His house burned down. He used the insurance money to build PopSockets.

Founder Summit 2026 in Boston: Don’t miss ticket savings of up to $300. Register Now.Save up to $680 on your Disrupt 2026 pass. Ends 11:59 p.m. PT tonight. REGISTER NOW. Latest AI Amazon Apps Biotech & Health Climate Cloud Computing Commerce Crypto Enterprise EVs Fintech Fundraising Gadgets Gaming Google Government & Policy Hardware Instagram Layoffs Media & Entertainment Meta Microsoft Privacy Robotics Security Social Space Startups TikTok Transportation Venture Staff Events Startup Battlefield StrictlyVC Newsletters Podcasts Videos Partner Content TechCrunch Brand Studio Crunchboard Contact Us Does a consumer hardware company need to get on the VC treadmill to succeed? Eleven years and 290 million products sold across 115 countries later, PopSockets has proven that the bootstrapped, low-dilution path more viable than the industry gives it credit for. The global consumer hardware brand was built on less than $500k, no institutional capital, and a philosophy professor’s determination. Watch as founder and former CEO of PopSockets David Barnett joins Equity to talk about how he scaled from a Boulder garage, stood up to Amazon at a $10–20 million cost, and eventually handed off the CEO role to someone who’d grown up inside the company. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Topics Audio Producer Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com. Actively scaling? Fundraising? Planning your next launch?TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 delivers tactical playbooks and direct access to 1,000+ founders and investors who are building, backing, and closing.Register by March 13 to save up to $300. ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after DoD deal MyFitnessPal has acquired Cal AI, the viral calorie app built by teens Anthropic’s Claude reports widespread outage The trap Anthropic built for itself Why did Netflix back down from its deal to acquire Warner Bros.? India disrupts access to popular developer platform Supabase with blocking order Jack Dorsey just halved the size of Block’s employee base — and he says your company is next Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech newsEvery weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage.TechCrunch's AI experts cover the latest news in the fast-moving field.Every Monday, gets you up to speed on the latest advances in aerospace.Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly.By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice.© 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC.