Building my own high-end router: investor pitch
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2024
- 🚀 Next video you should check: • I'm making my own high...
If you're interested in buying this router once it becomes available, please go ahead and fill out this form: research.typeform.com/to/KegR...
Other channels, mentioned in the video:
➡️ NetworkChuck: / @networkchuck
➡️ TechnoTim: / @technotim
➡️ Crosstalk Solutions: / @crosstalksolutions
➡️ Lawrence Systems: / @lawrencesystems
Chapters:
0:00 Fundraising time!
1:09 Set your expecations
4:03 The problem
5:49 The solution
7:05 Unique Value Proposition
10:17 Business model
12:40 Market size
14:09 Sales and marketing
15:23 Competition
18:47 Investment
23:38 YOUR Investment
24:11 Timeline
25:34 The team
26:48 Some REALLY Good news! 
Наука
I'm not usually compelled to use Youtub's thanks feature but I'm very impressed with your approach to everything. Regardless of what the outcome of this venture is, you should be super proud of what you've done/achieved. Good luck!
Thank you, Kyle, appreciate it! 🙌
Hi Tom, I am a computer engineer. I tried different ways to contact you without any success. I want to help you with the development of the project. I have a good experience in hardware development, electronics and modem-related development. Let's chat about it!
I get so much stuff lately I've probably missed you, can you drop me another email?
@@tomazzaman I just sent you a DM on another platform. (Professional)
Ok Tomaž, at this stage I have decided that we're basically best friends, so I wanted to tell you that I'm very proud of you and continue to wish you huge success both on RUclips and with your passion project(s). For the product naming suggestions, I think you should go with something simple and elegant like Model 1, Model 2 etc. So for example if the brand name is Zaman, the first router would be the Zaman Model 1, with the top CNC'd model being the "Pro" edition or "Master" edition. Then you can just iterate the models - new version being Model 2, 3 and so on. Ok bud. till next time. Hope you feel better soon.
Being told people are proud of me, means a lot. Coming from friends like you - I'm speechless. 😂
Thank you for the kind words. I don't like my last name enough to name the router after me haha, but I appreciate the thought.
love how transparent you are with us!
It's my pleasure!
@@tomazzaman maybe use that transparency in your branding. The Clear router.
Clear to use, Clear to see, Clear to repair.
I shere with you the same experience with Cisco and MikroTik. Their consumer products have a great price, but lack some features or to be too complex to setup. I really like the option to use a USB for thethering or LTE adapter in MikroTik, as well as the firewall setup, auto update and integration with DDNS providers. Cisco on the other hand, I hate it that I need a specific program just to setup the router or reset some configuration. Both of them lacked the gigabit, SFP+ and features that I only found either in their highest price routers or even different tier of equipment - mosly industrial or server grade, which are noisy, ugly and cost an arm and a leg.
Yep, I’m discovering there’s A LOT of people with the same frustrations. Which motivates me immensely! Thank you ❤️
Name it for rivers, as they flow. Start with Soča, Beautiful river. Also has plenty of history as it's a strong defensive point! Also design wise you can route the outline of the river on the cover.
There's also background in tech market, as Nokia and others have inherited their names from rivers, I'm all in for this.
Also from the marketing view you could represent the routing as the flow of the river, and things like that, as a design and branding enthusiast a river analogy makes a lot of sense for networking, firewalls are damns, packets can be fishes or boats, etc.
Excited to see the realization of this product! I've seen a couple suggestions in the market lately, but I'd rather wait for yours, as I have an immense respect for your stance on your brand and the product line!
Wow, thank you for the kind words - appreciate it! Thank you! ❤️
Hey man! Greetings from Brasil!
First of all, I want to say that I've been sharing your videos with some friends from work and we are sooo excited with this router. We can't wait to get some units to play with (we work in an ISP, we are a bunch of networking nerds lol).
That said, I want to give my sugestion for the name. I think this is kinda better name for the brand, not the router itself, but anyway...
The name I'm thinking is - AWAYA.
That came from a conversation I had with a canadian friend of mine. In the middle of the conversation he used this word like a slang for "A WAY OUT".
Since this is a router, I think that its a cool name. 😎
Anyway! You have a great idea and we are loving to watch the entire process. Good luck man!
HA, I absolutely love that word game - Awaya! Rolls of the tongue nicely as well!
I'm a fan of AWAYA as well. It has real meaning, but it isn't immediately obvious when hearing the name. Sounds very fancy and professional as well!
Regarding software compatibility and niches, porting OPNSense to an ARM based processor and maintaining it would be huge - as far as I'm aware there hasn't been much officially supported work on that front, even though it's technically possible. That would be one area that would set your router apart - the cost efficiency of ARM based processors paired with the maturity and community around OPNSense. That would tip me over the edge at the very least - OPNSense it just an awesome solution.
I agree, I absolutely love OPNsense and is by far my firewall of choice. Depending on the second round of investment I do hope to be able to pour significant resources into that.
This is like a free hands-on course in entrepreneurship. I’ve learned so much already, and really looking forward to the future of the journey. Thanks for involving us!
Thank you! Plenty more to come! ❤️
Super excited to see where this goes. Love the design and all the videos so far. Keep it up!!
Thank you! ❤️
Good job putting these together. I’ve learned a lot from watching your progress.
Thank you! ❤️
Love this series. Agree with the summary of your competitors 😅 I'd love some hardware like this!
Greetings from Frankfurt Germany. Still With my FritzBox 7530 and witout Fiber.
What a great video - even when you're ill! Reminds me very much of the empeg car player, even the early progression, employment, and funding. I really hope this suceeds!
Thanks Rob, appreciate it! 🙌
I love your videos, keep up the good work
Great great content. Its usually just tech or just business when you see content that contains two of my favorite subjects. And here you are doing both WITH Startup unicorn dust sprinkled on top. Thats why i enjoy these so much as well as your enthusiasm and to the point way..but still fun...of presenting.
Thank you! Appreciate the kind words of support - there's plenty more being worked on!
I'm looking forward to the design and manufacture of this project!! Well done video and look forward to the process from inception to the final product😁😁😁!!
Thank you! There's A LOT of videos planned on the topic. In fact, I'm just getting started, so welcome on board!
Not one to buy a super thanks, but I'm really excited to see where this goes! You have my attention and my following. Hope you feel better soon!
Thank you! ❤️
Looking forward to the journey!
Pohvale vreden projekt, sploh da se tkole že v štartu izpostavljaš. Bravo 👍
Super excited with this product and how you are being transparent with us
Man, you are on fire! I love your energy and enthusiasm, you are going to be my motivational hero! When I watch your videos I feel like anything is possible! Great video, you've answered pretty much all my doubts about the router. You are going to smash it!
Thank you! Appreciate the words of encouragement and support! May your 2024 be just as amazing!
Peregrinate. It means "to travel" or "to wander". A router is the means that allows others to wander. If you choose this, don't forget about me in the royalties haha. Can't wait to keep watching this project unfold!
Ooof, I love it! ❤️🙌
Inspiring man, keep up the great work
I'm really excited to see where this goes. I love your videos throughout the project, how you present information and your transparency and knowledge is so....uncommon to see. Wishing you the best of luck. For naming, what about something like "Open Box" which could lead to some clever marketing puns?
Thank you! ❤️ Will continue to share with my community, I absolutely love doing it!
Looking forward to see where this goes!
Very nice content sir! 🎥
Thank you! ❤️
While I likely won't be buying the finished product, since I'm not currently in the market for a new router in general, it's really exciting to watch its development and all of the business stuff that comes with it. Hope this makes it to the market without any major hurdles, as it is solving real problems of customers in this niche.
Thank you! Appreciate the support! ❤️
awesome project ! really looking forward to the upcoming journey
I'm super excited for this project, looking forward to watching the journey unfold.
Thank you!
Hvala.
Hvala!
