Seven years after unveiling Mirror at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018, Brynn Putnam is returning to the stage the place all of it started. The serial entrepreneur who turned a health idea right into a $500 million acquisition by Lululemon will debut her newest enterprise at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 at San Francisco’s Moscone West in October.
Putnam’s path from that breakthrough Disrupt second to immediately is a narrative of very good timing. Mirror, the related health gadget that introduced boutique exercise courses into houses, launched simply because the pandemic created unprecedented demand for residence health options. The timing proved so prescient that Lululemon acquired the corporate for $500 million simply two years after its Disrupt debut.
Now Putnam is betting on one other cultural shift — the rising want to disconnect from screens and reconnect with household and pals in particular person. Her new firm, nonetheless working in stealth mode, is creating client gaming {hardware} designed to carry individuals face-to-face quite than isolate them behind particular person gadgets.
“We’re about to enter a golden age of {hardware},” Putnam lately advised TechCrunch at one among its investor-focused StrictlyVC evenings, pointing to the convergence of mature show applied sciences, inexpensive elements, and AI capabilities that make new varieties of interactive gadgets attainable.
Picture Credit:TechCrunch
The brand new enterprise represents a shift in priorities for Putnam. The place Mirror was about particular person efficiency and self-improvement, her newest mission focuses on shared experiences and strengthening relationships. She describes it as utilizing expertise not as the first expertise however as an enabler for higher human connections.
Drawing inspiration from Nintendo’s philosophy of utilizing “withered expertise with lateral pondering” — mature, inexpensive elements mixed with modern experiences — Putnam is following the playbook that made Mirror profitable. Slightly than pushing technological boundaries, although, she’s specializing in creating compelling person experiences with confirmed {hardware}.
The gaming area represents a pure subsequent step for Putnam, who constructed her popularity on understanding how tech can encourage conduct change. Her boutique health studios taught her easy methods to create participating group experiences, classes she utilized to Mirror’s digital courses and now to gaming situations that encourage face-to-face interplay.
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Lerer Hippeau, the enterprise agency that led Mirror’s $3 million seed spherical, has already participated in a extremely aggressive funding spherical for Putnam’s new firm, signaling sturdy investor confidence in her capability to determine and capitalize on client traits.
The timing additionally aligns with a broader resurgence in client {hardware} investing. After years of deal with enterprise software program and AI infrastructure, buyers are displaying renewed curiosity in consumer-facing {hardware} that may leverage AI and mature element ecosystems to create new classes of gadgets.
Putnam’s look at Disrupt 2025 comes as TechCrunch celebrates its twentieth anniversary, and attendees will be assured we’re bringing collectively the most important names in tech to share insights on the way forward for innovation.
In the meantime, for entrepreneurs and buyers watching client tech traits, Putnam’s return to the Disrupt Stage will provide an opportunity to see how one of many class’s most profitable current founders is positioning for the following wave of innovation. Don’t miss it. Register now for Disrupt 2025 to see what Brynn Putnam unveils subsequent, and save as much as $668 by September 26, 11:59 p.m. PT.
The tech epicenter of the 12 months runs October 27-29 at San Francisco’s Moscone Heart.
For an Investor Move that features entry to the StrictlyVC occasion at Disrupt — plus unique perks — click on right here to be taught extra and safe yours.
Picture Credit:Kimberly White / Getty Pictures
