Meet Innovator of the Week
Eric Ely
CTO & Co-Founder of MidAir Technology
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is upon us as many new devices come online, and previous products get updated to be “smart.” Valuable data can be collected from everyday products, such as user statistics and debug information. That said, it is still difficult for current product manufacturers to figure out the best way to bring their products online. Concerns about cost, reliability, security, and scalability are key, as well as the technical know-how to integrate technology and products.
MidAir Technology
helps bridge this gap by offering development tools and products that enable products to connect to the Internet of Things in an easy and seamless way. With an enterprise-ready back end and industry-leading wireless technology, you can easily bring your product online.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
Like many companies, we started out by fumbling around and trying to get a handle on the market and opportunity. We sought out advisers and companies with experience, and it gave us some good information. Ultimately, we found our best resource in Alpha Loft. We were accepted as one of the inaugural class for the Accelerate NH program, and the contacts and people we met there have been invaluable.
We have continued to utilize many of our mentors and the staff from the program, and still use the Alpha Loft space for our office. We also met some potential customers through the program, people we still work with today. Having that type of resource in New Hampshire has really made the difference for us.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
I would say the biggest obstacle was simply starting a company in itself, and we are still trying to overcome it every day. There are so many things that make it difficult, and usually you are learning along the way, so you run into new problems all the time and have to figure out ways to work around them.
At the same time, it is so incredibly rewarding. Being able to create something out of nothing, to put something out into the world and have people believe in it, is just incredible. We feel extremely fortunate that we have been successful enough so far just to keep going and figuring out how to overcome the next obstacle.
What’s the best advice you have received?
I come from a software background, and I firmly believe that nothing is ever completely done; it always needs improvement. Therefore, if you wait for something to be perfect before you introduce it to your customers, you will wait forever. So my favorite advice is simple: “Done is better than perfect.”
I have a poster of this quote hanging above my workbench. It’s a constant reminder to work hard to get the job done while also realizing that it may need more work and refinement. You can work with a project that is “done.” You can show it to people and get feedback and figure out if there is a market fit. To try and develop that product to perfection before you do that, is just waiting for failure.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
I just love everything about New Hampshire. I am not originally from here; I grew up in Delaware but spent a lot of time here as a kid. There is just so much to do outside, and I am a big skier. Things seem more laid back in New Hampshire. At the same time, it is filled with really smart and motivated people. I am really excited to see a growing technology sector in the state with companies like Dyn and Adored. It is a good time to be a tech company in this state.
What does the future look like for your company?
We have a lot of ambitions and usually not enough time in the day to pursue them all! Right now, our focus is on getting our first customers happy and using our technology to help people with their own products or businesses. We have been able to show some real success doing this so far, so I believe we will continue down this road and hopefully grow into a full services hardware company to bring peoples products online.
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