When choosing a cool name for your product, make sure that the chosen name space would not run out too quickly. For example, the periodic table of elements currently contains 118 elements, so 118 different names. If you plan on releasing five new products per year, then you are good for about 23 years before running out of name, given that you intend to use all names of the space, even the ugly ones. I suggest that the cool name be used for a series of product and then use a simple 2- or 3-digit number after it. Silicon Graphics (SGI) used to have a similar naming convention that they combined with a distinct visual (color) of the product for an added impact.
I agree that a cryptic naming convention like Mikrotik is using has a poor marketing value.
Here are a few suggestions for naming themes:
- Elements from the periodic table (already suggested in another comment)
- Greek titans or gods
- Words from the international phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, ...)
- Moons or natural satellites
- Dinosaurs (use the beginning of the word)
I’ve always liked how Ubiquiti refers to their routers Gateways, maybe “Gateway Pro”, leaves room up and down (ie. Mini, Enterprise, etc.)
UBNT seem to be wholesale ripping off Apple's product naming. I'd personally prefer a slightly more functional name perhaps OpenRouter 2X to or something, stating it has 2 10G ports? Maybe a generational number then the 2X or something.
@@shanemshortpeople always thinks somehow apple invented everything lol
@@Kabodanki two points, who else do you know other than Apple (and now ubnt) that have 'Pro', 'Ultra' 'Pro Max'... (Yes, ubnt now have a Unifi Pro Max series of switches) and.. you know their CEO used to work for Apple, right?
@@shanemshortTaking each word bit by bit, the Ultra tag was first used by Samsung for their S20 line in Feb 2020. Apple first used it for their M1 chips in 2022 (the Ultra came along last). (and nvidia used ultra for their GPUs as far back as the TNT2 line at least, and that's from 1999)
For Pro, being short for professional means that there's *plenty* of things that used the name in the past. I used to have a Diamond Stealth Pro video card back in the late 90s. Diamond was a huge brand back before graphics cards were a thing, and back when people knew the difference between a video card and a graphics card (hint, the latter had acceleration for 3D!)
For Max, it's going to be much the same, this was a very popular word modifier on computer hardware in the 90s.
Basically using words like pro/ultra/max isn't new, and will never be new. Using them in your product line isn't new, and will never be new. It just changes every decade as to who's going hard on a pro/max/ultra wording and who isn't, and it's currently Apple and Samsung, (and Google and Oneplus and Oppo. and ASUS... etc).
We've literally had computer hardware being sold for at least 40+ years, labels to differentiate levels of product are not new.
@@shanemshort Pro, Max, Plus, Ultra, Enterprise, Mini, etc. have been been words used to identify variants in product stacks for decades. This is not something Apple invented.
I believe in you keep going, and good luck!
Thank you! ❤️
Awesome stuff, Tomaž!
Bravo.
I am excited to see where you are going with this!
Hearing your ethos and goals, you sound very much luck the MNT Reform company, which makes open source hardware, such as the MNT Reform Laptop and MNT Pocket Reform. They are also a Europe-based company (I believe in Germany) and have a hacker mentality, and want to produce high quality hardware.
Thanks for pointing them out, I've never heard of them before!
I really like the direction this is taking; very excited to see how it turns out.😁
Thank you!
Respect to all your effort. I believe in your vision / product. Greetings from germany
Thank you!
This is so awesome!! Would like to buy one in the future!
Thanks!
Thank you! ❤️
Your presentation is solid. I don’t think most of your target consumers change their routers as often as you think. They change either because they are techies who are into the latest toys or their ISP delivery changes.
I think a good name is Kalyptra. Greek for curtain. As the device will allow only the amount of the outside as you want.
Good luck on the circus known as Angel Round. Been on both sides.
Thanks Ron!
Love the blue thing. It‘s so cute. And the shirt is indeed motivating 😂.
Even if I dont have the need for this router. I so seriously hope this will be a reality. And this is very fun to watch. The whole process will be very interesting.
