His house burned down. He used the insurance money to build PopSockets.
Mar 04, 2026
Does a consumer hardware company need to get on the VC treadmill to succeed? Eleven years and 290 million products sold across 115 countries later, PopSockets has proven that the bootstrapped, low-dilution path more viable than the industry gives it credit for. The global consumer hardwa
re brand was built on less than $500k, no institutional capital, and a philosophy professor’s determination. Watch as founder and former CEO […] ...read more read less