Matic Robots

About

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Mehul Nariyawala, co-founder of Matic Robots, a home robotics company building one of the most advanced robot vacuums on the market.

Mehul started Matic in 2017 after becoming frustrated with the limitations of existing robot vacuums, but it would take roughly seven years before the company actually began shipping product.

In this conversation, we talk about why robotics is so much harder than traditional hardware (which is already hard to begin with), why Matic chose to rely on cameras instead of a more sensor-heavy approach, and what it means to build a product while betting that the underlying technology improves over time.

We also get into Matic’s decision to manufacture domestically, how the company thinks about pricing and recurring revenue, and how something as small as a supplier changing the glue inside a motor can throw off an entire production schedule.

Lastly, we talk about what Matic has actually learned from having robots inside real homes, why consumers have so little tolerance for mistakes on seemingly simple tasks, and some of the lessons Mehul took from working with Tony Fadell at Nest.

I learned a lot during my conversation with Mehul, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.