Thank you! 🙌
the path and explanation here is interesting to compare with Dave Murray and the CommanderX16. While I have no major issues with how the CX16 is being brought to market, it seems like you have more forethought on your router product and how it can be realized. It seems like you're on top of it enough that there isn't likely to be any major surprises or cost difference down the road. Kudos to you, and after watching a couple of vids from this series, I'm subscribed. I look forward to where this leads to!
I'm really impressed with your project and have a deep appreciation for OPNsense! Typically, I find myself needing to run a UniFi or Omada Controller in conjunction with the router. It would be incredible if you could consider an option to incorporate a Raspberry Pi Compute Module into the same chassis. Even if it means disabling one of the three 2.5 Gbps ports, which we could then bridge ourselves in OPNsense, the trade-off would be worth it. This setup would allow us to have a second, distinct processor to run applications that don't necessarily fit within a firewall's purview, all within the same unit. The prospect of having a unified device that seamlessly addresses all our network requirements, while offering the flexibility to run additional code on a separate processor, is incredibly appealing.
I've had the same issues, and decided enough is enough, if nobody makes my dream router, I'll make it myself. And here we are :D
This is as much as I can give at this time for the router and I believe in this project if I had more money I would have given it
i mean, its blue and a box so why not bluebox?
the bluebox mini, the bluebox hyper neo v3. the bluebox max.
bluebox server solutions. Bluebox secure networking solutions.
show off that blue box in your server rack! IS YOUR SERVER BLUE?
This is an amazing idea and project. I wish this to come to market so i can replace my router
Thank you! It will! I'll make sure of it! :)
Danke!
Thank you! ❤️
This is so next level from what we are used to when it comes to transparency. Hats off and much respect. For the naming of the models, I was thinking a bit in a g33ky type of sense:
1st model: MONO - L1TH
2nd model: MONO - THEI2T
3rd model: MONO - TON3
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!
I'm not very creative, but I like how Intel does their naming despite how confusing it can be to follow. I like how they have a "codename" for the generation/type of product they release, then have a more technical name for the actual products under that generation. I know it doesn't provide any concrete examples, but just a thought. There's something cool about saying "Raptor Lake CPUs" that could be applied to networking devices.
Yep, that is a good thought, because one can hardly build an entire company just around a single device - so some forward thinking is definitely in order! Thanks!
Naming: I read on the router already: "mono" and I like "mono - Founders Edition" or "mono - BBE (Bare Bone Edition)" or even "mono - One block to rule them all" as a slogan for the website. All names show the unique one block of aluminium design, it is all about.
Yep, I was thinking Mono (as the brand) and then [model name][model number].
Someone already made the comment about the name being TZ-1 and I agree. It's no-nonsense and to the point.
Alternately, if TZ-1 is already taken and you don't want to cause confusion, you could abbreviate your name in a more creative way, like TomZa-1 or something similar.
Only leaving a like cause I like the shirt. Keep up the good shirt!
Thanks
Hvala!
awesome! 🎉
Hi Tom,
Regarding your point on people talking about cheaper hardware. I had mentioned one piece of hardware that was cheaper than your original version, but did fall within the second price point. I also know that in a race to the bottom, no one wins. However, my point wasn't to try to get you to race to the bottom, it was hopefully to give you ideas of what some people may be thinking and hopefully have you address differences and point out why your product is better. I know it's not practical to do that for everything, but I hope you can address the category of mini-pc like products that have many ports of various speeds, in the pricepoint you are looking at, with ram slots and storage slots, and in some cases PCI-e slots as well.
I love what you're doing, keep it up.
Thank you for clarification, I completely understand what you're trying to say. I think I'll have to prepare a dedicated video just on that topic, since a lot of folks have had the same concerns/toughts :)
nice
Tak!
Thank you! ❤️
you could also consider a barebones for enthusiasts with a 3d printable case
It's not about talking TO the community... its talking with them. Hang out with them, see what drives them, who they are, what their needs are.... you'd be surprised at what you find.
you forgot wendell from level1tech
A question: why don't you also sell a barebone pcb and let us print our own case? that would solve the issue of those that might be interested in the product but find spending 100€-150€ for casing too much
Also STH should be on list...
