Jake Miller (Fellow) - Designing Products Around Customer Experience [Entire Talk]

Why It Matters

Miller’s experience shows that disciplined, customer‑focused product development and perseverance can transform a modest Kickstarter project into a scalable hardware brand, offering a roadmap for founders navigating the high‑risk world of consumer product startups.

Key Takeaways

• Start in a category you’re personally passionate about.
• Design products around a specific customer job-to-be-done clearly.
• Validate ideas with Kickstarter, but expect costly execution challenges.
• Secure a strategic hardware investor after multiple rejections to scale.
• Iterate product roadmap over years; breakthrough items drive exponential growth.

Summary

Jake Miller, founder of Fellow, shared the 13‑year evolution of his coffee‑centric hardware company, from a classroom idea in Stanford’s Launchpad program to a global brand with over 100 employees. He emphasized that building a business starts with genuine enthusiasm for the category—coffee, in his case—and designing every product around a clearly defined customer job‑to‑be‑done.

The journey began with a Kickstarter campaign that raised $193,000, yet delivering the first product cost an additional $300,000 and exposed serious design flaws. Miller persisted, iterating a roadmap of grinders, kettles, and espresso machines, and eventually secured a $150,000 investment after 72 rejections, enabling the hire of the first employee and the launch of the breakout Stag kettle.

Memorable moments include Miller’s mantra, “If you love coffee, start there,” the decision to wait seven years before releasing a mixology set, and the strategic placement of Fellow products in world‑class barista competitions and top cafés to build credibility. These examples illustrate how relentless focus, strategic partnerships, and real‑world validation can turn a niche hardware concept into a recognizable brand.

For aspiring founders, Miller’s story underscores that hardware startups demand patient product roadmaps, early customer immersion, and the willingness to endure repeated setbacks. Success hinges on aligning personal passion with market need, leveraging community‑driven funding, and securing investors who understand the long‑term capital intensity of product design.

Original Description

Jake Miller founded Fellow coming out of Stanford’s d.school Launchpad course, starting with the Duo Coffee Steeper. Fellow products are now in 50 countries. In this conversation with Launchpad instructor and Adjunct Professor Perry Klebahn, Miller shares how he built a roadmap for his company, a portfolio of products, and a distribution plan by focusing on customer experience.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering, and published on eCorner by STVP. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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