← Habits and Hustle
Habits and Hustle
Episode 555: Jamie Siminoff: Why "Acting Like a CEO" Killed More Startups Than Failure Ever Did
01:28:46
Loading summary
Transcript634 lines
- [00:01]
Jamie Siminoff
Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. Do you know the story of Rolex? No. It's a non for profit. This is a non for profit company.
- [00:13]
Jennifer
Hold that thought. We should. Okay, I'm gonna keep this in the scene. That is crazy. Guys, I want to tell you people who you are because I'm already going. This is going to be on the podcast. Okay, so we have Jamie Simonoff. Just f. By the way, then we're going to tell you the Rolex story in two seconds. Jamie is the founder of Ring. He sold it for $1.1 billion.
- [00:33]
Jamie Siminoff
1.15.
- [00:34]
Jennifer
I mean, I mean, just like, you know, like semantics here a little. Okay. And it was. It was bought by Amazon. He then went to. It was acquired. But now you're. You went to work with. For Amazon and then you stopped, stayed for five years. Okay.
- [00:49]
Jamie Siminoff
I was just. I mean, I was kind of burnt and whatever.
- [00:51]
Jennifer
Left.
- [00:51]
Jamie Siminoff
Left for a little bit. And then I came back last. I've been back like a year now.
- [00:56]
Jennifer
Okay, then you came back to run. Now he's back at Amazon to run Ring. Okay, now before we even talk about you, tell us the Rolex story.
- [01:05]
Jamie Siminoff
Well, so these guys do this podcast called Acquired.
- [01:08]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [01:08]
Jamie Siminoff
And what I think is interesting is some of the ones they do are companies I just never would have known about. And Rolex, which we all know as I guess a company or we thought.
- [01:16]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [01:17]
Jamie Siminoff
Is actually like, it's. I think it's like the largest non for profit in the world or something. Or one of them. It's never heard that secretive non for profit thing that was started by this guy during the World War I. Oh, wow. And he basically invented the watch because when, when you're in. When you're fighting in a war, it turns out that everything was a pocket watch. And so to be able to see time if you're like sitting with a gun or something, like, you can't. So like he basically put the pocket watch on your wrist. So it's like a crazy story.
- [01:44]
Jennifer
Hold on. How did it become a non for profit, though? Like, how did that.
- [01:48]
Jamie Siminoff
Somehow. I think, I mean, because it was so old. I think when he died or something, like gave it to this thing, it became like a charitable foundation.
- [01:57]
Jennifer
Oh.
- [01:57]
Jamie Siminoff
And so it's like this gigantic company that's not a company that's like this brand. It's. It's just wild. So it's a great. I, I mean, to anyone, you know, it's a great podcast to listen to. Of a story that I think most people just had no idea. I certainly had zero. Like, no, no idea about it.
- [02:15]
Jennifer
I was basically, like, schooling Jamie before you. You know, before this whole thing of what podcast he listens to. Has he heard of this? Does he like it? He's not wasting his time. People do listen to it, and then that's how this whole story happened in the first place. So this is like a unique way of start an intro.
- [02:30]
Jamie Siminoff
Yes, but.
- [02:31]
Jennifer
But. But I like the uniqueness of it. Okay, now let's talk about you. Okay, so Jamie has a lot. I'm sure we can glean a lot of great information from you because you really are like, an entrepreneur's entrepreneur. I've read a ton of stuff about you. And what I really loved. I was saying this to you before. Like, I really like. What I love about you is that you, from what you've said about yourself and what other people have said, that you just have a lot of grit and you are just super persistent. And it wasn't that you, in your words, not the most savvy smart guy, but you work really hard.
- [03:04]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, it's definitely. My superpower is like, I just keep pushing, just keep grinding and grinding and grinding.
- [03:12]
Jennifer
And so this is what the show's all about. Like, I. That's obviously why it resonates so much. Habits hustle similar to that with you, to you. So can you just start from the beginning? I know you were a serial entrepreneur before ring even happened. So what were you doing? Like, how did this whole. The whole ring thing.
- [03:28]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, serial entrepreneur is like another word for failing entrepreneur.
- [03:32]
Jennifer
I'd say, okay.
- [03:33]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, because people would say, like, oh, it's so great you're a serial entrepreneur. And it's like, yeah, I mean, I've started all these things. It's just because none of them actually, like, became anything impactful. And I think. And my type of entrepreneur is more of an inventor than an entrepreneur. So I think there's just different, like, types. We were talking even earlier, like, there's, like, all these people that built. Like, there's people that just build companies and sell them. There's, like, people that whatever. Like, I'm more of an inventor. Like, I like to build something that solves a problem, and the best thing an inventor can do is solve a lot of people's problems. So, like, like, the more people you solve the problem for, the better. And so I had started a bunch of things. I did voicemail to text so you could, like, read your voicemail, which when you had blackberries and you're getting all these voicemails, but that was also at a time when voicemail was declining and it just never really took off. And so I kind of made a tiny bit of money with it, but not really. So I did a bunch of these things that were like, cute, great ideas. Didn't really take traction. I'm a serial entrepreneur, which means I just couldn't find anything that worked. And then I finally. I mean, it was like when I hit ring like that, I finally hit something that really resonated at scale and then I could work on to build something, you know, massive.
- [04:37]
Jennifer
Well, also, you're solving. You. It's interesting because I. I think I heard you say this. Like, if you were gonna. If you were to build a doorbe company, it wouldn't have probably scaled and worked the way it is, but you kind of had a different approach or you kind of were solving more of a security, a neighborhood problem or. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah.
- [04:56]
Jamie Siminoff
And I got. I mean, luck has to be your co pilot. And so I got there in a lucky way. I was in the garage, literally, like, working in my garage and inventing stuff, like all these other things. I couldn't hear the doorbell. I had just gotten an iPhone and I'm like, oh, well, the iPhone. Like, there must be a doorbell that goes to the iPhone, right? This is in 2011. I looked online. There's no doorbell that goes to the iPhone. So I built one.
- [05:19]
Jennifer
How did you know how to build one, though?
- [05:20]
Jamie Siminoff
I just like, I am a tinkerer. Like, I've always. Since I've been a kid, like, I'm like, I. Like when I needed something, I go in the basement and build it.
- [05:26]
Jennifer
Like MacGyver.
- [05:27]
Jamie Siminoff
I am like MacGyver. Like, yeah, I'm like a. Like a gritty MacGyver.
- [05:30]
Jennifer
So you basically have like a what, Like a paper. Like a. Like a toothpick and a paperclip.
- [05:34]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, not far off. I mean, I basically, I went to Fries, which was a. You know, back then, there was. There was. Fries was like where all the electronic stuff was, especially like that kind of longer tail of electronics. And I bought a WI FI camera. And because there was WI FI cameras, there's lots of them actually. And I kind of soldered and hacked something up to make it work like a doorbell.
- [05:52]
Jennifer
But how did you even. Like, how did you know how to do that? Like, at the time, it wasn't chat GPT. I guess you can Google, like, how to do.
- [05:59]
Jamie Siminoff
I Mean, I think the best way to do anything is just like, get the soldering iron out and break it. Like, I mean, just shock yourself. Like, I mean, you know, like, it's like, just. I've always been someone who likes. Like, the first thing I do is something, is take it apart.
- [06:10]
Jennifer
Oh, okay.
- [06:11]
Jamie Siminoff
So I mean, I just always, like, that's. That's my natural curiosity. So, like, to me, like, trying to build a doorbell from a WI FI camera was like, okay, like, let's see what happens. Like, let's see if it happens. If I, like, if I do this, if I spike this, can I get an alert to come out? Like, you know, it's like. And so I just kind of played with it, built this. I kind of hacked this thing up. I called it door Bot because door robot sounded funny. I'm like a guy in a garage, put it on my front door as this giant thing, and my. I sort of like, get my wife to use it. And she said it made her feel safer at home. And that was the start of this aha moment, right? All sort of home security, everything around, like, everything until that time was not being built in a way to deliver presence, to actually try to reduce crime in neighborhoods, to like, to impact it. It was all built in, like a pre. Pre phone. Pre connection. And that you could rebuild all home security basically in a new way. So that was the. And that aha wasn't like, immediate, but that was like the start of that aha moment, which is still today's. Our mission is to make neighborhoods safer. Making neighborhoods safer is what built Ring into being the world's largest home security company, which I'm pretty sure it is today.
- [07:14]
Jennifer
If you really actually think about it. Most people I know have the rate. Like, have a ring.
- [07:19]
Jamie Siminoff
Most good people, yes.
- [07:20]
Jennifer
Like, most people like, you actually created like, you know, Kleenex, you know, tissue. Like, that's kind of what you did. You created the same kind of. For that analogy. Like an entire, like, vertical or iterate. Like a whole different category.
- [07:37]
Jamie Siminoff
It's a. It's a category, and our brand is the brand of the category. I mean, you'll hear people say, you know, sometimes on the news you'll see like, another camera. Yeah, I know it's another camera. They say the ring camera caught. And I'm like, that wasn't a ring camera. And I just smile because it's. I mean, it's like, what an amazing. I mean, it's like, pinch me. I'm like a kid Jersey who likes the tinker in his basement and, you know, created something that, like, will be like. It's. It's like multi generational. I mean, it's the. It is incredible.
- [08:03]
Jennifer
So, okay, so how long did it actually take you to build? Like, was that the first iteration of. How many. How many iterations of that did you do at the beginning?
- [08:11]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, I'd say hundreds of iterations overall, because you're just kind of constantly doing it. Like, you're not even keeping track. And it took us till 2014. Like, we. We. So it was about three and a half years of who's we?
- [08:24]
Jennifer
By the way, who was.
- [08:24]
Jamie Siminoff
We was like me and then like a. Like one or two kids in the garage, basically. So, like, literally. And they. Both August and John, and they still work for Ring today. So.
- [08:32]
Jennifer
So who were. Who were these guys?
- [08:34]
Jamie Siminoff
John was kind of a. He was. Went to Philadelphia University and was like a. Kind of a. Like a designer, but like more like graphic designer, who I forced to become a mechanical engineer. I'm like, john, if you can draw it, why can't you just do this? And he's like, okay, boss. Like, you know, we have, like, I love that. And then August was just like, I went to Berkeley, went Boulder, and was just a jack of all trades kind of guy. And so between the three of us, we just kind of did it. And then, you know, brought in a couple engineering people.
- [09:00]
Jennifer
And were they your partners or like equal partners, or were they working with for you or.
- [09:05]
Jamie Siminoff
No, I was the founder.
- [09:07]
Jennifer
You were the founder? The only founder?
- [09:09]
Jamie Siminoff
Only founder.
- [09:10]
Jennifer
And so did they get, like, did you say, hey, if you do this with me, I'll give you 10%? Or did you just pay them?
- [09:16]
Jamie Siminoff
They got some equity, but it was more salary. Like, I mean. I mean, it was. You know, it's like you put yourself back in that position. I mean, I would have probably if they said to me, no salary, I'll take 10%, I'm sure.
- [09:25]
Jennifer
Right.
- [09:26]
Jamie Siminoff
You know, at the time. But like, they needed. They were like young guys that need money and to live. And so I paid them and, you know, I raised a little bit of money to do it.
- [09:34]
Jennifer
And so how much did you initially raise?
- [09:37]
Jamie Siminoff
The first raise was under a million dollars. It was 500,000 bucks, I think, was the first one.
- [09:43]
Jennifer
And so what. How far along were you before you even started to raise like that?
- [09:48]
Jamie Siminoff
That, like, that was right out. Like, that was in off the. Out of the gates. Yeah, I kind of raised that.
- [09:52]
Jennifer
And so when did you go on Shark Tank and get rejected?
- [09:55]
Jamie Siminoff
That was 2013.
- [09:56]
Jennifer
Okay, so you started in 2010, you
- [09:59]
Jamie Siminoff
said 11, so you started like a, like built. So I was. And I was in my garage trying to build other stuff. So that's actually what I raised the money for was this called Edison Jr. Which was like a lab to build ideas basically.
- [10:09]
Jennifer
Really?
- [10:10]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [10:11]
Jennifer
And so like, like kind of like an incubator.
- [10:13]
Jamie Siminoff
Kind of like an incubator. Yeah. Of like our own ideas. And that's like. I was, I had these other things I was trying to build and that's what. I couldn't hear the doorbell, so.
- [10:21]
Jennifer
God, that's so funny.
- [10:22]
Jamie Siminoff
It's wild.
- [10:23]
Jennifer
So then what, like, so how did it go from that? Then two years later, being on Shark Tank? Not as a shark.
- [10:29]
Jamie Siminoff
So no, I mean it's like so non linear that it's crazy. So yeah, I look for a doorbell, can't find one, build one. My wife says it makes her feel safer at home. Like that's kind of cool. But still not an aha moment. We're building this like thing called Edison Jr. We're trying to put. We had hardware products mostly and we were trying to put them on Kickstarter to get them funded, you know, for pre sale. Kickstarter at the time decided to kick off anyone that was a hardware product. So we launched a new Kickstarter called Christie street and which is the street that Edison's lab was on. And I was going to a conference. This guy Luke Lemure, who had this conference in Paris called Le Web, was a kind of a friend. And I said, luke, you got to let me launch this at your conference. And he's like, oh, Jamie, you know, this is not very, you know, he's like, it's like literally like Sergey Brin was speaking at his conference. And I'm like, he's like, you know, Jamie, it was like the biggest conference, biggest tech conference in Europe. I'm like, you got to do it, Loic. He's like, okay, so we get on the phone and we're like going through it and his like his team and like, what it's going to look like, the presentation. And I'm like, we have to, we're going to put a product up. But here's a bunch of ideas we have. The last one was the doorbell and we get through them all. And I'm like, do you have like, what do you think will resonate with like the audience there? And he's like, the doorbell. And I'm like, really? You think so? And he's like, it has to be the Doorbell. I'm like, okay. And so it wasn't even. It was like kind of like a last minute almost ad. I just put it on there. And the idea was they launched this site that people would sell hardware on and pre sale and like a Kickstarter and we'd kind of in essence sell off this doorbell thing and get out of it quickly. And all people talked about when we launched was the doorbell. That became the thing. We ended up killing the site, started selling the doorbell, then realized we had to build the doorbell, which was a disaster in itself. And. And then through that I got on Shark Tank.
- [12:07]
Jennifer
Well, how. So there's. How did you go from that to Shark Tank? Did they reproach you? Because I know that's what happens a lot.
- [12:14]
Jamie Siminoff
They did a little bit. So I went to lunch with another friend in la, like a guy who was building a little business here. And like a friend of a friend's like, you guys should get together. And so I go to go to lunch with him and he's talking about his business and all this stuff. And meanwhile I'm kind of thinking in my head and I'm really thinking this. I'm like, this is why like basically you're not making it. Jamie is like, you're out to lunch, like with some entrepreneur, like talking about like advice. And meanwhile you're like, you're like, you're literally failing in your garage. Like, you're like, you're basically like tanking your entire family. And you're at lunch with this guy in Santa Monica like talking about some whatever business. And at the end of, he's like,
- [12:50]
Jennifer
what are you working on?
- [12:51]
Jamie Siminoff
I'm like, oh, this doorbell. And it was actually again kind of funny because put yourself back into that moment when someone said they're working on a doorbell, they'll go to your phone. You actually laughed. Like people would literally like viscerally laugh and be like, no, seriously, what are you working on? Like, everyone's working on cool stuff. Like, oh, I'm doing this, I'm reinventing this. Like, I'm doing whatever. And I'm like, the doorbell, it goes to your phone. They're like, no, seriously, what are you doing? And I'm like, no, that's seriously what I'm doing. Like, sorry, like, you know, I'm an idiot. And so they, the guy's like, oh, that's really cool. The Shark Tank's looking for better products. Do you want me to introduce you to the. Or here's the email of the producer.
- [13:24]
Jennifer
Is that like Clay New Bill.
- [13:25]
Jamie Siminoff
It's one of the guys who work for Clay.
- [13:27]
Jennifer
Okay.
- [13:27]
Jamie Siminoff
And he's like, you know, because they. They reached out, like, through, like, his connections, whatever, and they just said, like, if you know of anything good, send it over. So I literally send an email, like, hey, I'm Jamie Simonov. You know, doorbackdorbot.com I start driving home from the lunch, and they call, and they're like, you need to be on Shark Tank. And I'm like, holy shit. There was 30,000 people plus applied the year that I got on, so it was, like, crazy.
- [13:49]
Jennifer
That many?
- [13:50]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. I mean, Shark Tank was like, at the time, like, 2012, 13, 14, Shark Tank was like the number one show on TV.
- [13:57]
Jennifer
Were they still taking that 1% in perpetuity?
- [14:00]
Jamie Siminoff
So they. When I. When that guy called me, they were okay, but they were just in the transition period of stopping that.
- [14:07]
Jennifer
Okay.
- [14:08]
Jamie Siminoff
Which turned out to be. Mark Cuban was the one who basically said, like, we're not going to do that anymore. They actually retroactively went and stopped. They. They gave it all back. They ended up never taking a percentage of anyone's company.
- [14:18]
Jennifer
I didn't know that. Really.
- [14:19]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, they went back and retroactively just nuked it all.
- [14:22]
Jennifer
Many, many years ago. When it was, I think the first or second. It was the second season of the show, they reached out to me. I had a shoe, like a weighted shoe. A weighted shoe called no Gym Required Shoe. Anyway, he reached out to me to be on the show and. Aw, I'm Canadian. So it became an issue with the visas. But then it was this 1% in perpetuity, and my partner was like, there's no way that we're going to go on some show because they. They were. The idea was they were going to take that 1% regardless if you even, like, got on the show. Right.
- [14:54]
Jamie Siminoff
For the ad.
- [14:55]
Jennifer
Exactly. Like, even if you make a deal, not make a deal, whatever, you have to give up. Like. Like, they must have lost out on a lot of amazing, smart entrepreneurs, because not. People don't want to be doing that.
- [15:06]
Jamie Siminoff
It was an expensive ad at that point. Like, I mean, if you did that and it was like, yeah, people didn't want to do it.
- [15:11]
Jennifer
Like, for you. If you. If that. If they took a 1% from your.
- [15:14]
Jamie Siminoff
I was so desperate, I probably would have done it. Like, I would have taken money from Satan at the time. I mean, I. Like, you know, I was desperate.
- [15:20]
Jennifer
Well, wait, so then at that time when you went on, did you. Have you sold any?
- [15:25]
Jamie Siminoff
So, yeah, we had. So we, the, the pre sale started in 2012, so December 2012, we announced it.
- [15:32]
Jennifer
Okay.
- [15:32]
Jamie Siminoff
And then I went on Shark Tank. We filmed September of 2013. It went on November of 2013.
- [15:39]
Jennifer
Okay.
- [15:40]
Jamie Siminoff
And we started shipping Doorbots. It was called Doorbot at the time still, like the actual product. We started shipping them basically two weeks after we were on Shark Tank is when we had them come in from Asia and we started shipping them out. So.
- [15:51]
Jennifer
But before you got on that show, did you actually pre sell any of them?
- [15:55]
Jamie Siminoff
Well, yeah, we had pre sold like, like a couple million dollars worth.
- [15:57]
Jennifer
Okay. So then.
- [15:58]
Jamie Siminoff
Oh no, it was like, it was like legit.
- [16:00]
Jennifer
Okay, so you already had that. Okay. So then you.
- [16:01]
Jamie Siminoff
But it's still. But it's so funny because it's like we. If you had told me like when we launched it, you're gonna pre sell a couple million dollars. But oh my God, this is awesome.
- [16:08]
Jennifer
Right?
- [16:09]
Jamie Siminoff
Problem was like blowing through millions of dollars in hardware is like the easy. Like it's like, yeah, you're done. I mean like we were spending them like the money engineering this. Like, I mean we were so negative on that product. It was crazy.
- [16:20]
Jennifer
Really? How much were you negative at this point?
- [16:23]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, we were. Had to be at least if we had shut it down, we at least owed a million bucks or $2 million because we were ordering like supply, like.
- [16:30]
Jennifer
Right.
- [16:30]
Jamie Siminoff
Ordering parts and ordering all this stuff. And like, I mean, it's just like you're just dead.
- [16:33]
Jennifer
You're just. Yeah, you're just like just, I mean, spending money.
- [16:36]
Jamie Siminoff
And I did. I used the money, like the pre sale money I used to design the product, but then I didn't have money to buy the product. So like, like part of why we like like shipped right after Shark Tank is like we got all this money. We. The sales went up after Shark Tank, which then I could turn that. You know, three days is how long it takes for a credit card to settle. So I'm sending that money to the manufacturers to clear out inventory.
- [16:56]
Jennifer
That's incred. So wait, so you. Because when you went on there, okay, you have about 2 million in sales, blah, blah, blah. They all turned you down because of two reasons I saw or heard was first was the fact that the hardware was expensive.
- [17:09]
Jamie Siminoff
Yep.
- [17:09]
Jennifer
Right. And then what was the.
- [17:11]
Jamie Siminoff
It is expensive compared to a doorbell,
- [17:14]
Jennifer
compared to a door.
- [17:15]
Jamie Siminoff
Funny. Remember, put yourself back in that time. Like no one thinks about it like that now. Like, everyone's like, oh, it's a door. Like a video doorbell camera. Like a doorbell camera. Like, like There's a whole category.
- [17:24]
Jennifer
Yeah, you created the category.
- [17:26]
Jamie Siminoff
And I still very much, like, have a good share in it. But. But the. Back then it was like, a doorbell is $20, $15. Yeah, like, whatever. And it's like, yours is 200. Like, there's no way someone's gonna spend $200 on a doorbell. And I'm like, well, it's not a doorbell. It doesn't. It's a doorbell. And so then that was a big part of the mess. And then it was also, again, market size. Like, how many doorbells sell a year now at that time? And this is where data can be so wrong for people. Like, when you follow data, it can be so wrong. And this is where opportunities are going to exist for entrepreneurs as we get more lazy with AI. AI can only see the future based on the past. Like, it's literally how it works. And real entrepreneurs are able to see the future completely in an orthogonal different way. So you look at the data on doorbells and you're like, yeah, there's like a hundred million dollars a year of doorbells, whatever it is. But when did someone buy a doorbell? When it broke. The only time someone. Or when they built a new house. So built a new house. Or when it literally broke. And a doorbell lasts for 30, 40 years, whatever. It lasts on a house. And so of course, there was no market for doorbell. But if. What. What happens if you came up with something that people wanted on their front door? Now, what's the market size? It turns out the market size was multiple billions of dollars.
- [18:42]
Jennifer
Wow.
- [18:42]
Jamie Siminoff
And so people just didn't see the market. Uber was another great example of where no one could. Everyone said like, well, taxi business is only this big. Uber can only be this percentage of it. And it's like, what happens if you change how people travel? Like, what is that market size? And I think. And I think that is like, again, I think especially with AI, we're going to look over a lot of businesses because you're going to type into AI, like, I'm thinking about doing adorable. It's going to be like, the maximum size of this business could be this. And you're like, oh, no, I'm not going to do it.
- [19:13]
Jennifer
That is so true. But. And isn't that also not. I'll take a little small tangent about prompting being really, really savvy and you knowing how to prompt these things or which one to use. And it keeps on being like, AI. What I had, what I'm doing on it now was very different than what it was happening to even two weeks ago. Iterates every minute of the day.
- [19:31]
Jamie Siminoff
It is definitely getting better, smarter. I think it's going to be very hard though to prompt it to make that big of a leap. Yeah, like, I think it's going to be very hard to like and I think that's where like an entrepreneur, an inventor having like, you know, having true passion about something, mission purpose is like I do think that's still going to exist in the future as a differentiator between success and failure.
- [19:54]
Jennifer
And also AI does not have grit or perseverance and all those other work ethic things that I believe you need with luck. Right. The combination. Okay, so let's go back to the shark thing. But it's so interesting. Okay, so then what was the other reason they gave you besides the hardware?
- [20:08]
Jamie Siminoff
So it was. Yeah, so it was basically like, you know, it's too expensive. How big is the market? Yeah, I mean those are I guess the two big. I think that was the two biggest one. They just couldn't see like they couldn't see this product being big enough, you know, so, so like they're like, you know, they're like, of course someone will buy it, but it's not going to be big enough.
- [20:24]
Jennifer
Is. How about Nest? Is Nest considered to be your big competition?
- [20:28]
Jamie Siminoff
I would say at this point. No, I mean, like, I think, I mean they're, they're out there and they, they, you know, they do the good job in their place. But no, they're not like they're not doing. Not that big.
- [20:36]
Jennifer
They're not that big. Okay, so then when the show actually aired, how much did your sales go up? Like a thousand percent. Five thousand percent?
- [20:43]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. So we were selling, we were like doing like a couple hundred grand a month and we. So. And that was actually the scariest thing of going Shark tank is so you go on and they're like, you're gonna have this bump. And like no one knows exactly. Like each product sells differently. And so we're like, okay. So I'm fearing the bump is gonna be like within the first few hours of the show and that's it. Like that, that's all we're gonna get. Funny side note, we were on Shopify. Our site was on Shopify. I call up Toby, who's the CEO of Shopify now. Remember you gotta go back that he was the CEO of Shopify. Shopify was not that big of a company. Like Shopify today is like a hundred plus billion dollar company. So like calling up the CEO of Shopify today would be insane.
- [21:20]
Jennifer
Right?
- [21:20]
Jamie Siminoff
Back then, it's like calling, like, the local person that they are, like the local person who runs the restaurant down the street. And I'm like, calling Toby. I'm like, hey, we're going to be on Shark Tank, whatever, two weeks from now. He's like, okay, you're fine. And I'm like, no, you don't understand. If you go down, like, I'm going to drive to Canada and kill you.
- [21:36]
Jennifer
Right.
