The Best of Killer Innovations: A New Way to Power Up

Continuing our Best of Killer Innovation series, we look at David Su’s innovative solution to the problem of disposable and short-lived battery life and his tips for success that helped him start Atmosic.

Being connected has become an essential part of our daily lives. Wireless has made huge strides over the past two decades.  IoT is connecting our world in ways we would have never imagined.  With the growing demand for constant connectivity, one area that needs fine-tuning is battery life.  All these devices we use throughout the day require battery power. Today’s guest saw this as an opportunity.  David Su is CEO of Atmosic.  His company is innovating battery life.  Creating technologies to reduce battery usage, Atmosic develops solutions that keep things powered up.

Stanford to Startup

Much of David’s career has been in the wireless space.  With a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, David joined Atheros Communication in 1999 as its fifth employee.  David continued with Atheros as it grew and went public. He stayed on when Qualcomm acquired Atheros. After some years, David felt his time at Qualcomm had run its course.  He ventured into new areas.  With four former work colleagues, he started a new company.

Atmosic’s Vision

In the wireless world, battery power can be a boon and a bane.  Reliance on wireless means dependence on batteries for power. When batteries lose charge, things can come to a standstill.  Limited battery life also means a lot of batteries get thrown out – to the tune of three billion per year.  Two and a half years ago, David and fellow co-founders started Atmosic with this in mind.  David, Masoud Zargari, David Nakahira, Srinivas Pattamatta, and Manolis Terrovitis brainstormed.  They sought advice from experts in the field. Their vision began to coalesce – to keep connected devices powered with little to no battery usage.

With the vision in place, Dave and his team went to work innovating battery life.  They started with battery-powered Bluetooth devices.

Solving Core Battery Problems

The advantages Autmosic’s technologies will offer:

• Lowest power usage without compromising quality.
• Turns device off when not in use with system level check that transmits only when needed.
• RF energy harvesting, enabling the battery to last forever.

Long-term vision:

• “Battery-free utopia” – ecosystem in enterprise applications.

Lessons Learned

What has David learned along the journey toward innovating battery life?  David has some tips for people whether they’re starting a company or pursuing innovation.

• Interoperate – work with what is already known and improve it.
• Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and be willing to listen.
• Make sure what you are doing is what you truly believe in and arepassionate 
• Ground what you are doing in reality.

By innovating battery life, Atmosic is focusing on a problem that affects us all.  Powering down to power up will keep us connected sustainably.

To track what Atmosic is doing, visit www.atmosic.com/   For the latest updates, check them out on Twitter and LinkedIn.

To learn more about powering up, listen to this week's show: The Best of Killer Innovations: A New Way to Power Up.