Productized Podcast — Julia Somerdin — Hardware Agrotech Products
We talked with Julia Somerdin, who is an entrepreneur and executive with over 15 years of experience in connectivity technology and digital solutions. Experienced in sales, marketing, tech strategy, and system solution and integration with a data-driven and systems thinking approach.
Julia Somerdin is the CEO and Co-founder of Labby. Where she holds responsibilities in the areas of fundraising, sales, and go-to-market. Julia studied at MIT in the MIT-ESD program and also holds an MBA and a BS in Electronics Engineering. Julia has an insatiable curiosity for cutting-edge technology, and her dream is to make the world a better place with it. Outside of the business and tech worlds, Julia’s other passions include traveling and fashion.
Time Notes
[3:11] From China to the US
[5:33] MIT Experience
[10:10] How Julia met her Co-founder
[11:26] The idea behind Labby
[15:36] Do you think it is possible to apply this technology to measure the quality of other types of goods?
[18:40] Lisbon edition of the Techstars
“some of [Labby’s competitors] have shifted out of milk testing because actually it is really hard — not only to be able to do the testing itself, but to present accurate and meaningful results.”
[22:40] What are your biggest challenges as a product?
Top challenge: Deliver accurate results
[25:40] What advice would you give to someone who wants to found a hardware startup? What are the things you wish you had known about it when you started?
- Good Training
[27:50] Where they produce the Hardware
[29:10] Labby uses advanced mobile spectroscopy to determine milk composition and quality information, like milk fat and protein. I imagine that communicating such a specific product must be a challenge. How can you transform something so technical into readable and relevant data?
[32:39] How to measure the ethical, social, and monetary impacts of this technology
[33:03] How big is this industry?
[35:01] Milk Consumption
[37:50] Short Turn Vision — Product-Market fit
[40:02] New related products
[46:15] Q&A
Julia Somerdin recommends 📚 on product and leadership:
Productized may get commissions for purchases made through links to books pointed in this post.
📙 Product Design and Development by Prof Steve Eppinger
📘 Innovating, by Senior Lecture Luis Perez-Breva
📗 The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power Hardcover, by Michael A. Cusumano
The Productized Podcast is produced by Productized — a series of interviews with product innovators, successful makers, and entrepreneurs. We hope those who listen to the ideas on this show are inspired to productize.
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