- [21:36]
Jamie Siminoff
You know, basically. And we have this email exchange, which is very funny, which we still saved, of him and I going back and forth, and he's like, we've spent over a million dollars on servers now. Like Shopify now. I mean, it's. I know, hundreds of billions. And I'm like, no, you don't understand. The traffic so big. So it's like just very funny. These, like, two entrepreneurs that are, like, going back and forth. So I was really worried it was gonna go down because I felt like it was gonna be such a bump. So we, you know, we go on Shark Tank, kind of wake up the next morning basically hungover, as you know, when it. When the show actually aired. And it was like a hundred and something thousand in sales. So I was excited to have a hundred thousand sales, but I'm like, that's it, right? Like, oh, my God. I did all this work for 100. Whatever, 150,000 in sales, whatever it was. Then the next day, 150,000 in sales, next day, a hundred. Like, it was like, literally, it just. And it then started going down slowly. It never went back to, like, we were like maybe four or five thousand a day or something, you know, going into Shark Tank.
- [22:30]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [22:31]
Jamie Siminoff
It never went below. Like, it was like, stayed at like 30,000 or something. Like, it was crazy. It just like stayed up.
- [22:37]
Jennifer
So would you say that it was because of the Shark Tank, the exposure of Shark Tank that kind of catapulted the business?
- [22:43]
Jamie Siminoff
Then I would say, I think there's. With any business, there's like a million. Like, literally a million things that make it successful, which is why it's hard to build a successful company, because it's never one thing, right? I would. Shark Tank, of the one things, I think it was the. One of the most impactful. I mean, it was like being on. It was like people being in a garage going on a Super bowl ad.
- [23:02]
Jennifer
Yeah, yeah.
- [23:02]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, it was that kind of level. And Shark Tank at the time was. It was like the number one show on tv. So it was. Not only were you on Shark Tank. You were on, like, the number one show on TV for 12 minutes. It was basically an ad on the whole business, 100%.
- [23:14]
Jennifer
And it wasn't like you were like, now you have social media to compete with. Right? Like, people. No one's even watching tv.
- [23:20]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, this was when, like, TV was tv. Like, this was right at the end of that, actually. It was, like, right there.
- [23:24]
Jennifer
I still like the show, though, by the way.
- [23:26]
Jamie Siminoff
I think it's a great show.
- [23:27]
Jennifer
I love that show.
- [23:28]
Jamie Siminoff
It's a great show. It's great for kids to watch. It, like, inspires people. It's inspired a whole generation. Like, I love Shark Tank.
- [23:35]
Jennifer
Me too. Who were the judges when you were on?
- [23:38]
Jamie Siminoff
It was. So it was Robert.
- [23:40]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [23:40]
Jamie Siminoff
Kevin, Lori, Damon and Mark.
- [23:45]
Jennifer
So did any. Once you, like, walked out of the tank or whatever?
- [23:49]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [23:49]
Jennifer
What happened with. Did you make a friend? Like, did you become really good friends with any of them? Did they. Any of them reach out to you?
- [23:55]
Jamie Siminoff
Not at that point. So at that point, like, I mean, I walked out and, like, you know, kind of nothing happened. We aired. They saw immediately that, like, from our airing and the response that they got that, like, this was something unique.
- [24:08]
Jennifer
Was it one of the highest rate, like, in terms of products that, like, kind of didn't say pretty quickly?
- [24:12]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, it was like one of the obvious. And then they, like our sales, like, they ask you pretty. You know, they're like, clay and the team that run it are pretty sharp. So they were like, how are your sales?
- [24:20]
Jennifer
Whatever.
- [24:20]
Jamie Siminoff
And I'm like, oh, we've done, you know, we'd done like a million dollars in the first whatever. Like, so we were blowing out every number they had pretty quickly. So I think it was, like, it was early that they realized they should stay in touch. I don't think they understood how big it would be. I didn't myself either.
- [24:35]
Jennifer
Right.
- [24:35]
Jamie Siminoff
But it was like, starting to already, like, you know, become something. We did, like, an update episode, I think, a year later in the next season, and then it just kept going, kind of rolling from there.
- [24:46]
Jennifer
So, wait, so when did you raise money? Like, the next round. So you did 500,000?
- [24:51]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, I was raising. I mean, during Shark Tank, I was raised. I was raising. I was trying to raise a million dollars. When we went on Shark tank, I had 300,000 circled. I went for 700, 000 on shark tanks. I actually needed that money and I didn't get it. So I just kept like. I mean, I was. I was freaking by hook and crook and whatever. I was Trying to get every dollar in. I mean I was like literally just, just scraping at the barrel constantly to get money. Like, I mean that was the entire. Until we sold, basically.
- [25:19]
Jennifer
Okay, so how much in. In all the money you raise, how much did you raise altogether?
- [25:23]
Jamie Siminoff
It's like 220 million or something.
- [25:25]
Jennifer
That's a lot.
- [25:27]
Jamie Siminoff
It was not a little. Yeah.
- [25:28]
Jennifer
Wow. So how much did you get diluted with all that?
- [25:30]
Jamie Siminoff
A lot.
- [25:32]
Jennifer
Like 80%, 40%?
- [25:34]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, like the high, high, like 80s.
- [25:36]
Jennifer
80%. Wow. So like even though you sold it for 1.15 billion. Yeah, yeah. It was just an insane amount of money. You like walked away with how much? Like 100 million?
- [25:49]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, like, I mean that range, it's like, it's like I, like I made more money than I ever thought I'd ever have ever. And like, so I look like 18 year old Jamie is very proud of 49 year old Jamie. Like super proud. But people on the outside certainly have this like, they think I made like a hundred billion somehow. Like not even like a bit like, it's like they like, like hundreds of billions.
- [26:11]
Jennifer
And so like, it's so funny how that happens.
- [26:14]
Jamie Siminoff
It is funny. And I see it like a lot is like that. Like, that's just. Yeah, because you get diluted, you're like investors. I mean, it's.
- [26:21]
Jennifer
We'll talk about that. I think people don't know that. I mean, you know, I've had a few people on the show, we talked about how orange people. I know, let's say they sell their company for a billion or 2 billion, but they still. And that's for like the majority share, so they get to Keep still like 20% of the company.
- [26:37]
Jamie Siminoff
A lot of private equity stuff.
- [26:38]
Jennifer
Yeah, a lot of private equity. But that wasn't your situation at all. You sold the whole thing.
- [26:43]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, it was more of like, I mean, and this is where there's like, there's so many different ways to like skin the cat, like to build a business. And there's people that are like, that build it profitably, day one and they just keep rolling and they own 100%. Like I have friends that own 100% of some of these big businesses and they'll sell for 300 million. No one even knows they sold. And yet they made way more money than a lot of entrepreneurs that you know. And so yeah, I think like the, the outcome size is different than like what people sort of take and how that is.
- [27:10]
Jennifer
Right.
- [27:10]
Jamie Siminoff
You know, for me it's like my personality was to go big quickly and Want to build something? I wanted to like, hit the COVID off the ball.
- [27:17]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [27:18]
Jamie Siminoff
And to do that you got to take a lot of money, go fast. Like, you know, we spent it marketing. Like, we built the brand now it worked. I mean, it's like, like Ring is. I mean, over 100 million devices out in the world today. Super profitable.
- [27:31]
Jennifer
Million people use Ring.
- [27:32]
Jamie Siminoff
100 million devices in the market. Yeah. Over.
- [27:34]
Jennifer
And is it still growing exponentially?
- [27:37]
Jamie Siminoff
Very, very fast. So.
- [27:38]
Jennifer
Because also you have a subscription model, so you're just into selling it and you're making money every month.
- [27:43]
Jamie Siminoff
So it was a really the, like we went from 3 million. So the year I was on Shark Tank, it was like, you know, so like 3 million. So we kind of hit that then 30 million, 174, 80. And then we sold to Amazon and sort of hit billions after that. People look at those numbers and they're like, that's amazing. It's like. Actually, no, it's terrible because the amount of cash you need to grow a business that has a physical product. So the business itself was just incinerating cash as a. Because of the growth. The actual economics on a per customer basis were phenomenal. So the fundamentals of the business were actually very strong. The entire company, collectively. Because we're trying to build this stuff. It's very complex. We're trying to, like, the scale you needed was burning money hand over fist. So the problem was it was a really scary business to build because it was like it was incinerating cash. The good thing was the, on a per customer basis, because of subscription, because of how we built it, like actually was a very healthy, like, the economics were healthy as long as we got to scale. So we knew if we got to. And we always said like was probably two, two and a half billion in sales is when we'll get profitable. And that was almost right on the numbers. Like, that was kind of right where we had to be.
- [28:53]
Jennifer
So how much was your customer acquisition or how much is it per person?
- [28:57]
Jamie Siminoff
It's, you know, it's hard because when you're building a brand, this is always because people would ask you, like, what's your customer acquisition cost? Well, what do you use to calculate that we're built, you know, if I stop all my advertising today, are Ring sales still going to happen for the next 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years? Yes. So then we'd have zero acquisition costs. So it's like, it's when you're starting to do like top the funnel, like, you know, you start to do TV and things like that. That's the problem is people attribute. They'll be like, well, you spent this month a million on TV and you sold whatever. You know, you sold 10,000 units. So that means that, you know, you're like $1,000, whatever, you know, per person. You're like, no, that's not like, if we stop marketing, we're still going to sell. So it is very, very hard to get these, these customer acquisition costs really only work in this, like, very clean, direct, consumer, programmatic. You know, you, you have a ad on Meta, on Instagram, on Facebook. It converts or it doesn't convert. Like, that's kind of it, right?
- [29:53]
Jennifer
Performance marketing.
- [29:54]
Jamie Siminoff
Super performance marketing. But when you're trying to build a brand, it's different. It's different. And it's like, when do you. This is, but this is the problem is like, when do you stop how much you know? And then you have competition coming in and do you like, you know, it's, it's cheaper to build the brand when it's when things are more infantile, when it's early.
- [30:10]
Jennifer
But was it subscription right off the bat?
- [30:12]
Jamie Siminoff
It was subscription. So Doorbot wasn't. When we launched that, right? We knew, we, we actually, we knew we wanted to build the subscription. We just like, we just didn't even have it right. And then Ring, when we launched ring, which was 2014, October of 2014, we announced that like it's going to be the subscription. And so like that was like when we announced like the real, like, that's when we like showed what the thing could really do.
- [30:32]
Jennifer
So then when did AM like, so give me the story with Amazon, like, who came to you? How did the whole Amazon acquisition happen?
- [30:39]
Jamie Siminoff
This is the, the problem with being an entrepreneur and doing stuff is it just like, it's such a long game. So we started talking to Amazon when I was Doorbot and just, I mean, just talking to them like they had Alexa. Like, we were just like, I mean just like started like, you know, like having conversations with their device team and they had a little venture capital arm off of Alexa. So we started and then I literally flew up because it was Amazon when we were launching Ring. And a month before we put Ring out in the market, I wanted to preview that with Amazon. So I sat with Nick Camoros who's now like one of the heads of Corp Dev, but it was like more junior at that time. And again, this is a good lesson. He was way more junior then. Like, everyone always thinks you have to meet with like Jeff Bezos or whatever. And here's like me and this guy who was kind of similar peer group in terms of like, he was early in his career too, but he needed to make it and he has. And I sat with him and showed him Ring and we did the things like, this is so cool. Gonna break to this person. This person. Because again, Nick wanted to also, like, get shit out there, make it. That's 2014. And three years later is when Nick and I sat down basically, and he said, okay, like, we wanna do this.
- [31:45]
Jennifer
I love that you said that. That is such an important point. Right. Because people are very myopic. They think either you're meeting at the top person or it's like you're out.
- [31:53]
Jamie Siminoff
Exactly.
- [31:54]
Jennifer
You have to be so much more strategic. Right. Because everybody will. That person that you met with or in any business or company, like, their trajectory is. They could be the. They can be running the whole thing. This happened to me many times with people I worked with. Right. Which means you should be nice to everyone. You should be. You should connect with everyone. No one's too small to, to, you know, connect with. Because look what happened to you. Like, and this, by the way, this is. Happens. This is what usually happens in my experience. Whenever I thought the other way and I thought, oh, I'm. I'm happy with the head person. Nothing ever happens. Well, that's. Nothing ever happened.
- [32:28]
Jamie Siminoff
That's always. I mean, like, even now, like, I run Ring and someone wants to do something with Ring and they like, I want to meet with you and I'm like, it's like I'm the last person that's going to actually work on that. Like, find it is. Find it's sort of whatever. It's like, find the person who needs to make it. Like, I don't now need to make it work like your product. Like, I don't need to make it
- [32:46]
Jennifer
work with ring 100%.
- [32:48]
Jamie Siminoff
But like, there's a person at Ring who's newer in their career who, if they could figure out how to make something really work, will make their career and find like that person in any place.
- [32:57]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [32:58]
Jamie Siminoff
And, but it's also like, just play the long game. Like, first of all, be nice to people because it's just better than being a jerk. Like, that's like, that's just simple. Yeah, but it is like, find those people and then like grow with them and take a long approach at this. And I, and I do think with TikTok and our 15 second videos, like, we just keep looking at shorter and shorter Term thinking, I think because we
- [33:18]
Jennifer
have zero attention span. And then we are like, we, we are also completely. We. We're not, we're not realistic in how things actually work in the real life. Like a lot of the people I deal with back I was nice to the interns and the coordinators. Those are the people who are running the companies now.
- [33:34]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [33:35]
Jennifer
And the people that, you know what you thought that were like such, whatever, they, they retired, they left, they're not even there anymore. They could, and they could care less to your point.
