. 98 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:59,520 Kapil Kane: And it really sounds like I've heard this many times over that that was a big part of the culture at Apple and probably a reason that 99 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:09,320 Kapil Kane: a lot of these things that people say couldn't be done ended up being done and ended up being very successful products for Apple. Exactly. You know, but you know, I think 100 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:14,740 Kapil Kane: I think that you need to have really good vision and conviction in the product you're building. 101 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:22,100 Kapil Kane: And you need to really believe in that why you're building this, right? 102 00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:31,980 Kapil Kane: And you need like a visionary leader like Steve Jobs and you need like, you know, guy like Johnny to to envision those products. 103 00:12:32,180 --> 00:12:39,640 Kapil Kane: And then it becomes easier for, you know, actually, it was like a cult, right? at Apple. Now it's a huge company. 104 00:12:39,900 --> 00:12:49,060 Kapil Kane: When I was there, it was like only 2,000 people. And Steve is our leader. Whatever he says is true. And we would all march, right? So I think that's 105 00:12:49,060 --> 00:12:54,920 Kapil Kane: a reason we could. And also another thing was that, you know, now there is like so much 106 00:12:56,500 --> 00:13:01,340 Kapil Kane: competition in the market. There's so much democratization of everything. You know, so everything. 107 00:13:01,780 --> 00:13:07,620 Kapil Kane: So I think there are, so I think in this day and age, you need to, I think, be a little 108 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:15,500 Kapil Kane: more, like an iterative, be a little more when you're designing things, especially if you're 109 00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:18,040 Kapil Kane: creating like a new devices, right? 110 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,800 Kapil Kane: Look at how many like completely new, I think, computing, 111 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:33,520 Kapil Kane: let's say devices or solutions that have gone very big, right? Because let's say at the time, like what was Apple doing? 112 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:40,100 Kapil Kane: Laptops, desktops. Then came iPod. then can iPhone, iPad. 113 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:51,040 Kapil Kane: And since then, there has been Apple Watch. And maybe the home part or something. But there's nothing new then since then, since I left Apple, let's say 10 years ago. 114 00:13:51,560 --> 00:14:00,310 Kapil Kane: So what it says is that there is a explosion of technologies in the technology sphere, right? 115 00:14:00,450 --> 00:14:02,690 Kapil Kane: Like people talk about AR, VR, VR, 116 00:14:04,250 --> 00:14:07,390 Kapil Kane: autonomous driving, this and that. But these are all like, you know, 117 00:14:08,050 --> 00:14:16,460 Kapil Kane: buzzwords. But why have you not seen all these things from Apple is because, you know, just having 118 00:14:16,460 --> 00:14:20,540 Kapil Kane: technology doesn't actually make for a great product. 119 00:14:21,780 --> 00:14:29,220 Kapil Kane: To have a great product, you need, you know, three things. You know, you of course need like solid technology. You need the right user experience 120 00:14:29,220 --> 00:14:35,380 Kapil Kane: that solves a real problem for the user. And finally, you could make a business out of it. And so 121 00:14:35,860 --> 00:14:44,340 Kapil Kane: a lot of these things are just promises, you know, like even if you look at the AR, like, you know, 122 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,480 Kevin Mako: headsets, VR headsets, they're not like flown off the shelves. 123 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:54,320 Kevin Mako: So, you know, I think we still need to find out what those killer applications are. 124 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,600 Kevin Mako: And when the time will come, it will come, you know. 125 00:14:58,540 --> 00:15:05,240 Kevin Mako: So I think we still need, I think, that's why I think now you need to do more iterative design. 126 00:15:05,860 --> 00:15:11,500 Kevin Mako: because when I, you know, I was advising a startup which is doing augmented reality glasses. 127 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:21,420 Kevin Mako: And at this point, like, you know, trying to go too much into detail of the design. And I was trying to tell them, just go out, test the market. It doesn't have to be perfect. 128 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:27,940 Kevin Mako: Don't try to, you know, figure all small details out. The key is go fast, learn, and iterate, right? 