Jason McDowall: Investor | Advocate | Entrepreneur
100 episodes
9 months ago
Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
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Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
Ross Finman (Augmodo) on the Approach to Selling 1 Million Headsets (Part 1)
AR Show with Jason McDowall
52 minutes 30 seconds
2 years ago
Ross Finman (Augmodo) on the Approach to Selling 1 Million Headsets (Part 1)
Ross Finman is the CEO of Augmodo, a company utilizing AI and AR to revolutionize grocery store experiences and economics starting with the personal shoppers who fulfill online grocery purchases.
Previously Ross spent 4 ½ years at Niantic. There he founded the AR mapping and Visual Positioning System (VPS) effort before becoming the AR Strategy Lead and then the general manager for the AR Headset group.
He joined Niantic through the acquisition of his first startup, Escher Reality, which became the foundation for Niantic’s AR Platform, now called Lightship.
He started Escher Reality as he was finishing his Ph.D. in Robotics from MIT, after previously completing his undergrad in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon.
In this conversation, the first of two parts, Ross describes his perspective on the AR market opportunity. Specifically, we get into his journey at Escher Reality: how it started, a couple of key moments during the company’s early days, the sale process to Niantic, and some lesson learned along the way.
He discusses some reflections on his time at Niantic, including the open mindset they had about developing new hardware. And he shares his current perspective on where AR has the most immediate potential.
We come back in part 2 with a discussion about his current startup, Augmodo.
Links From The Episode
- Article: [Innovating Category Management – Groceryshop 2023](https://retailwire.com/blog/innovating-category-management-groceryshop-2023/) by Georges Mirza for RetailWire
- Article: [Pokémon GO creator Niantic buys Escher Reality AR startup](https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/niantic-buy-escher-reality-ar-startup/) by Lucas Matney for TechCrunch…and related [Niantic blog post](https://nianticlabs.com/news/escherreality).
- Article: [BMW introduces Smartglasses for Motorcycling](https://mixed-news.com/en/bmw-connectedride-smartglasses-announced/) Benjamin Danneberg for Mixed News
- Video: [Star Wars: Jedi Challenges Review - Lenovo Mirage AR Mobile Headset](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-hsJ0xeaT4) by TWiT Tech Podcast Network
- Patent: [Augmented Reality Hat](https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2022219603A1/en) by Ross Finman, Michael Miller, and Maryam Sabour
- YouTube Channel: [Perun](https://www.youtube.com/@PerunAU)—an Australian covering the military industrial complex and national military investment strategy.
- [Episode Transcript](https://otter.ai/u/5KVmmaOHVjMliriCJLzbsA1Tj8E)
Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.
AR Show with Jason McDowall
Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