- [33:42]
Jamie Siminoff
And it is just.
- [33:43]
Jennifer
They could care less.
- [33:43]
Jamie Siminoff
Take the long game. Like it's a, it's, it's a lot, it's a it marathon for most. And I think the problem is of course there's going to be some, you know, 20 year old that launches something and in two weeks sells it for a billion dollars. It's lottery tickets. Someone's going to scratch off. They're going to buy one lottery ticket in their whole life. They're scratch it off and win the big pot, whatever that happens. But it's not likely to happen to you.
- [34:04]
Jennifer
It's not likely to happen to you. And a lot of people I know, unless it's nepotism, right. Where the dad or the family has friends with the CEO and they acquire your business or whatever, then they get lucky. But for the average person who's going on grit and hard work and like all the persistence, you gotta like play the long game and you gotta be super, super strategic and be like, be nice to everyone, meet with everyone, like make everyone your friend.
- [34:30]
Jamie Siminoff
I know a lot of the probably top VCs in the country now. A lot of them I know because I knew them when they were like they were assistants or whatever at VC firms and they grew like it's incredible the people that I know that like we're just so early in these things and again, it's like, it also is like. But it also was like it's just such a better world to be like just nice to people and talk to people.
- [34:53]
Jennifer
Totally.
- [34:54]
Jamie Siminoff
Like who gives a shit who someone is like.
- [34:55]
Jennifer
But that's. I listen. I totally agree with you. But when you're in, when you are struggling and when you're an entrepreneur and you feel like you have like mouths to feed, you can think very, very. You be very focused on I need that person. I need that person. Only that person.
- [35:10]
Jamie Siminoff
Yep.
- [35:11]
Jennifer
And that's typically that person is not the one that actually is going to, you know, make your, make your dreams come true.
- [35:17]
Jamie Siminoff
Typically not. I mean there's always like some weird cases again where someone heard something but like yeah, I mean most of the time and again most times going to take longer. Like it's not like someone's going to meet you and just like hand over a check for 100 million and you're going to. No, you know, make it.
- [35:34]
Jennifer
Let me share my daily routine game changer with you. It's the Momentous 3. I've been using their protein, their creatine and omega 3 combo for months now and the results are undeniable. These nutrients are key for long term health and performance, but hard to get enough of through diet alone. The crea pure creatine boosts both physical and your mental performance. The grass fed whey tastes great with no weird aftertaste. And the Omega 3 is a must for recovery. Since adding these my energy, my recovery and my overall well being has really improved. So if you want better performance, this is the way to go. Visit livemomentous.com and use my code Jen for 35% off your first subscription. That's livemomentous.com code Jen for 35% off your 1st subscription. Trust me, you'll be happy you did. So then tell us about, okay, so you meet this guy. What was his role at Amazon at the time?
- [36:47]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean Nick was in corp dev but he certainly wasn't like he wasn't buying a billion dollar company.
- [36:52]
Jennifer
Right. He's like a middle management person.
- [36:53]
Jamie Siminoff
It was like middle earlier career. He was working his way up. Yeah, I mean he wasn't like nobody. I mean but like he was like not. But he certainly wasn't Jeff leading the way. Yeah, it wasn't Jeff Bezos or like the heads.
- [37:04]
Jennifer
And so he liked your company. Like what, how did it, like how did it go from day one to year three when they bought your company?
- [37:10]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, so Nick was like this is super cool. Like you know, like let's do this. We can try to get like, you know, help you here like because Nick again the funny thing is the higher you get, the less actual work and you do. And so Nick was at that level where the people he knew, his peers, like the person over at E Commerce in Amazon was someone who's actually doing stuff. Yeah, the person in the device group was doing stuff. So like it was like the people that were actually at that level, that layer that were. So we got into like, oh, you know, we, we then quickly found out that Amazon was going to launch. They hadn't at the time a screen device. Well, guess what, you want to put on a screen camera. So now it's like, hey, we want to sign this big NDA with you because we want to have you as a early partner on this, and you want you to work on it with us. And so we helped, like, kind of build the whole video thing with them of how it would work on a
- [37:53]
Jennifer
screen before they bought you.
- [37:55]
Jamie Siminoff
Before? Oh, yeah, yeah. Way before. Yeah.
- [37:56]
Jennifer
So did they just pay you, like, a consulting fee or them as like a.
- [37:59]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, they were more just. It was a channel that we would, you know, kind of use.
- [38:02]
Jennifer
Okay.
- [38:03]
Jamie Siminoff
Use, like a partnership, a partners. And so. But that's how we started to meet them. And, like. And so just, you know, but it took. It was like three years of courting, and I'd say not even with, like, it wasn't like, we're like. I think you're always, when you're small like that, you're like, oh, it'd be great if Amazon bought us. I mean, it's like, you know, it's like, sure. But it was really just like, let's just keep kind of just doing what's right. And we just kept working on stuff, and then all of a sudden it came to this point where they're like, we should, you know.
- [38:27]
Jennifer
Did you have anybody else who wanted to buy you guys?
- [38:31]
Jamie Siminoff
No. Which is kind of interesting. You know, I didn't want to sell the company, so I was not. I do think a lot of times the reason companies have a lot of interest is because they're putting out sort of the scent. You know, they're putting, like, the pheromones of sale out there, and they're trying to sort of bait people. Like, I really didn't want to sell the company. And I told Amazon many times that from working with them, and it was true that it was the only company I would sell to because I, like, you know, Jeff was still leading it as the founder, and you could feel that, like, founder energy there.
- [39:02]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [39:02]
Jamie Siminoff
And that they really backed the companies they bought. And I. I just was not done with Ring. I mean, as you can see, I'm still there eight years later. So, like, I certainly wasn't done with Ring, but I really wasn't, like, done with it. Like, I really wanted to keep building it, and so I didn't want to sell it. And so I think we didn't get other. Because when we sold, a bunch of people came out of the woodwork and said, I wish we had known you were for sale.
- [39:23]
Jennifer
Like, who?
- [39:24]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, like, just a bunch, you know, like, Big companies.
- [39:28]
Jennifer
Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah.
- [39:29]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, large ones. So. But, like, you know, but.
- [39:31]
Jennifer
So is this what you told me before? You're like, don't worry. I know how to, like. I know how to, like.
- [39:34]
Jamie Siminoff
I know how to, like, not get myself in too much trouble. I get in, like. I get in just enough trouble to, like, go through life with, like, where's
- [39:40]
Jennifer
the name of the company start?
- [39:41]
Jamie Siminoff
With, like, you know, like, the ones that are big and so. But, like, you know, they called you. They're like, we didn't know you're for sale. And it was like, partly we. We weren't. The other part is, like, I wouldn't have sold to them because I. I know how they are with companies, and
- [39:54]
Jennifer
I wasn't trying to sell, like, AT&T or Samsung.
- [39:56]
Jamie Siminoff
I wasn't trying to sell the company. I was trying to build still this mission and making neighborhoods safer. And I was, like, very missionary with it. And I also felt to the team that I owed them because I said to the team, the most important thing we're doing is making neighbors safer. That's what we're focused on. And when we sold Amazon, like, the thing that Jeff said is, like, you just keep doing this, and, like, this is what we're buying. Like, we're buying a company that, like.
- [40:17]
Jennifer
Have you met with him since.
- [40:19]
Jamie Siminoff
Since we sold.
- [40:20]
Jennifer
Yeah. Like, do you see him all the time? Are you guys, like, golfing buddies?
- [40:24]
Jamie Siminoff
Jeff doesn't golf, but, I mean, we're. We're.
- [40:26]
Jennifer
You work out?
- [40:27]
Jamie Siminoff
I would say we're definitely, like, I would consider him a friend. I mean. Yeah, I think. I think. I hope he considers. I think he considers me a friend. I mean, he's, you know, want to say the rich person. Well, you want to, like, say, like, no, no, no.
- [40:35]
Jennifer
But, like, when did he. When did he kind of enter the picture?
- [40:38]
Jamie Siminoff
So they're. They. At that point, they had realized that Jeff loves entrepreneurs so much that if they got Jeff in too early that he would, like. It was, like, hard to negotiate. He'd basically sort of a little bit, and then they'd. And then the problem was then they'd have to be like, well, that's not a price we can do. Like. Like. Like, it sort of would become, like, crazy because Jeff just loves entrepreneurs. Jeff loves inventors and entrepreneurs, really loves people that build stuff. Like, Jeff truly is, like, just, like, loves to be around.
- [41:04]
Jennifer
Going to now contact Jeff right now with their idea.
- [41:07]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, if you can get to him, he loves to. He would talk to anyone forever. About interesting things.
- [41:13]
Jennifer
I love that he loves.
- [41:16]
Jamie Siminoff
He's like a sponge of just wanting to understand. He's curious. He's like a very curious person.
- [41:20]
Jennifer
Really?
- [41:21]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [41:21]
Jennifer
So then when. So at what point did they. Did they get you to meet him?
- [41:27]
Jamie Siminoff
So it was basically right after we signed the deal that I finally kind of, like, I met him, but not like, you know, like, met him. Like, oh, like, this is, you know, like, very, like, right. Not like met. Met. And then it was after that that we started to kind of like, actually spend some time together and got to know each other. So.
- [41:46]
Jennifer
So then when before you got 1.15, what was the initial amount that they offered you?
- [41:52]
Jamie Siminoff
Less.
- [41:53]
Jennifer
Yes.
- [41:54]
Jamie Siminoff
So. But it was just funny because. So they offered me, but not that much less.
- [41:59]
Jennifer
Like more than 700 million?
- [42:00]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, more than that. But. But so then we had to get. The problem was. And this is like, my. Put my board in a terrible position, which is my board is like, we, you know, as. As a fiduciary, because we had so many investors, and there's like, people are litigious. And so, like, I don't care if someone put a dollar. And like, if you sell, it's like, okay, well, why'd you sell for that price? Like, you have this company that some. Some people could buy. People could have said the company was worth a hundred billion. People say it's worth 500 million. Whatever.
- [42:23]
Jennifer
It's like, no, you're right. Like, I agree.
- [42:25]
Jamie Siminoff
The company's on one hand is losing money. It could have been worth $0. The other side is it could be worth. Look at the growth rate. It could be worth 10 billion. And so you, as a board, you can. So you had. So we brought in JP Morgan, okay. Noah Weintraub and JP Morgan as an investment bank. And it was hard because it was like, Noah's like, well, basically, we'll go out and we'll get other offers. Like, that's how you do it. And I'm like, well, I'm not selling anyone else. And it's like, no, it's like, oh,
- [42:48]
Jennifer
you know, it's like, that's why I asked you was. There was not even. Like, you didn't even go out with a.
- [42:52]
Jamie Siminoff
Because I said, this is like, again, I. I. And probably, like, I was probably too crazy about this mission. And like, I. Looking back, like, it. It probably hurt us. I was like, so missionary mission focused and driven that it certainly made us. We made mistakes. I probably would have been better, but I'm also not. I'm not A business person. So like, it's like, I think that's just. Is who I am. Like, I'm just like a, like. So I said to Noah, like, we're not selling anyone else. Get the most you can and then we'll sell to Amazon.
- [43:20]
Jennifer
Are you serious?
- [43:21]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [43:21]
Jennifer
So wait, you're not a business person, but you are an inventor, A founder. So who was the day to day every. Like, were you the founder? Did you, were you the CEO of the company?
- [43:30]
Jamie Siminoff
So I think anyone can run a business if they recognize what they're good at. So like, I don't think running a business takes a specific trait other than knowing the things that you don't do.
- [43:41]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [43:41]
Jamie Siminoff
And so for me, like super missionary, like, by the way, like what a, like leadership. Everyone at the company knew what they were working on. Like, why to work there, why to be there. Like, that's a pretty big one. Like that's. You attract people. That's pretty huge. But like day to day stuff, like, I didn't do anything. I never, I've never had, in the history of the company, I've never had a set meeting with my, my like direct team, ever.
- [44:04]
Jennifer
So who does that for you?
- [44:05]
Jamie Siminoff
So it's autonomous. So like we have people that run their areas. They're all like CEOs. I look at like everyone is like a CEO of their area and you just kind of like run your own area. So like marketing's run by marketing and they like kind of are CEOs of that now. You have to make sure they work together. And so, and my job, I kind of like come in and go out to fight fires, fix things. I drive a lot of the product and invention side of things. But like day to day, I've never been like the day to day trying to run the company. I think that's the problem is a lot of people who start things feel like they have to, by the book, be like a CEO, right? They have to have like their weekly meeting and they have to do this, all this stuff and it's like, it's just not who they are.
- [44:46]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [44:46]
Jamie Siminoff
And because of that, it like stops them from scaling and getting big because they're trying to fight to like be this CEO. Like, in fact, I call myself the chief inventor. We didn't have a CEO.
- [44:56]
Jennifer
That's great because I know that a lot of times what companies do, right? Like they have the person who's the founder in until they get to a certain place, like 50 million, 20, whatever. And then like the real CEO comes in. To scale the business, right?
- [45:09]
Jamie Siminoff
And you know that like anything, it can work. I mean, you saw it with Eric Schmidt, with Google. Like, yeah, these like, you know, the Google guys, the founders were like young and whatever and Eric Schmidt comes in who's like more of like a seasoned, you know, person. I think that was actually more luck than anything else because if you like, if you look at a hundred of those examples, they're probably one of the few that actually work.
- [45:29]
Jennifer
Right?
- [45:30]
Jamie Siminoff
Because usually when you bring in that CEO, they destroy the whole company.
- [45:34]
Jennifer
The whole company, Exactly.
- [45:35]
Jamie Siminoff
And so I, what you said, like,
- [45:38]
Jennifer
first of all, what you just said was so smart, was so, so true. And I've seen this a million times because you as a CEO, you're bringing the vision, you're bringing the passion and you're leading the ship, right? So people to build a really great team of people, they have to really look up to the person with the, have like a mission driven reason why they're working so hard and have a corporate culture. Like you're setting the corporate culture, right?
- [46:03]
Jamie Siminoff
I said, I said the culture. I said the. And also I'm super driven. I wanted to win.
- [46:07]
Jennifer
Yes.
- [46:07]
Jamie Siminoff
So you're setting all these macro big things. But I wasn't doing like a weekly team meeting to go over whatever. I didn't even know what. I don't even know how people run a business. Like, I couldn't even tell you. Like, I don't, I just don't know how it works. But I know how to build a business. I know how to like win a business. I know how to win. And like, and again, I always look at the inputs. Like to me the business is like the output side, right? The inputs are like, do we have the right product? Are we fixing customers needs? Like, like if you fix, if you. I would say if we make neighborhood safer. If someone believes that ring when they walk into Best Buy or Home Depot or whatever. If you see ring on a package like just that name and you're like, I know whatever's in there is going to make my neighborhood safer and make my home safer, my family safer, you're
- [46:47]
Jennifer
gonna buy it 100 and you're gonna
- [46:49]
Jamie Siminoff
reward me with that purchase. And so like all I have to focus on is making sure that you know that everything else will fix itself. Like how that box got there. Like someone can figure that out.
- [46:59]
Jennifer
Like, that's so true. Then why did you come? Like, so you were there for all those years. So when they bought you, why did, like why did you stay? Was that part of the deal. Like, okay, it's kind of.
- [47:09]
Jamie Siminoff
It's funny. It's like people say, like, part of the deal meaning, like, that they paid to keep. Like, that. Like, I was there because they were paying me. It's like the opposite. Like, part of the deal was, like, I get to stay and keep running this. Like, I told them, like, I'm staying.
- [47:21]
Jennifer
Right. Did you get a salary on top of them?
- [47:23]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, but, like, I mean, yeah. Yeah. No, that's been good.
- [47:27]
Jennifer
No, but what I'm saying. But you left, and then why did you come back?
- [47:30]
Jamie Siminoff
So I stayed. So we sold in 2018. I stayed for five years, and I took it from. Literally, if you. Like, the year before I sold. So 2017, we did 480 million. Year before that, 1 70. We go to Amazon and we grow like a fricking weed. I mean, we just. I crushed it, and I was like,
- [47:46]
Jennifer
how much did you sell?
- [47:47]
Jamie Siminoff
It was crazy. Like, it just grew.
- [47:49]
Jennifer
You want to tell me that it
- [47:50]
Jamie Siminoff
grew and grew and grew. I mean, billions. And so. And we. And I got a profitable. So into 23. Profitability, crazy growth. Incredible invention. You know, every. Every, like, whatever you want to look at. Like, whether it's reviews, CSAT scores, whatever the things. Like, everything was like. Like, kind of 10 out of 10, and I was just toast. Like, my brain was mush. Like, I had just not. Like, it's funny because people say, like, when you sold, like, where'd you go? Would you do it? I'm like, I went to work. Like, I was like, this is great, because now I have a big balance sheet to work off of. Like, we're gonna go faster and harder. So for five years, I was like. I went to, like, full grit grind mode.
- [48:25]
Jennifer
Like, what was your schedule like? Give me an example.
- [48:27]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, it was. It never stopped. Just, like, what time did you start
- [48:30]
Jennifer
work in the morning?
- [48:31]
Jamie Siminoff
I'm not like a. Like, I'm not like a. Like, I just kind of start. I just kind of go. I'm like, never stop. Like, it's more like it's like a constant than it is like, an actual.
- [48:39]
Jennifer
Like, did you go to the office, or do you do it from home?
- [48:42]
Jamie Siminoff
Office, traveling. I mean, a lot of travel. A lot of, like, in person is big for me.
- [48:46]
Jennifer
Really. Like, I think in person meetings.
- [48:47]
Jamie Siminoff
You mean in person meetings. Obviously. Covid was a weird one, but. But. But besides that, it's like, you know, retailers and, like, I think, you know, you got to just be out there. And, you know, I'm like, the shamwow guy. You know, I'm like Billy Mays, you know, Like, I'm like an infomercial. So, like, you are.
- [49:02]
Jennifer
Look at your shirt.
- [49:03]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, I know. I mean, like, literally, I wear stuff. I mean, I like, it's like. But that's who I am. Like, I'm a. So I go there.
- [49:09]
Jennifer
It's amazing.
- [49:10]
Jamie Siminoff
And that energy and that's. That's what we. You know, that's how we get, you know, go to a retailer and say, like, this is what we're launching and this is why we're excited about it, and this is how it's going to make neighbors safer, people safer.
- [49:19]
Jennifer
And, you know, and you're like the promotion guy.
- [49:21]
Jamie Siminoff
I'm a promoter, the enthusiast, for sure.
- [49:23]
Jennifer
You bring the enthusiasm, which is also
- [49:25]
Jamie Siminoff
so important, but that also. It also, like, sucks your energy. Like, that's. It kills you. Like, I mean, like, I don't care how you're flying. I don't care what you're doing. Like, it is like you're grinding. And so I just got to this point where I, like, felt like I delivered to Amazon way more than they'd expected. It's. I think it's probably the best purchase they've ever done from a company side.
- [49:44]
Jennifer
Totally.
- [49:46]
Jamie Siminoff
And so I, like, I just was burnt out. I'm like, I need to just do something else. Like, I need to re. Like, I just. My brain needs to reset. And so I worked with them and we transitioned out, and so I left at the end or like, middle of 23, and then I was pretty quickly miserable.
- [50:01]
Jennifer
So you. I was gonna say because it's not that light. Like, you went back for like, a
- [50:04]
Jamie Siminoff
year and a half.
- [50:05]
Jennifer
Yeah. So what made you go back so quick?
- [50:07]
Jamie Siminoff
Couple things. One is. I mean, I was. It is like my baby. Like, I mean, I wear the ring shirt because it's like. It's like my baby. It's like my baby. It's like my. It's like I have one son and I have, like, this one. So I have, like, two kids.
- [50:18]
Jennifer
Wow.
- [50:18]
Jamie Siminoff
So I do love it. I love what it does. I love the stories of it. I'm super attached to it. Like, people know my face. They come up to me. They're like, ring did this for my family. Ring did this for me. Ring stopped this thing. Like, I. So I love all of that and feed on that. And then with AI, I could see really what Ring could do. And it was the fires and the Palisades that was like, the breaking point for me of. We, like, there's so much more we can do.
- [50:43]
Jennifer
Like, what? Tell me.
- [50:44]
Jamie Siminoff
So I was. I mean, like, my house is in the Palisades, so it was like, you know, like it was on fire. And so we put it out and.
- [50:51]
Jennifer
I'm sorry.
- [50:52]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. And it was just. I mean, it was like, you know, if you've been up there, it's like, it's just such a terrible thing. And so we had over 10,000 cameras in that area. And I was just thinking, like, this thing's jumping and whatever and no one knows where it is. And, like, that's part of the problem. And, like, firemen are, like, being dispatched to the wrong places. And I'm like, shit. Like, we could, like, we know where the fire is to the cameras. Like, we could build something to do this. And so that was like one of the things that I was like. And like, because AI, like, before AI, you could not have. It just wouldn't. Like, you can't just dump 10,000 cameras into anything. It wouldn't helped. It would have. Like, who cares? Like, with AI, you can, like, look for smoke, fire embers, like, whatever. And with people's permission, of course. So now we have this thing called firewatch, which we launched off of this. And so if a big fire event happens, when they do, we actually do it now all the time. We send out an alert to people in that area and we say, would you like to basically let your camera be used for the next 24 hours to help Watch duty, which is the app that basically builds the fire map for all the command centers and the police and fire to help them. And so we then look through AI when the fire's happening, and we try to figure out where it's jumping to to try to build a more real time fire map to help the resources go and fight it faster.
- [52:03]
Jennifer
Oh, wow.
- [52:04]
Jamie Siminoff
And so that was like, that was. But that was like, that's the product and that's kind of the thing. But that was like the breaking point of, like, me going to Amazon and being like, I have to come back and do this. Like, this is just like, we need, like this network of. Of that. We've built this mission. We've built this base of neighbors, which is what we call our customers. Like, we need, like, with AI, we can do so much more.
- [52:23]
Jennifer
So you went back to them and said, I want to come back. Yeah, that's incredible.
- [52:26]
Jamie Siminoff
And they were super cool. They were like, that's great. Like, okay, like, we'll have you back. I was like, sweet.
- [52:32]
Jennifer
Well, did you. Did anyone take over your job when you left? Yeah.
- [52:35]
Jamie Siminoff
Someone took over. Yeah.
- [52:36]
Jennifer
So did they kick them out or what happened to that person?
- [52:38]
Jamie Siminoff
They. They decided they wanted to go do something else. Yeah.
- [52:41]
Jennifer
Oh. So it kind of was like.
- [52:42]
Jamie Siminoff
It was fine.
- [52:43]
Jennifer
It worked out just fine.
- [52:45]
Jamie Siminoff
It seemed to work.
- [52:52]
Jennifer
You know, I'm all about finding an edge. The small daily habits that give you more energy, focus and resilience. But that's why I am hooked on mana vitality. Most people are mineral deficient, and that means low energy brain fog, slow recovery, and dull skin. But mana flips the switch by giving your body a complete spectrum of minerals it actually knows how to use. We're talking shilajit from the Himalayas, Ormus from the Dead Sea, and marine plasma from the ocean. Plus amino acids and 88 other trace minerals. The benefits are real. We're talking steady all day energy, sharper focus, faster recovery, a stronger immunity, plus glowing skin. But the biggest win. It fuels your cells for real longevity. Think of it as like a cellular switch on formula. Not as a stimulant, but the raw power your body needs to create energy and repair itself. Try it now, and I bet you'll be hooked too. Go to manavitality.com and use code Jennifer20 for a discount. That's manavitality.comm a n n a vitality and use code Jennifer20. What's with all the privacy issues? Like, why are people always giving you such a problem with privacy when I
- [54:22]
Jamie Siminoff
mean a couple things? I think whenever you're doing something that matters.
- [54:26]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [54:26]
Jamie Siminoff
And it's almost funny, I would say even whenever you do something matters and that's good for people, you always get pushback. Like, there's, there's, there's. It's just funny. But it's almost like if you do something that's big and impactful and no one pushes back, you're probably not doing something big and impactful. Like, as crazy as that sounds, is like, what I've learned.
- [54:44]
Jennifer
It's so true.
- [54:45]
Jamie Siminoff
So we launched this thing. We launched Dog Search Party.
- [54:47]
Jennifer
Oh, yeah.
- [54:48]
Jamie Siminoff
So we launched search party for dogs. It's got a similar idea where we have right now we have in the Ring app in Neighbors. Our Ring app, we have people post almost a million lost dogs a year. Get posted in the app already, like, from previous. Like, like, it's. Lost dogs are actually like a huge thing.
- [55:06]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [55:06]
Jamie Siminoff
All the time. And so I'm like, wow, with AI, we can like, take that dog, that picture and like, look for that dog in the neighborhood. And when we find it Tell you so. So we have now, like, we built the technology. We built it with privacy. So it is like, if a dog is lost in my neighborhood, it'll say, jamie, like, this dog. Like this picture that was posted looks like this dog in front of your house. Do you want to contact your neighbor? If you don't contact your neighbor, I mean, you're not probably a good person. But no one knows that you didn't do it.
- [55:33]
Jennifer
Right?
- [55:33]
Jamie Siminoff
It's like literally no different than like a dog now walking in your backyard. We like, oh, that's a weird thing. That's like a. And I look at the tag and I see the number on it, and I'm like, no, I'm not going to call it. And I throw the dog out of the yard. Like, that would be the same thing. Like, no one knows you did that, but, like, wtf?
- [55:49]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [55:49]
Jamie Siminoff
And so we. We launched this thing. We're literally every day, we're reuniting over one family per day with their dog. Using it today already, like, it's actually happening. We did a Super bowl commercial on it. And the people. When, you know, I mean, it was like a group of people went sort
- [56:03]
Jennifer
of like, I never understood this.
