Ep. 11: He Lived in a Chinese Factory for 5 Months

"The speed at which you solve problems on the factory floor is the speed at which your product ships." - Ryan Dunwoody

Ryan was 24 when he flew to Shenzhen with a suitcase and a crowdfunding campaign to deliver. No Mandarin. No manufacturing experience. The factory gave him a bunk bed in the workers' dormitory. He took it. Five months later, the first production run shipped. Ten years later, he's still there.

In this episode:

• Entrepreneurial beginnings: sex toys at 14, megaphone marketing at 17
• Flying to Shenzhen at 24 with nothing and sleeping in a factory dormitory
• How the factory boss named him 杜无敌 (Du the Invincible)
• Pi-top: $35M raised, 10,000 laptops shipped, Guinness World Record
• Why remote hardware development kills startups
• The scooter man: Huaqiangbei delivers ICs to your window in 30 minutes
• Powerhouse's rule: every engineer must assemble what they design
• Hiring in 996 culture (3 months for one mechanical engineer)
• What Westerners get wrong about Chinese manufacturing
• Why your factory isn't the problem -- you are

Connect with Ryan: LinkedIn | powerhouse.engineering

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