Kyle Sheng is one of four Co-founders and Project Manager of a startup called Gerber Labs, a California-based engineering startup that is currently rolling out a platform that makes custom printed circuit boards (PCB’s) accessible to electrical engineering students, hobbyists, and small businesses.
What is Gerber Labs all about?
Gerber Labs builds printed circuit boards for engineers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists alike. Our goal is for our customers to bring their designs to life. Gerber labs currently service customers from collegiate student organizations to Series-funded startups, and much more.
Our mission is to provide a direct to consumer (D2C) option for engineers. Many PCB manufacturers typically only work with other businesses with large quantity orders. Historically, the designs of a printed circuit board were considered high-level engineering. This made the design and ordering of PCB’s only necessary for skilled engineering with buying power to work with PCB manufacturers.
Times are changing, and many individuals harness the ability to design and seek production for PCBs. No longer is ordering PCB’s relegated to large businesses and corporations. Engineers of all ages are coming to seek their custom PCBs and we at Gerber Labs are providing that opportunity. Engineers share their PCB designs or Gerber File and we have their PCBs hot out of the oven within a week.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
Growing up in America, my household was filled with interesting electrical trinkets brought home from my parent’s profession as electrical engineers. This gave me a sense of curiosity for taking apart electronics and putting them back together.
As I progressed into my professional career, I discovered my passion for entrepreneurship and building great products. This allowed me to take on different roles where I was given the opportunity to scale small businesses with big ideas. Eventually, I recognized that this kind of innovation can bring value to the Electrical engineering industry, which was my first step towards the creation of Gerber Labs.
I saw that there were many engineers, hobbyists, and students who really desired the ability to create custom PCB’s for their projects. This provided me an almost perfect opportunity to merge my tinkering engineering mind with my entrepreneurial mindset. And now we have Gerber Labs!
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
Business is always evolving. Even in old school industries like engineering.
The most common problem is the tide of new trends that is usually perceived as bad, but really with the right lens can present opportunities. For example, the covid-19 pandemic has ushered an influx of hobbyists and enthusiasts who want to build their own PCBs. This opportunity presented a challenge for us within our supply chain to help out as many customers as possible in quick turnaround times that today’s consumers expect.
For us, we work with teams spread across multiple countries. So compound the effect of changing times, but also factor in different time zones, countries, languages, and a global supply chain. This is the biggest problem for us at Gerber Labs. Not only are we starting a new company, bringing a fresh new value proposition to the market, we are doing it in an old school industry and trying to do so across the globe.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
The top mistake I made starting my business was not allowing myself to make enough mistakes. As a corporate backed entrepreneur, I always have to find a balance between innovation and respecting the structure and environment of the corporate world. When I started out, I was so conscious of trying to respect the culture and relationships of the corporations we worked with, that I essentially negated the strengths and flexibility of being a startup.
If I were to go back I would encourage myself to go for it and take bigger risks! And I don’t mean just “going for it” on starting the company. I mean going for it on all the little ideas and initiatives. For example, when creating our personal platform, we specialized specifically with PCBs of a certain caliber, 2-and 4 layer board. If I were to do it again, I would extend the ability to build higher technology boards as well. This means we could have potentially opened ourselves to even more innovative projects, but by playing it safe, we capped ourselves to the norms of the industry.
Starting Gerber Labs, we had an innovative idea within a traditional space. We wanted to make sure each decision was calculated and geared for predictable results. Although, this safe approach created the perceived ability to be able to forecast and project incremental results with no surprises. But when I look back and would recommend ourselves to take bigger leaps!
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
Gratitude. Having an open mind and positive reinforcement allows an entrepreneur to view the daily challenges as a blessing and encourages implementation to focus on our mission.
Without gratitude, negative emotions like fear and anger start pushing you to make brash, uncharacteristic decisions that can make your company deviate from its mission and value proposition.