- [56:06]
Jamie Siminoff
Well, because it's like, this could be for surveillance. This could be to track this, this could be attract that. And it's like, I think people just, you know, and I get it. Like, they just can they imagine this, like, utopian world and they get, like, they just get freaked out too, like, super quickly versus being like, okay, how does this thing work? And when you look at how it works, you're like, oh. Like, I like doesn't take anyone's privacy. Like, it's. It's actually your clicking to say, I want to call my neighbor. Like, you're with a fire thing. You're clicking to say, like, I want to help in the fire. So we've made everything like you. I think what it is that people have gotten so polarized. It's like you either have, like, you have no privacy and these things happen, or you have your privacy and nothing can happen. There's like, no, like, wait a second. We can have a middle ground that, like, I can help my neighborhood when I want to and when I don't want to. Like, I can sort of. I can control it. Like, no one can imagine that that world can exist. It's like sort of middle world.
- [56:56]
Jennifer
That's the world we're living in in general.
- [56:58]
Jamie Siminoff
Everything's so polarized. Like, super one side or the other. Like, the reality Is like the middle is where everything should be.
- [57:05]
Jennifer
The middle is where everything should be. But that's. That's everything in life. But then how about, like, the Savannah. Savannah gun three thing with her mother, remember? Because you. Well, how was that affecting Ring?
- [57:15]
Jamie Siminoff
It affects a couple ways. I mean, one is, you know, first of all, it's like. It's probably the saddest thing I've ever seen.
- [57:21]
Jennifer
And there's still no. There's this. It's still.
- [57:23]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, at this point, you. I. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like there's just. I mean, I don't. Just doesn't feel there's enough evidence. Like they just don't have.
- [57:32]
Jennifer
But on the ring, they saw the guy at the front. At the front of the door.
- [57:36]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. So that was actually a nest.
- [57:37]
Jennifer
Oh, it was a nest. Okay. There you go. See? But see, that's. I know everyone assumes it was ring.
- [57:44]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, the. The thing that was. But the thing that was really, you know, in most of these things, things like this, when they happen, like some. Some big event in an area that happens like this, usually you have a lot of footage now, like, you have a lot of cameras in this particular area of Tucson. The homes are on bigger lots. There's a lot of, like, brush and stuff in front of them. And so it just turned out that, like, the streets there from the homes, like, are just not covered by cameras. And so whatever happened there just was not like, just no one had, you know, sort of no one caught it, because in. In a neighborhood in Los Angeles or something happened like that, you'd probably have a hundred people submit videos of cars coming in, cars going out, things, whatever, you know.
- [58:25]
Jennifer
But if it was. And I'm not to throw anyone under the bus nest or whoever, but if it was a ring camera, would it have been the picture clearer? Would it have shown more angles? Could have done more stuff to kind of maybe catch the person?
- [58:38]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, that, you know, they were mass. I think. I think what you really needed on this one was not just that you needed to have some idea of where they came from, where they going. Like a little bit more of that sort of part because they were somewhat professional, it seems, in what they were doing. But I think if you had video of, like, the car, where it went, then you could sort of like. Then you can usually breadcrumb it, like, try to go farther. Whereas, like, they don't even know what car they were in or as far as I know, like, I don't, you know, I'm Just like, from the public
- [59:07]
Jennifer
side, like, is what, what. And we don't even have to say them.
- [59:10]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [59:11]
Jennifer
But, like, in general, like, what is. Like, how is the ring so far? What is some of the attributes that. Or. Yeah, things that. Things that the ring has that other competitive people don't.
- [59:24]
Jamie Siminoff
You know, it's funny. I mean, I think our cameras to the price. Every price point, I think we deliver the best camera quality.
- [59:30]
Jennifer
So it's not really that I have one. I mean, not to say that means
- [59:33]
Jamie Siminoff
no, but it's the same. But it's not like people say, do you have the best cameras? And, like, the best camera is, like, a little bit. Because, like, if you spend $100,000 on a camera.
- [59:40]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [59:41]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, there are, like, super extreme cameras that are available, of course, but then also at a price. And so I think what we've been able to do is democratize home security and bring it to a price point that's affordable and give you an incredible value for that. So I think, like, our cameras are. I do think they're the best at every price point. And then we've created things like the neighbors and community requests and, like, all these, like, things around it that then make the experience so it has more impact. So, you know, like in the brown shooting, for example, the police were able to send an alert to all the ring customers asking for footage very quickly.
- [60:14]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [60:14]
Jamie Siminoff
And then they were able to get that back and use that. And that's kind of, again, how they breadcrumbed their way into. That was like, okay, this person talked to this person. I can see it on video. Okay, like, and again, all. But by the way, to the middle, submitted with people that all gave their permission at that time. So, like, they got an alert, and if they said no, they were anonymous. If they said yes, then they were able to submit that.
- [60:33]
Jennifer
Wow. Okay. In term. I didn't even ask you these questions yet, but in terms of, like, advice. Right. Or mentor. Do you have a mentor? Have you ever. Do you have one that you speak to?
- [60:43]
Jamie Siminoff
I really have, like, I'd say at different times, I think it's different people because you have different needs. But I certainly. There's lots of people that I talk to constantly about things and just like, you know, mentors and sort of just like, people that you. It takes a village. I mean, for sure.
- [60:59]
Jennifer
Is there. Is there. Is there, like, one piece of advice that you've gotten over these years that really kind of stick. Stick sticks out?
- [61:05]
Jamie Siminoff
I don't think there is, like, a single. And I Think. I mean, I think that's the biggest piece of advice I've ever gotten, I think is actually that. That is like, don't give advice is that, you know, we're all unique. Like, we're all a fingerprint. Our businesses are all unique. Like, the time, like, people ask me, like, oh, I'm building this, this product, like, what should I do that ring did that made it successful. And the reality is, like, the world shifted.
- [61:25]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [61:25]
Jamie Siminoff
You know, like. Like to start a business. To start ring today would be different than starting ring.
- [61:30]
Jennifer
Yes.
- [61:30]
Jamie Siminoff
Fifteen years ago, it's like. I mean, there wasn't TikTok. When I started, there wasn't. So it's like. So I think it's. But. But history doesn't repeat itself. It does rhyme. And so I think, like, when you realize that it rhymes, then it's like, listen to people and try to, like, extract understanding of, like, the rhyming. And then how does that sort of relate to you? So to me, it's more about, like, listening and understanding how things relate to your situation. Not taking advice. Because when people want to give advice, it's again, it's also coming from. It's even coming from a different time,
- [61:58]
Jennifer
100%, and their experience with it. That's a great line. History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
- [62:04]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [62:04]
Jennifer
Where did you hear.
- [62:05]
Jamie Siminoff
Kevin Systrom told me that. The founder of Instagram.
- [62:08]
Jennifer
I love that.
- [62:09]
Jamie Siminoff
And I did love it. I don't even know if it's his line, but it's like, when he said it, I was like. Because I love it. Because people say history repeats itself and it actually. It sort of does, but it doesn't repeat itself. It repeats. The same sort of things happen. Because humans themes. Exactly. Which is like the rhyming. So I do. Yeah.
- [62:27]
Jennifer
I love that. So we never. I gotta circle back to the shark tank because you didn't tell me how you ended up as a shark. So then you become very successful. Yeah. And then they call you and say, hey, you want to be a shark? Because you were the biggest reject that we made a mistake on.
- [62:42]
Jamie Siminoff
We sold when I sold it to Amazon, you know, for like, you know, the sort of. The billion. I mean, and for that, like, the billion is like, you know, a billion dollars. Which was like, you know, it was. I think it was the largest by far of a shark tank company at that point that had SOL for sure. And so it's just such a big headline. And they said, you know, do you want to come on and be a shark? And it was Like, I mean, talk about. Like, I. To me, I looked at going on Shark Tank as like an amateur athlete going to the Olympics, you know, like, to me, like, being on Shark Tank as a. As a. Like a person, like, as a. As an entrepreneur, that was like, going on to the Olympics. And then I like Michael Phelps that, like, you know, like, I won like, every medal. And then I, like Michael Jordan did, like, I went to the pros. Like, to be on Shark Tank as a shark was like, insane. Like, it was like, literally, like you could not even set your goal that high. It was crazy. So that was a pretty cool thing.
- [63:27]
Jennifer
How many times were you a shark?
- [63:28]
Jamie Siminoff
Just a couple. I mean, it turns out it's a lot of work. I mean, these people are real that are on it. You have to, like, invest in their companies. I don't have a back office or anything.
- [63:36]
Jennifer
No. But a lot of people, you know, not to say any names, but don't do any investment. Like, Mark Cuban actually does a lot of. He puts money.
- [63:44]
Jamie Siminoff
Does a lot. Lori is, like, super busy.
- [63:46]
Jennifer
Lori does a lot. Mark does a lot. Mark does the most. Yeah, but there's a couple people.
- [63:50]
Jamie Siminoff
They're all great, though. Like, they've all become okay.
- [63:52]
Jennifer
But there's a couple of people who don't do anything.
- [63:53]
Jamie Siminoff
It's. But it's really hard. Like, I mean, it's like each one is like a real business that, like, matters to that family. And so, like, I realized, like, I invested in one and I, like, went.
- [64:02]
Jennifer
You did?
- [64:02]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. It's one called Moink M O I N K Moo Oink. And we do direct to consumer meat, like, sort of packages of meats from, ethically farmed from all these small farmers. It's out in Missouri. Wonderful woman runs it, Lucinda Cramsey. And it's done really well. It went from doing 750,000 a year to 20 million now really profitable.
- [64:23]
Jennifer
But how much money did you give her?
- [64:25]
Jamie Siminoff
I gave her, like, a little over 700,000 in the end.
- [64:28]
Jennifer
Really?
- [64:28]
Jamie Siminoff
And I got it back. Got it. She paid it all back.
- [64:30]
Jennifer
Really?
- [64:30]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. Which is crazy. And I. So this is my personality. Why I can't invest in companies is like, I now own a farm in that town. I've worked on rebuilding the town. I own the bar in the town, the coffee shop. I've done the sidewalks, the streets. Like, I'm friends with the people. We put a barbecue contest on every year there. Like, I love it.
- [64:50]
Jennifer
Really? I love that.
- [64:52]
Jamie Siminoff
LaBelle, Missouri.
- [64:53]
Jennifer
That's amazing. So then, okay, so that. That's what you mean by a lot of work. Because you.
- [64:58]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [64:59]
Jennifer
The kind of person you are.
- [65:00]
Jamie Siminoff
Yes.
- [65:00]
Jennifer
You will. Really?
- [65:01]
Jamie Siminoff
Because I'm not an investor.
- [65:03]
Jennifer
Right. Like, you are not like you really want to. You're like a doer.
- [65:06]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. And I can't, like, have my. Yeah. Like, I have to have my hands into this thing.
- [65:10]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [65:10]
Jamie Siminoff
I have no interest in, like, like, like investing is such a boring thing to me in terms of like.
- [65:15]
Jennifer
Yeah. Being passive.
- [65:15]
Jamie Siminoff
It's just making money. Like, it's like, just like a passive investor is literally, you're just making money, which is like. But it's. I'm glad they exist and it's cool and whatever. It's just like for me, not for you. Yeah. No.
- [65:26]
Jennifer
What was another company that you actually invested in?
- [65:29]
Jamie Siminoff
Shark Tank was the only one I did.
- [65:30]
Jennifer
That's the only one today. Like, in real life. Are you an investor now?
- [65:35]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, I'm an investor. I had another one called Clayton Farms, which we're just building now. A.
- [65:39]
Jennifer
You like the farming stuff, huh?
- [65:40]
Jamie Siminoff
So I do. I like food. Like, food safe. Like the whole idea of, like, we need to eat better and wholesome. And so Clayton Farms is the only. Right now we have one in Ames, Iowa. It's the only quick serve restaurant where we grow the lettuce and the food on site. So literally, like, it's a drive through salad place. It's like a sweet greens.
- [65:58]
Jennifer
Oh.
- [65:58]
Jamie Siminoff
But where it's actually grown in the building. And so your salad is like 45 minutes old.
- [66:03]
Jennifer
Stop it.
- [66:04]
Jamie Siminoff
World's precious salad. And we have a location opening up in San Francisco at a couple months.
- [66:09]
Jennifer
That sounds amazing.
- [66:09]
Jamie Siminoff
It's amazing. It's amazing. It's epic.
- [66:11]
Jennifer
Where'd you find it?
- [66:13]
Jamie Siminoff
So Clayton.
- [66:14]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [66:15]
Jamie Siminoff
Pinged me after I was on Guy Raz's podcast and said he wanted to build the John Deere of indoor farming and he was in Iowa. And because I have this place in Missouri, I said, you can come down to my farm in Missouri if you want to meet. And he said okay. So he drove down.
- [66:29]
Jennifer
Really?
- [66:30]
Jamie Siminoff
And I met him. Yeah. And then of course, I put way too much money in this thing and it's crazy. And like, I will tell you, like, what I've learned about quick serve restaurants and fast food is if you want to make money going to fried chicken or burgers.
- [66:41]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [66:41]
Jamie Siminoff
For salads. Salads are a hard sell. But I don't. I. But I'm also like, this is my problem. Like, I don't care. Like, I. I love it. And so I think Clayton Farms is like the greatest thing ever. It's so cool.
- [66:51]
Jennifer
What kind of. How much money did you give the guy?
- [66:53]
Jamie Siminoff
First of all, I think I'm in it for a million now.
