Ring founder Jamie Siminoff turned his video doorbell into a $1 billion sale to Amazon. He has some advice for the next generation of founders.
In an interview with Business Insider, Siminoff offered a handful of tips, ranging from the books founders should read to the reasons they should build. He even recommended they go on “Shark Tank.”
Asked which book a founder should read, Siminoff first referenced his own, “Ding Dong.” He said the “best book,” though, was an almost 20-year-old biography of a business maverick.
Siminoff recommended Neal Gabler’s “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.”
“When you read stuff from today, it’s almost too corollary to what you’re doing,” Siminoff said. “The cool thing is seeing how Walt Disney, one of the greatest product people of all time, how he struggled with all this stuff and then what it became.”
Siminoff also pointed out the book’s long page count, at 912 pages. “The guy who read the audiobook probably died afterward,” he joked.
The Ring founder’s other piece of advice: consider going on “Shark Tank.” Siminoff pitched the Sharks in 2013, when the product was still called DoorBot. Kevin O’Leary made an offer, which Siminoff turned down.
Five years after his “Shark Tank” stint, Siminoff sold his company to Amazon. He also returned to the show that year as an investor.
“If you want to go pitch VCs, when you go on ‘Shark Tank,’ you’re training,” Siminoff said. “When you go to pitch people, you’ve trained at a pro level versus an amateur level.”
Siminoff said that, for anyone who wants to raise money “outside of the platform,” the practice is important.
When Siminoff returned to the show as an investor, he made a deal with a meat delivery company named Moink, which he said was profitable. “It’s paid me back, it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m a terrible investor, so it’s kind of shocking to me that I did well on that.”
“Usually, my investments are a one-way door, not a two-way door,” he said.
Siminoff’s philosophy is clear: Ring is a home security and crime-fighting company, not just a virtual doorbell. He returned to Amazon in April as a VP of Product, leading the home security division, bringing Ring back to its original mission.
For founders, Siminoff recommended that they be equally clear about how their product would make the world a better place.
“It’s not being full Gandhi, but something you at least feel like is going to have some positive impact on the world,” Siminoff said. “If you match that with resiliency and determination, I think you can accomplish anything.”
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