While Iain was on his last visit to Western Australia we managed to catch him for an episode to give us an update on Humm.  Humm is a neurotechnology hardware startup that has gone from a few university graduates in Perth to a VC funded Silicon Valley startup in a few short years. 

Company

Enhancing working memory

Problem

Learning new skills and information faster

Customers

White collar professionals above the age of 25 and those in the 40- to 70-year-old age bracket who are starting to realise lower brain functionality

Big pieces of advice

Be vulnerable. Be coachable. Be a hustler. Constantly seek mentors and people smarter than yourself. You are a product of the five people you spend the most time with. Unless you are chatting to the people who know enough to help you through the problems of tomorrow, you’re not going to be ready for the problems of tomorrow.

Push yourself to learn as fast as possible. It takes thousands of hours of learning to get anywhere. The best way to do that is by talking to people who have done it before.

Bullets

(3:00) – What it feels like to take on a moon-shot problem and how Iain channels his motivation

(4:34) – The humble beginnings of Humm

(8:22) – Iain’s involvement with Electronic Music Appreciation Society at University of Western Australia

(9:55) – The recurring theme of side-projects for entrepreneurs: learning by doing

(12:29) – The first steps of building Humm: Hacking together a minimum viable product and sharing the word

(13:43) – The impact of Spacecubed and Start-up weekend

(16:33) – Bloom: A community of change makers challenging the problems of the world. The importance of learning by making mistakes and trying things

(18:06) – Humm’s Plus Eight Accelerator experiences: Closed-loop brain computer interfaces

(20:00) - Humm’s first customers and the benefit of being your own first customer

(24:40) – The importance of having skin in the game: Investors have greater confidence in your commitment and mentors take you more seriously

(31:39) – How Humm pivoted and found their ideal customer using prototypes and customer interviews: Asking people to buy is a different level of commitment than asking them to trial

(37:40) – How to get customers to purchase your product

(39:25) – The difficulty of hardware products: slower iteration processes requiring forward commitments

(42:36) – How Iain responds to the persistent question of whether Humm’s product is a scam: Education, lowering the barrier to entry, and social proof

(46:03) – Humm’s ideal use case: Enhancing working memory by up to 20%

(49:25) – Dr. Vivienne Ming’s body of research on enhancing working memory and its implications: What a 20% increase in working memory looks like

(51:03) – Humm’s future: Taking the slow path intentionally to educate and enhance usability

(58:20) – Why Iain is famous in Japan

(59:36) – Perth’s exciting start-up future

Show & Tell

https://www.noom.com/ - Psychological principles for weight loss