Stahl: Physical disruptors face 12-to-24-month lag between traction and revenue
Elias Stahl · #113 HILOS: Is This The Perfect Business? · Mar 4, 2025 · at 19:09
HILOS founder Elias Stahl explains why physical manufacturing and supply chain tech startups lag in revenue compared to software.
0:00 / 0:17exact quote · 17.4s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“If you want to have impact on the physical world and you want to really Change the impact of these legacy industries. You have to, and that's what we're in this for, but it does mean that you're right. There's a 12, 1824 month period wherein you have a ton of traction But not a lot of revenue to show for that traction yet.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Elias Stahl
Stahl: HILOS operating profit margins will exceed Google and Amazon next year
“The, if you look at profit, we are, our operating profit by next year will be over. More profitable than Google or Amazon, because we don't fundamentally invest or hold the costs of the things that we fulfill for brands.”
HILOS projects $3M in revenue next year, $16M the following year
“Right now we're looking at three million in revenue next year from the brands we currently have signed and under contract, and we believe we have a very strong pathway to get to sixteen million the following year.”
Stahl: HILOS holds exclusive deal with the world's largest 3D printer
“We have incredible partners that the largest, most industrially scaled, three D printing partner in the world that we have an exclusive relationship with.”
Stahl: Revenue multiples are inappropriate for valuing seed-stage startups
“I think revenue multiples for a seed round is too early. That's more of a series A conversation.”
Stahl: AI-driven on-demand footwear completely disintermediates traditional shoe brands
“It completely disintermediates brands. In a way that's pretty significant for the industry.”
HILOS supply chain network turns around on-demand footwear in 72 hours
“So the way that our supply chain works is we essentially have printing partners that maintain very shallow levels of inventories at assembly partners that are each around a certain product type. They're able to then Turn around things in 72 hours.”