Best Balint Horvath Entrepreneur Podcasts (2024)

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#068 - Challenges of small manufacturers to organise their production and inventory, with Kristjan Vilosius of Katana, Estonia 44:15

5y ago44:15

44:15

This episode’s guest is Kistjan Vilosius of Katana, a startup from Estonia. Working at a small-, medium-sized company, or startup you have to wear many hats and it happens often that there are simply not enough people to wear those hats. You have limited resources. Highly efficient way of working is therefore extremely important. How many times did…

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#067 - How to speed up your New Product Introduction - Production Line Tool, with Pete Staples of Blue Clover Devices, USA 38:10

5y ago38:10

38:10

My podcast guest is Pete Staples, co-founder and president of Blue Clover Devices with locations in San Francisco, Hong Kong and of course, Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of Hardware. This is an episode on some important aspects of production lines and its challenges. Without a production line you have no mass manufacturing so if you want to play in …

1
#066 - How to apply lean startup principles to hardware, with Ash Maurya of Leanstack, USA 41:29

5+ y ago41:29

41:29

I have a very special guest, one of the pioneers of one of the most popular innovation frameworks these days: the lean startup framework. My guest is Ash Maurya, who along with Eric Ries, did some substantial work in this field, laying the foundations of this concept. You’ll learn in this episode why this idea is still important today, especially i…

1
#065 - How to care about sustainability to get rid of plastic bottles (and still make a profit), with Moritz Waldstein of Mitte, Germany 34:30

5+ y ago34:30

34:30

My guest in this episode is Moritz Waldstein-Wartenberg of Mitte from Berlin, Germany. We all drink water, mostly, I guess. I drink it in my tea, usually Fennel Anis Cumin bio tea, I drink it many times per day. Or I consume water in its pure form. But is water really pure? If it’s not pure, for example tap water, which we drink many times in Europ…

1
#064 - To transform or not to transform your hardware company to an all agile one next year, with Balint Horvath, Switzerland 12:47

5+ y ago12:47

12:47

I’m back on this episode and you will hear about the continuation of the topic of the last published episode. What should you do once you know you have a problem worth solving and you validated what solution you should build with all the features? Should you just go ahead and develop the product based on the specs, the whole development potentially…

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#063 - Your (hardware) product is not your product - think in terms of business models, with your host Balint Horvath, Switzerland 18:31

5+ y ago18:31

18:31

This episode features me and I’ll talk about topics that are especially relevant for technical founders. Your product is not the product. Many of us in high tech entrepreneurship have a technical background, with years of academic training where we’ve been educated about how to build products, with all the technical skills needed for that. We know …

1
#062 - How a hardware SaaS company wants to help you not get lost in your data during product development, with Michael Corr of Duro Labs, USA 54:30

5+ y ago54:30

54:30

I had Michael Corr as guest, who is the co-founder and CEO of Duro Labs from LA, southern California. I already had a guest from LA in episode 25, Shaun Arora of Make in LA, the hardware accelerator. Michael is also in a way supporting the hardware ecosystem, but he’s not from an accelerator. He’s helping hardware companies with their developments …

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#061 - RERUN - How to avoid mistakes when building a team - lessons from mentoring 1200+ hardware entrepreneurs, with Alan Clayton of SOSV 43:14

5+ y ago43:14

43:14

This is a rerun episode after one month of no publishing. As mentioned in the last episode, I changed the publishing frequency to monthly. Why am I doing now a re-release of a past episode? Perhaps you’ve seen the recent report by HAX, the hardware accelerator based in Shenzhen, China and in San Francisco: their first hardware report in 2018. In th…

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#060 - Future global data connectivity without worrying about your costs, with Guy Zbarsky of Keepgo, Israel 49:13

5+ y ago49:13

49:13

My guest is Guy Zbarsky, co-founder of Keepgo, a firm that has been in business for about a decade. Guy’s company is called Keepgo and this company name already suggests that they want you to keep going, everywhere you want to go to. Some of you know that well, I cannot live very long without traveling so their topic connected with me. I met their …

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#059 - Where IoT/AI are heading to - impressions from IoT Tech Expo Europe, with Balint Horvath, Switzerland 15:25

6y ago15:25

15:25

Recently I participated in IoT Tech Expo Europe in Amsterdam on 27-28 June. It was a fascinating event to feel the pulse of the industry, how things stand and where the industry is heading to. In this episode I want to bring you some of the highlights, essential take home messages. This event is one of the biggest ones of its kind in Europe with ne…

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#058 - Freedom to work and play anywhere without losing power, with Nancy de Fays of Linedock, USA 40:28

6y ago40:28

40:28

My guest in this episode is Nancy de Fays, one the two co-founders of a company from San Francisco, California, which is called Linedock. Have you ever wanted to work or play from anywhere but you ran into the issue of running out of power for your devices? Maybe you did actually want to work from a beach with your laptop, while navigating a drone …

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#057 - Kickstarter Post-launch - a home gym challenges the "No pain No gain" crowd, with Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, USA 36:35

6y ago36:35

36:35

This is a second recording with Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, USA who has had recently a Kickstarter campaign. He is a fitness student, consultant and pioneer. In this second episode you get to hear about the lessons learned from his crowdfunding campaign. In the first episode he talked about the campaign preparations. We’ll analyze his campaign…

1
#056 - Not too early, not too late - how to get the timing right for your innovation, with your host Balint Horvath, Switzerland 10:11

6y ago10:11

10:11

I’m back again on the podcast with an episode where I’ll be talking about the timing of innovation. This means I don’t have a guest in this episode. Why do many startup ideas fail, what’s the main reason for it? What are some of the other implications for your business in case you fail due to that one reason? It turns out actually timing is crucial…

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#055 - Why hardware startup ecosystem in Lebanon is becoming interesting, with Raja Younes of Startupsfund, Futuris Technologies, Lebanon 24:48

6y ago24:48

24:48

This is an interview with Raja Younes of Startupsfund, Futuris Technologies, Lebanon. We wanted to look at the Lebanese startup ecosystem, especially in hardware, so for producing physical products. We don’t hear about Lebanon enough, even though we should as there are some strong reasons for it - you can find out in this episode about some of thes…

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#054 - Kickstarter Pre-launch - a home gym challenges the "No pain No gain" crowd, with Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, USA 55:08

6y ago55:08

55:08

We have a different episode than usual as we’re taking you on a ride on a Kickstarter campaign. My guest was Joey Atlas of SCULPTAFIT Global, from Florida, who is a fitness student, consultant and pioneer. In this set of episodes you get to hear about the before and after cases for a hardware product. This is the first episode which was recorded ju…

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#053 - Which one to choose - b2b or b2c for hardware startups, with Balint Horvath, your host, Switzerland 14:40

6y ago14:40

14:40

In this episode I wanted to give you an overview on an essential topic that can make or break your business - the chosen business model. My goal now is to give you an overview of two major business models, B2C (Business to Consumers) and B2B (Business to Business) with all its pros and cons. I approach this topic based on my own recent experiences …

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#052 - Student (hardware) entrepreneurship in Switzerland and worldwide, with Gregory Inauen of ETH Entrepreneur Club, Switzerland 29:27

6y ago29:27

29:27

My guest this time was Gregory Inauen of the ETH Entrepreneur Club in Zurich, the youngest individual on this podcast so far. Well, why having a student on the show? I think we should talk not only about people who have acquired a lot of success, but also about the upcoming generation. I’ve known Gregory for about a year now and by bringing him ont…

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#051 - Connecting the (hardware) dots, with Greg Fisher of BSG and Hardware Massive, USA 35:44

6y ago35:44

35:44

I had as guest Greg Fisher of Berkeley Sourcing Group (BSG) and Hardware Massive. Greg is very experienced in the hardware field, since he’s been running BSG for more than a decade, assisting more than 900 hardware startups, operating from the US and from China. There is tons of information on manufacturing in China, but I think information on this…

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#050 - How to get your product found on the internet, with Ashley Faulkes of Mad Lemmings, Switzerland 48:54

6y ago48:54

48:54

I sat down with Ashley Faulkes of Mad Lemmings, who’s passionate about the internet, on how products are showcased and how they can be found. We wanted to address two challenges: how can you bring a visitor to your website and how can you convert them from visitors into a buyer? These are not exactly hardware topics, but for sure these days they’re…

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#049 - RERUN - Elements of building a successful tech business, with (proven) serial entrepreneur Milton Chang of Incubic Venture Fund, USA 39:23

6y ago39:23

39:23

Again, this is a rerun episode so a re-release of the episode with Milton Chang of Incubic. You can find out more about some of the reasons for it in the last episode and in the episode before that. This is another episode that is in the top 5 episodes regarding download numbers; in fact it’s #3 on my podcast chart. Dr. Milton Chang, is a serial en…

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#048 - RERUN - How to think like Elon Musk - scrum for hardware, with Joe Justice of WIKISPEED and Scrum Inc, USA 51:37

6y ago51:37

51:37

This is a rerun episode so a re-release of the episode with Joe Justice of WIKISPEED and Scrum Inc. Why a rerun? There are a few reasons for it and I brought up some during the last episode. One of the reasons, as mentioned, has to do with slowing down at the beginning of the year. Another reason is that this episode was in the top 5 most downloade…

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#047 - RERUN - How next-generation retail looks like, with Vibhu Norby of b8ta, USA 38:07

6y ago38:07

38:07

This is a rerun episode so a re-release of the episode Vibhu Norby of b8ta. Why am I doing a rerun? Well, there are a few reasons for it. Rather than speed up like what most people do, I want to slow down at the beginning of the year. I am doing some energy management by not coming out with new content. Instead I’m reusing some content. This is in …

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#046 - When not to start a startup - how to license your idea (Part 2), with Stephen Key of inventRight, USA 28:22

6+ y ago28:22

28:22

This episode is Part 2 of my interview with Stephen Key of inventRight. Why two parts? Soon you can learn why I believe this topic deserves special attention. Stephen Key, using a relevant Star Wars terminology, is the Yoda of "renting" ideas as Tim Ferriss referred to him. The question is still the same: do you really need to found a company? In p…

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#045 - Simplicity and what it has to do with what I learned from my guests in 2017, with your host Balint Horvath, Switzerland 21:49

6+ y ago21:49

21:49

This episode contains some of the crucial learnings for me in 2017, and critical lessons that you might want to keep in mind in the year to come. I am extremely thankful for my guests for their insights. Such knowledge has transformed my life and in this episode I am talking about the impact on my daily routines, how I manage projects, some aspects…

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#044 - When not to start a startup - how to license your idea (Part 1), with Stephen Key of inventRight, USA 26:28

6+ y ago26:28

26:28

This is an episode on a topic that, I believe, should get more attention in entrepreneurship circles. My guest is Stephen Key of inventRight. Stephen is literally one of the teachers of Tim Ferriss. He went to Stephen’s lectures and sought his advice on how he can make his business at that time, BrainQUICKEN more efficient. Do you really need to fo…

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#043 - How to avoid mistakes when building a team - lessons from mentoring 1200+ hardware entrepreneurs, with Alan Clayton of SOSV 42:22

6+ y ago42:22

42:22

My guest is Alan Clayton of SOSV, who’s the Roaming Mentor at the VC and who’s been with the company since the beginnings. You might know as SOSV as it’s the world’s top hardware VC. They’re special also in another aspect as unlike other VCs, SOSV runs accelerator programs, such as HAX, HAX Growth, RebelBio, IndieBio, Food-X, Chinaaccelerator, MOX.…

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#042 - How to think with your hands - LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology with Alexandra Mandoki of Sparks Guide, Switzerland 21:17

6+ y ago21:17

21:17

I had a special guest on the podcast, somebody who’s also originally from Hungary, just like me. My guest was Alexandra Mandoki, founder, chief guide and innovator at Sparks Guide based in Zurich, Switzerland, just like me. Would you like to perhaps double your brain activity? Then this episode is for you. You’ll soon also learn how the same techni…

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#041 - How to use lean startup principles to start the world’s first VR cinema franchise, with Dimitri Nabatov of WeAreCinema, Switzerland 34:34

6+ y ago34:34

34:34

Dimitri Nabatov has been my guest recently, founder and CEO of a company called WeAreCinema. In episode 36 we had VR topic and this time again we’re back to that topic on the show. His company, WeAreCinema has a new business model in the world of VR and his company is a nice example that in order to become successful with hardware products there ar…

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#040 - Beer as you don’t know it - a startup bringing you the freshest craft beer possible, with Jong-Wook Shin of HOPii, USA 36:22

6+ y ago36:22

36:22

My guest is Jong-Wook Shin from the US, founder and CEO of HOPii, which is a company for beer-lovers. For you who wants to know how to get to the source where it’s the beer is freshest. You’ll also learn why beer on the shelves is actually far from being fresh. Jong is not simply an avid beer drinker. He was formerly Vice President of Innovations, …

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#039 - Brain vs Capital - how to build a business from components (Part 2), with Prof. Günter Faltin, Germany 32:32

6+ y ago32:32

32:32

This is Part 2 of my interview with Professor Günter Faltin, from Germany and at the same time a successful entrepreneur. Briefly, I consider him as a kind of the German version of Tim Ferriss, as his book Brain vs capital is similarly influential in entrepreneurship in Germany, similarly to Tim Ferriss’ book especially in the US, but also worldwid…

