Hi guys,
I don't know if any of you has come across this yet, so here it is:
http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.de/
Now I need to first comment, that the engineering team was sorely pissed at the idea that we needed whipped into shape by two people who clearly had no idea what to do at a technical startup in the R&D phase. We were almost as pissed as when another article was placed in Techcrunch talking about uBeam achieving the physically impossible, such as charging through a pocket. In my opinion, the addition of these two "C's" marked the end of any hope of the company achieving anything - I left two weeks after that article was published, and I think history is proving my feeling as to what their addition would do to the company was correct.
When I left it was an ugly departure, but was reported to the investors as "the VP Engineering left for personal reasons" - personal reasons being "sick of putting up with this bullshit". I wonder what uBeam's excuse for Hushen will be? "Spending more time with her family", "Having achieved everything she had set out to, it was time to move on to other things", or like me has she left for "personal reasons"? I'm betting on the first.
A question that's often asked on such blogs and forums is "It's never going to work. Why would any engineers work there?" while uBeam themselves point to the fantastic engineers that work there as evidence that they have a solid and viable technology.
So who is right? Well, I can't speak for other engineers, but I can talk about my motivations for doing so. And for me, neither is right, and neither matters - not even considered in my decisions.
As some background to this - I'm very experienced in ultrasound devices and acoustics. It's something I've spent over 20 years working on, am well known in the field, and have encountered pretty much every type of device out there and worked on in one way or another. I'm very good at what I do, and while not wealthy, I'm 'financially stable'. Finding work isn't an issue - but at times finding truly challenging and interesting work is.
So along comes a consulting gig - "Get paid to work on an interesting technical challenge." Of course I'll take it. At this point I start working with the other engineers involved in the project, primarily Marc Berte (the then CTO, who left uBeam in Jan 2015). When you work with a wide range of engineers over the years, you get a feeling for who you want to work with and who you don't. He's very, very sharp, and knows his stuff, and I'm finding I'm learning things from him - and that's pretty uncommon for me - to the point he might be the smartest engineer I've ever worked with.
We're making strides and building things, and sure it's a rollercoaster but this is the sort of thing that just gets to the heart of why you do engineering. Hard challenges, constant learning, being inventive on a tight budget, smart engineering colleagues.
Then the fundraising starts and you're sitting in the offices of big name VC's and rather than the usual 30 minutes of them reading their email as you go through your pitch before "So sorry, maybe in 6 months" it's extending the meeting to two hours and multiple callbacks. Fifteen years living in Silicon Valley and now I'm doing what everyone flocking there is desperate to be.
As an aside - I'd like to think the presence of this engineering team also somewhat swayed the VC's into funding. As the lead investor, Upfront Ventures, commented in a blog post:
"Here is where having Marc Berte and a team out of MIT who have designed systems like this for years gave one confidence we could do something others couldn’t copy and at price points that could make us market leaders over night."
And then you're funded, Series A. Offices by the beach in LA, top-of-the-line equipment you've always wanted, and hiring more great engineers to work with. And why do those great engineers come on? Well from what they all said after - "Hard challenges, smart colleagues to work with and learn from, cool equipment to play with."
Did I join because of the founder CEO and her amazing vision? Her technical savvy? Her management experience and amazing people skills? No, she figured into my decision with the single following factor: "Raises money way better than I can." (More on why engineers struggle to raise money in many future posts).
I joined because of the challenge and the CTO. The next engineer joined because of Marc and I. And so on for pretty much every engineer - and yeah, I ended up speaking for other engineers, so if any uBeam engineers want to pipe up and disagree, feel free.
So if you're looking for someone to blame it all on, blame Marc.
And the point of this story? In my opinion, don't take the presence of smart engineers as confirmation of a technology's viability (either way), and don't think the engineers at a company you find questionable aren't smart and are fully aware of the technical issues of what they're working on. They just want to play with fun toys.
The interesting thing he never says about his work at uBeam is whether he was just taking the money to do interesting work, or if he actually thought there was the possibility of a product somewhere down the road.
The interesting thing he never says about his work at uBeam is whether he was just taking the money to do interesting work, or if he actually thought there was the possibility of a product somewhere down the road.
The interesting thing he never says about his work at uBeam is whether he was just taking the money to do interesting work, or if he actually thought there was the possibility of a product somewhere down the road.
If it doesn't break the laws of physics, it can be done
She doesn't realise it ain't all about physics, there is this pesky thing called engineering reality too
Accurately summarize and communicate project status, risks, and mitigation plans to other departments and to executive management
Prototype build, test and debugging
I am going to reveal my ignorance here (not for the first time) and ask what the "two C's" means.
I have my initial gut response but I'm not sure.
uBeam’s getting ready to ship its wireless phone chargers, so its 26-year old CEO Meredith Perry has hired some hardware industry veterans to whip the business into shape. Former Apple and Palm finance leader Monica Hushen will be uBeam‘s new CFO, and Cisco, Palm, and Nokia VP Jeff Devine is joining as COO.
Heres a line from the new job add.QuoteAccurately summarize and communicate project status, risks, and mitigation plans to other departments and to executive managementIf she can get someone to do this then maybe she could learn from them.
Here is the problem with uBeam (i.e. Perry)
From the job ad for VP of engineering:
http://www.startuphire.com/job/vice-president-electrical-engineering-350972
This is genuinely what Perry thinks:QuoteIf it doesn't break the laws of physics, it can be doneShe doesn't realise it ain't all about physics, there is this pesky thing called engineering reality too
It's clear she doesn't want to learn, she wants to be proven right that she is a genius visionary, an outside the box thinker who ignored engineers and experts and made her dream a reality.Maybe she's the 100th idiot.
Just looking at their job list:
http://www.startuphire.com/search/index.php?searchId=c9231fd8241e5c07058426090048e528
An interesting list of jobs. Looks like they are going to track the uBeams's position optically.
Just looking at their job list:
http://www.startuphire.com/search/index.php?searchId=c9231fd8241e5c07058426090048e528
Aren't they all basic positions that should already be filled by now?
An interesting list of jobs. Looks like they are going to track the uBeams's position optically. Something like flashing IR led that you must not cover up. Boring! I thought they may be doing it somehow with ultrasonics with a phased array on the transmitter.
So this thing is going to have custom ASICs both ends, a camera to track the receiver, I guess a two axis motorized rotator on the transmitter, who knows what to align the receiver, custom ultrasonic transducers both ends, a powerful ultrasonic amplifier on the transmitter, and a really really pathetic data-over-ultrasound capability.
How much is this monster going to cost? I spend about $10 a year on microUSB charging cables, so I hope it will be cheaper then that.
I was thinking that if they are smart, they will use the money to develop useful ultrasonic detection/imaging technology so at least they have something. It doesn't sound like they will end up with any useful technology at all. Perhaps the transducers may have other uses, but it looks like they are still looking for transducer designers. I thought that was the heart of their invention.
The people that do/did work there are very smart, but word is that Meredith doesn't want to hear anything but her own fairytale.
Yep, but it uses beam forming to steer the ultrasonics.
All this bleeding edge tech to replace a $5 Qi charging pad, and at probably 1/50th the efficiency, yeah, winning idea