Crains New York - April 8, 2013 - (Page 9)

SMALL BUSINESS Hardware Meetup hooks up talent Hardware Meetup is on that list.” One reason that hardware companies are proliferating, noted Jeff Glasse, CEO and founder of 10employee Kogeto in SoHo, is that the spread of low-cost technologies has lowered the barriers to developing prototypes. Kogeto makes Lucy, a 360-degree, stand-alone camera used mostly in education and the television industry, and Dot, an iPhone camera attachment that enables 360-degree video. BY EILENE ZIMMERMAN T hree years ago, Marshall Cox was a graduate student in electrical engineering at Columbia University, sharing a bedroom with his brother. The steam radiator in their room left him sweating at night, while his brother, sleeping across the room, froze. “It was a constant battle,” Mr. Cox said. To fix the problem, he created an insulating blanket—much like an oven mitt—and wrapped it around the radiator. The blanket prevented heat from rising up or spreading out into the room. Attached to it was a thermostatically controlled fan. When the room cooled to a certain point, the fan would turn on and push out hot air. Vital connections This was the first version of the “thermostatic radiator enclosure”device that became the cornerstone of Mr.Cox’s startup,Radiator Labs,co- founded with engineer John Sarik and Columbia engineering professor John Kymissis.The latest iteration of his device, which is wireless, is being tested in a 100-unit student apartment building at Columbia. Mr. Cox belongs to the fastgrowing New York Hardware Startup Meetup, where he often exchanges ideas with fellow members. “It’s great knowing people working on the same kinds of stuff,” he said. “People are always introducing each other to investors and other engineers and connections.” A year ago, the Hardware Meetup didn’t exist. Robotics engineer Haytham Elhawary started it last June to connect engineers, entrepreneurs and hardware hobbyists. Today, it has more than 450 members, mirroring an expanding hardware startup scene in the city. It hasn’t hurt the Meetup’s cachet that in December, Mr. Elhawary became director of the new Zahn Center for Entrepreneurship at City College of New York, an incubator. The success of high-profile busi- TINKERER: Marshall Cox’s frustration with a steam radiator spawned his startup. nesses in this niche also has fueled investors’interest.Last August,Brooklyn’s Makerbot, which produces 3-D printers, attracted $10 million in funding,and LittleBits,a Manhattan firm that makes tiny magnetic circuit boards, raised $3.6 million. “A team of people who have built buck ennis Founders of future Makerbots, and investors, come together in fast-growing group hardware is more credible than the average team who just build a Web service,” said Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures,a $10 million fund that invests in early-stage companies.“If I’m ranking the top 25 sources of where an interesting deal might come out of in the next year,the Sharing resources Mr. Glasse said he attends the Hardware Meetup because it’s “heartening to see other people swimming in the same uncertainty as you do.” The group can be a source of hardto-find talent. Ask Ryan Rzepecki, CEO of four-employee Social Bicycles, a Manhattan-based bike-share company whose vehicles come with an integrated locking system, onboard computer and cellular connection.After a referral from Mr.Cox,he recently hired a techie he met at the Meetup. The Hardware Meetup, he said, “is a great way to share and find resources—like electrical engineers.” Ⅲ To sign up for Crain’s SMALL BUSINESS newsletter, go to www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz. April 8, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 9 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 8, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REPORT: BANKING
THE LISTS
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - April 8, 2013