Yep, to both, actually!
well this is a good pitch. what can i say, excited to see tech youtubers cover your router, would love to give some money but as discused in previous video comments (im the gorenc guy, not from gorenska) as im out of job thats not a thing i can do Right now, still thanks for showing this
No worries, you just keep enjoying the content! Glad to have you around!
I really believe in this product and am excited for the future of what is to come from it. I do want to ask a couple questions, #1 is it going to be mesh capable. I have a fairly large home and some of the devices I have could be pretty far away from where my ISP supply my internet. #2 are you at some point going to make it wifi 7 capable or what is the current plan for the wifi capability of this device? #3 do you at some point also plan to make a good 10 gb/2.5 gb switch to go along with this router I think that could really complete the whole package.
Thanks lol
he addresses the fact he has no intentions to put WiFi in the device in the video.
@shanemshort whoops must have missed it I wasn't feeling super well yesterday so that could be the cause so only one of those questions is relevant then
I'll slightly alter the questions then do you ever intend to make a wifi capable device and then if you did would you make it mesh compatible
@@thejsix I think 2-4 acess points would make more sense then putting wifi in the router, especially in your scenario.
Hey, first of all, thanks for the tip, I appreciate it!
Regarding wifi, as others have said, initial version isn't planned with it, and it comes down to certification costs, they can easily get close to 400k. Yes, that's four hundred thousand dollars.
As for the switch, from a hardware perspective, it's actually a simpler device to develop, but given we have yet to develop our first product, it might take a while :)
👌🏻👏🏻
Love the shirt, Tomaž!
Thank you! 🙏
On the product name. How about Zaman Connect? Or RouteU?
I love, that you introduce SFP+ for the router! RJ45+Cat 6 is mostly capable of 10 Gbps so you only would need a suitable transceiver. I just upgraded my home networking to 10 Gb.
Good stuff! 👍 On the product name. How about Zaman Connect? Or RouteU?
I love, that you introduce SFP+ for the router! RJ45+Cat 6 is mostly capable of 10 Gbps so you only would need a suitable transceiver. I just upgraded my home networking to 10 Gb.
Thanks for the superthanks! And yes, I have my home 10Gbps as well, so it was a big requirement for me. :)
Weird question. If the solution become interesting for small/medium Business. The equipment might end up in a "Telco rack" or a "server rack". So having that in mind, could there be a rack bracket addons possible to order for those kind of implementations? Even for small labs for IT tech at their place it could be a good addon. Since some has small server rack on wheel. 9U to 12U.
For a router name since your Chanel is Tomaz Zaman, something like - TZ-Primo for the first iteration and the full metal one could be TZ-Primo Master or Delux and after that it could be something that does with Latin nature. (Simple idea)
Yep, I do own a rack, where I want the very first production unit to call home, so it's definitely high on the to-do list :)
Maybe name them after elements on the periodic table?
since you said you're going to spend effort on the internals, should consider having a window to show off the internal hardware. good luck.
Unfortunately, cloud subscriptions remain sexy to investors for the longer lifetime value you can extract from a customer, which lowers the initial purchase price and thus able to access a larger potential customer pool.
That's pretty amazing! What a fun project. I wish I could be part of it. I wish you the best of luck! I was thinking about that a couple months ago, can you believe? 😂
They say that great minds think alike :) Thanks!
Wishing you the absolute best with this endeavor. Marketing towards small businesses is a really good angle, it’s a sizable and ever-growing market, but most of the networking solutions they use are provided by the industry giants which directly cause a couple of the “problem” points in your pitch.
Thank you! ❤️ I have lots of good news to share, so stay tuned! :)
Awesome effort and work thus far. Can i suggest that you contact infosec community members about helping test your hardware. Im sure you will find very talented professionals you can trust to help. Really well done.
