Mats Horn. He’s the CEO and founder of the Swedish tech company, Tinitell. Together with a team of Scandinavian industrial designers, telecom experts and engineers, he developed one of the first wearable devices with cellular connectivity for voice and data. Tinitell wrist phone is an ingeniously simple wearable phone for kids with call and smart location features as well as an intuitive, one button, voice guidance interaction.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Sapiens What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Mats would tell himself to not be in a rush and take life as “unseriously” as possible
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:31 – Nathan introduces Mats to the show 02:12 – Tinitell is a simple mobile phone that kids wear 02:20 – It’s a smart locator for parents 02:35 – Kids can make and receive calls 02:57 – Tinitell is independent from its smartphone administrators 03:03 – It is like a robot in a simple product 03:13 – The smartphone app is how the parents control what’s in it 03:36 – Tinitell needs to have a SIM card and it is already provided 03:50 – Tinitell is partnered with a telco 04:48 – Tinitell was launched in Kickstarter in 2014 04:54 – Shipping started after a year and a half 05:16 – Tinitell has shipped 15K units 05:30 – Tinitell sold 1,102 units in Kickstarter 05:41 – Tinitell has raised $150K in Kickstarter 05:51 – “It’s tough making the world’s smallest mobile phone” 06:03 – Tinitell has put it in additional $4M for funds 06:18 – “Most money came from VC companies” 06:25 – Tinitell has raised thrice 06:36 – All are equity rounds 06:53 – Mats shares why he raised in smaller rounds 07:35 – In doing smaller rounds, Mats and his team wouldn’t dilute themselves 08:03 – Mats was working as a consultant before Tinitell 08:25 – Mats realized that he wanted his own company 08:29 – Mat’s idea of Tinitell 09:15 – Team size is 30 09:25 – Average number of customers 09:43 – The critical numbers of Mats 10:12 – Mats looks at the conversion rate and general market activity 10:50 – Tinitell’s competition 11:20 – What people should look at in conversion rate 11:40 – Tinitell has 4 colors 12:03 – The bestsellers are the darker colors 12:36 – Markup vs. cost 13:49 – Mats shares about making a physical product 15:15 – Mats shares how he finds his suppliers 15:32 – “I knew I had to go to China” 15:48 – Mats has to have a network of suppliers 16:29 – Mats reached out to everyone he knows who could possibly help him 18:00 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Know your numbers and track them consistently. Your network can be your advantage in sourcing and creating your product. Enjoy life—take things slow and don’t be in a rush.
Resources Mentioned:
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal 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 Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11” secure even when he left it in the airplane’s back seat pocket Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives