He Scaled a $500M Product. His Advice for Water Tech? Slow Down

<p>A working prototype means nothing if you can&#39;t manufacture it at scale.</p><p><br></p><p>Brad Augustine — VP of Hardware Engineering at Inspiren, former VP of Hardware at Lululemon — is the engineer who scaled the Mirror connected fitness device from startup to a $500M acquisition. In this episode, he shares the product development playbook that water tech founders and engineers need to hear.</p><p><br></p><p>Brad spent 20 years in hardware product development: building LED lighting and ergonomic furniture at Humanscale, leading the engineering team that cut Mirror&#39;s production costs by 40% before the pandemic supply chain crisis, and now building AI-powered senior care hardware at Inspiren.</p><p><br></p><p>We cover:</p><p>→ Why &quot;hardware is hard&quot; is actually &quot;hardware is fun&quot;</p><p>→ The real gap between a working prototype and mass production</p><p>→ How Brad&#39;s team cut 40% of Mirror&#39;s BOM cost — and why that saved them when the pandemic hit</p><p>→ Why water industry engineers need to think like product managers</p><p>→ The PFAS trap: are you building for wastewater or drinking water? Two very different customers.</p><p>→ How AI is finally helping engineers navigate tangled regulatory requirements (UL, IEC, FCC, SCADA)</p><p>→ Why &quot;me-too&quot; products die in hardware — you can&#39;t pivot a mold</p><p>→ What&#39;s next: AR beauty tech, AI inside physical products, and solving problems in your own community</p><p><br></p><p>Guest: Brad Augustine</p><p>→ VP, Hardware Engineering at Inspiren</p><p>→ Former VP, Hardware at Lululemon (Mirror)</p><p>→ Former Design Engineering Manager at Humanscale</p><p>→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-augustine</p><p><br></p><p>Host: Ravi Kurani, LiquidAssets</p><p><br></p><p>This episode is sponsored by HASA — the leader in water treatment solutions. Keeping communities safe one drop at a time for over 60 years. Learn more at hasa.com.</p>