- [66:55]
Jennifer
So then. And then are they. How much are they making money at all? No, I mean I know you're not profitable. I mean are they selling? Are they aim.
- [67:03]
Jamie Siminoff
So like the Ames location is actually like very profitable. It's like prefer for like a one single location.
- [67:08]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [67:08]
Jamie Siminoff
The business is not profitable yet. And then hopefully launching. I think we. I probably pushed him to make a mistake which is like to try to like build it kind of like in the Midwest and like these places where they're food deserts.
- [67:19]
Jennifer
Come to la that would.
- [67:20]
Jamie Siminoff
I think what we realized is so we're going San Francisco. I think we're going to hit the like. But like it's like sort of like it's like bringing sand to the beach here. But yes, people will use it here and whatever. But I really did it because I want to bring fresher food to places that are eating too much processed food.
- [67:35]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [67:35]
Jamie Siminoff
I'm just gonna have to. It's gonna be a two putt. I'm gonna have to first I think build it in the big cities. Use that money to then reinvest it in and. But Clayton's mission is to do that also. Like the, the founder is like super aligned with that. But I think we need to like grow first in like New York, Louisiana. San Francisco, like you know, Chicago.
- [67:53]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [67:53]
Jamie Siminoff
Miami.
- [67:54]
Jennifer
Well, you know it's funny because I don't really. Everyone says it's like bringing sand to the beach but yet the sand's always doing better. That does well here. I, you know and I will also say there's not that many great salad places here. There really aren't if you really think about it. There's not.
- [68:08]
Jamie Siminoff
And this is like, this is insane. Like it's like the taste is different.
- [68:11]
Jennifer
I mean like that was amazing.
- [68:13]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [68:14]
Jennifer
So give me an example. Like what kind of salad would it be? Like a chicken salad or.
- [68:17]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean it's like it is like regular like whatever. Like we have like so great salad.
- [68:21]
Jennifer
I'm gonna google this after.
- [68:22]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, the base is great. I mean because it's the. It's all like fresh grown. Like, like whether it's like you know, romaine or like mixed greens, whatever the hell stuff is. I don't know. He's the salad guy. And then we have, we have great dressing, like good fresh dressing. And then the ingredients are like. Yeah, like it's just like, you know, good. You have, like, organic chicken and, like, whatever.
- [68:40]
Jennifer
So that sounds.
- [68:40]
Jamie Siminoff
I usually do. Like, there's a simple thing there. Like, I just get, like, the mixed greens and like, chicken and like, you know, like a raspberry vinaigrette. And it's like, that's, I'm done. Like, that's some avocado chopped on there.
- [68:50]
Jennifer
So good.
- [68:50]
Jamie Siminoff
Boom.
- [68:51]
Jennifer
Those are good. I like those companies. Is there any other ones that you did?
- [68:56]
Jamie Siminoff
I have one that's. That does firefighting with dry ice. So if you think about it, water is like, we've used water since we've had fire. So, like, whenever we created. Whoever created fire, like some caveman.
- [69:07]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [69:07]
Jamie Siminoff
Use some water to put it out. Like, that's like what we've used. And we have never, we have not evolved at all in how we fight fires in anything. And dry ice is a great way to fight fire because fire is both. It's basically heat and oxygen, and dry ice is cold and it sublimates carbon dioxide. So if you think about it, dry ice basically makes it, makes it cold, so it takes away the heat.
- [69:27]
Jennifer
Right.
- [69:27]
Jamie Siminoff
And it puts off carbon dioxide, which chokes the fire.
- [69:29]
Jennifer
Oh, that's an interesting.
- [69:30]
Jamie Siminoff
So it's a really. And it just leaves nothing behind. So if, like, a house caught on fire and you sprayed dry ice into it.
- [69:36]
Jennifer
Right. It wouldn't ruin the house.
- [69:37]
Jamie Siminoff
There's no water. The problem is the water, like in a house fire, usually why a house is like, sort of, you know, like maybe one room, but, like, the water goes through the ceiling and, like, destroys the whole thing. It fills the whole thing up. And so it's a really interesting. It's very hard to, like, how do you store it, all this stuff? So that's what we've been figuring out. So he has some stuff now and he actually just launched the. This guy, he's doing it. Just launched the first product with it, which is more for industrial.
- [70:00]
Jennifer
That's a good one. Also battery fire.
- [70:01]
Jamie Siminoff
So it's cool.
- [70:02]
Jennifer
Yeah. These are interesting.
- [70:03]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. I'll lose all my money at some point on all these.
- [70:05]
Jennifer
Oh, that's okay. But listen, you have a lot. I mean, not a billion, but you have a lot. And so how much long? Like, how long's your deal with Amazon? You're just going to say they're indefinitely at this point.
- [70:14]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. Just indefinitely. I mean, it's like, I, I, I, it's, AI has made Ring feel like it's back in the garage again. Like, there's just so many Things we can do.
- [70:22]
Jennifer
Yeah, I totally.
- [70:23]
Jamie Siminoff
And like, every day, I mean, I'm on calls now, like, building product that feels like we're back to. Because it's like they're groundbreaking, you know? Whereas I'd say when we got to the end, when I was in like 20, 21, 22, 23, it was like more iterative, which is still fine. I mean, we, I think we still did great products, but they were more iterations. Like, we're going to go higher on the kilobits on the camera and better audio and like, it was just fine. But now we're like, just iterating at like a level that's just. I haven't like, it's crazy, the stuff we're going to come out with. And so I think if that slows down at some point, which I. Maybe it's five years, 10 years, 20, I don't know, whatever it is, maybe then I'd be bored again and want to do something else and I'll figure it out. But for right now, I'm just like all in and just building stuff.
- [71:05]
Jennifer
So you. Okay, so I didn't even ask you this because it was not that important, but. Well, it is important, but I was more interested in the Rolex watch, apparently the nonprofit, but. So you're from New Jersey. When did you move to LA and where did you go to school?
- [71:17]
Jamie Siminoff
So I went to school. So I grew up in New Jersey, went to Babson college in Boston.
- [71:23]
Jennifer
What did you get?
- [71:24]
Jamie Siminoff
Entrepreneurship, actually.
- [71:25]
Jennifer
Oh. Even though you hate being an entrepreneur or not an entrepreneur and all the things. Okay.
- [71:29]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. So I got a degree in entrepreneurship and then started like a little telecom business that I met a guy doing that had a business plan thing. And then through that, met another guy in telecom and he was doing phone cards and he wanted to move it to San Diego. And so I just moved to say I was like 23 years old.
- [71:51]
Jennifer
Okay, so you've been on the west
- [71:52]
Jamie Siminoff
coast since you moved to San Diego? Met a girl in la. She said she, I, I was going to move back to the East Coast. Like, I was just like, here temporarily, right. And she's like, I literally, our first date, I'm like, just so you know, like, I'm moving back to Boston at some point. She's like, oh, okay. Like, you know, I'd like to live in Boston. She's a liar. My wife, Aaron.
- [72:10]
Jennifer
Oh, wow.
- [72:11]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah. And so literally when we got engaged, like, the next morning, like, literally, I'm not kidding. Like, the morning after we got engaged, she's like, just FYI, we're not moving back to the East Coast.
- [72:20]
Jennifer
And you're like, oh, that's nice to know now.
- [72:21]
Jamie Siminoff
I was like, that's really great. I'm like, that's really. Give me the ring back. Yeah, that was fine.
- [72:25]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [72:25]
Jamie Siminoff
But I love. So I've been now in California a long time, so I love Southern California. I love in Los Angeles. I wish we could get maybe some better people to run some things here, but I do love the place and the people.
- [72:37]
Jennifer
Well, it's funny because most people who have a business or made a lot of money, they've already left, like, the last person to shut the lights off. You know, I worry about that, right, because there's no, like, no business is even here anymore.
- [72:48]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, the.
- [72:48]
Jennifer
The very few, very few.
- [72:50]
Jamie Siminoff
The seizure tax, if that passes, will really. I mean, it's already had a huge impact on.
- [72:57]
Jennifer
Oh, me too.
- [72:57]
Jamie Siminoff
California. And I think it's just. It's a sad one because it goes after, like, the very core of what we are here, which is, like, the one thing we really are in California is entrepreneurs. Like, we are inventors. Like, this is. This place has been built on crazy
- [73:08]
Jennifer
inventors, but they all leave once they. Before they sell their business, they're all leaving.
- [73:13]
Jamie Siminoff
Luckily, there's more. I think the hopeful side is there's always more coming in. And California has always been a place that just, like, inspires invention. But, yeah, I think it's. It's. It's. You know, I love. I love it. So I hope it. I hope it lasts for a long time and can go through its stuff. San Francisco is a good example of a place that actually is becoming, you know, like. Like, Daniel Laurie has really turned San Francisco around, which is kind of cool to see. And so hopefully, depending on, like, where we go here, like, I'm. I'm hopeful that California will be a great place to do business again at some point.
- [73:42]
Jennifer
Are you going to keep on with the ring, or is there any other invention in you that you're curious to kind of explore?
- [73:48]
Jamie Siminoff
It's funny because that's, like, my problem is, like, I couldn't find. It's not invention. It's, like, the thing that impacts people at scale. And so once you've had a hundred million devices out there stopping crime and doing this, and when things happen, you're sort of seeing it literally on TV in the morning without doing anything. You're seeing, like, ring as well. You know, it's like, I think it's really hard to Then just go and like, build something because it's like, what is it?
- [74:13]
Jennifer
Are your parents so proud of you?
- [74:15]
Jamie Siminoff
Sadly, my dad passed away before Ring came out. So, like, that was a bummer. I mean, a bummer for many reasons that he died, but. But I think he would have loved to have, like, he would have gotten a kick out of this. My mom is funny. She still lives in Jersey, like, kind of like same place. And she's. She's a. She's a funny little sparky lady. And like, yeah, she's. She's pretty proud. My brother is great and he's proud. And so, yeah, it's. It's been cool.
- [74:37]
Jennifer
What did your dad do?
- [74:38]
Jamie Siminoff
He was like the guy behind an entrepreneur. So he would always tell me, like, James, you need to just take a small amount and just work for someone. You know, it's like he was always like the CFO kind of right.
- [74:48]
Jennifer
Of the company, the second in command,
- [74:50]
Jamie Siminoff
second in command kind of guy. Like, the guy working for the guy. And he was like, that's what you want to be. You never want to be out front. And I'd always be like, you're out of your mind, dad. Like, I just want to. And so he had this business partner, the guy he worked for, Adam Mbali, and so all like, it was just like, my dad be telling me this and I'd be like, looking at Adam and be like, I'm going to be that guy.
- [75:07]
Jennifer
Right. Oh, wow.
- [75:08]
Jamie Siminoff
It was just kind of a funny thing of how kids are.
- [75:10]
Jennifer
And, you know, and then look what happened. You created an entire category that was never even existing before.
- [75:16]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [75:17]
Jennifer
Wow. Did your mother even understand the caliber of what she's doing? Like, what you did?
- [75:22]
Jamie Siminoff
I think, like, I don't think I did well. That's what I think. It's like, not even my mom. I think, like, you know, until. Honestly, until I left Ring, you know, five years after Amazon.
- [75:32]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [75:32]
Jamie Siminoff
Even after I sold it, like, I don't think I fully recognized the impact we had. I think there is something about being inside of a company because you're seeing, like, I see the problems every day. Like, I see my emails on every box. Like, we're not perfect. Like, there's a customer service customer. There's an issue. So. So I think until I, like, left and all that noise went away and I could just see the world, like, clean slate. It was like, holy cow. Like, this thing is really like, wow, I'm sure.
- [75:59]
Jennifer
Are you still. Are you still friends with all your old friends? Like, before you became Not a billionaire.
- [76:04]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, no, I'm friends with. I'm friends with. Yeah, like, all my friends from high school. I mean, it's hard because I grew up in New Jersey, so there's a little bit of. But like, I go back to New Jersey at least once a year. We get together and have a big dinner and stuff. And so, like. Yeah, like, it's. It's like, I've tried to maintain friends. A lot of the guys from college are still friends.
- [76:20]
Jennifer
And do you have any advice for people who are listening to this and how to structure businesses where they don't get diluted? Like, you got diluted like this or. It's all.
- [76:28]
Jamie Siminoff
It's also more of. If you're. I think the biggest problem is not dilution or not dilution. I think it's. The problem is when someone raises a little bit of money, but they're like, worried about their dilution. I think you either got to be like, if you're going to raise money from venture capitalists, drop the hammer. Go as fast as you can, as hard as you can, raise as much as you can. Who cares what you own? Just freaking go. And if you're not going to do that, do the opposite, which is like, raise a tiny bit of money. Be super careful. Go slower. I think it's one or the other. I think the one where people. I see the worst is that they go a little slower because they want to hold their value, but yet they never build the value because they're going too slow. And so I think it is like, if you're, you know, because venture capitalists, they're like. The good thing is they were aligned with what I was doing. Yeah, like, they wanted me to go fast. They wanted me to take the money and, like, just rip it and rip it.
- [77:18]
Jennifer
How much do you think it's your likability and your, you know, like your. The kind of person you are versus the idea. I mean, people invest in. Which one do you think people.
