This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos spoke with Conlin Angle, the founder and former CEO of iRobot. Fom his living room into a household name, Angle spent 30 years turning iRobot into one of the most pioneering companies in the robotics industry stepping down as CEO following the failed Amazon acquisition. In this conversation, he unpacks why he considers iRobot's bankruptcy "avoidable and a tragedy," what regulators got catastrophically wrong in blocking the $1.7 billion Amazon deal, and why the FTC's office walls covered with "blocked deals" as trophies revealed a deeply misguided approach to protecting innovation.
Angle also shares the brutal reality of fighting regulators for 18 months while producing over 100,000 documents, why nascent American tech industries keep getting handed to overseas competitors, and what he's building next with his stealth startup, including his contrarian take on humanoid robots and why Rodney Brooks is "never factually wrong, but not necessarily answering the question you think he's answering."
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