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**Mike McDerment:** Yeah. I think the way I would look at it -- and that's not the actual title, but I think the easiest way to think about a role is... Interesting construct - we're two in a box; we run the company together, we do one-to-one-to-ones with our senior management team, so the three of us are in there, and... |
The individual in question has been fantastically successful, and they like to lean in the 0 to 18-month timeframe, and I lean 18-month plus... So we're together, on the same page with each other's files, but we don't need to go to the same meetings. In the same meeting, we bring a different area of focus. He might be ... |
\[36:01\] It actually is quite liberating, because it's like "Okay, you run the results in the operations, and I'm gonna run the future. We'll do both together", but that's where the emphasis lies, and kind of more the accountabilities, and that's fine. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** I guess the reason why I brought that back up in that capacity was to say that you began as the original founder, the visionary, and you've had to graduate yourself out of this role of everyday doing, and more leading and building the team, as you'd mentioned - you mentioned you couldn't do their jo... |
**Mike McDerment:** Yeah, so as a rule, we wouldn't disclose... Right? \[laughter\] But I will say Fridays are my favorite days. That's where I go to the sprint reviews for our product development teams. So it's back to details. I'm not the core person driving those meetings, but I'm there, I'm seeing the things get gr... |
So the teams are cranking away... That's a fun role to play, and I think impactful long-term. That's some of my favorite stuff I get to do. And then i have some pet projects that are more secret in nature. We have categories of products that we would like to offer you, and some of those are known... But there's categor... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** So FreshBooks has been around for a while, and you expect it to be around for a lot longer. It's not going anywhere. You're only gonna get bigger and better. |
**Mike McDerment:** That is the plan of record. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** That's the goal. |
**Mike McDerment:** Yeah. \[laughter\] |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Well, Mike, thank you so much for your time today. It was excellent catching back up with you. It's literally been nine years since we last spoke. The last time we talked was on that podcast... We're not great friends; we should be great friends, but hey, that's how it works out, right? |
**Mike McDerment:** Yeah, it feels like it. Nice to pick up where we left off, Adam. And thank you for choosing FreshBooks all these years. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Yes, I love FreshBooks. And that's not a paid thing. Hey, I really love FreshBooks, I think it's an amazing product. I've always had great respect for you and your team, and FreshBooks for me, honestly -- I just love it. It's amazing. Trustworthy, reliable... It's never failed me. That's the best pa... |
**Mike McDerment:** That makes me very happy to hear. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Mike, thank you so much. I appreciate it. |
**Mike McDerment:** Okay, thanks for having me, Adam. |
• The role of a father in shaping a child's life and interests |
• Ian Bernstein's childhood experiences with his Apple IIe computer and learning electronics from various mentors |
• The benefits of home-schooling and having facilitative parents who encouraged exploration and learning |
• Ian's success with Sphero, including the development of BB-8 for Disney |
• The founding of Misty Robotics in 2017 and its mission to create programmable robots for home and business use |
• Development of BB-8 and its role in the Star Wars franchise |
• Creation of a toy version of BB-8 by Sphero |
• The design process for BB-8, including limited information and resources from Disney/Lucasfilm |
• The development of Misty Robotics and its platform for robotics |
• The potential for robots to be integrated into daily life beyond entertainment and novelty |
• Discussion of the challenges and limitations of current robotics technology |
• Developing a multi-purpose robot platform for home and office use |
• Overcoming engineering challenges in robotics, such as heat dissipation and vision processing |
• Creating a platform for developers to build custom applications for various industries, including elder care and education |
• Launching Misty, a 14-inch tall robot with a friendly character design and suite of sensors |
• Focusing on developing backend technology features during the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare for post-pandemic opportunities |
• Exploring use cases for robots in response to the pandemic, such as telemedicine and companionship |
• Ian Bernstein's background and strengths, including being multi-skilled in various technical areas |
• The concept of robots as a development platform and the potential for them to move beyond voice interfaces like Alexa and Siri |
• Challenges in creating autonomous mapping and navigation capabilities for robots, including sensor technology and compute power costs |
