Episode 0007: Zeltiq Aesthetics – Part 1: Pioneering the market for non-invasive fat reduction

Zeltiq has single handedly created a new market for reducing fat that targets the moderately overweight segment.  It has become the fastest growing aesthetic treatment, which was already notable for the tremendous demand for neuromodulators like Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane and Juvaderm.  In Part 1 of this podcast, we explore how Zeltiq’s high margin consumables and systems have permitted the company to break through the barriers that often restrain new aesthetic products.  We also discuss why cyrolipolysis, an affordable and non-surgical procedure, is popular with a new group of women and also men who are approaching practitioners for help in sculpting difficult areas of their bodies that they can’t control with dieting or exercise alone.

Episode 0006: iRobot: New leader of the connected home?

With the launch of its Roomba 980 vacuum in September 2015, iRobot has added cameras, sensors, and Wi-Fi connectivity.  CEO Colin Angle explains why he feels a roving sensor platform aboard the Roomba places iRobot in a unique position to grab leadership in the connected home of the future, and why fixed-point sensor arrangements such as Nest and Dropcam have suddenly fallen from favor. In an analyst day presentation in New York City, CEO Angle unveiled a new corporate strategy that relies on home connectivity as an engine of differentiation and growth.  In this podcast, we discuss how the company’s new empirical approach to marketing may convert millions of skeptics into evangelistic promoters of robotic vacuums, explore a disruptive opportunity to capture share in lawn mowers and related services, and explain why management is deemphasizing defense and remote presence robots.