Damian Py, founder of Daan Tech

Journey 

Master's in Mathematics, Vision, and Learning (MVA) at ENS Paris-Saclay

Damian Py joined ENS in 2013 through the ECS pathway.

Already aspiring to start his own company, he pursued a mathematics degree alongside his dual curriculum at ESTP, driven by his passion for the sciences (particularly in electronics, a field where he excelled since high school). Subsequently, he gained admission to Centrale Supélec and ultimately enrolled in the MVA master's program at ENS Paris-Saclay.

With intentions to pursue a degree at ENA, Damian abandoned this idea in 2015 upon meeting Antoine Fichet, his future associate. This encounter led to the birth of Daan Tech. Their first commercially marketed product was the mini dishwasher Bob, designed for 1 to 2 people, autonomous, and consuming only 0.35 kWh and a maximum of 3.8 liters of water per cycle, five times less than handwashing. 

Four years later, having secured suppliers and recently obtained the French Tech diversity grant, Daan Tech showcased its products at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), gaining greater visibility. Damian particularly connected with investors who facilitated the internalization of production for his company, largely due to the lingering condescension from subcontractors and suppliers.

Today, Daan Tech is well-established in France and Europe, with plans to expand into Asia. This resounding success gives us hope that Daan Tech will soon become a leader in the dishwasher market and perhaps even in the electronics industry as a whole.

How did you and your associate come up with the idea for Daan Technology and your dishwasher "Bob"?

The idea came to us because in our student dorm, we each had a microwave, a fridge, but no dishwasher. Doing the dishes was a real waste of time, and honestly, I prefer working over doing dishes.

So, it all started from there, and we launched when we realized that many others shared our observation and that there was no suitable offer. With the market demand evident, we believed that if we could bring the product to market, it would succeed commercially.

How was your transition into the professional world, with your own startup right out of school? Was it challenging?

One particularly challenging aspect was the discrimination faced by young people in France. Often, when I approached suppliers (starting with S20), we weren't taken seriously because of our age, even though we were often much more qualified than our counterparts and potentially one of their main clients in terms of revenue. That's one of the reasons why we gradually internalized everything: it turned out to be easier to do things in-house than to work with suppliers who didn't necessarily take us seriously... It's not uncommon for someone, when visiting my company, to ask to speak to "the boss." I've even been mistaken for an intern at a trade show. The real problem in France is that the average age in the industry is over 50. While youth may be an asset in the digital realm, it's a real handicap in a fairly conservative and aging industry.

Another thing that was particularly challenging was being told "no" by all the VCs because of my age. I approached all the French VCs (about sixty in total), but each time I received a condescending response like "it's an interesting student project. Bob the dishwasher for students. I'm sure my son your age would find that interesting..." or "you're a generation of slackers, a dishwasher for one or two people, what's next?"...

Is it difficult to be in the CEO position, day in and day out? Are you still as motivated?

Aside from being young and being harassed by companies selling unnecessary services or trying to take advantage of you, no, it's a joy.

Sure, it's 80 to 100-hour weeks. I often wake up at 4 a.m. to get ahead, and I work on weekends. But what I'm doing excites me. We're truly revolutionizing the home appliance sector, and what motivates me is that all the fifty-somethings running our competitors still don't feel the ground shaking beneath their feet.

Another motivation for me to work hard is being surrounded by a remarkable team. It's also for them that I get up every day. I'm immensely grateful to them. I also work for people like me who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, to show that "it's possible" if you fight for it and don't give up.

Lastly, what motivates me is achieving so much with so little. Every other hardware startup with a product other than purely electronic ones (Cowboy, Angell, June Oven, Juicero, Withings, etc.) has raised tens of millions of euros. We're going to succeed with ten times less, thanks to our youth, our energy, our ability to learn quickly, and our fresh perspective, precisely when all the VCs refused to support us because of our youth and lack of experience! It's a delicious revenge for me.

What projects are you aiming for once the production and commercialization of "Bob" are completed?

Bob is just the first product from Daan Tech, which allowed us to build our strategic capacity, meaning our core competencies and expertise.

Our priorities for 2021 are:

• The expansion of Bob's export market to Europe and Asia; 
• To position ourselves as a technology provider for full-size dishwasher manufacturers: we have indeed developed Bob OS, which we will make available to manufacturers free of charge. It enables remote maintenance and predictive maintenance, provided they use our Bob cassette solution, which offers the best performance for short cycles and comparable performance to the market's top players for long cycles. 
• Developing the Bob XL, a 6-place autonomous dishwasher, for households of up to 4 people, also intended for export to North America.
• Consolidating our position as a leader in predictive maintenance for household appliances by continuing to recruit data scientists.
• Expanding our biochemical engineering division, particularly to enhance our formulations of eco-friendly detergents, develop, and produce industrially-scale enzymes more effective than the competition for short cycles