- [77:29]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, I think to create, like, to create something that's like a ring is luck because it's just like, there's just too many things outside of your control. Timing, market conditions. Like, there's just so many things that are outside of your control now. I think different times call for different people and whatever. And I think like. Like a ring needed, like, whoever was going to build the ring of that time needed to be my type of personality, which is like, grit. Go fast, you know, sort of break everything in the process kind of thing. And I think that like, different companies take different types of people at different times that become these, like. Like anthropic. Like, you know, talk about a company that seems to be just like, breaking out right now and doing stuff that's like. I mean, crushing and, like, breaking everything. I mean, like, you know, and it's like Dario's a totally different type of person than I would be. I mean, just like, could not be more. From what I've seen, like, I don't know. I don't know him, but, like, could not be more different. So I think it is, you know, it's like there's just different people for different businesses in different times.
- [78:32]
Jennifer
Do you think they're going to take over ChatGPT in terms of popularity and use and everything else?
- [78:38]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, it looks like they could be a runaway. It looks like they could be the Nvidia. You know, like, Nvidia, which is. Which is insane. Like, I don't think people even, like, recognize how insane it is that in the most important part of the most important market that maybe has ever existed in the world, there's one company that basically controls it all, which is Nvidia. There's people that make chips, but no one's even close to them. It seems like. It seems. I mean, actually just looked like Amazon might have now with these, like, Trainium and some of this stuff actually might be sort of catching up. Which is. Which is I'm very hopeful for because I'm an Amazonian. But I mean, even if. Even if Amazon catches up, it'd be two, like, it's crazy. Something that's like, literally the biggest, most important market ever in history of the world. And, like, right now, and it looks like Anthropic might be breaking out, to just be ahead of everyone in such a way that's like. It's fascinating to watch.
- [79:27]
Jennifer
It is. It's a whole different time.
- [79:28]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [79:28]
Jennifer
Yeah. Is there anything I haven't asked you or I that I missed that you think is important to add?
- [79:35]
Jamie Siminoff
I. No, I think, like, the. I think the most important thing if, like, people are listening and, like, is just, like. I think it is, like, go for something. To me, it's like, go for something.
- [79:43]
Jennifer
You're listening. If people are.
- [79:45]
Jamie Siminoff
I meant. Yeah, I guess if. I mean, I shouldn't say if, like, hopefully those that are listening hopefully have
- [79:50]
Jennifer
one or two people.
- [79:51]
Jamie Siminoff
No, but I mean, it's like. It's like, you know, I'm humble if, you know.
- [79:55]
Jennifer
Yes. But humility.
- [79:57]
Jamie Siminoff
But, you know, it's like the thing you're Go for the thing you're passionate about, be who you are and, like, work hard. And I do think with AI, the grit side is going to become way more valuable than all this other crap that's been like, you know, the Stanford person and the. The best developers and the best. This. It's like the best developers, Claude.
- [80:17]
Jennifer
Exactly.
- [80:18]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, it's not. No. And that's not putting down engineers. It's just the best engineers now are the ones that know that they're not the best, that using 100 AI agents at their disposal and then managing that, that they're. That's the most powerful thing they can do.
- [80:33]
Jennifer
Well, there's nothing also that could ever take the place of human connection, relationships, community.
- [80:39]
Jamie Siminoff
Let's hope.
- [80:40]
Jennifer
I know, I know. Let's hope.
- [80:43]
Jamie Siminoff
I actually agree with you. I'm very hopeful that basically, you know, I think that no matter how intelligent AI becomes, there is a reason why humans. It's. The EQ side becomes more valuable, for sure. And EQ is grit.
- [80:56]
Jennifer
Like, yes.
- [80:57]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, IQ is not grit. EQ's grit.
- [80:59]
Jennifer
Believe me, I listen. I talk about this ad nauseam. I mean, if you're listening, people who are listening, this is like my, My speech every day. Grit, you know, going after things, not overthinking it. Like, believe, you know, all the things. Right. Like persistence.
- [81:14]
Jamie Siminoff
But what's amazing is, like, there was a time 10 or 20 years where, like, intelligence trumped grit, when. Oh, I. I would say for sure, there's a lot of examples of companies where.
- [81:26]
Jennifer
Tell me.
- [81:27]
Jamie Siminoff
Give me three. Give me three. Oh, God, now you're gonna put me on the spot with that.
- [81:31]
Jennifer
I want to know three companies where intelligence was more important than grit.
- [81:35]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, write an email later.
- [81:36]
Jennifer
Yeah, well, no, but I think there was. How about two?
- [81:39]
Jamie Siminoff
No, I think there's definitely a time
- [81:41]
Jennifer
when you can't even think of any.
- [81:42]
Jamie Siminoff
I can't think of. I mean, top of my head, I mean, like.
- [81:44]
Jennifer
Yeah, well, no, you. You made a very. Maybe.
- [81:46]
Jamie Siminoff
Maybe you're right. That was. Right, that was. You got me.
- [81:48]
Jennifer
I don't really think if there's any. That I think of. Yeah, I, I did an entire TED Talk on this topic.
- [81:55]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah, you might be right.
- [81:56]
Jennifer
So that's why I'd be curious to
- [81:57]
Jamie Siminoff
hear still grit, maybe. I always like to think that, like, grit matters more with it. I think I. I think I want to think that grit matters more with AI because the more you democratize.
- [82:06]
Jennifer
No, I'm saying I agree.
- [82:07]
Jamie Siminoff
No, you agree that. But then I was like thinking, I guess it's But I guess it's always been grit.
- [82:11]
Jennifer
When it's not great, it's nepotism.
- [82:13]
Jamie Siminoff
Maybe you know, maybe you still needed. When you, maybe you need a gritty person needs less of the super intelligence stuff like now it's like, because it used to be still like, like Facebook still needed. Google still needed like so maybe it's like you could build those now without having to find it. Because it used to be like that was part of the hard part was like finding these engineers to come on there with you.
- [82:33]
Jennifer
I hear what you're saying.
- [82:33]
Jamie Siminoff
Maybe, maybe it's that.
- [82:35]
Jennifer
Well, what I would think is what you need for a deadly, like a deadly whatever. Like to be like the secret weapon is someone who's incredibly gritty and then who also has the like, the like analytic intelligence. Because usually one doesn't come with the other. Right. Street smarts is very different than academics.
- [82:54]
Jamie Siminoff
Yeah.
- [82:54]
Jennifer
I'm a big street smart person, you
- [82:56]
Jamie Siminoff
know, But I do think the world's going to go more to the street smarts now because the academic side has been democratized.
- [83:02]
Jennifer
Yes. Yes.
- [83:02]
Jamie Siminoff
Okay, that's, I guess maybe that's my.
- [83:04]
Jennifer
But I don't, I, I mean, I would be curious later on, doesn't it? I'll let you take a few days, even a week and get back to me on which companies did intelligence.
- [83:14]
Jamie Siminoff
Maybe you could look at like the founders of a lot of companies had to code before. Like, like Mark Zuckerberg.
- [83:19]
Jennifer
Yeah. Okay.
- [83:19]
Jamie Siminoff
Like, like Mark Zuckerberg. The, the next Mark Zuckerberg is not going to be, not going to necessarily be someone who like came from a place where they had to like code and they were like, mark Zuckerberg is incredibly intelligent.
- [83:30]
Jennifer
Yes.
- [83:30]
Jamie Siminoff
He's incredibly, insanely intelligent.
- [83:32]
Jennifer
Is he your friend also?
- [83:33]
Jamie Siminoff
I actually, I don't really know Mark that well.
- [83:35]
Jennifer
Oh, okay, go ahead.
- [83:36]
Jamie Siminoff
But like, but, but he is insanely intelligent.
- [83:38]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [83:39]
Jamie Siminoff
And he needed to be to build what he had to build, to do it, to like structure it in the code. And I think the next like I'm seeing, I'm seeing entrepreneurs now that are like all the coding, the apps, everything else, they're just doing it. They're, they don't know anything about coding, but they're building this stuff.
- [83:53]
Jennifer
Who's the most impressive entrepreneur that you, you can think of?
- [83:58]
Jamie Siminoff
There's, there's a ton. I'm trying to. Who's the most impressive entrepreneur? I mean, I think James Dyson is probably the one that sticks out the most for me because he's the balance of invention, engineering, business building, brand building. Like personal brand. Like all of it together. Like, and. And stands for someone who's like a great human too. Like, so it's like kind of like all of it in one.
- [84:20]
Jennifer
Have you ever. Have you ever.
- [84:22]
Jamie Siminoff
Never met him? No, I know. I got, I got. I. I need to. I need to, like. It's like I keep always saying I gotta reach out to him. I just have never. I've never met someone that seems to know him to like, get.
- [84:33]
Jennifer
Yeah, interesting.
- [84:36]
Jamie Siminoff
So I gotta, I gotta, I gotta. I do need to make that happen because he. He was. I did look with Ring. Like, he was like, what? Not like my mentor, but I sort of had him as a mentor of. When I said to you, like, if you go into a store and you see Ring, to me it was like, that was the thing that I was able to type that off of was dice.
- [84:53]
Jennifer
Yeah.
- [84:53]
Jamie Siminoff
When you go into a store and you see Dyson on a box, whatever that box is, Hair dryer, a vacuum, you're like, I know this is the best.
- [85:01]
Jennifer
Like, so true.
- [85:02]
Jamie Siminoff
And that I wanted Ring to stand for that in our own way and our. Not. Not the best like in the Dyson way, but the best in like home security. And like.
- [85:10]
Jennifer
But it does. Like, that's what's really synonymous with it.
- [85:13]
Jamie Siminoff
Exactly.
- [85:13]
Jennifer
It is synonymous with it. Like when you think of any type of camera like that, like WI FI camera, that ring is the only one. It's anonymous with Kleenex or whatever.
- [85:22]
Jamie Siminoff
I keep on saying Dyson is like. The Dyson vacuum.
- [85:24]
Jennifer
Yeah, the Dyson vacuum.
- [85:26]
Jamie Siminoff
Like my wife said the other day, I'm gonna grab the Dyson. She came and she vacuumed something. I was like, you know, it's not a Dyson.
- [85:31]
Jennifer
Yeah. Like you said to Mueller. That's. That was Nest or like, that wasn't a ring.
- [85:35]
Jamie Siminoff
What a great compliment of something. It's like.
- [85:37]
Jennifer
Yeah, like, that's what I'm saying. What you did was like incredibly just impressive in every way.
- [85:43]
Jamie Siminoff
So I think of like, what he's done. I think it's like, that's probably one of the most impressive people. Again, in my space of things, there's lots of entrepreneurs have done incredible things. But like, that's like my space of what I look at.
- [85:53]
Jennifer
It's amazing. Okay, well, where do people find. Like, I guess you can buy a ring if you don't have one. Probably.
- [85:59]
Jamie Siminoff
If you are, you should definitely buy a ring.
- [86:00]
Jennifer
Yeah, 100%. But 100 million. I'm sure most people already who are Listening. Have a ring, but maybe use the different features, like the dog feature. The other feature.
- [86:09]
Jamie Siminoff
We have lots of features coming out. So, yeah, we. I mean, the. The ring, I mean, that's. The cooling ring right now is like the amount of features we're putting out every, like. Like, week, month is unbelievable.
- [86:17]
Jennifer
Unbelievable.
- [86:18]
Jamie Siminoff
Really cool.
- [86:19]
Jennifer
I know. I like my. Thank God I have my ring. I love it.
- [86:21]
Jamie Siminoff
Thank you.
- [86:21]
Jennifer
And I'm not just saying that to be polite. I mean it.
- [86:24]
Jamie Siminoff
No, I appreciate that.
- [86:25]
Jennifer
All right, well, thank you for being on the Habits and Hustle. I think we're. We're done. I think I've asked you every question that thanks for.
- [86:30]
Jamie Siminoff
I mean, people, can I. I came out with a book called Ding Dong.
- [86:34]
Jennifer
Why didn't you say so?
- [86:35]
Jamie Siminoff
Because, you know, it's like, I'm. I'm a promoter. It's funny. I'm like a promoter for ring, not for myself. I'm like.
- [86:40]
Jennifer
I don't like that is. I kept Ding Dong. When did it come out?
- [86:42]
Jamie Siminoff
It came out last year. And it's kind of the story of ring up until the day we sold. So it's not like, post sale, but it's like all these hijinks and things we did and stuff that we went through and crazy stuff. Yeah.
- [86:52]
Jennifer
Can I say one thing that's driving me crazy? Okay. You're sure? It looks like the eye. The dot on the eye. It looks like it is a coffee stain. Why did you not make it orange or a different color? It just looks like it's a coffee stain.
- [87:06]
Jamie Siminoff
This is like an older one. So, like, this probably. The shirt is probably. But I don't know. Maybe I should.
- [87:10]
Jennifer
I don't know. That's just like, something I. I know. We're. Okay. Bye, guys. Have a great day. Oh, I should also say, guys, if you have not subscribed, please subscribe if you're watching this. Also, any type of comment or anything you want to share is always great for us to kind of get. Make this podcast as good as it can be. If you have a guest that you'd want me to reach out to, please let me know. And then thank you to Jamie.
- [87:34]
Jamie Siminoff
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
- [87:35]
Jennifer
Bye. It.