Thank you! ❤️ Will do. Actually I I just explained the plan around this (community driven pentesting) to one of my investors!
Maybe in the future you could create add ons for this router such as a LAN cloud could the Dimention [2tb].
man idk why im so hype about a random router project but this sick, id usually say id hope there is a discord for this project but im trying to get away from non open source social media... and social media in general. lets get a IRC chat set up! or matrix?
Thank you for the kind words. I'd love to get mIRC back, those were fun times. Also, does that mean I'm old? 😂
Jokes aside, I'd love to set up discord, but simply don't have the capacity right now, so much going on - once we close the round and I can hopefully breathe a little, then for sure!
Moj najboljši 😁
Did you hear about Framework laptop? It would be awesome if you could basically do the router with the same modularity.
It all sounds really cool.
It would be really cool if the router ended up being as modular as a Framework notebook.
Example: I plug in a SFP module for fiber connections, next to it a cable connection or an LTE/5G modem as backup.
I've had this crazy idea for a year now, but i just don't know nobody to implement this and I don't have the money.
Maby it is an idea that can be realized in this project :)
We are planning to expose at least one PCIe port and one M.2, so making expansion cards for LTE backup shouldn't really be an issue from a hardware standpoint. I'm more worried about the drivers, honestly.
Hi Tomaz...love your ideas. I think your name should be as simple as possible, like RTR-01.
Your router should be as modular as possible...think Framework. As new tech comes into view it should be upgradeable.
Thanks for the feedback - will do my best!
Good luck :)
Thank you! ❤️
Amazed to see someone building the Porsche 911 of home routers 😇
I always liked how Cisco named there product in generl
Like Catalyst then a number like catalyst 9500 where the 9 is the gen and the rest is the class / tier.
So maybe like cass 1000 were 1 is the gen and the rest is the tier / class
Hm, I haven't thought of using numbers in this manner, but it makes perfect sense!
Please make it rackmountable! Lots of home labbers have a rack.
Yep! Planned! I have a rack as well.
Depending on the licensing etc of the HW, perhaps OpenARMMetalRouter (OARM, OpenARMs ;) ) (or, OpenMetalRouter (OMR)) incrementalnum, OpenARMBasicRouter (OABR) incrementalnum. Perhaps ArmRouterMetal (...ARM.. =) ). Channels to add to and send to (if possible) - Level1Techs and ServeTheHome :).
Do you have any ideas yet about the energy use of the router? For instance the power consumption of the SoC and auxiliary chips? Any ballpark ideas even if not exact?
Whatever I say will be a wild guess, but I'll say it anway, 30W or so, when at full load.
@@tomazzaman That sounds great and even if it's 20 Watts higher that's still beating my x86 OPNsense box etc - I'm quite excited.
Grega in the house!
I didn't hear the answer to this question on your video but will you make rack mounts ? Thanks!
Yes! :)
Model - Zaman One
I'm pretty sure you are wrong about Netgate not having 10g under 1k as I look at 6100 standing on a shelf next to me with 2 sfp+ cages. But still - good luck with your venture, as more choices are good for customers.
I think it would be TZ1 TZ2 and so on
I think 2x25G SFP28 would be better for futureproofing and SFP28 ports are backward compatible with SFP+ transceivers.
The issue with that is that the CPU can't handle that much traffic, we'd need to go a class higher. Which would make the device much more expensive. Maybe a V2? 😅💪
since routers are about connections, name them all after constellations and name the first model the Orion
I like it! 🙌
💪
I would love to see linus tech tips get a look at it aswell, he has a huge audience and influence in the RUclips tech world
This would be unlikely to go well. Linus has a bad reputation with crowd-sourced products (see recent debacles) unless it's something he's personally invested in seeing come to market.
@@richcornett5976 because so many companies send him half baked products.
ECU(Easy to Configure and Use) Router with tagline Breaking the status quo with OSS and modularity
Ačiū!
Bless you! :D
I would buy one..
Thanks! In a year, you'll be able to!