fear and hope in the internet of things

Fear and hopein the internet of things

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino@iotwatch / alex@designswarm.com

First UK distributor of the Arduino.

Consultant Founder

Tinker London designswarm Good Night Lamp

About me

Ten years in.

•  Less economic certainty•  Less understanding of how to handle a new market•  Less business resilience

•  Increasing levels of market awareness•  Increased need for social solutions•  Increasing awareness of the importance of collaboration

A complex economic landscape

Mo money can become mo problems.

It’s still not clear how much you need to be successful.

Successful acquisitions are rare

Software and hardware cultures are different

A new kind of customer

Your early adopters should be your only customers for a while.

You will figure out a lot of things with them.

Make sure it’s a small group (less than one hundred)

Make sure you treat them well.

Backers is a totally different thing.

You can have too many of them to handle.

Try not to disconnect them either

I.P.Legal

Product designHardware designEmbedded softwareConnectivity issuesMiddlewareAPIs

User Experience PrototypingCertificationFinancing

Sales & MarketingManufacturingAssemblyDistribution Returns

Because you have ninety-nine problems.

Build up some energy and resilience

Founders must be ready to put in ten years of work in a product company (with or without tech) before developing real consumer awareness.

The software world has (wrongly) made us think two years is enough. It isn’t .

Think about what long-term success looks like

2012-2014

2005-2015

2009- 2011-2016

The conditions are improving

Experiments

Scary stuff too

Consumers are starting to ‘get it’

There are plenty of places where you can ‘fail fast’

And more that should help you to keep going.

Keep a strong ‘alumni’ network and events.

Build relationships across industries

Build relationships across the country

Build relationships abroad

Grants

Because you never know where an idea will go

How complex problems can be solved

Propeller Health

And how we build solutions in an uncertain future.

Oxford Flood Network

Good luck Seamless alumni.Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

@iotwatch / alex@designswarm.com@GNLamp / goodnightlamp.com@iotlondon / iot.london