"I love lukeiseman.com"

2022-05-05 07:52:23

thennowlaterdonethingsBoxouse (YC W17) Co-Founder (with Heather Stewart). Made off-grid, open-source tiny homes out of shipping containers.Outcome: built ~11 boxouses, achieved CA-wide approval as factory built housing, then ran out of money and open-sourced plans.Y Combinator Director of Hardware.Outcome: Helped YC become the best place to start a hardware company.Edyn Garden (YC W14) Co-Founder. Invented a solar-powered, wifi-connected garden sensor.Outcome: Made it to the finals at Techcrunch Disrupt, raised substantial capital from hardware-focused investors, and got into Y Combinator. After I left, Edyn performed a successful Kickstarter campaign and made it to the shelves of Home Depot.Shop-In-A-Box Inventor. I designed and deployed a shipping-container-based, off-grid-capable, open-source factory.Outcome: collaborated between microfactories in Oakland and rural Kenya, iterating on hardware *almost* as fast as software. Also did CNC plasma cutting on the Gates Foundation's deck and at Burning Man:)Re:char: CTO. Sequestered carbon and improved yields on farms in Western Kenya by selling farmers a novel, affordable biochar kiln.Outcome: Manufactured and deployed several hundred biochar kilns in rural Kenya. Wetique: Co-founder. Built a website to rate your friends and receive better media recommendations.Outcome: went from idea to working product in 3 months by teaching ourselves everything we needed to build an MVP. Realized we hadn't made something people wanted.Dirtnail Pedicab Founder. Designed, built, and operated a fleet of 25 bicycle taxis.Outcome: learned to weld, provided jobs for a bunch of dirtbag bicyclist friends, and grew enormous calves.Make Magazine: Writer. Covered sustainability for Make Magazine's blog.Outcome: convinced myself that people making impressive things are no different than any of us.Garduino Inventor. Developed a hobbyist-friendly automated garden controller.Outcome: bootstrapped and shipped ~100 DIY kits, teaching myself circuit design in the process.Bazaarvoice Partnerships Director. Developed strategic integrations with other SAAS etail products.Outcome: realized I'm not cut out for a desk job;)travelI've traveled extensively (every continent but Antarctica) and written a book about my adventures thus far.backgroundUPenn Wharton'05 cum laude. Concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Information Systems.Oldest of 5 childrenAvid cyclist (steel, distance)Philosophy: act utilitarianismFunniest thing I have ever seen: a potato I shot 50 yards straight into the air landing squarely on my uncle's upturned faceFood: spicy, lotsBeer: dark, strongFrequent runner (runnee?) of Puck, my big red dogpressWired: Use Science and Tech to Build the Ultimate Automated Garden (png)OZY: How to Keep Your Plants Alive - With an App (pdf)Make Magazine: Growerbot Upgrades Garduino (pdf)Hackaday: Growerbot turns gardening into a science (pdf)Make Magazine: The Garduino Garden Controller (pdf)KUT (Austin NPR station): Maker Faire radio coverage (mp3)Insite Austin Magazine: Maker Faire coverage (pdf)Austin Chronicle: "Making It, Weirdly: DIY pedicab hits the street" (pdf)Wired: "How-To: End Bike Thefts With a DIY Stun Gun and Get Yourself in Trouble" (pdf)Boingboing: "Man makes cell-phone activated stun gun to punish bike thieves" (pdf)bajaI'm enjoying building... somethings in Baja.finding meSwing by La Ventana, or email works too: firstnameatfirstnamelastname.comThis is the *the* idea I cannot get out of my head, and here are a couple dozen other things I'd like to build. Working on something ambitious on which I might be able to help? Reach out! More than finishing my ever-growing list of "someday maybe" products, I want to collaborate with other smart, hardworking people to change the world.