Being in Motion With an Idea is More Important Than Having an Idea with Sankarshan Murthy

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell and before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I'm here this afternoon with San Carson Murthy. And San Carson has been in some exciting places in his life. He's a graduate of Wharton School of Business, the University of Maryland and he is engineer, entrepreneur. He's a firefighter. I'm curious about that and a tad. He describes himself and he spent over a decade working on high impact products that have created categories in their own right. He's worked with Apple Watch, DeWalt cordless tools, Tesla, and now leads the team at Bumblebee Spaces. I'm going to let him explain to you what that is, but welcome San Carson and glad to have you with us.

Thank you, Larry. Yeah, like glad to be here.

What, what are some of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences you've had so far in your business career?

Yeah, you know, I, my bias is engineering. I started off as an engineer and I've always wanted to create something, something new in the world. Like, you know, it's right from, right from starting school. You know, robotics was like always a passion for me. I wanted to build something that you can interact with physically but you can control it through digitally. And that, that has always been kind of like my like theme within my career. And I've worked on some, really fortunate to work on some amazing products in the past. I started on power tools which, the cordless power tools from DeWalt, the 20 volt max line, which is fairly common tool that you see in Home Depot and Lowe's when you walk in. Worked on some really detailed stuff like building gears for transmissions and motors and batteries and a lot of that. And then after Warden, I ended up moving to the west coast where I worked on Apple Watch. I was at Apple for about four years and it was a brand new product. It felt like a brand new Apple working with a team that was kind of a special forces team within Apple.

There's a lot of people apply for jobs with Apple. How did you get the nod and break through, you know, fresh to the West Coast?

Yeah.

You show up.

Yeah. So I mean the job like, so I wasn't applying for Jobs at Apple. It just happened that this, the skill set I was developing while I was at Black Decker and while I was at Wharton, really applied directly to my job at Apple and Apple recruiters reached out and that conversation, it was almost like I had increased my surface area of possibilities on adding value to Apple. That in a way was like a kind of like luck found me, but it's also in a way that I had. There was a lot of like behind the scenes work that had gone in for that moment to kind of become kind of create a new role within Apple. Like I kind of got a chance to create kind of the product centric role which is between the design team and the operations team that drives Apple able to kind of like fit right in the middle there and add a lot of value.

So what kind of skill set did you have that put you uniquely in that spot?

Yeah, I think so. The big ones are taking like care towards product development, product design. Product designs are very, it's a very broad field and you know, like taking a product from prototype or concept stage to mass production, there's a lot that happens there and it requires combination of some general skills but a lot of deep, deep expertise within first principles, understanding the true economics and the true physics of what we're building and pushing the boundaries of that. And I had over a dozen patents at the time working with Black and Decker. I had worked on some really interesting sensors, actuators, motors, the way even like how the magnet flux. It was a lot of detailed work that I had put in as just out of my curiosity and just pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the world.

Now, early in your career, how long have you been out now in the job market?

So, yeah, so like 2006, I started working at Black and Decker. So it's been a while. It's been 15 years now.

Yeah, but before you had a 12 patent, you didn't just apply for 12 patents. You already had 12 patents. Right. And so, yeah, that's pretty significant. Yeah, yeah.

So I mean that was like. Yeah, you know, so I was in.

For example, for example, said Karshi. I don't, I don't have any patents.

Yeah, it's, it's unusual. I think I've always had kind of like quirky mindset and every time there is a.

Well, I've got, I've got, I've got the quirky mindset.

So I, you know, I've always been an outsider to some new fields. So, you know, which gives you a perspective. So for example, I am not a. For me, like getting into construction tools was, I was an outsider. I was a Nerdy engineer that got thrown into power tools. Right. And that gave me a really interesting perspective because I used to literally drive a dual truck to some of the construction sites where you know, as a 150 pound vegetarian, I would stick out like a sore thumb in this space where people are there. It's like a very intense work environment where people are building some really cool stuff and I would just observe and figure out what are the problems they're dealing with and approach it with very much like, like how an engineer approaches problem. In a sense I almost observe the problem solution said instead of thinking of it like more like technology. Observe it like an anthropologist. I just observe what people do, how, how they use the power tools, how they spend time at the job site, what are they working on. You know that that was, there was a lot of like observation related. I don't believe in surveys. Like at Bumblebee we don't use surveys at all. We just do observation which so powerful in understanding how, how people live, how they like to. Because you know, like if you ask someone, just the fact that you're asking somebody a question, there is bias. Like you're kind of expecting them to answer certain way and they expect to answer to for you to hear the answer certain way. So it's kind of like interesting biases that happen. So I think just like I would always give this power of observation lets you invent some really cool stuff I think.

Well let me ask you this with you. Did you learn anything about hiring people from the way Apple went about recruiting you and vetting you? Was that informative for you?

Yeah, Apple and even Black and Decker. I mean it's funny like Black and Decker hires few people and they give like the best onboarding of any company I've seen Apple I joined and next day I was like thrown deep into a project like day two, like or actually end of day one, I was like thrown deep into a serious project like with. And my boss who hired me was not even in the country, he was traveling himself. So that was an interesting way to onboard. I just like literally drinking out of a fire hose. Amount of onboarding I think sometimes. So the way Apple it's interesting how even though interviews, the offer letters, everything's like the Apple product. It feels like when you get the offer letter, you open it, it feels like an Apple product you get. There's so much sexiness in like interacting with Apple that just shows the love that they put towards the product, the processes inside. It shows up in, in how they interact with the Potential employees or customers or whoever. And I just, I think that that part, we use it quite a bit at Black and Decker.

I mean, can you explain to the outside world what kind of difference you feel like you made at Apple? Because you there on that watch. When you see the Apple watches now, and I'm looking at mine right now, what, where do you feel like your impact was felt?

Yeah, it's. So, yeah, Watch was an amazing product. You know, without getting into like things that, you know, obviously like a lot of confidential stuff within Apple and so without getting into like kind of the details of that. But the way kind of I think about the impact I had at Apple is from when Apple does product development, there's so many parallel things happening. And Watch itself was born kind of like in so many discussions. There's like, oh, wrist is interesting, the sensors are interesting. Health devices are interesting. Like computers are going to become more, you know, instead of screens, it's going to become more. It will disappear out of the line of sight. So there were like a lot of these conversations that were going on and then like each part of the product development has so many parallel paths. Like just how many health device sensors, how many interfaces, how many. How the touchscreen would work, how, you know, and the watch itself is like jewelry. It's not like, it's not like a computer. You people wear it as a. It's kind of. It represents their style. Right. So it's very personal. And so there were so many parallel paths.

And how far was it developed? How had they decided on the watch or how. Where, when, when you got in what, what state of development was it when you got involved?

So when I get got involved, it was just kicked off in the sense that though, you know, it was decided that we're going to pursue.

Okay, so. So you got, yeah, you got in there in the formative stage where lots of decisions have to be made to.

Yes.

Narrowed it, narrow it down. And how did that help you move over to. You mentioned robotics and I know Tesla's real big in robotics. How did that help you and why did you jump over to Tesla?

Yeah, so, yeah, I actually followed my boss from Apple to Tesla at the same boss when I first started Tesla. So it was a really interesting transition. So Tesla in the Valley, they're like a startup. They're kind of seen as a startup. Being inside Apple and looking at Tesla, it does seem like, are they chaotic? It seems like they move really fast. They're. Their CEO is very outspoken on Twitter. It's, you know, like A lot of times politically incorrect and all that. So it seems, it seemed to me like it was like a chaotic place from outside. But when I interviewed at Tesla, you know, obviously I knew the boss like and all that. And part of that you actually, you like write a note to Elon and you have to kind of go through that whole process. And I understood, I kind of like felt like how kind of what Apple would have been when Steve Jobs was there. Like it was like everything revolved around Elon when you went into Tesla and that really made me very curious about it and, and the width and breadth of the problems, they are so much wider. And I actually really like the culture within Tesla in the sense that they don't. Elon's very anti bureaucracy. He doesn't like people who block information flow. He just everything's open, which makes it a really intense and also like a fun place. You know, when you sign up for Tesla, you know you're signing up for, it'll be intense. It's not going to be like just like a job. It's going to be like life consuming work. And you know that when you take it on and I wanted it at that point in my life, I'm like, this is what I want to be part of.

