Startups that truly provide value to users will win.
Alpha says:Intelligent Security Unicorn Ring is valued at more than $1.2 billion when it was acquired by Amazon. Its founder, Jamie, made a lot of anti-traditions when he started his business, but he proved to be the right choice afterwards. Mark Suster, an investor at Ring, analyzed the reasons why the startup was successful, from the perspective of the experienced person.
In the field of smart security hardware, he grew up as a unicorn and was acquired by Amazon for more than $1.2 billion. He invited Shaquille O’Neill to be the spokesperson. This is the experience of the startup Ring.
Ring’s first home security product is a smart video doorbell, followed by smart outdoor lighting and an outdoor stick-on camera that gradually expands its layout in the security intelligence hardware space.
When the market public opinion has always regarded Nest as a smart hardware winner, Ring can find another way. Why is Ring a big success when the market says that hardware is difficult to expand? As an investor who is deeply involved in the development of Ring, I want to publish some observations and reflections.
Founder, Founder, Founder
As an investor, my experience with my peers is that in the early investment from Angel to Round A, the founder factor accounted for 70% of our decision-making, and the remaining 30% was commercial. The quality of creativity. A viable market, a product that is differentiated and has the opportunity to build a moat does have the opportunity to grow, but if it is dominated by a talented founder, the chances of success are still slim.
When a startup starts to grow rapidly, it is inevitable to face competition and suppression from the giants. They will spend a lot of money to stop you from gaining more market share. Talented entrepreneurs have a high level of fascination, a stronger ability to finance, and moreMore funds to ensure the company grows smoothly.
Jamie Siminoff is one of the best entrepreneurs I have ever worked with. The first time I met Jamie was at the startup Simulscribe, whose business was to transcribe voicemail into text for easy reading and time savings. At the time, the technology was quite advanced; he later founded a startup called Unsubscribe. The company’s main business is to help consumers quickly process large amounts of email. In the process, I saw a person who can solve problems, have leadership, be competitive, and want to win.
When Jamie told me that he wanted to create a “Doorbot” (the predecessor of Ring), I immediately decided to vote for him. Their idea is to make a smart video security doorbell that is sold at a popular price to provide security for ordinary residents. We not only voted for him in the early days, but also added several pounds because Jamie is indeed a founder with both foresight and strong execution.
I’m sure consumers will pay for smart hardware like video doorbells? Of course, it’s not entirely certain, but I’m sure Jamie will be the founder of the company to focus on improving the product, doing marketization, and doing his best to win the competition. The truth is that he is doing better than I expected.
Vertical and focused better than universal
My reason for having confidence in Ring and other companies using computer vision technology is that focusing on computer vision is better than using universal technology for popularization. Consumers can set up universal cameras or laser trackers anywhere in their homes, office spaces or yards, but these products do not address the specific issue of security, so consumers will eventually stop using them.
Ring chose the direction of the smart video doorbell. When anyone appears near the house, the mobile monitor is triggered. Even if they don’t ring the doorbell, the consumer knows when someone is in front of their house. More importantly, this product can be set to monitor the range, such as when the person is 3 meters away from the house to trigger, so as not to accidentally touch the car; or set the left and right field of view to ten meters, to find the potential danger earlier.
The universal camera is not likely to have the security features of Ring. When consumers browse the e-commerce website, they may find some cameras cool, but it is not sure what it is for themselves. R