129 00:15:28,220 --> 00:15:35,660 Kevin Mako: So I think that's, I would say, you know, is, you know, difference now. And I'm pretty sure Apple is iterating like crazy. 130 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:45,040 Kevin Mako: You know, just look at the project Apollo, the autonomous driving car. It's been on and off, on and off that talks about AR on and off. It's not easy, you know, yeah. 131 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:51,280 Kevin Mako: Yeah, I love the fact that you mentioned the iterative design. It's something I'm very passionate about and something that's really important to startups. 132 00:15:51,420 --> 00:15:58,440 Kevin Mako: One of the things that we say, and you kind of mention it there, a design model we have at our design for Mako Design is brilliantly simple design. 133 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:08,460 Kevin Mako: And that is very important for a, especially a startup for their first product. to not go too feature crazy, to not go too deep into the details, or try and push the boundaries 134 00:16:08,460 --> 00:16:18,300 Kevin Mako: of all these technologies too far, stick to your core one or two amazing features that you've done and do those really well and plan to iterate down the road. 135 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:23,780 Kevin Mako: You're going to go to market with that. That's going to be your launch product. Make sure it's, of course, of a good quality. That's why, 136 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:30,580 Kevin Mako: as well, you want to shrink the amount of features. So you can spend more money ensuring that the quality of the features that you are putting to market are top notch. 137 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:36,900 Kevin Mako: And then be expected to get feedback from your customers and your prospective customers. Your customers that bought it are going to 138 00:16:36,900 --> 00:16:41,120 Kevin Mako: tell you things about it that you didn't really think about or didn't understand fully. And then the 139 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,960 Kevin Mako: customers who didn't buy, those are your prospective customers, are also going to tell you some 140 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:53,100 Kevin Mako: things. And that is where your opportunity is going to come to think about iterating. And Apple's doing it. Every year they come out with a new iPhone. 141 00:16:53,620 --> 00:17:01,860 Kevin Mako: If the biggest product company in the world with the biggest budgets is iterating, then a hardware startup should think about iteration too, knowing that 142 00:17:01,860 --> 00:17:08,200 Kevin Mako: you can't perfect it on your first version, but you want to come out with a great quality product because hardware you can't do a bug fix for. 143 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:14,280 Kevin Mako: There's no patch for hardware. So you really want to make sure your reviews are solid on your first launch. So keep it simple. 144 00:17:15,100 --> 00:17:20,880 Kevin Mako: And the other thing that I wanted to highlight that you mentioned that I think is very powerful to any product startup. It's a little on the fluffier side. 145 00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:26,600 Kevin Mako: But we've seen it work time and time again. It's the owners or the inventor's passion for their product. 146 00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:36,140 Kevin Mako: And you mentioned that in Steve Jobs, Johnny Ives, folks that you worked for, you saw how dedicated they were, how much they believed in the product that they're building. 147 00:17:36,660 --> 00:17:39,780 Kevin Mako: If you're a small inventor, you can have the exact same passion that they did. 148 00:17:40,540 --> 00:17:46,840 Kevin Mako: You can have the belief in your product. And most, from what I see, especially at our design, when you finally come up with that 149 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:53,520 Kevin Mako: brilliant idea, you know, that once in a lifetime light bulb that goes off and you've actually 150 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:58,200 Kevin Mako: seen something that can solve a real pain point in some piece of the world and some part 151 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:07,500 Kapil Kane: of humanity, you generally become very passionate about it. it fairly quickly. But that passion is what really pushes it forward. And that's what gets you over those hurdles. 