Mirror founder Brynn Putnam to unveil her new startup at Disrupt 2025

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 right this moment is a narrative of very sensible timing. Mirror, the related health machine that introduced boutique exercise courses into houses, launched simply because the pandemic created unprecedented demand for dwelling 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 need to disconnect from screens and reconnect with household and pals in individual. Her new firm, nonetheless working in stealth mode, is growing client gaming {hardware} designed to deliver individuals face-to-face quite than isolate them behind particular person gadgets.

“We’re about to enter a golden age of hardware,” Putnam not too long ago advised TechCrunch at certainly one of its investor-focused StrictlyVC evenings, pointing to the convergence of mature show applied sciences, reasonably priced elements, and AI capabilities that make new forms of interactive gadgets doable.

The new enterprise represents a shift in priorities for Putnam. Where Mirror was about particular person efficiency and self-improvement, her newest undertaking focuses on shared experiences and strengthening relationships. She describes it as utilizing know-how not as the first expertise however as an enabler for higher human connections.

Drawing inspiration from Nintendo’s philosophy of utilizing “withered technology with lateral thinking” — mature, reasonably priced elements mixed with revolutionary experiences — Putnam is following the playbook that made Mirror profitable. Rather than pushing technological boundaries, although, she’s specializing in creating compelling consumer experiences with confirmed {hardware}.

The gaming area represents a pure subsequent step for Putnam, who constructed her status on understanding how tech can inspire conduct change. Her boutique health studios taught her easy methods to create partaking group experiences, classes she utilized to Mirror’s digital courses and now to gaming situations that encourage face-to-face interplay.

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 potential to determine and capitalize on client tendencies.

The timing additionally aligns with a broader resurgence in client {hardware} investing. After years of concentrate on enterprise software program and AI infrastructure, traders are exhibiting renewed curiosity in consumer-facing {hardware} that may leverage AI and mature part 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.

Meanwhile, for entrepreneurs and traders watching client tech tendencies, Putnam’s return to the Disrupt Stage will provide an opportunity to see how one of many class’s most profitable latest founders is positioning for the subsequent wave of innovation. Don’t miss it. Register now for Disrupt 2025 to see what Brynn Putnam unveils subsequent.

The tech epicenter of the yr runs October 27-29 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

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