An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Always listen — As evidenced in that prior example, I’ve learned that you’re never as smart as you think you are, and any person can have a good idea. The smartest people are frequently those who listen the most.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Diorio.
Chris is CEO, Vice Chair, and Co-Founder at Impinj, an Affiliate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, and a Director of the RAIN RFID Alliance.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
From an early age, I loved to invent and explore. In elementary school, I organized a group of kids to build a child-sized robot (we failed). As a teenager, I liked to ski but didn’t like walking on ice in ski boots, so I made rubber overshoes, which worked so well that I met with an attorney to try patenting them. I didn’t have the money or know-how to follow up, but several years later a company commercialized the idea. I knew I didn’t want to make that same mistake again.
Fast forward, as a faculty member at the University of Washington, I met over dinner with Carver Mead, my PhD advisor at Caltech, updating him on a cool idea I was working on. And I said, “Some day, this idea would make for a great company.” A few days later, he asked when I was available again. By chance, I had a trip planned to the Bay Area, where he was then living, and we arranged lunch. Carver picked me up at the airport and said, “I have some people for you to meet.” He tossed me the Wall Street Journal, pointed to the cover where Venture Law Group was noted as the #1 law firm for startups and said, “Them.”
Knowing a bit of trickery when I see it, I said slowly, “Carver…?” To which he said simply, “You’re going to give them your pitch.” I, said, “Carver, what pitch?” Without missing a beat, Carver said, “That’s what we’re going to figure out over lunch.”
So we met the VLG team, and I started talking, and they asked questions for an hour. Suddenly Carver turned to the attorneys and asked, “Want to do it?” And they said, “Yeah, let’s do it.” And they put in money, and Carver put in money, and they asked me, “Chris, can you come up two hundred thousand dollars?” Well, my wife and I had just bought a house, didn’t have a penny to our names, and I had no idea where to come up with that sum. Nonetheless I squeaked “sure.” And so Impinj was founded. Causing, of course, a slight change to my career plans.
So how did I get on this path? Partially by accident, which despite what we may believe about controlling our destiny, I perceive to be the norm rather than the exception. But those accidents also tend to happen along paths that pique a person’s curiosity. For me, I always want to know why things are the way they are. I like to invent. And to try things I haven’t tried before. Those traits have led me to stumble into opportunities, often lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and lucky to be surrounded by smart, caring and supportive people along the way. Also, being rather a bit gullible, I tend to think, “Well heck, there’s every good reason not to try that path, but I may as well try it anyway”.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Today, most people envision the Internet of Things as a vast network of powered electronic devices. We at Impinj think bigger. Much bigger. Our vision is a boundless Internet of Things. We’re inventing a future in which not just electronic devices are connected, but every item in our everyday world is connected. Expanding the internet’s reach by a factor of 1,000 to retail apparel, packages, letters, automotive parts, airline baggage, pallets, medical supplies, food and much, much more. We deliver the identity, location, and authenticity of each and every item and enabled connectivity for more than 50 billion items to date — and we’re just getting started.
We make miniature, battery-free radio chips, each smaller than a grain of sand, that our partners add to an item’s label or to its packaging, and wirelessly read them using Impinj-enabled readers in stores, at foot race starts and finishes, in drink dispensers and on airplane belt loaders. Individually connecting and identifying every one.
That is our mission — to connect every thing — so businesses and people can track and find and manage what matters to them. We’re driving a future in which trillions of items are connected every year. Where businesses and people engage those items at manufacturing, through the supply chain, in stores, at point of sale, to your home and eventually, to recycling; giving each and every one of those items a digital life. Driving efficiencies, reducing waste, enabling the circular economy and ultimately, improving peoples’ lives which in the end, is what really matters.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
On the day of Impinj’s founding, as Carver and I walked out of the Venture Law Group’s office, I turned to him and asked, “So what do I do now?”