1
#038 - Brain vs Capital - how to build a business from components (Part 1), with Prof. Günter Faltin, Germany 31:01

6+ y ago31:01

31:01

My guest is Günter Faltin, professor of entrepreneurship from Germany and himself also a successful entrepreneur. He’s an early pioneer of entrepreneurship education in Germany. He’s widely known in Germany because of his pioneering work connected to a concept called “component principle”. Last year I read his book “Brain vs capital” at around the …

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#037 - Disrupting with digital manufacturing, with Nick Pinkston of Plethora, USA 37:31

6+ y ago37:31

37:31

My interview guest is from the US from San Francisco, Nick Pinkston, founder and CEO of Plethora. In case you’re into manufacturing, and you should be, if you’re into into hardware, then this episode is for you. Nick is a central figure in hardware in the Bay Area which you’ll learn about in this interview. He’s behind CloudFab, the world's first m…

1
#036 - Is your immersive content searchable? - Mark Milstein of Microstocksolutions, USA 30:02

6+ y ago30:02

30:02

The interviewee, Mark Milstein, who I have in this episode is a very experienced serial-entrepreneur whose obsession is immersive media content. This includes VR, AR, 360 degree videos. We talk about a topic that is often not talked about, that is what about the searchability of the immense amount of data you produce when recording immersive media?…

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#035 - How a hardware startup’s product goes viral, with Christian Smith of TrackR, USA 34:28

6+ y ago34:28

34:28

My guest in this episode is Christian Smith, co-founder and President of TrackR. Their company is a startup based in California, outside Silicon Valley, at a remarkable place called Santa Barbara, and it is a quite successful hardware startup so lots of things to learn in this interview. TrackR works in the intelligent personal item tracking space,…

1
#034 - How next-generation retail looks like, with Vibhu Norby of b8ta, USA 37:18

6+ y ago37:18

37:18

My guest this time is from Silicon Valley, USA, Vibhu Norby of b8ta. This is an episode that you should simply not miss - many many things to learn from and a guest to inspire you. Vibhu was before with Nest, the smart thermostat maker. This is where he had the realization that retail is far from optimal and that one might have to rethink retail to…

1
#033 - Elements of building a successful tech business, with (proven) serial entrepreneur Milton Chang of Incubic Venture Fund, USA 39:07

7y ago39:07

39:07

I’ve had a very special guest, who I got to talk to. My interviewee, Dr. Milton Chang, is a serial entrepreneur with an impressive, long track record of building hardware companies. Milton is currently managing partner of Incubic Venture Fund. He was president of Newport and New Focus, which he took public. In addition, the companies he incubated r…

1
#032 - Why manufacturing in USA vs China is becoming interesting, with Scott N. Miller of Dragon Innovation, USA 36:54

7y ago36:54

36:54

My guest has recently been Scott N. Miller, co-founder and CEO of Dragon Innovation, a company based in the US helping hardware companies. Scott has a pretty remarkable career behind him so far with at least two decades of experience in hardware field, so many of you have probably heard from him. A few companies they have worked with are e.g. Pebbl…

1
#031 - Why I change the publishing frequency, with Balint Horvath, Switzerland 5:33

7y ago5:33

5:33

I’m back on the show, just me, and I’ll talk about an announcement, that is I’m changing the publishing frequency from weekly to bi-weekly. Why do I do this? I enjoy podcasting very much, it’s my passion, as well as helping you guys, connecting you with others and to sources of information. I love my guests as well and of course all of you, who tak…

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#030 - Makers of the fastest production drone on Earth and beyond, with Chris Hsiao of Gossamer, USA 33:46

7y ago33:46

33:46

My guest is from the US, from Texas, Chris Hsiao, co-founder and leader of Gossamer, a startup for startups that became known for developing the Teal drone, the fastest production drone on Earth. As for Gossamer, it is a full stack product design and engineering firm that focuses mainly on hardware startups. You’ll learn in this episode how Chris s…

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#029 - Call for action to you - for a new path to reduce climate change, with Joshua Spodek of NYU, Spodek Academy, USA 29:07

7y ago29:07

29:07

Again, I’ve interviewed Joshua Spodek, a professor at NYU and an entrepreneur. He was a guest in episode 22 of this podcast because of his hardware entrepreneurship background and his leadership teaching that we can all learn from. He’s back since we have something important to talk about which concerns Earth’s physical resources which I alluded to…

