The Exchanges

Q Yep. And, um... And you had this idea to transcribe voicemails. How did you come up with that idea?

A So I was with, like, a friend, mentor, this guy Bill Wachtell, really successful lawyer in New York, uh, who was visiting LA, and we were just kind of, you know, we were gonna go out to dinner, and we were sitting around talking, and his son was there, and it was like, you know, the dad's yelling about a voicemail message or something, and he's sitting on his Blackberry, and I had kind of been thinking about this, but it's like, I just kind of blurted it out and said, what happens if you could read your voicemail? And he was like, that'd be great. I'm like, let's do it. He's like, let's do it. And so that was, that started the business. It was like one of those, like, we'll just do a fifty-fifty, done. Like, we're just going to do it, and he helped fund it, and uh, because I understood voice over IP, because I understood the telecom networks now, so again, like, this is building on, I had some fundamental knowledge of how to route a call, how to build a voicemail server, so I literally built a voicemail server, and we built this little system to be able to transcribe voicemail messages, and then send them to you as email.

AI assessment note: “I just kind of blurted it out and said, what happens if you could read”

Q went to Babson College, which is kind of a, not a super well-known school, but mainly focused on business and entrepreneurship. How were you as a kid who was a tinkerer? How did you think, I want to, like, work in a business? Because, I don't know, were you selling stuff? And, I mean, did you, were you kind of already doing businesses on the side before you got there?

A I was, I was doing like lots of entrepreneurial things, but not realizing they were like entrepreneurial. So I was on the way to school. I was like, you know, that we lived in a place where there was horses. And so on the way to school, I'd like shovel people's horse stalls out on the way to school. I can make like a couple hundred bucks a week doing that. And, Every parent that was in business or did anything, I would talk like, it's kind of funny looking back, but like my friends would all be, you know, down on the couch playing games, and I'd be like with the dad talking to them about business or talking, like I wanted to learn all this stuff, and the way I got to Babson was I used to drive this kid to school who was like the wealthiest kid in the town or whatever. I remember being in his kitchen one morning, and he was always late, and the dad came down, who I, like, really looked up to and always wanted to talk to him, and he said to me, just kind of off the cuff, you know, he's making his coffee, and said, like, oh, where are you applying for colleges? And I gave him all these colleges that were, like, liberal arts, like, you know, just sort of general colleges, and I said, Babson, and Babson literally just been thrown into my list, and he goes, huh, Babson. He goes, you know what? He goes, the most interesting and successful people I know went there, and then he just goe…

AI assessment note: “I was, I was doing like lots of entrepreneurial things, but not realizing”

Q Well, so, but, but it sounds like that was kind of the plan. I mean, you sell a company, but you come up with things and it sounds like you're kind of restless, which I think many, if not all the people who've been on the show are. Um, and what's this new idea?

A So this was unsubscribe.com. Yeah. Which is the spam had been solved, but spam meaning like emails that are like not legally sent basically. So like those, those have been like sort of the filters for those have been really tuned to get all that out. The problem you now had was like it's legal email, but it's filling up 50% of your inbox. And so I got this idea of if you could automatically unsubscribe from things, you could clean out 50% of your inbox. You could give back time to employees or yourself. And sort of make a service around it. It is still to this day, I think, one of the best products I've ever done, and one of the worst businesses I've ever been part of. Like the financial side of the business is as bad as it gets, and the product was just awesome.

AI assessment note: “So this was unsubscribe.com. ... if you could automatically unsubscribe from things”

Q Somebody's like, hey, I want to do voice over IP. And make that the new telecom of Bulgaria? Was that the idea?