• Pricing and version levels of Misty robots (Basic: $2,000, High-end: $3,299) |
• Limitations of current mapping and navigation systems, including issues with loop closure and remapping complex environments |
• The potential benefits of using a robot like Misty in telehealth and teletherapy applications, particularly for elderly or individuals with special needs |
• Benefits of physical interaction in learning |
• Kindergarteners coding Sphero robots as a teaching tool |
• Research on socially-assisted robots in special needs kids, healthcare, and elderly care |
• Use of robots to supplement healthcare workers due to worker shortages |
• Role of robotics in healthcare, particularly with patients who require repetitive interactions |
• Challenges of scaling a company and working with generalists vs. specialists |
• Ian Bernstein's role as co-founder and idea person, and his struggles with defining his day-to-day responsibilities |
• Importance of adaptability and being able to jump between different tasks and projects |
• Working with a factory in China and the challenges of scaling a company |
• The importance of "giving away your Legos" (delegating tasks and responsibilities) for growth |
• The concept of being a "linchpin" vs. a cog in a machine, and how Ian Bernstein prefers to be a cog |
• Misty's mission to become a platform and put robots in every business, home, and school |
• Mentally preparing for long-term goals and breaking them down into manageable steps |
• The idea of focusing on "the next right thing" rather than getting bogged down by overarching goals |
• Disney's Frozen show at Disneyland uses BB-8 technology |
• Misty Robotics' 10-year plan and goals |
• Iterating with customer feedback and unexpected adoption of their platform for real-world applications |
• Challenges in focusing resources and energy on key areas amidst market changes (including the impact of COVID-19) |
• Exploring focus on verticals such as children's therapy space and elder care, including companion robots, safety features, and concierge services |
• Discussing the potential for Misty Robotics to spin off companies focused on specific verticals |
• The importance of being deeply invested in a particular area to prove usage and success |
• Ian Bernstein's approach to innovation, including taking breaks from work and creating separate personas |
• The value of perseverance and resilience in times of uncertainty, such as the current pandemic |
• How to maintain focus and motivation during challenging periods |
• Exciting developments in robotics and technology, and opportunities for developers and companies to get involved with Misty Robotics |
• Ideas for deploying robots economically and getting them into people's hands, including programs and initiatives |
• Discussion of the impact of Covid-19 on product development and community engagement |
• Idea of leveraging boredom and free time to drive innovation and adoption |
• Loaner units available for developers to experiment with Misty platform |
• Plans to connect people with ideas to developers through a new platform or system |
• Goal of facilitating collaboration and idea generation between two groups of people |
**Adam Stacoviak:** The role a father plays in a child's life is pivotal. Ian Bernstein formerly founded Sphero, and is now the founder and head of product at Misty Robotics, and they're building the first programmable robot for the home and business. They call it Misty II. But this journey of building Misty II really ... |
**Ian Bernstein:** Looking back on my side, the Apple computer was probably the biggest purchase our family made... And it was interesting - later on, it was years after I'd started Sphero, and actually more when I was thinking about these more advanced robots at Misty, I called him up to ask him why he had bought this... |
I grew up in the middle of nowhere, in rural New Mexico, I started home-schooling when I was in fourth grade, but I kind of ended up teaching myself a lot of stuff from the internet. My dad was always a facilitator. He was always looking for things that I might be interested in, and sort of finding people that knew abo... |
When I was 11 -- I'd always liked taking stuff apart. I had this cardboard box of parts, just taking apart broken cameras, and cassette players, and trying to understand how they worked and tried to fix them, but I was too young to really put them back together... But I was always curious how things worked. |
So when I was 11, he found this guy who taught electronics at a tech school, so he ended up trading guitar lessons; my dad's a classical musician. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Nice... |
**Ian Bernstein:** Guitar lessons for electronics lessons for me. I learned CAD from this guy that my dad met at State Park. He was living out of his trailer. He was a machinist, and he taught me AutoCAD. So I learned from a lot of people that my dad and my mom would connect me with. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** It's interesting to hear it, too - to hear home-schooling as part of your past. Do you think in retrospect that was a big thing for you? Would you have been too preoccupied in traditional school? ...I guess that's the angle there. |
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