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#028 - Meet the creators of FitBit for medication, with Peter Havas of PillDrill, USA 39:05

7y ago39:05

39:05

My interviewee is Peter Havas, co-founder and CEO of PillDrill, USA. PillDrill wants to ease the way people take their medicine. Their first product is already very much beloved by the customers. Peter has a long track-record of entrepreneurship. He started his first company at the age of 24, which failed unfortunately. He certainly learned from th…

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#027 - Rapid prototyping - a platform and its essential tools, with Finbarr Watterson of Fictiv, USA 36:18

7y ago36:18

36:18

I’ve recently interviewed Finbarr Watterson, Hardware Community Evangelist at Fictiv, from the Bay Area, USA. His company is all into helping you iterate on your early product versions faster and with high quality. Fin has been entrenched in the manufacturing industry for over 5 years living in both Shenzhen, China and the San Francisco Bay Area. H…

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#026 - Connected lab - a startup bringing IoT to R&D environments, with Alok Tayi of TetraScience, USA 41:01

7y ago41:01

41:01

I’ve had recently the chance to interview Alok Tayi, co-founder and CEO of TetraScience, a startup that was formed by MIT-Harvard graduates, based in Boston. This interview allowed me to connect with my past as scientist and therefore their work greatly resonated with me. Their vision is to connect every scientific experiment and instrument to a si…

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#025 - How to benefit for your startup from the one and only hardware accelerator of Southern California, with Shaun Arora of Make in LA, USA 33:06

7y ago33:06

33:06

My guest is Shaun Arora, co-founder and Managing Director of Southern California’s only hardware accelerator, Make in LA. Besides being the Managing Director, he’s an angel investor in 35 startups, and sits on the board of the contracting manufacturing company he helped build for over a decade of exponential growth (NEO Tech). He has a diverse back…

1
#024 - How to increase your own productivity and that of your garden’s, with Mattias Lepp of Click & Grow, Estonia 29:48

7y ago29:48

29:48

I’ve had as guest Mattias Lepp, co-founder and CEO of Click and grow, a company from Estonia. His company is a green one that wants to create an even greener future: their vision is to change the way plants are grown around the world. Mattias has a quite unique background, i.e. a long-term experience in plant cultivation, IT and design and educated…

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#023 - Developing consumer products with an all-in-one manufacturer in China that is just different, with Jacob Rothman of Platform88, China 35:03

7y ago35:03

35:03

My guest was Jacob Rothman, co-founder of Platform88, which offers services from China. Jacob has over fifteen years of experience working in China. He has founded several companies including Smart Products, Velong Enterprises, and his latest venture, Platform88. With Platform88 his goal is to help hardware entrepreneurs with their manufacturing, r…

1
#022 - Effective project-based learning from astrophysicist turned entrepreneur, professor, with Joshua Spodek of NYU, Spodek Academy, USA 58:33

7y ago58:33

58:33

I’ve interviewed Joshua Spodek, a professor at NYU and an entrepreneur. This has been an eye-opener interview for me on leadership, how to master it and also on his teaching methods, his entrepreneurial journey. Joshua is a best-selling author of the book called “Leadership Step by Step”, which has recently come out. In this interview we talked abo…

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#021 - How you can benefit from a multi-corporate accelerator, with Patricia Schlenter, David Emmerth of Kickstart Accelerator, Switzerland 20:13

7y ago20:13

20:13

I had a duo-feature interview with Kickstart Accelerator from Switzerland, Patricia Schlenter, responsible for Program Lead and David Emmert, head of one of the verticals of the program. In a previous episode, we had Brinc on the show, an IoT accelerator. This time we feature another accelerator, which has a wider range of disciplines they’re handl…

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#020 - Executing lean and agile retail growth for your startup or SME, with Benjamin Ertl of Retailbound, USA 25:41

7y ago25:41

25:41

I had as guest Benjamin Ertl, Director of Business Development at Retailbound. He works in retail, helping entrepreneurs on how to get their product to customers in a lean and agile way. He gives you an intro to retail field, and to his company. Due to their uniqueness in essence they enable companies to operate lean and agile especially during the…

1
#019 - Chairless chair, with Keith Gunura of noonee, Switzerland 29:20

7y ago29:20

29:20

My guest is Keith Gunura, co-founder and CEO of noonee, producers of an exoskeleton-like device. Keith developed the Chairless Chair® at the ETH Zurich in 2009 to help now production line workers. We’ll discuss with Keith what Forrest Gump has to do with noonee’s technology, how the company was started, Keith’s way of simplifying things to attack a…

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