“It’s such a buzz to gather a few teammates in a room, brainstorm how we implement our future vision of sleep, and know that our vision will impact thousands of people’s lives in months.”
Alex’s journey at Eight Sleep
When did you join Eight Sleep? What was your role when you joined, and how has it evolved over time?
I joined Eight Sleep as a Senior Electrical Engineer in 2022, a couple months before Pod 3 launched. At the time I was the sole full-time electrical engineer at Eight Sleep and about 1 year ago we made our second hire with Desmond joining the team in China (and we are hiring in San Francisco, so if you are interested, apply!)
Starting with that firehose Pod 3 launch, I have been the responsible Electrical Engineer for launching all of our updates and new products from behind the scenes upgrades in system compute modules and sensing to new product and feature launches including Pod 4 and Pod 5’s Hubs and Covers, Blanket, and a new project soon to come! Over time I’ve taken on more responsibility and it has been an amazing whirlwind making everything come together from idea through to production.
What were you doing before, and what made you want to join Eight Sleep?
Before Eight Sleep, my career was a tale of two halves: automotive and consumer electronics. In automotive, I worked as part of Chrysler, Ford, GM, the Porsche LMP1 Team (Le Mans 24 Hours champions), and the Ferrari Formula One team. In consumer electronics, I started my own ventures in hobby electronics and then started down a fitness journey as an early member of Perch and Arena Go (a portable motor-powered weight lifting system), followed by working on the next generation bike at Peloton. Eight Sleep brings together the best of both worlds: impact and speed. We need to make dependable designs that power hundreds of thousands of people 8 hours a day, while quickly innovating, pivoting and launching new products to make that experience as great as it can possibly be. We are a powerful, lean team that tackles huge challenges and makes a huge impact at lightspeed.
What’s one project or moment at Eight Sleep that you’re especially proud of?
Isolating one particular moment is difficult, but what I am most proud of is our team. From mid-cycle “behind the scenes” improvements that improve our existing experiences to brand new products and features that raise the bar on what optimal sleep is (Pod 4, Pod Ultra, Pod 5, Blanket, and many more coming soon), our global team is consistently moving at a pace and scale that is truly outsized for how lean we are. I’ve had the pleasure during my time at Eight Sleep to work with exceptional team members across many disciplines, and seeing everything come together from product development to manufacturing to marketing is wild. It’s such a buzz to gather a few teammates in a room, brainstorm how we implement our future vision of sleep, and know that our vision will impact thousands of people’s lives in months.
Working at Eight Sleep
How would you describe the team culture at Eight Sleep in a few words?
The team culture at Eight Sleep is one of experts in respective fields collaborating to bring a collective vision to life. It’s one of extreme ownership and responsibility, but great support from teammates. Definitely intense, but I wouldn’t have it any other way – we’re pushing boundaries and each holding an outsized responsibility which means together we can have an outsized impact on people’s lives.
What’s something small – but meaningful – that makes working here different from other places?
Speed at scale. The amazing thing about working at Eight Sleep is how fast we are able to go from an idea to having something in people’s homes. Many hardware startups can make prototypes or a few samples of something quickly, and many large hardware companies can get hardware into thousands of people’s homes. Eight Sleep is the first company I’ve been a part of able to combine the two, and this is extremely rare.
What’s your favorite non-work related memory with your colleagues?
These have got to be China trips, especially the important ones where a lot of the US team and China team are present. Not only do we get a tremendous amount done and see the fruits of months of design come to life through manufacturing, but we get to share and celebrate those moments with our team members from across the world: think getting a VRBO in China and spending the weekend at a beautiful, mountainous waterpark.
How do you feel supported to grow professionally and personally?
At Eight Sleep, I’ve been given the opportunity to lead electrical engineering across many different programs, step into a technical program manager role as needed, build mechanical prototypes in CAD, and program prototypes. Being on such a lean, cross-functional team you are exposed to many respective experts in their fields and you wear a lot of hats. You see the big picture and bring ideas to life through the full product development lifecycle. The learnings you get from being part of this process and seeing how your decisions play out (or don’t!) are tremendous.
Just for fun
What do you like to do in your free time?
As a competitive swimmer from the age of eight (hah!) through captaining the MIT Varsity Swim Team, I’ve kept my passion for sport and athletics alive and well. A lot of my time is spent actively at a pool, gym, or whichever court I happen to be on. Besides that I love learning new skills with side projects and being outdoors with my wife and soon to be doctor, Isabelle, and our five year old puppy, Maximus.
What’s your go-to Pod temperature settings?
Gotta be -10 to cool off on warm summer nights, followed by autopilot taking the reins and warming me up after I’m asleep so I don’t wake up an ice cube!
