Fundica Roadshow Success Story: Jean-Louis Iaconis of iaconicDesign (Views: 2925)
In continued celebration of our Vancouver event, which took place two Thursdays ago at the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre, we’re celebrating a previous West Coast participant in this week’s success story.
Jean-Louis Iaconis is the founder of iaconicDesign, a local product development firm specializing in blending the art of design with the science of engineering to create beautiful products that customers love. Originally founded with the sole intent of developing Internet of Things smart home products under the Modena Smart Home brand, iaconicDesign has since branched into a parallel product design consultancy, helping clients in the consumer electronics and clean-tech industries bring their product ideas to life through outsourced design, engineering, and prototyping services. iaconicDesign has successfully leveraged their design expertise and global network of manufacturing partners to bring products to market for numerous clients, ranging from small 1-2 person teams to large household names, including Amazon and Microsoft.
Here’s what Jean-Louis had to say about getting iaconicDesign started.
Tell us more about the early days of your venture. How did you come up with the idea for your company?
Having spent my entire engineering career in start-up/early-stage companies, I understood the challenges and rewards associated with such enterprises, and knew I wanted to pursue starting my own company. The Internet of Things smart home market in particular interested me and, recognizing a few critical barriers that were preventing the widespread adoption of such technologies, I decided to apply my expertise to addressing these issues with a unique product line: Modena. Since then, I have been leveraging my own technical expertise as well as free resources such as government grants and collaborations with universities to make these products a reality.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while attempting to raise funds?
It’s extremely difficult (if not impossible) to get funding as a solo founder. Instead, we have focused on self-funding by bootstrapping using consulting services and have now built a healthy consulting business that is fully funding all internal product development activities.
How did pitch competitions like the Fundica Roadshow help you grow your business?
Great to get investor insights early on to understand what they are looking for and their perceived weaknesses. It was pivotal in making the decision to bootstrap rather than continue to devote effort to finding investors at such an early stage in our company's history. Bootstrapping has enabled us to develop some early product prototypes that we have used to get early customer feedback. This makes for a much more compelling story than just pitching an idea, should we ever need to seek outside investors in the future.
As Jean-Louis so eloquently suggests, there are many reasons to apply to pitch at the Fundica Roadshow and events like it. Though actual funding may not be within your reach, the insights gained from such an experience can be equally valuable. If you are involved in any aspect of entrepreneurial life, we encourage you to apply to pitch at FRS! Our Toronto applications are still open to startups--but for only one week more! If you miss the cut off, join us as an entrepreneur or general admission attendee. We look forward to seeing you there!
