Dan Eisenhardt - Entrepreneur - Founder & CEO at Form Swim
Episode 74 - Dan Eisenhardt - Entrepreneur - Founder & CEO at Form Swim
See below for Deals and Coupon Codes, Show notes, Timestamps, and Links
Discount Codes and Deals
Athletic Greens - a FREE year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase by visiting athleticgreens.com/greg
Hyperice - Click https://bit.ly/3jzyFDa for exclusive offers on all Hyperice products or visit at hyperice.com and use the code mentioned in the show
FormSwim Goggles - formswim.com/greg for $15 off - The coupon will be automatically added to the cart. Or use code GREG15 at checkout.
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Show notes (please see Timestamps below for more detail)
In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg has a wonderful discussion with Dan Eisenhardt.
If you’ve listened to this show over the past few months, you would have heard Greg discuss Form Swim goggles. Greg is blown away by these goggles and the technology behind them, he truly believes they are the biggest thing to hit the swimming world. He was so blown away he decided he had to bring on the founder and CEO, Dan Eisenhardt from Form Swim.
Dan swam competitively for 14 years, and he knows technology. Before FORM, he co-founded Recon Instruments, which shipped the world’s first smart eyewear for sports in 2010 and was acquired by Intel in 2015.
His goal with Form is to break down the barriers between what swimming is and what it could be. He believes in doing things nobody has done before…. And that is what this show is about.
Whether you're an athlete, entrepreneur, or someone who likes to solve problems and or optimize your life... this episode is for you.
In this episode, Dan discusses his journey from a competitive swimmer and mechanical engineer to founding Recon Instruments the world's first smart eyewear for sports, and more recently founding Form Smart Swim goggles.
Dan describes the importance of team, playing to his strengths and mitigating weaknesses. We peak into the future and how technology is likely to change.
See the timestamps below for more detail.
Timestamps
0.0 - Introduction to show and advertising
4.20 - Introduction to Dan
5.00 - General chit-chat
6.10 - Where Dan's swimming background and technology passion comes from - three generations of swimmers - dad and brothers were all engineers - Swimming in Europe and the USA - Dad electrical, brother computing and Dan is a mechanical engineer - Dan has two kids 5 & 7 and both look like they have engineering mindsets - Dan looked into becoming a doctor.
11.50 - Dan sees himself as an entrepreneur more than an engineer. Dan discusses working with a team
15.40 - post University years Dan worked as a consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers but didn't really love it - So Dan worked towards an MBA at Melbourne business school - It was here Dan got exposed to entrepreneurship - the idea of a swim goggle started in 2006
19.00 - Globalisation - Dan see's himself as far more than Danish - Vancouver became the base
21.20 - Recon Instruments - pivoting from swimming to Ski goggles - Why Ski works and doesn't work - Cycling and running eyewear - mitigating risk with the cycling eyewear - Paintball was interested and built an application for them
26.45 - What was it like when Intel bought Recon? "the timing was perfect", Dan knew Cycling wasn't the right fit and running wasn't either - Dan went from being hands on to the budget guy - 50 people to 1300 team
30.00 - Starting Form Swim goggles - Dan started the week after leaving Intel - he built his team right away - Dan's team have gone from Recon to Form
34.20 - The reason for Form swim smart goggles - "Why is swimming start in the stone age" -
37.50 - The Form swim goggle experience
40.00 - Where is Form swim smart goggles now? Launched in 2019
42.20 - Using data and how it can improve performance - Lionel Sanders using the data - We make it as easy as possible to use the data to help performance
44.00 - What's next? When you become a Form user you join a club - Machine learning
47.00 - What you develop still has the business side of things - "We can do almost anything, but what cost to the consumer"
50.30 - Smart eywear 2031 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkouEJE7tK4 - Dan shares his thoughts on the future - Augmented reality - The story of the "Time" - the pocket watch to the wrist watch took 100s of years - In first world war men started using a wristwatch
56.10 - How we look at the world could be very different between one person and another, even when looking at the same physical thing - Two people could be watching the same movie but be getting very different information through their lenses
56.20 - The possibilities of disconnecting - The responsibility to the tech builders? - I see AI as a tool - information as tool to grab knowledge is in our DNA
59.30 - Is Dan a routine person - "I'm don't see myself as an engineer" - Dan's routine with work, family, and self-health
1.03.30 - What advice do you give to new entrepreneurs and startups? - Be passionate about what you're doing!
1.05.00 - Opportunity - Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers - Opportunity https://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930
1.08.30 - What is one tip you have for people on how to optimize their life? Prioritizing family and time.
1.12.20 - If you could sit and have a coffee with any living person, who would it be and why? - David Sinclair - "Why we age and why we don't have to" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nXop2lLDa4 - The book "Lifespan" https://www.amazon.com/Lifespan-Why-Age_and-Dont-Have/dp/1501191977
12 fun rapid fire quick answer questions
1. What were you doing right before this conversation? Eating a chicken salad
2. Win gold in swimming at the Olympics or create the next Apple of the tech world? Next apple of the tech world
3. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your 18-year-old self? "It's ok, just do what you're doing"
4. Last book you read? https://ken-follett.com/books/
5. What’s the largest animal you could wrestle to the floor? Between a Golden retriever and a Great Dane
6. Who is the first person that comes to mind when you hear the word “successful entrepreneur” and why? Between Steve Jobs & Elon Mask... I choose Elon Mask
7. Favorite social media platform? Instagram because we're seeing success for customers.
8. If you had a time machine, would you travel to the future or back to the past? "Stay here"
9. What lesson did you have to learn “the hard way”? How can you help others avoid your mistake? Understand your strengths and your weaknesses. Focus on what your good at - Mitigate your weaknesses and amplify your strengths
10. If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be? A Rhino!
11. Number one pet peeve? Pass
12. Proudest moment of your life? First born kid - a complete recalibration of your values and your priorities
Links
Be sure and check out bennettendurance.com
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Check out Dan Eisenhardt at:
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