A So what happened was, is all, like, there had never been the ability for a individual, like a, a, not a, sort of either a government entity or a giant telecom company to send a call from one place to another. You needed physical lines, and like, I mean, it was like, you literally had a boat, like, you know, putting copper through the ocean. I mean, it was, like, And so what voice over IP did is it allowed literally like two guys in an office to deploy these gateways and send a call from the U S to Bulgaria. And so what you could do is you would get local phone lines, you would get a little apartment and you'd put this box in there and you'd send the call through the internet and then you dial it out locally. And the, your cost was the internet cost plus the local charge, which usually was basically free. So Now a call to Bulgaria instead of being 25 cents was, the cost was, call it a penny. And so you would sell a phone card against that, and you would, and this is what sort of opened up all telecom globally.

AI assessment note: “allowed literally like two guys in an office to deploy these gateways and send a call”

Q Why was it so difficult? What were investors?

A I mean, so it was a lot of things. I mean, one is, it was very hard to see that a Wi-Fi doorbell was meaningful in any way. How is this going to do something that's enough to pay back a venture capitalist? Uh, hardware is hard, you know, are you able to build this thing? I couldn't show them a working prototype because I didn't have one. Hmm. The deck was fairly stacked against us. I think the only way I raised the money was just by hustle in terms of like, I think I just wore people down and, and at this point I really didn't have a, I didn't really have the option to not fight because I was so into this. That if it ended, I was going to be in, like, serious trouble financially myself. So I was really, like, going and hustling and just doing it and executing. On the other side, though, I, like, at home, you know, when no one was looking, like, yeah, I was, like, crying inside. Like, I, I, I really thought I, like, destroyed everything for this.

AI assessment note: “it was very hard to see that a Wi-Fi doorbell was meaningful in any way”

Q And how was that when you went back to raise money? Was it a little bit easier?

A No, no. I basically went to these venture capitalists and I talked about the mission, you know, we're going to make neighborhoods safer. We're going to do this. And so, like, most of them just, I mean, they literally didn't even say no. They just didn't even, like, they would just, like, threw us out. Like, it wasn't even, like, I wish it was, like, a no. It was almost, like, like, not even a chance. And there was one venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that was just like super missionary focus. And I didn't really even realize how missionary focus they were. And when I said that, it just like kind of sparked the partner there. And they were so intrigued by that, that they basically invested. But I'll never forget like being in that VC meeting when I said, you know, we need, you know, 4.7 million. And the partner on the other side said, um, you know, there's no way you're getting that out with 4.7 million dollars more. You're going to need a lot, a lot more. And I said, you want to bet? And he said, yeah. I said, well, great. Give me 4.7 million dollars. I'll show you and get it out. Like, I think he was literally like, okay, you know what? For that much, I got to take the bet. And so it was, uh, we were, we were tight. We, we, we launched ring in October of 2014, like, you know, basically October first, 2014, and we were zero dollars in the bank account the day we launched.

AI assessment note: “No, no. I basically went to these venture capitalists and I talked about the mission”

Q And I think I read that, that around this time, like, this is like the late nineties, uh, somebody actually asked you to, to work on like a random business plan in, in Bulgaria?

A Yes. And I, I went there and it was like January, February of 2000. And I think like for my type of brain, those places were like, they were like an empty canvas to an artist. Going to a place where there's so much that needs to be done, my brain wanted to explode. There's just so many businesses, so many things you could do because it was, things are just kind of coming out and people are You know, there's just, everything was needed. Like, it was pretty exciting. So, um, so I go there, I do this business plan, and then I meet a guy who's doing voice over IP. And so that was like my first transition from, I'll say, from being like this service business to actually getting into a real business.

AI assessment note: “Yes. And I, I went there and it was like January, February of 2000.”

Q All right, but now you've got a nice chunk of cash, and was your idea to immediately do the next thing, use that cash, and start the next business?

A So it's funny when you say idea, it sounds like I was planning things out. Um, for a long time, I think I was more like a snowball, just kind of flying down a hill, trying not to crash into something that was going to blow me up. Um, so I, yeah, it wasn't as purposeful as like, oh, I'm now going to do the next company. I had already started playing around with voicemail to text at the time. And so I'll say I just moved my focus there because I didn't have anything else to do. So I just kind of moved the focus to that and kept and, and really kind of doubled down on that business.