152 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:14,960 Kapil Kane: And I think that's a lot of what drove that culture at Apple to overcome obstacles as opposed to dwell on them because everybody was following the shining 153 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:24,580 Kapil Kane: star that they all believed in unanimously as a team together. Now, let's carry this forward. I think it's a good segue into what you're doing now, working kind of 154 00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:32,060 Kapil Kane: on the opposite side where you're taking technologies and figuring out how to innovate. And that's very akin to what people are doing with their invention ideas. 155 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:38,260 Kapil Kane: They've come up with some idea. Now they're trying to figure out how to actually execute on that, to create value to make a product. What is the 156 00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:47,220 Kapil Kane: process? And you kind of highlighted it at a high level. Let's go into the details of the process that you're using at Intel through your accelerator to vet the 157 00:18:47,220 --> 00:18:53,380 Kapil Kane: quality, not only of the product, but of the market success of that product, because you're doing both things at the same time, 158 00:18:53,380 --> 00:19:00,660 Kapil Kane: which is absolutely what every inventor should be thinking about on their product, too. It's not just about the idea that you've come up with. The passion also needs to be in. 159 00:19:00,740 --> 00:19:08,320 Kapil Kane: How are you going to create a business or how are you going to monetize that? Or how is an eventual acquire of your product going to monetize your product down the road? 160 00:19:08,500 --> 00:19:16,000 Kapil Kane: Because that's for the values. Yeah. So what we do, you know, we run like a startup accelerator, like, you know, like let's say 161 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,640 Kapil Kane: Y Combinator or, you know, like, you know, 500 startups. 162 00:19:20,340 --> 00:19:28,900 Kapil Kane: And so we build, we, we do two cohorts in a year. And each cohort will have like, you know, five to six projects. 163 00:19:28,900 --> 00:19:36,700 Kapil Kane: And to get into this cohort, we have like a shark tank kind of a thing, you know, where the internal 164 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:48,300 Kapil Kane: teams, employees would come with ideas. And in some cases, even external startups, if they have a very aligned kind of a strategy or a vision. 165 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:58,280 Kapil Kane: And so in that, we also have a boot camp, actually, before the team pitched the idea 166 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:06,820 Kapil Kane: at the selection day where we work on their, we work to turn their business case into a very crisp, you know, five minute pitch. 167 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:15,640 Kapil Kane: And so they were like, you know, 10 to 20 teams will come and pitch in front of a jury and we'll pick five. And then they get into our accelerator, 168 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,820 Kapil Kane: which is a four-month program. 169 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:28,260 Kapil Kane: And we have eight sprints. And these are, we call them business prints. And the very first sprint will start with a business model canvas. So every project, 170 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:33,500 Kapil Kane: has to put their idea in a very, you know, typical like strategizers, 171 00:20:34,220 --> 00:20:40,380 Kapil Kane: a business model canvas where you know, where you look at, you know, what are your value proposition, what is your customer segment, 172 00:20:41,060 --> 00:20:43,240 Kapil Kane: what is the value proposition for each of their segment, 173 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:50,680 Kapil Kane: then, you know, what are your cost structures, you know, what are your, what are your channels, all this stuff, you know? 174 00:20:51,080 --> 00:21:00,140 Kapil Kane: And we look at that business model canvas every week. And maybe the second sprint is looking at your biggest biggest, assumptions on that canvas. 175 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:10,640 Kapil Kane: If they were false, your business falls apart. Then we design a plan called validation plan where we figure out how we are going to verify, validate or invalidate 176 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:19,860 Kapil Kane: those assumptions. And then we do something called a market research hackathon where we kick the guys out of the building. 177 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:27,920 Kapil Kane: We say get out of the building and go talk to the customers, come back with the real life data and so on, you know, and 178 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:36,960 Kevin Mako: we do financial modeling, a business case, and finally your business pitch, which we then bring back to 179 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:43,800 Kevin Mako: the management of China to see, to ask for bigger round of funding. So it's like getting a VC funding, like, you know, 180 00:21:44,580 --> 00:21:53,340 Kevin Mako: and during our accelerator, we also give them seed money, you know, just like how Y Combinator would give 50K, 100K, and then they go and raise like millions. 