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How Did Ring Survive Nearly Going Bankrupt? · The Peel with Turner Novak

The Peel with Turner Novak

From Nearly Bankrupt to $5B+ Revenue, with Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff

Jamie Siminoff built the first WiFi video doorbell in his garage, got rejected on Shark Tank, and nearly went bankrupt "at least four times" while growing Ring into one of the largest consumer hardware businesses in the world. We talk about the $1.15B sale to Amazon, coming back to lead Ring after leaving post-exit, and what he learned having a fresh set…

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Notes

Why Did Jamie Siminoff Go Back to Ring? at 0:06

Jamie Siminoff went back to Ring because AI made him want a second at-bat. He stayed five years after selling the company to Amazon, then left in 2023. Full answer
Why Did Ring Call Engineers Builders? at 13:03

Jamie Siminoff made builder the official title for Ring engineering so people feel free to work across firmware, mobile, and backend. Full answer
How Big Did Ring's Sales Get After Amazon Bought It? at 22:44

Jamie Siminoff says Ring has done well over 10x the business since it has been at Amazon, with multiple billions of dollars of sales. Full answer
Why Does 4.869 Billion Sound More Real Than 5 Billion? at 23:55

Turner Novak says 4.869 billion sounds more real than 5 billion because a figure that is not a round number gets treated as real, while 5 billion gets a shrug. Full answer
What Is the Ring App Store? at 36:47

Jamie Siminoff wants Ring to notice a missed visit the way a person would, and Ring launched an app store so other groups can build specialized home apps Ring… Full answer
Why Did Jamie Siminoff Start Christie Street? at 41:16

Jamie Siminoff started Christie Street, a crowdfunding site, because Kickstarter had stopped taking hardware, and the doorbell was only the product used to… Full answer
Why Was Shark Tank Critical for Ring? at 47:55

Jamie Siminoff says Shark Tank was probably one of the most critical things in getting Ring to survive. Product was arriving that he could not pay for. Full answer
Did DoorBot Work on Shark Tank? at 49:23

Jamie Siminoff says DoorBot did not really work when Shark Tank made them do a live demo. It was close. Full answer
Why Did Jamie Siminoff Turn Down Shark Tank? at 53:04

Jamie Siminoff turned down Shark Tank because the offer was a revenue share he called a kill shot. Mr. Wonderful made it. Jamie says Mr. Full answer
How Did Ring Fix Thousands of Broken Doorbells on Christmas Eve? at 55:26

Jamie Siminoff says Ring found out on Christmas Eve that thousands of doorbells were broken. Full answer
Why Did Investors Back Out of Jamie Siminoff's Round? at 1:02:48

Jamie Siminoff says an East Coast group of early-stage investors backed out of his round at the last second. Full answer
How Much Did DoorBot Pay for Ring.com? at 1:12:49

Jamie Siminoff paid a million dollars for ring.com over two years, with 175,000 wired the same day, while he had 187,000 dollars in the bank and the company… Full answer
How Did Ring Survive Nearly Going Bankrupt? at 1:18:06

Jamie Siminoff says Ring came to the verge of bankruptcy about four main times, and that a hardware business like theirs was nearly always that close. Full answer
Why Did Jamie Siminoff Spend Ring's Last Million on TV Ads? at 1:19:11

Jamie Siminoff spent about the last million dollars Ring had on TV because he thought a venture-backed company in their spot should go for a big outcome. Full answer
Why Did Shaq Take Ring Equity Instead of a Fee? at 1:28:44

Jamie Siminoff says Shaq took his Ring fee in equity instead of cash. Full answer
How Did Jamie Siminoff Learn From Dyson? at 1:38:12

Jamie Siminoff learned from James Dyson without copying him and without ever meeting him. Dyson does not know he was the mentor Siminoff used. Full answer

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