AI assessment note: “it wasn't as purposeful as like, oh, I'm now going to do the next company.”

Q I mean, I'm assuming now, 2014, you enter 2014, like, good to go, right? You, you got the lifeline, you got the money, and now it sounds like you're in great shape.

A So again, to the living in fear thing, so I mean, from a, from a, definitely we are in better shape than we were before, that's for sure. Like, like, we had orders coming in, money coming in, but we have this other problem now, which is, Everyone just saw this product, and we were like a ragtag group building this thing with a ragtag product, and now my fear is I am going to be a bartender in five years, and someone's going to say to me, oh, have you ever done whatever? I'm going to say, oh, I actually was the one who invented the video doorbell, and they're going to say, no way, that's Frank Jones or Jenny whatever, and she's a billionaire, and I'm going to be like, I know. I invented it. They took the idea and actually did it right, and so that was like my.

AI assessment note: “definitely we are in better shape than we were before, that's for sure”

Q I'm wondering, what were alarm companies thinking? What were they thinking? I mean, Ring was getting traction in 2014, 20 15, 20 16. Why didn't they, what do you think? Like, why didn't they just copy this idea and make it?

A I mean, so it's interesting. I went to, um, one of the big security companies and talked to the CEOs, and I think they just, they were in sort of a different business than we were, I think, which was, I was in a business of trying to invent around this mission of making neighborhoods safer and really innovate around that, and they were in the business of, I think, trying to capture customers and Like, reduce shrinkage. Like, very, like, MBA type talk. Like, you need to have, like, you know, what's your ROI? What's your this? Like, they were running a business, and I was running an innovation lab around making neighborhoods safer. And so, I, I'll say we got kind of lucky, because yeah, I mean, trust me, if one of the, if someone that big had come out with something much earlier, could they have unseated us? Probably.

AI assessment note: “they were in sort of a different business than we were”

Q And you would need consultants who had expertise to come on and I'm sure their hourly rate was high. And what was the, what was like the biggest challenge that you sort of faced in this first year trying to, trying to solve?

A Would have been amazing if there was one that stuck out. You know, it was like everything was, it was, you know, if you were a skier, it's like everything you looked at was a cliff. Like there was just no easy part of the run. Doing audio like this was hard. Uh, the video was very hard. Uh, we, I, I never had been to China to find a manufacturer. I had to go find someone to do that. It used apps. You know, you had to have a big back-end video processing system. Like, there was, each one of those in itself was a company that would have been hard to do, and so it was, we took on a task that was, I'd say, as, as close to impossible as you can get, I think.

AI assessment note: “Would have been amazing if there was one that stuck out. You know, it was like everything was”

Q So model cars, balsa wood, you're, that was your thing. That was what you love to do. So you are not a great student, but, um, a fine, you know, okay student, like what, like B's and C's?

A Yeah, like B's and C's, and then what happened, um, Land Rover did like a thing in my town, like they brought new cars to it, and my dad and I just went, it was like in the park, and this Land Rover Defender Was being brought into the US, and it was like, it was seeing that thing, I can still picture myself seeing the, like this, at this moment, like it's in my head right now. And I said to my dad, I'm like, man, I would do anything to have that car. My dad goes, get straight A's. And I literally did. I, the first semester, I actually got one B, and I was devastated, and my dad said, I'll extend it, and then I got straight A's the next semester, and it was my junior year, which ended up being super critical for college admission, and so it was this amazing thing where, yes, it was a bribe, but it helped me so much in my life because it's helped me get into probably a better college. It, like, it was a kind of an incredible thing.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, like B's and C's, and then what happened”

Q How were you getting, you were, you were like sourcing electronic components and selling them on campus?

