Ep. 195 - [Live at SKS] How To Build a Smart Kitchen Device Company with Akshita Iyers, CEO and Co-Founder of Inirv

This episode is with Akshita Iyers, CEO and Founder of Inirv, a smart kitchen tech company whose first product is a kitchen knob that you can control on your phone!

Akshita Iyer started this company with her husband when her mother forgot to turn off the stovetop, and burnt down her house. At the time, Akshita and her husband were in the medical industry and dropped everything to build a company that would have more impact.

I had a fun time with this live interview as we chat about building a smart kitchen device. From going on Shark Tank to asking amazing people for advice, we dive in on how to accelerate this process and you will be surprised how the process is very similar to a food business.

This is one of two interviews I did live at SKS in Seattle last month. It was a super fun event, and I’ll go a little bit into it at the beginning of the episode.

Learn the building blocks of building something as complex as a smart kitchen device.

Akshita is the co-founder and CEO of Inirv, an IoT company using connected devices to bring safety and simplicity to the kitchen. Akshita graduated from Duke University with a neuroscience degree and worked in the Duke Health System before becoming an entrepreneur. After her mom accidentally left the stove on and started a fire, Akshita founded Inirv to bring connectivity to the kitchen in the fastest, most affordable way. Inirv is reimagining the kitchen and transforming the way we cook at home.

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Smart Kitchen Summit
I make products that help you cook safely at home
At Inirv, we build connective devices to make things simple
What’s your background?: I graduated in Duke and focused more on neuroscience. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur but after the accident, we thought this would be great to help a lot of people
How did you think of this idea?: How do we control the appliance instead of solving the reaction?
The threshold for a kitchen knob is very low and we’ve tested 100s of stoves to make sure we are compatible.
We shipped product, 7000 people on the waitlist
How can we get on your waitlist?: Just our website Inirv.com
Shark Tank -How can you get on the show?: You can audition but we had someone reach out to us to be on the show. It took 9 months of diligence before we went to LA. You can be cut any time. 30000 people pitch, 150 pitch, 50 get on air.
The first 30 seconds are scripted, once that’s over, it’s a complete free for all. There’s a 2 hour pitch.
What have you found cool about SKS?: Great way to network
Chefling
What are your thoughts on kitchen devices?: We’re on the cusp of it. The tip of the iceberg
Why do you love what you do?: I love building things. I didn’t have access to any resources but the passion helped built it up
What are some challenges and solutions?: We were able to talk to the founders of other smart kitchen companies and it helped us a ton.
How do you get through the noise?: Make your note personal. Do your research
What’s your favorite resources?: How I built this by Guy Raz
A book: Predictably Irrational. I actually took his class
What is one piece of advice to start a tech company?: Surround yourself with amazing people. My family helped me a lot. We almost ran out money to manufacture it but we did it.
Number one reason startups fail because founders get up
We interviewed 100+ hardware founders about manufacturing
[email protected] reach out on my website and linkedin
What’s next?: Scaling production. Work with other players and appliance manufacturers. We’re exploring a lot of options