In this interview series, I talk to key leaders from rising startups that are in demand and have a stake in the future of technology. These companies are making an impact in their industries and are NextGen in terms of product, platform, and service.
This interview is with Guy Altagar, Co-Founder & CEO of Unlimited Robotics.
About Unlimited Robotics:
Unlimited Robotics was founded to empower software developers to build robotics applications on Gary, a multipurpose robot for repetitive everyday tasks. The team, led by Guy Altagar, the Company’s CEO, is mostly comprised of more than 25 engineers, and work in 4 locations: Tel Aviv, Colombia, Georgia, and California.
Q: Where did the initial idea for the company come from?
The need for robotic functionalities is getting bigger, mainly due to COVID-19 and the new reality. The big problem is that most of the robotic devices today can perform only a single task, and the development process takes a long time and requires a lot of stakeholders (such as engineers, programmers, hardware, and more). When I saw how complicated the process is, I thought it was only natural to build a platform that will help software engineers to get into the world of robotics and build apps on an easy-to-use platform. Since we also needed to show how those applications operate in real life, we built Gary, our robot.
Q: What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?
Unlimited Robotics’ mission is to empower developers and enable them to develop robotics applications for many industries or many devices in an easier, faster, and more productive manner. Simplicity and accessibility are among our key values. When you make a complicated product to become accessible and simple to operate – you can win the market. This is why we decided to build the biggest platform, in terms of hardware and software, for developers in order to allow them to build as many applications as they wish. We equipped Gary, our service robot, with three cameras, more than 16 different types of sensors, and two arms to allow developers to build applications for as many industries as possible.
Q: How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?
We have a waiting list page (link here) on which people can save a seat to get Gary in Spring 2022. It costs only $99 to save your seat. Simultaneously, we work with businesses such as hotels, hospitals, restaurants, nursing homes, and schools in different types of agreements to provide them Gary during the next few months.
Q: What kind of CRM software is your company using?
We use different types of systems to communicate with our customers, from Hubspot to Zapier and ActiveCampaign.
Q: What’s the first bit of advice you’d give to someone who’s thinking of starting their own startup?
You must be passionate about what you do. It is an extremely long journey. Longer than a marathon run. There are some great things that will happen, but also challenging times. In order to overcome any obstacle, you must remember why you do it. What brought you to start the company in the first place, and passion is used as the fuel to encourage you through the challenging times. One more piece of advice is to always start with the “why.” If you understand the “why” (i.e., what kind of problem you solve), you can understand the “how.”
Q: What is the key to happy clients?
From my experience, there are three key elements to make customers happy: (1) setting the expectations straight; (2) solving the pain; and (3) providing a great service. If you make sure you mark those 3 – you will have happy clients.
Q: How do you strengthen your ability to focus on what matters?
I always doubt what we have achieved so far and ask if this is the optimal result for our customers and for us. Once you have questions, you can define during the process the exact type of problems that need answers, and that creates a focused process that helps you get to what really matters and improve it on the way.
Q: What other companies or startups inspire you?
I absolutely adore companies that disrupt and change the environment, and three comes to mind: (1) OrCam that allows visually impaired people to understand the text and identify objects through audio feedback; (2) Zero Egg which develops the best egg alternative; and (3) Air Pro by Molekule, that helps to destroy a range of pollutants indoors. And one more that should inspire every entrepreneur is SpaceIL that proves that no dream is small, and people can actually land a spaceship on the moon, even if they are not NASA.