Hey listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over 5 billion.

In assets under management, and has done.

Well even during trying times. Now if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to whiteellawinning.com webinar Now I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up.

Now there's a lot of people out there that gone through these stages, doing well with different companies, a lot of excitement, learning skills, making a name for themselves, but that is not enough. They want to do their own thing. And so you evolve to where you're CEO and co founder of your own company, Bumblebee Spaces. Explain what that is.

Yeah, that's right. I've always been kind of entrepreneur at heart and in fact being a Tesla made me want to do it more because the all hands, whenever Elon would bring the whole team together, instead of talking like a corporate CEO, it would feel like a founder is sharing his struggles on the stage. It always felt very authentic and that really, you know, like I've Always. And I didn't want to miss this opportunity to kind of like take on, take on this struggle myself. So. Yeah, Bumblebee. So the way we, we kind of describe ourselves, we're the space company. So in a world where space, nobody's manufacturing more space, like space is kind of like, when I say space, I don't mean outer space, I mean inner space, like the, the space that we live in. Right. So nobody's manufacturing more buildable land. And it comes at the cost of footprint. It comes either through spreading out the urban sprawl that is like goes into wilderness, rainforest. And the problem of housing is very, it is the problem of our generation. Like when you think about where do most people spend their money on a monthly basis, it's housing. And it's the reason for societal inequity. It's the reason for the biggest carbon footprint. It's the reason we have cars and traffic and all that. Like, because people can't live where they want to live and have to commute and all that stuff. So housing has always been very interesting. Like it needs to be disrupted. It's continued to be the same for generations. And the way we approached it was what if you think of house like a product? So when I was at any of the large companies doing working on any important product, there used to be debates within engineering teams. Like the battery team would want another micron or the LED team would want another like small space. Here everyone's fighting for space in this real estate for small products. And nobody's fighting for space in the home like that. You know, engineers are not having these deep debates about why is your closet space stuck there? Why do you have hallway doorway, why do you have this space for the drawer? Like nobody's having these debates for the home. And if you think about home like a product that you know and you, you need all these functionalities, people expect more out of the home now. So you need, when you do need office, you need a full office. When you need a bedroom, you need a real bedroom, you need closet, you need a real walk in closet. So you need all these functionalities, but you don't need it on the floor, on the all the time. So we kind of approach the Bumblebee's mission is to make space using technology. So we put these fixtures and furniture in the ceiling and we bring it down only when you need it. But when you need it, it's like they're beautiful and really functional. When you don't need it, it's completely out of the way and you get the gift of space back to the user. So we build these modular products like an add bed, storage desk, shoe racks, pantry, all this stuff. And they all come out of the ceiling and disappear back when you, when you don't need them.

And so how has it, so what you've done is again creating a new kind of category, a new kind of idea. How, how has your reception been?