With gratitude, we are able to understand the different perspectives that help bring clarity into a complex and shifting environment. Whether this may be dealing with people, customs, or more, with gratitude we are able to recognize that we are all different but we all have the same goal in mind.
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
- The Four-Hour-Workweek – Timothy Ferriss
- Atomic Habits – James Clear
- Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins
What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?
My first business idea was selling legos. I would create lego sculptures and sell them to fellow classmates in elementary school. This was my first spark for inspiration in terms of creating a product with the tools and creativity that I had to bring joy for others while collecting a profit. Though short-lived, this gave me the fundamental lessons that I carry today to my current business.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I am currently learning productivity techniques within the realm of cross-engineering. As an entrepreneur who constantly has to navigate amongst software and electrical engineers, I am always on my feet not only to understand each industry, but understand it so I can bring fresh new ideas. For example, because we work closely with software developers across the front and back end of our platform, I make sure to take time each day to brush up on coding fundamentals to allow myself for a deeper understanding of the bugs and errors we face.
Balance that with needing to be able to translate engineering needs so that we not only cater to our engineering customers, but also our supply chain. Brushing up on one industry is great, but being able to translate technology, supply chain and complex customer needs is why productivity in cross engineering is so important to me.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
The business will constantly be moving around the clock; therefore, it is always a good idea to pace yourself. Especially when you are working with international customers it can feel like you are constantly on the clock. Remember it is a marathon, not a sprint!
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Know your customers. Know your customers like they were family, be aware of what they like outside of your product. Be the ear that listens to their problem and natural marketing will come.
This has been so important for Gerber Labs especially with customers who are engineers. They demand technical competence, quality and they don’t like gimmicks and flashy sales. They want to be sure that ordering and processes are seamless, while bringing great quality.
For us that constantly means working with customers and understanding the projects, expectations and frustrations to date.
This has led us to constantly refine and iterate on our business and platform to ensure that we continue to nurture our growing customer base.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I had $1000 I would use that to buy a camera to make videos to build brand awareness through content. Being able to speak with your customers allows you to create interactions that are your best marketing/sales channel!
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Know your strengths and your weaknesses! Having genuine self-awareness will allow you to pick your battles and emphasize your strength. Many times we reckon that we can and should do everything as entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, that is not always feasible if you want to operate a successful business. We have to be aware that not every skill is attainable in the scope and timeline driven to success. Therefore, we have to be humble and aware of when to ask for help. That being said, we also have to be aware of where we shine and where we can truly devote our energy.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Do Not Disturb on the phone! Technology is truly a double-edged sword. With the ability to connect with millions if not billions of users per day, we must also find the ability to focus on the task at hand. My routine is to set a timer to have my phone on a do-not-disturb to allow myself to truly be with what is in front of me.
What is your favorite quote?
Fail Fast, Fail Often.
There is too much emphasis on perfection in our everyday vernacular. Whether that may be portrayed amongst our own self-image or for the image out of business, it is truly important to provide space for mistakes. What mistakes bring is an array of possibilities that can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of new solutions and innovation.
Currently, I utilize Notion to organize my personal and professional life. I am an avid planner therefore I am always using Trello, and I utilize slack for all my instant messaging needs with my team!
How is running a company different than what you thought it would be?
Running a company is exhilarating, if you care about your business you will always be on your toes! When I initiated this business venture, I was filled to the brim with high hopes. I always knew that the journey would be strenuous, but I don’t think you ever really know how strenuous it’s going to be. So really it’s just experiencing the stress of the day-to-day, but I will say that the strain is also what has brought a sense of fulfillment. Knowing that there are so many challenges, the business becomes even more rewarding when you are constantly struggling, growing, and moving.
How can readers get in touch with you?
Your readers can reach me at Gerberlabs.com. I strongly encourage anyone interested in learning more about printed circuit boards to read this blog post we wrote explaining what a printed circuit board is and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
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