Episode 110: Jonathan Bensamoun - Founder and CEO at Fi

Welcome to Episode 110 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Jonathan Bensamoun, Founder and CEO at Fi. Did you know that 10,000,000 dogs are lost in the U.S. every year? That’s an insane number and if you own a dog, you probably consider that dog to be a member of your family. I know I do. And like any other family member, you want to make sure your dog is given the best care, attention, and security possible. That’s where Fi’s Smart Dog Collar comes in. It’s a collar that tracks your dog’s location 24/7 and it also tracks steps to make sure your dog is getting enough exercise. The company has raised $10M to date, including a $7M Series A in March led by RRE Ventures. Jonathan is a serial entrepreneur, who started his career in the technical ranks as an engineer before transitioning into product management. His first company called Pins was acquired by Square. His new company, Fi, is on a mission to keep dogs safe and healthy with a device that has many benefits and improvements as compared to other products in the market. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Jonathan’s background and how he made the transition to product management. -What led him to start his first company Pins and how he built out his network in the Bay Area? -All the details behind Fi and how his dog Thor was the inspiration. -How the Fi collar works, plus what makes it such a game-changer. -A deep dive into hardware development. -What makes a great product manager. -Advice for founders looking to raise capital for a hardware company. -Plus, so much more. Ok - quick side note. Have you checked out our YouTube channel? You’ll find videos from our podcast, plus lots of other interviews with founders and our very popular Inside: series, which gives you an inside look at a functional area in one of the fastest growing tech companies. Go to youtube.com/venturefizz to check it out. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!