How Pool Water Monitoring Systems Could Save Lives with Ravi Kurani of Sutro - EP006

eCommerce Masters

In this episode of eCommerce Masters, host Ethan Giffin interviews Ravi Kurani, founder of Sutro, a company that creates robotic water diagnostics devices for swimming pools. Kurani shares his journey from pool boy to entrepreneur, developing a high-tech solution for pool maintenance.

Kurani emphasizes the challenges of hardware development, describing a "hardware hierarchy" from industrial design to software. He advises other founders that "perfection is the enemy of progress," encouraging them to launch products even when they are ready. The conversation highlights Sutro's innovative approach to a common problem and Kurani's strategic thinking in product development and market positioning.

Key insights include:

- Sutro's device floats in pools, measuring pH, chlorine, bromine, and alkalinity, sending data to a smartphone app.

- The product simplifies pool maintenance, eliminating manual testing and guesswork. - Kurani's background in pool maintenance and venture capital in India inspired the product. - The company pivoted from targeting the Indian water market to wealthy pool owners for better margins.

- Sutro uses a direct-to-consumer model via Shopify, with plans to expand into retail and OEM partnerships.

Quotes From The Show:

"We basically set out to figure out how can we build a diagnostic sensor that has the accuracy of those really expensive sensors, but has the kind of idiot factor to be able to get information to the user so they can actually act upon it."

"I put my pool boy shorts back on and flipped the entire model around. And we said, 'Why don't we sell to wealthy pool owners, sell it at a margin, at a higher margin, and use that money to basically redeploy into the product so we can then go into these more altruistic markets later?'"

"A ton of blood, sweat and tears. I mean, it's like it's absolutely, you know, they don't say hardware is hard for kind of no reason."

"Once you get the bottom three correct, I can push up updates, you know, daily if I feel like it. Probably not the smartest thing, but you can change code with a much less risk than anywhere up and down that that kind of has a lot of problems."

"Everything from literally cleaning bathrooms, making sure that the office was vacuumed because we had investors coming all the way to kind of filing the patents, right? And working with our patent attorneys and filing corporate documents."

"I'd say perfection is the enemy of progress. Just hit the, just hit the publish button when you feel like you're embarrassed because if you don't, then you're going to be a little too late."

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:47 Product Overview and Target Market
05:47 Ravi's Background and Inspiration
08:55 Pricing and Subscription Model
11:10 Sales Channels and Marketing Strategy
18:34 Challenges in Hardware Development
32:25 Advice for Entrepreneurs

Resources:

Sutro - https://mysutro.com

Shopify - https://www.shopify.com

Klaviyo - https://www.klaviyo.com

ReCharge - https://rechargepayments.com

Amazon (FBA) - https://sell.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon

Walmart Marketplace - https://marketplace.walmart.com

eBay - https://www.ebay.com

Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com

Lowe's - https://www.lowes.com

Best Buy - https://www.bestbuy.com

Google (for advertising) - https://ads.google.com

Facebook (for advertising) - https://www.facebook.com/business

TikTok (for advertising) - https://www.tiktok.com/business

Home Assistant - https://www.home-assistant.io

Alexa - https://developer.amazon.com/alexa

Google Home - https://developers.home.google.com

iOS - https://www.apple.com/ios

Android - https://www.android.com

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) - https://www.fcc.gov

About Ravi Kurani:

Ravi Kurani has dedicated his career to water safety. From his early days as a pool boy for his father's pool and spa business to the founder of Sutro, Ravi has always wondered why everyone can’t have clean water. This feeling solidified when he was in India with First Light Ventures Fund and Village Capital. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Riverside, MBA in International Finance from Middlebury College, and a Certificate from Stanford University in Renewable Energy Systems. He believes that being an entrepreneur is an honor he must earn daily since it gives him the ability to solve problems that not only makes money but help society.