Rehman Merali of TeaBot shares Build a hardware company that doesn't sell hardware This presentation reviews the different ways that hardware companies go about profiting from their product and makes an argument that the best way to build a sustainable business is to use a business model that provides a service or rents the product and provides examples of other companies using these business models. Presented at Tech Toronto Meetup April 2016 For videos of this presentation and more, visit our channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/techtorontoorg Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/techtorontoorg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/techtorontoorg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techtorontoorg/

1. Rehman Merali | CEO & Co-Founder
Build a hardware company
that doesn’t sell hardware!

2. Razor Blade Model
E-Reader
Razor Blade Game Consoles
Amazon Alexa
@myteabot Rehman Merali

3. Hardware companies that don’t sell hardware
ATM
Office Printer Cell Phone Charging
Car Sharing
@myteabot Rehman Merali

4. •Tea store in 10 sq.ft.
•Fastest cup of loose leaf
tea
•Personalized
•Designed for on-the-go
teaBOT™ Self Serve Tea Kiosk
@myteabot Rehman Merali

5. Founders!
Rehman Merali, CEO
Robotics PhD Candidate
Built Space Robots
Brian Lee, COO
Process Engineer, P.Eng.
Supply Chain, Family Tea Store
@myteabot Rehman Merali

6. Pros
• Product to market faster
• User feedback sooner
• Less sensitive to BOM costs
• Focus on quality over quantity
• Recurring revenue
• Product is consumable
@myteabot Rehman Merali

7. Cons
• Capital intensive
• Slow payback
• Logistics Challenges
• Inventory scales quickly
• Expertise beyond hardware is required
• Know your consumable
@myteabot Rehman Merali

8. Conclusion
• Build something users love
• Building hardware is hard, but not selling it means no returns
• Don’t sell your hardware to:
• get to market faster
• iterate on your product after releasing it
• focus on user experience over BOM costs
@myteabot Rehman Merali

9. Thank
You
Rehman Merali, CEO
rehman@teaBOT.com
@myteabot