Yeah, so it's, it's interesting. We started off where people thought this was like a crazy concept. They're like what furniture in the ceiling is. And initially we only found few kind of forward thinking people who are like, let's try it. Here is a studio, here's a one bedroom. Let's, let's go nuts, you know. And now the reception, the traction in the market is massive. We are kind of like working on building up a big supply so we can supply to the market. But the market, you know, once you walk into a Bumblebee home, people want it like it's instant, like they, there is no convincing. The product kind of like speaks to itself, the value that it creates. Instantly it seems outlandish until you walk into one of these homes and it feels like once people live in it, the way they describe it is it's like living in the future. It kind of works. The home works around you. And there's this really powerful software that powers Bumblebee that understands what you need when you need it. You know, it kind of like transforms the space based on what stuff you need. Like it understands where you're storing your green hat or blue scarf. You know, you can look for your things like you search Google and then it generates really interesting analytics on what you're using, what you're not using. How often do you like, how well are you sleeping? A lot of interesting insights which is all like data that the user owns. And we don't monetize the data, but the data is all owned by the user. And they get some really interesting insights on how they live and how much they use. And the interesting thing for us has been to see real people using our products and actually using the way we designed it. They love the space, they love the openness, they love kind of this minimal stuff like uncluttered home that they live in. And yet anything they need is right there.

So what would you say? I'm going to shift gears and say, what would you say that you've learned from having this engineering robotics interest from the beginning? Getting a fabulous education at the University of Maryland and Wharton School of Finance and business and great experience in the industry with apple watch, Tesla DeWalt. So then you launch your own company. Now, how long have you been into this? Your own company?

Yeah. So this is our fourth year, so we officially incorporated 2017.

So the initial excitement has worn off. And now looking back on that experience, what would you say to people? What is your takeaway to yourself and others who might be going through a similar process where they're still working with other companies, but they still have the itch to do their own thing? What is your. What would you say to them?

Yeah, I. You know, I. Yeah. If I.

What would you say to the young St Carson?

Yes. Yeah, I think that's. That's a more relevant way I could answer it because. Yeah. If I were to go back and kind of tell myself, I think, like, a few things. One, being in motion with an idea is more powerful than, like, having ideas. You know, it's just like, ideas are. I won't say cheap. They're good insights. Ideas are valuable. But more importantly is more. What is more important is being in motion with the idea of being. Taking it like it. Because what Bumblebee was in 2017, 2018, is not what it is in 2021, and what it won't be in 2022 or 2023, it's radically iterating and all aspects of the business, though, the product, the installation, the user experience, the business model, everything iterates, iterate, iterates. And this iteration is. It's funny, like you said, the initial excitement is worn off. If anything, the excitement, like, dials up by. Every day, like, every. Every day we spend on this, we're like this. We're creating something magical. This will blow people's mind. This will blow the market. This will create a new way to live with that excitement only grows every day that we're in motion with the idea, and we're in motion with executing on the idea. And in the sense that, you know, it's. And it's also cumulative. Like you, though the learnings just. It takes a while for you to, you know, for initially it was like, why haven't people used ceiling? Why, like, what are the. Are they, like, building codes on this? Are there, you know, what are some of the reasons that this may not work? Like, all these questions you have to go through, like, what about earthquake? What about sprinklers? What about blah, blah, blah? All these. Like, we had to work through all these, like, initially, right? And then once we, like, crack, crack, crack all these. And then we did Like a few like landmark installs. Now it's, it's kind of like it's execution right? Like now it's like, how fast can we build? How fast can we scale? Which. And so there were like different levels of barriers that we had to break through as we as like over the, as we kind of developed on, on the, on the product, developed the concept and the market and all that. But it was like very clear the mission kind of always stood first and being kind of like true with that, true to the mission and also like being very focused in being in motion with the idea. I mean, when I said being in motion with the idea, like, you know, the thing, I kind of keep telling myself, you'll never have perfect information to make decision. So you have to make this call. Sometimes on, sometimes on gut feels, sometimes on like experience, and sometimes you just like take, take advice from people who've walked the path. But you, the most important thing is you make the decision. This point of analysis paralysis, I kind of break that. I don't like to be dwelling on a decision for too long. I like to break through. Either do it or not. Like you either commit or not. That is so important because a lot of times you can just linger on with a thought for months, for years without doing anything. And that, that won't take me anywhere.

Absolutely great insight from San Carson Murthy. I really appreciate that behind the scenes, those behind the scenes insight of how you basically grew and developed yourself to where you could launch your, your own company that would be revolutionary and make an impact and basically create a niche or a whole new category.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, Go.