Editor’s note: As our Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Eclipse Ventures, Ben brings a founder’s perspective and his passion for hardware design to our discussions. Here, he continues his smashingly popular product-teardown series. There’s a single product category that is universally despised by nearly every technology-using human on Earth: the printer. While I’ve…

As of today, I’m pumped to join Eclipse Ventures as their very first entrepreneur-in-residence. Believe it or not, this marks the very first day of my life working for someone else! And I couldn’t feel better about the group of humans I’m fortunate to camp out with. …

As you may have heard, I’ve had a bit of a wild year. In the past 12 months (almost to the day): Grace (my partner) was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer, had emergency, life-threatening surgery and started aggressive chemotherapy shortly thereafter We adopted a dog (Hollyhock!) I (finally) bought a…

This is a blog post I never expected to write. These past 12 months have shown me how even the most unfair, difficult situations in life can inspire immense moments of joy and deep, meaningful change. — That beautiful woman up there is Grace. Some of you may know her from her work at LinkedIn, Crunchbase, The Dinner Party, Reimagine, and now 10% Happier. I happen to have the deep privilege of calling her my partner (the in-life-kind, rather than the VC-kind).

Early-stage hardware companies usually understand the “how” of product development. Product management adds a layer of “why,” “what,” and “when” to the process. — Building hardware is complicated. Many founding teams going through product development for the first time struggle to manage that process on a day-to-day basis. Founders know they need to build a product and that there are many steps, but they might not be sure which steps come in which order…

I always find more truth about a company’s future buried in a company’s products. Long story short: I don’t have high hopes for Sonos’ trajectory. Here is why… — For eight years, a war has been raging among a number of unlikely players. This bloodless technology battle is turning out to be one of the fiercest and most expensive we’ve seen in decades. The prize is one of the most sought-after commodities in the world: access to tens of…

Peloton is a tremendously successful hardware startup. But without SoulCycle, it couldn’t have existed. Here is how you can find the SoulCycle for your hardware company. — Over the past year, Peloton has taken the lead as one of the most successful hardware startups in the past decade. A strong team and meticulous product execution are driving factors in Peloton’s success. …

This is Part 3 of a three part series. Check out Part 1: Founders and Culture and Part 2: Contributors and Product if you missed them. A startup is a machine that attracts, supports, and enables large numbers of people with different motivations (the solar system, remember?). One of the…

This is Part 2 of a three part series. If you missed Part 1, check it out here: Part 1: Founders and Culture or continue on to Part 3: Management and Scale if that’s more relevant for you.