Hardware Accelerator: Week 10

Curious what happens during the Rev summer Hardware Accelerator? Here’s a quick recap of Week 9. Be sure to join us on August 10th for Hardware Demo Day, where the teams will get to show off their prototypes. 

Demo Day is around the corner and, for the teams, it’s becoming clear that there’s no turning back from what lays ahead. In just a few days, they will be Rev Hardware Accelerator graduates with functional prototypes and business models speaking to an audience of people about what they plan to do to increase quality of living.

The tenth week began with an intimate sit-down between the teams and Hardware Accelerator Director Ken Rother. Ken shared his valuable insights into the nature of prototyping, joining accelerators, and acquiring business partners and investors with the teams. Teammates said they took away bits of wisdom to keep in mind as they guide their business and find out what they need to do post-Demo Day.

“This really helped me understand what our options are and who can help us achieve it,” said Liad Hare of HA team Petal.

On Wednesday and Thursday, teams met for their regularly scheduled meetings with Rev’s Hardware mentors for the last time before Demo Day to finalize their pitch structures. Local mentor and  Aaron Proujansky attended each meeting, giving teams an investors perspective on their pitches and developing methods to capture investor’s attention.

When local company and e-lab startup, PURESpinach walked into the Rev workspace to take advantage of Rev’s Members Only: Office Hours, two Hardware teams got the opportunity to bounce some ideas off the healthy hydroponic startup. Teams iGem and Petal, both hydroponic-focused growing systems, talked on the terrace with PURESpinach co-founders Serdar Mizrakci and Ziad Jarjouhi.

Associate at Bolt Chris Quintero spoke with teams about applying their business plan to a timeline and investigating membership with large hardware accelerators Thursday afternoon. Chris works on the Investment and Engineering team at Bolt, a venture capital firm that deals with early-stage, pre-product startups that intersect hardware and software. He also addressed the concerns of the teams about seeking out investment and applying to different grants, such as SBIR.

He invited teams to enjoy Demo Day, but urged them not to get caught up in the hype.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of Demo Day,” said Quintero. “But Demo Day comes to an end [and it’s just the beginning].”

The teams spent all morning prepping for the third and final Design Review on Friday. EIR Brian Bauer stood in attendance, taking notes on each team’s presentation. It was clear that the teams had grown immensely since their first review weeks prior. The teams were able to articulate their purpose, product, and potential in the four minutes they were allotted. From there, they spoke with tech instructors in a group discussion about panel layout for their big day.

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