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…

People in this episode

Host: Ravi Kurani

Guest: Brad Augustine

Topics covered

• hardware engineering
• product development
• water technology
• mass production
• AI in engineering
• cost reduction
• regulatory requirements

Keywords

• hardware is hard
• mass production
• cost reduction
• water tech
• AI in engineering
• regulatory requirements
• product management

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Inspiren, Lululemon, Humanscale

Products: Mirror

Places: AI

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