A So I found there was a girl at school and her dad had a, uh, electronic store in Houston, Texas. And, uh, yeah, I was able to convince him to sell my stuff at a lower price. And so, yeah, it was basically like, I wasn't trying to think about business in the way of like, I'm going to try to create a career or some like company. I was always just hustling. You know, I was always like doing stuff and thinking about like, where's there a need hustle? Where's there a need hustle? Um, a buddy and I in college, um, We put posters up all over the place, you know, for 15 dollars an hour, we'll do anything, and so we'd pay kids 10 dollars an hour and make the difference. This is Wellesley, Massachusetts, really nice town. The horrible things people would have you do for 15 dollars an hour was pretty unbelievable, but, you know, we were, we were happy to make, you know, make a little spread, and, uh.

AI assessment note: “there was a girl at school and her dad had a, uh, electronic store”

Q I want to kind of push back a little bit, because I cannot believe that you did not think that this was going to be the product that you guys were working on. You're telling me that no part of you thought that?

A No, it wasn't like I, it wasn't like I hated it and thought it was something stupid. I just, I think I was so my, because it was fixing my problem. And so the funny thing was, as I'm building this doorbell, because the doorbell is for my home, not for Edison Jr., in terms of my thinking at this time, that I'm fixing a problem for me. I wasn't actually, wasn't one of my ideas on a piece of paper. And so I did it on nights and weekends because I didn't want to take time as a fiduciary away from the work I was supposed to be doing in the garage for Edison Jr. So it's just, that's like how little I sort of thought of the idea at the time.

AI assessment note: “that's like how little I sort of thought of the idea at the time.”

Q And, and so when they went out to, to customers, were people happy with them?

A So, interesting story. So, so we, we get them in, and you know, the first ones, you know, we're doing some stuff with, and they're coming, they're kind of trickling in. This is like November of, and we're, we had this one programmer that we hired, and he came up with, hey, we can make the video better if we change these variables, and so he was testing that, and So he sent off to the factory a new build of the software to go on the next round of door bots to make them better. And we were so behind on shipping, and this is getting into the holidays, and you, like, we were worried people were gonna, you know, ask for refunds. So we took this huge shipment, so, you know, thousands and thousands of door bots. And we just turned them around. We just put them in boxes and we just shipped them out that day. And this is getting right into Christmas. And we start hearing, it's like the week before Christmas, people are contacting me and saying, it's not working. It was certainly a challenge device that had a lot of like technical issues, but not working was like, it wasn't not working. And so I talked to them. And I was looking at it and their video was coming through like, like an old TV, like tuner, like, like it was like all like lines through it and just, you couldn't see the picture. And so I'm like, okay, let's look at it. This is now Christmas Eve Eve. So the day before Christmas…

AI assessment note: “people are contacting me and saying, it's not working”

Q When, when that deal came through the, a lot of the articles about it were, he went on Shark Tank, no one invested, they were all dummies. That was, that was basically the story that all these Shark Tank people could have made all this money off of Ring. I mean, I'm sure you saw those articles. Did a part of you think that too?

A You know, Shark Tank, I mean, Shark Tank's a TV show, and I think it's, it's an amazing TV show that does, I think, like, great things for kids to inspire them to build and do things, but, you know, it is a TV show. It does have to entertain. To be fair to the investors, they get up to an hour with someone they've never met before. You know, and they had done so much for us that, yeah, I didn't, I didn't have any bad feelings about it. Um, I am really proud to have built the largest company ever to appear on Shark Tank. I mean, that's something that, you know, certainly, like, I really do get a lot of pride out of that, and then I was invited, and I went back on for a few shows as a shark, and so I was the first person ever to sort of be, you know, on the show as an entrepreneur and then go as a shark, and again, that was, like, really, we have a Something in our culture where we don't celebrate at ring. It's like one of our cultural sort of bullet points.

AI assessment note: “they had done so much for us that, yeah, I didn't, I didn't have any bad feelings”