EP 615: $75M Raised, This $15K Machine Folds Your Laundry, $35M 2016 Revenue with Seven Dreamers CEO Shin Sakane

Shin Sakane. He's the founder and CEO of Seven Dreamers. Seven Dreamers is daring to create technology that has never been seen in the world. Shin has a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Delaware.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Path
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Facebook
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Get global experiences, visit so many different countries, cultures..."

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:44 – Nathan introduces Shin to the show
• 02:20 – Seven Dreamers creates technology that the world has not seen yet
• • 02:30 – First product is the fully automated carbon golf shaft
  • 02:35 – Second product is the nascent nasal airway stent
• 02:58 – There's no connection between the products
• 03:16 – Seven Dreamers wanted to develop something that is not yet available anywhere
• 04:00 – Seven Dreamers was launched in 2011
• 04:20 – Seven Dreamers has raised over $75M
• • 04:29 – The money was mainly spent on product development
• 05:05 – The nasal stent currently has more sales than the golf shaft
• 05:27 – The golf shaft price is $1200 - $120K
• • 05:53 – The most popular model sells for $1800
  • 06:10 – The golf shaft was launched in 2014
  • 06:30 – 400 shafts/month are being sold
  • 07:35 – The way to make a golf shaft
• 09:06 – Team size
• 09:45 – 2016 total revenue
• 10:30 – It took Seven Dreamers 11 years to develop laundroid
• • 11:15 – Seven Dreamers has spent $15M for product development
• 11:33 – Shin shares how they came up with the idea of laundroid
• • 12:13 – Laundroid was initially limited
  • 12:50 – Laundroid's price is $15K
• 13:38 – The 3 products are completely different—from the suppliers to the technologies
• 14:08 – Most of the product ideas come from Shin
• 14:43 – The last round they raised
• 15:03 – Shin shares the valuation of each of their products
• • 15:30 – "Everything counts"
• 16:12 – The nasal airway stent is currently their biggest money maker
• • 16:25 – Average MRR $1M
• 16:53 – 2017 goal is $80M
• 17:07 – Seven Dreamers are working on their sales and marketing
• • 17:14 – "We do our own marketing"
  • 17:34 – Advertising cost
  • 18:40 – Seven Dreamers spent money on sponsoring athletes
• 19:09 – The number of golf shaft complete sets that have sold
• 21:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Think outside the box—have a solution to a problem, then create a product.
• Study and know your market well so that your product speaks directly to a need.
• Be creative and innovative.

Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• 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
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives