The thrill and agony of hardware. A startup story.

Austin based startup Plum is designing and manufacturing products in the IoT / connected home space. CEO Utz Baldwin (https://www.linkedin.com/pub/utz-baldwin/17/18b/470) will candidly share the company's struggles and successes along their journey to shipping. The session will cover the history of the company, development challenges in both hardware and software, proving traction through crowdfunding, fundraising (both traditional and crowdfunding), finding talent, manufacturing, and staying alive to see another day. The session promises to be interactive, conversational, and provide key takeaways in each of these areas. Attendees will experience a demo of Plum's flagship Lightpad and a chance to win several given away during the evening.

About Plum: Plum (http://plumlife.com/) is an Austin based consumer startup in the IoT / Connected home industry. The Plum Lightpad replaces your existing light switch and connects to your home's WiFi, allowing you to control your lights directly from your smart phone while you are at home or away. Plum was the People's Choice award winner at Demo in silicon valley 2012, has had a successful Kickstarter campaign, made Austin's “A” list in 2013 and is in the top 5% of most successfully equity crowdfunded startups in the U.S. today. CEO Utz Baldwin is one of the leading most experts in the connected home industry, having served as the CEO of CEDIA, the globals trade association that represents the connected home industry.

Agenda:

6:00pm to 6:20pm: Meet & Greet Networking

6:20pm to 6:30pm: Introduction

6:30pm to 7:30pm: Presentation

7:30pm to 8:00pm: Q&A

8:00pm onward: Networking

Organizer: Dr. Ataollah Etemadi