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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Eden Full Goh, founder and CEO of Mobot, a mobile app testing platform that has raised over $17 million in funding. Mobot is tackling the complex and evolving challenge of mobile app testing with a unique approach, employing mechanical robots to automate the testing of iOS and Android applications. This not only enhances the efficiency of software engineering teams but also aligns with the growing need for realistic, physical interaction testing in a world where software increasingly interfaces with the physical realm.
- Innovative Testing Solution: Eden founded Mobot to address the laborious and repetitive task of manual mobile app testing, innovating a solution that uses mechanical robots for realistic, physical interaction testing. This approach helps software engineering teams deploy their apps faster and with higher quality.
- Addressing a Growing Challenge: With technology becoming more integrated into the physical world, traditional testing frameworks fall short. Mobot’s physical testing infrastructure is designed to accommodate complex interactions with notifications, wearables, IoT devices, and hardware, providing a more thorough testing process than software-only solutions.
- From Teal Fellow to Entrepreneur: Eden’s journey from being a Teal Fellow, where she received $100,000 from Peter Thiel to pursue innovative projects outside of traditional education paths, to becoming a tech entrepreneur, underscores her commitment to addressing significant, real-world challenges through technology.
- Sunsoluter Project: Before starting Mobot, Eden developed technology to enhance solar energy collection in developing countries, an experience that honed her product development and operational skills, laying the groundwork for her entrepreneurial career.
- Expanding Testing Capabilities: Mobot’s vision extends beyond current capabilities, aiming to provide worldwide access to remote, robot-based testing, making it easier for companies to ensure their apps work flawlessly on a variety of devices and software versions without needing physical access to testing robots.
- Building Trust with Big Names: Early in its journey, Mobot managed to secure partnerships with high-profile clients by directly addressing their pain points with mobile app testing, demonstrating the importance of deeply understanding and speaking to the challenges faced by potential customers in the industry.
Actionable
Takeaways
Innovate from Personal Pain Points:
Eden’s venture into creating Mobot was spurred by her firsthand frustrations with manual app testing, underscoring the effectiveness of developing solutions for challenges you’ve personally encountered. For B2B tech founders, this highlights the value of drawing on personal experiences to identify and solve real industry problems, ensuring your solution addresses genuine needs.
Leverage Unique Approaches for Traditional Problems:
The use of mechanical robots for mobile app testing represents a novel solution to the age-old issue of ensuring software quality. This approach challenges the status quo of software-only testing methods, proving that sometimes, unconventional methods can provide superior solutions. Founders should consider how applying technology in novel ways can overcome longstanding industry hurdles.
Continuous Adaptation is Key to Sustaining Product-Market Fit:
Eden’s perspective that finding product-market fit is an ongoing process emphasizes the importance of agility and responsiveness to technological and market changes. For founders, this means continually refining your offering and staying attuned to your customers' evolving needs to maintain relevance and competitiveness.
Transparency About Competition Can Build Trust:
Mobot’s approach to openly comparing its solution with competitors on its website can serve as a lesson in transparency and confidence. Acknowledging the existence of alternatives, while clearly stating your unique value proposition, can help build trust with potential customers by providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions.
Category Creation Requires Education and Behavior Change:
Building a new category, as Mobot is doing in the physical testing space, involves not just introducing a new product but also educating the market and changing entrenched behaviors. Founders venturing into uncharted territories should prepare for the long haul of building awareness and demonstrating the value of their novel approach to solve recognized problems.
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