He Scaled a $500M Product. His Advice for Water Tech? Slow Down
About this episode
Brad Augustine shares insights on scaling hardware products and the challenges faced in water technology.
A working prototype means nothing if you can't manufacture it at scale. Brad Augustine — VP of Hardware Engineering at Inspiren, former VP of Hardware at Lululemon — is the engineer who scaled the Mirror connected fitness device from startup to a $500M acquisition. In this episode, he shares the product development playbook that water tech founders and engineers need to hear. Brad spent 20 years in hardware product development: building LED lighting and ergonomic furniture at Humanscale, leading the engineering team that cut Mirror's production costs by 40% before the pandemic supply chain crisis, and now building AI-powered senior care hardware at Inspiren. We cover: → Why "hardware is hard" is actually "hardware is fun" → The real gap between a working prototype and mass production → How Brad's team cut 40% of Mirror's BOM cost — and why that saved them when the pandemic hit → Why water industry engineers need to think like product managers → The PFAS trap: are you building for wastewater or drinking water? Two very different customers. → How AI is finally helping engineers navigate tangled regulatory requirements (UL, IEC, FCC, SCADA) → Why…
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