181 00:21:53,560 --> 00:22:01,560 Kevin Mako: million, $2 million, $5 million to go big with the idea. Once they have validated the business case and can show it, right? 182 00:22:03,530 --> 00:22:12,690 Kevin Mako: And we run this outside of Intel, actually, by design, because we want these guys to feel like they are entrepreneurs. 183 00:22:13,070 --> 00:22:19,150 Kevin Mako: We call them CEOs, CMOs, and we 184 00:22:19,690 --> 00:22:28,470 Kapil Kane: have the mentor network. And we also have this very cool thing called experts, in residence, which are who are entrepreneurs who build businesses, who will 185 00:22:28,470 --> 00:22:38,230 Kapil Kane: every week spend one hour one-on-one with each team to challenge what they're doing and to point them in the right direction. So that's the process we follow. 186 00:22:38,470 --> 00:22:48,390 Kapil Kane: And at the end of this four months, maybe out of like, you know, in a year out of 10, maybe we get two or three that go on to actually 187 00:22:48,390 --> 00:22:56,490 Kapil Kane: go and create an adjacent product for us, which, you know, it drives like millions of dollars of revenues. Yeah. That's a really 188 00:22:56,490 --> 00:23:06,290 Kapil Kane: amazing program to have internally within Intel. Very cool. Let's talk about those who who essentially win the prize, those who get the funding to go on. 189 00:23:06,690 --> 00:23:12,730 Kapil Kane: What differentiated those folks from the ones that didn't? What really makes the winners win in terms of, because this is 190 00:23:12,730 --> 00:23:17,230 Kapil Kane: a very in-depth model that you look at, very professionally done and laid out. I think a lot of 191 00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:25,490 Kapil Kane: hardware startups listening can think about this and apply it to their own inventions. their own ideas as to, you know, how do you, how would you pitch 192 00:23:25,490 --> 00:23:31,570 Kapil Kane: if you were to get five minutes as a hardware startup or even as a, if you're an established company listening and you're developing 193 00:23:31,570 --> 00:23:40,730 Kapil Kane: your next product, how would you be pitching this and winning on all of the pillars that Capil would be looking for on those, on all of those 194 00:23:40,730 --> 00:23:46,150 Kapil Kane: eight sprints that you, that you do in the boot camp. So what are the things that lead to the winners? 195 00:23:46,610 --> 00:23:55,310 Kapil Kane: So, yeah. So I think, well, you know, definitely your, that five minute. business pitch, right? In that, you need to show what is the pain point you're trying to 196 00:23:55,310 --> 00:23:56,490 Kapil Kane: solve or what's the opportunity? 197 00:23:57,470 --> 00:23:58,630 Kapil Kane: How big is the opportunity? 198 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:05,260 Kapil Kane: Why you? Why are you the one to, you know, do this? Why is this the time? 199 00:24:06,370 --> 00:24:13,390 Kapil Kane: Okay. So if you're able to do, and what is in it for Intel, for example, or for example, if it's an investor, what is in it for investor? That means 200 00:24:13,390 --> 00:24:16,210 Kapil Kane: what is the return or how faster business is going. 201 00:24:17,130 --> 00:24:26,210 Kapil Kane: So that's one thing. So in that, in all of that, what we see is how first of all what has the team done so far are they just talking or actually 202 00:24:26,210 --> 00:24:32,250 Kapil Kane: they have built something right so that's something uh this is the second thing even better is 203 00:24:32,250 --> 00:24:38,350 Kapil Kane: you you're not just talking you build something and you also understand the market well like 204 00:24:38,350 --> 00:24:42,610 Kapil Kane: how big this market could be who has the pain point uh and even 205 00:24:42,610 --> 00:24:49,470 Kevin Mako: better is that you have maybe done some pilot with a potential customer or actually you got this 206 00:24:50,670 --> 00:24:56,750 Kevin Mako: request from from the from the field or from the market to to build this product right so it shows 207 00:24:56,750 --> 00:25:06,390 Kevin Mako: that need it shows you are passionate and one of the things because it's an accelerator we also see whether these guys are coachable or not because a lot of times we have brilliant 208 00:25:06,460 --> 00:25:15,260 Kevin Mako: techies come in very senior but they're just not coachable so it doesn't end well for either us or the other guys so 209 00:25:15,260 --> 00:25:23,940 Kevin Mako: they sometimes some people they just want some money to build the product and that's where they focus and in 210 00:25:23,940 --> 00:25:33,380 Kevin Mako: our accelerator we don't talk about anything about technology technical we simply focus on the business and we believe in whatever they say about 211 00:25:33,380 --> 00:25:40,120 Kevin Mako: the product they're building or whatever development they're doing yeah so so that's it you know 212 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:49,660 Kevin Mako: like you know one of the the challenges is I mean talk is cheap ideas a dime a dozen it's what you do with it if you show people what you're done what you're trying 213 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:56,440 Kevin Mako: even if it fail, I think that's what shows your passion, right? So in the end, your solution might be temporary, 214 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,380 Kevin Mako: but the passion you have to solve that problem, 215 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:08,700 Kapil Kane: you know, if that is long, then you can back that entrepreneur because he'll find ways to solve the problem. 216 00:26:09,260 --> 00:26:16,740 Kapil Kane: There are guys who come in because they are in love with their solution. Even they don't find a problem to fix with their solution. 217 00:26:16,740 --> 00:26:23,820 Kapil Kane: They still, you know, keep trying to move their solution. forward. And those are the kind of things we try to avoid. 218 00:26:24,940 --> 00:26:33,460 Kapil Kane: Kapil, that's very powerful information. I think anybody listening to this should really think about that in terms of their own product and their own product business and 219 00:26:33,460 --> 00:26:38,500 Kapil Kane: utilize the tips that you've said today to try and make the best pitch forward if or when you're pitching 220 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:43,440 Kapil Kane: for investors, whether it's in the early stages as you've got just a prototype or you're going 221 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:51,300 Kapil Kane: to, yeah, your first to market with crowdfunding or whether you're scaling it and trying to get investment for growth, all these investors look for those very things. 222 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:59,880 Kapil Kane: Coachability is one of the big ones that we hear about a lot and is one of the quick fail points to somebody with a phenomenal business plan, a phenomenal product, but they fail 223 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:09,240 Kapil Kane: on getting the investing because they were deemed as uncoachable. And that's something really you have to self-reflect on and think honestly with yourself 224 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:17,300 Kapil Kane: and get real feedback and listen to that feedback. More important than anything else is, do you have the ability to work with some of these seasoned 225 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,040 Kapil Kane: Because generally when you're pitching, you're pitching to somebody who's been there, done that. 226 00:27:21,700 --> 00:27:30,100 Kapil Kane: And they want to know that you have the ability to understand and learn the best from them to apply to your business model. 227 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:38,360 Kapil Kane: And that's so powerful when it comes to any investment level, whether it's your first angel round at 50 grand or whether it's a series A at multi-millions. 228 00:27:38,780 --> 00:27:45,360 Kapil Kane: It's important to remember that coachability element. Kapila, look, thanks so much for all your tips today. I appreciate you joining us on the show. 229 00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:54,920 Kapil Kane: and we'll look forward to talking soon. Absolutely, you're welcome. It was nice to talk with you and share this with your listeners. Appreciate it. 230 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:55,980 Kapil Kane: Take care of you too. 231 00:27:56,380 --> 00:28:04,840 Narrator: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Product Startup Podcast, the show that teaches you what it really takes to bring your product to market 232 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:11,800 Narrator: and turn it into a big success. This podcast series is brought to you by Mako Design + Invent, 233 00:28:11,940 --> 00:28:21,620 Narrator: the original and leading firm in North America to provide global, caliber in-to-end physical consumer product development to startups, inventors, and small product 234 00:28:21,620 --> 00:28:28,340 Narrator: business clients. If you're looking for product development help on your invention, head over to MakoDesign.com. 235 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:37,520 Narrator: That's M-A-K-O Design dot com for a free consultation from one of Mako-designs for design studios from coast to coast. 236 00:28:37,780 --> 00:28:39,880 Narrator: Thanks for listening and see you next time.