What started as a week at a summer engineering camp at CU in high school led to a career in tech for Tim Enwall. A self-described “Boulder kid,” Enwall has brought his skills and experience from Silicon Valley back home to Revolv, a company he helped mentor in the TechStars program.
Last fall, Enwall was asked to join Revolv as employee number one and head of the company. Just four hours after he joined Revolv, Foundry Group agreed to get involved as well and fund the company. Since the original seed funding round Revolv secured an additional $4 million in funding earlier in November.
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When asked what he looks for in a company, Enwall said he looks for four things: “The first is, am I personally passionate about it? Because I’m going to end up working 60, 70, 80-hour weeks and I have to be personally passionate about something if I’m going to put that type of effort on the line.
“Second, the people I work with have to be an amazing. They have to inspire me to want to be a teammate with them. Third, the product has to fly off the shelf. This means the problem is meaningful enough and the solution is proper fit and the price is accessible. The fourth is the company has to be able to generate money.”
Smarthome system Revolv does all of these things for Enwall. Revolv is a wireless hub with an accompanying mobile app that lets users control all of their smart devices in one streamlined interface and, since its release, it has been embraced not only by the Colorado startup community, but by device manufactures too.
“There were number of device manufactures who approached us reasonably early wanting to integrate with our function,” Enwall said. “This is a very good sign, meaning manufactures have identified Revolv not as a competitor but as something that will work with their products to allow consumers to easily integrate smart technology into their homes.”
Most importantly consumers and major tech blogs such as TechCrunch have taken notice of Revolv’s slick vision of uniting all devices into one cohesive “smarthome.” Formerly known as MobiPlug, Revolv made a very keen pivot from trying to compete in the smart device market to capitalizing on it. Instead of going up against giants like Phillips and GE, the reborn Revolv is seeking to augment “smart” products by lettings users manage all these devices in one interface, Enwall said.
Revolv began shipping out their wireless hubs in November from major retailers such as Amazon. Enwall speaks of the challenges in bringing a minimum viable product to launch: “It’s really challenging to play the balance between generating revenue and brining the product to market… You always have to delay things in version one.”
Enwall and Revolv seem to have found that balance, with version one doing exactly what it promises and more extended compatibility on the way. Revolv’s hub has an industry record 7 wireless radios which seems go far beyond the typical definition of “minimum.”
That’s because Revolv has aimed higher than the typical MVP, Enwall said: “We had a word for it, minimums delightful product or something like that.” Basically, Revolv wanted to bring a product to market that wasn’t just competitive, but game-changing, even in the first iteration.
For those looking to follow in his footsteps, Enwall has some advice: “First, read and fully comprehend the lean startup method. There is not a better way to go. Ash Maurya’s “Running Lean” covers the practical aspects of the lean startup method. I’ve found the practical side of that book to be so incredibly valuable. The second piece of advice is all cultural. Being very clear about what values you’re going to hire for and fire for.” These values are what will be driving both Enwall and Revolv through the work that is cut out for them going into 2014.
Matthew Sibley contributed writing to this story.
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