Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Co-founder and CEO of Zipline, shares his journey from robotics to pioneering drone deliveries, especially in healthcare. He discusses how Zipline started with critical medical supply deliveries in Rwanda and its plans to expand into commercial markets, potentially partnering with retailers like Walmart. Keller highlights the concept of 'leapfrogging' technology, the challenges of regulatory hurdles, and the impact drones can have on speeding up and revolutionizing logistical systems while promoting sustainability.
38:39
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Romotive's Smartphone Robots
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton's first company, Romotive, built smartphone robots.
These robots used iPhones as their brains and could perform telepresence, but struggled to find product-market fit.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Meeting Tony Hsieh
Inspired by Tony Hsieh's book, Keller reached out to him while in Las Vegas.
Hsieh invested in Romotive, impressed by the team's vision and the potential of smartphone robotics.
insights INSIGHT
Pivoting to Zipline
Romotive, initially focused on smartphone robots, pivoted to become Zipline.
This shift stemmed from a realization of the larger potential in logistics and a desire for a more controlled operating environment.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In 'Delivering Happiness,' Tony Hsieh shares his entrepreneurial journey, from co-founding LinkExchange to leading Zappos to its remarkable success. The book emphasizes the importance of company culture, customer service, and employee happiness in achieving business success. Hsieh outlines three core sections: 'Profits,' 'Profits and Passion,' and 'Profits, Passion, and Purpose,' highlighting key lessons such as the superiority of product quality over marketing, the importance of passion in entrepreneurship, and the critical role of company culture in driving success. He also introduces frameworks for happiness, including perceived control, progress, connectedness, and vision/meaning, and how these can be applied to create a happy and productive workplace[2][4][5].
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton thinks we’re already experiencing the technology of tomorrow, just that it’s not evenly distributed...
About a decade ago, Keller transformed his smartphone robot company into Zipline, which today orchestrates on-demand drone deliveries all over the world. Zipline got its start delivering critical medical supplies to hospitals in Rwanda: a testament to Keller’s belief that innovation is already improving lives outside the U.S.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Keller recounts the ongoing and often challenging development of Zipline’s delivery drones. Plus, how Zipline is now chasing the commercial market, and could soon be delivering packages from stores like Walmart within an hour of a customer clicking “purchase.”
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves and edited by John Isabella, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. Our audio engineer was Josh Newell.
How I Built This with Guy Raz 