He replied, “What do you mean what do you do now? Hire some people. Find an office. Get going!” So we did. A few months later we closed our first funding round. With the news that a company of 11 people had raised big money, we were barraged with calls and inquiries; you name it. We were unprepared. And that wasn’t the last time. I’ve learned to do my best to prepare for the future but roll with the unexpected, because the latter always comes. And not so sweat it too much, because if life was truly meant to be serious then it should have come with instructions.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I have so many stories about how Carver Mead has influenced my life. He has taught me to question everything. To be generous. He is a role model in that he thinks about others before he thinks about himself. He gives to others before he takes for himself. He endeavors to leave the world a better place than he found it. He has changed so many lives, mine included.
Ed Lazowska has also been an endless source of guidance and support to me over the years. He has contributed so much to the Seattle tech community and to me personally. And Gaetano Borriello was so inspiring, the most wonderful person. He was one of the most caring people and loved by all his students. He taught me that how you treat others is what really matters.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I am drawn to advancements that create something new, something that increases the size of the pie rather than taking a bigger slice of a fixed pie. Disruption can be negative when the outcome creates clear winners and losers — when the advancement doesn’t make the world a better place. I focus on things that are additive. If you are going to disrupt, then change peoples’ lives for the better.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- Lead by example — Years ago, when I was walking with Ed Lazowska, then the UW computer science department chair, he stopped to pick up a small piece of trash in our building. He wanted our building to look nice and took responsibility for it. He embodied servant leadership. And that memory stuck with me. It truly is the little things you do that people notice.
- Empower people — George Patton said, “If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.” When I was teaching at the UW, I challenged an undergraduate project class to solve a fun problem that another faculty member and I had just solved. I showed the class the problem and an outline of the solution we, as faculty, had come up with. Three of the student teams took our outline and got started. One team took a different path, explaining it to me twice. I didn’t get it. But I said, “Okay, go for it.” To this day I still don’t understand what they did, but their solution was half the size, used half the power, and worked better than my solution. I’ve found that when you empower people, get out of their way and let them drive, they will find a much cleverer path than you probably will ever find on your own.
- Always listen — As evidenced in that prior example, I’ve learned that you’re never as smart as you think you are, and any person can have a good idea. The smartest people are frequently those who listen the most.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Even after 20 years, Impinj is just at the beginning of its journey. We have huge opportunities ahead of us, and I want to be part of that journey. But also, back at the UW 20 years ago, I had a neurobiology idea I wanted to explore. I’ve continued working on that idea ever since. It takes me longer because I’m not a neurobiologist, but I also approach it differently because I’m not a neurobiologist. Someday, I hope to be able to focus deeply on that problem.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
I mostly read the proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I love reading what people are uncovering. And then learning about how they did it. I’ve had the great fortune to meet so many famous scientists in my life, and I always enjoy hearing them tell these simple stories about what they did and how they did it. They observe something, have an idea, pursue it, and wrestle it mightily to the ground. It’s never easy like they say afterwards. But the universal undercurrent is they’re willing to sink their teeth into a problem and not let go until they’ve solved it.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My daughter gave me this deeply meaningful quote, “Live while you’re alive, and die only when you’re dead.” It’s an excerpt from a longer passage by Arundhati Roy. I try to bring passion and excitement and energy to everything I do. From solving difficult problems to supporting friends, family and colleagues to just living life to its fullest.
That guidance has also helped me to be willing to go slow. To understand that life is a long and winding path to be enjoyed. There is another quote I really like but unfortunately I don’t know who it is from: “I used to climb mountains. Above tree line the world silences. You can see forever, and forever can see you. But I never did find a better way of climbing than putting one foot in front of the other.”
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
This question is difficult for me — I haven’t much considered being part of a movement, much less starting one. I will say that I am humbled and amazed by people who start with very little but do or find or uncover or create much. I see so much potential in people, which can flourish and grow with just the smallest amount of nurturing. I would love to see everybody, from all walks of life, and all countries, and all backgrounds, have a chance to show what they are capable of. To get one chance to excel. But that is one tall ask, and one for which I don’t have any concept even where to start.
How can our readers follow you online?
I must confess I do not have much of an online presence. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m someone who is more comfortable exploring uncharted paths. However, I do occasionally contribute to the Impinj blog and encourage folks to follow there (www.impinj.com/library/blog) or find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-diorio-7857a637/.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Chris Diorio of Impinj On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
