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

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

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders