20VC: Turning Down Apple & Getting Funded By Chamath @ Social Capital with Dhananja Jayalath, Co-Founder & CEO @ Athos
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2016
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dhananja Jayalath is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Athos, creating the new standard for fitness by changing the way we train the human body. Athos have funding from our friends at Social Capital, Felix Capital and DCM Ventures just to name a few of their investors. Prior to Athos, DJ turned down a job with Apple straight from University to pursue his vision of creating the next generation of consumer fitness wearables with Athos.
In Today’s Episode with DJ You Will Learn:
- How DJ went from University to turning down Apple to founding Athos?
- How did DJ come to meet Chamath @ Social? How was the fundraising experience? What did Athos do well and what would DJ like to improve for the next round?
- How does DJ approach iteration and testing within product testing at Athos?
- What are the lessons DJ has learned in the manufacturing and iteration process with Athos?
- How does DJ approach business models for Athos today? Does DJ agree that the winners of hardware will be determined by software?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
DJ’s Fave Book: Velocity: The 7 New Laws For A World Gone Digital
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and DJ on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the 20 minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings, who you can find on Snapchat at H. |
| 0:04.6 | Stebbings for behind the scenes of all things 20 minute VC. But to stay show and joining me today for |
| 0:09.7 | this Founders Friday is a founder whose product I simply love so much that I reached out to his |
| 0:14.5 | investors and asked for an intro. So a huge thank you to David Cheng at DCM for that. So joining me |
| 0:19.8 | today we have Danangya Jailath, aka DJ, |
| 0:23.0 | founder at Athos. To me, one of the most exciting companies in the consumer hardware space, |
| 0:27.8 | and Athos is creating next generation wearable technology that really gives you detailed insight |
| 0:32.6 | into how your body works as you move. That insight is then distilled into a beautiful user experience that will |
| 0:38.3 | enhance your existing routine. Certainly helps me keep in shape with all the mahitos. And Athos |
| 0:43.4 | have raised funding from some of the greats, including Chamath at Social Capital, our very good |
| 0:47.7 | friends at Felix Capital and DCM Ventures. As for DJ, he really is a born entrepreneur having |
| 0:52.9 | turned down a role at Apple on leaving university to build Athos into the fantastic company it is today. |
| 0:58.4 | But before we meet DJ, whether you are a startup, one-man company or a global bank like Deloitte, design should always be central to your thinking. |
| 1:05.6 | And with that in mind, there's no better place than design crowd, the online marketplace for custom graphic, logo and web design |
| 1:11.8 | that will allow you to outsource design projects to over 500,000 registered designers around the world. |
| 1:17.3 | And what makes it so accessible for me is the ease. Three simple steps. Launch your project with |
| 1:22.2 | your requirements. Two, sit back and wait as all the designs come pouring in from around the world, |
| 1:27.0 | traditionally 60 to 100 per project, |
| 1:29.3 | which you can then select and choose your favourites. |
| 1:32.0 | And then finally, once you've selected your favourites, the winning designers will send you the designs, job done, and all in three days. |
| 1:38.2 | So check them out at designcrow.com forward slash VC and enter the promo code VC100 for a fantastic $100 off your project. |
| 1:46.1 | But enough from me, so it's now time to handover to the main man, DJ, founder at Athos. |
... |
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