EP 615: $75M Raised, This $15K Machine Folds Your Laundry, $35M 2016 Revenue with Seven Dreamers CEO Shin Sakane

Shin Sakane. He’s the founder and CEO of Seven Dreamers. Seven Dreamers is daring to create technology that has never been seen in the world. Shin has a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Delaware. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Path What CEO do you follow? –  Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Facebook Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Get global experiences, visit so many different countries, cultures...”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:44 – Nathan introduces Shin to the show 02:20 – Seven Dreamers creates technology that the world has not seen yet 02:30 – First product is the fully automated carbon golf shaft 02:35 – Second product is the nascent nasal airway stent 02:58 – There’s no connection between the products 03:16 – Seven Dreamers wanted to develop something that is not yet available anywhere 04:00 – Seven Dreamers was launched in 2011 04:20 – Seven Dreamers has raised over $75M 04:29 – The money was mainly spent on product development 05:05 – The nasal stent currently has more sales than the golf shaft 05:27 – The golf shaft price is $1200 - $120K 05:53 – The most popular model sells for $1800 06:10 – The golf shaft was launched in 2014 06:30 – 400 shafts/month are being sold 07:35 – The way to make a golf shaft 09:06 – Team size 09:45 – 2016 total revenue 10:30 – It took Seven Dreamers 11 years to develop laundroid 11:15 – Seven Dreamers has spent $15M for product development 11:33 – Shin shares how they came up with the idea of laundroid 12:13 – Laundroid was initially limited 12:50 – Laundroid’s price is $15K 13:38 – The 3 products are completely different—from the suppliers to the technologies 14:08 – Most of the product ideas come from Shin 14:43 – The last round they raised 15:03 – Shin shares the valuation of each of their products 15:30 – “Everything counts” 16:12 – The nasal airway stent is currently their biggest money maker 16:25 – Average MRR $1M 16:53 – 2017 goal is $80M 17:07 – Seven Dreamers are working on their sales and marketing 17:14 – “We do our own marketing” 17:34 – Advertising cost 18:40 – Seven Dreamers spent money on sponsoring athletes 19:09 – The number of golf shaft complete sets that have sold 21:15 – The Famous Five   3 Key Points: Think outside the box—have a solution to a problem, then create a product. Study and know your market well so that your product speaks directly to a need. Be creative and innovative.   Resources Mentioned: Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. The Top Inbox  – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives