Kevin M

Kevin Mako is the world’s leading expert on product development specifically for physical consumer product startups. He is the founder of MAKO Design + Invent back in 1999, the original North American firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors with offices in Toronto, Austin, San Francisco, and Miami. He has worked directly with over 1,000 hardware startups helping them go from idea to store shelves.

He is the host of the Product Startup Podcast, the leading product design & development podcast in the manufacturing industry. Kevin lectures in the Masters of Engineering program at Ryerson University, sits on a number of entrepreneurship & education boards, holds the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award designation, and is a private pilot. He is a regular keynote speaker and has over 75,000 direct followers on social media.

Through Mako Design, Kevin has won over 25 business and design awards including Red Dot (world’s most prestigious design award), Good Design (2nd most prestigious design award), Inc5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America (multiple times), Entrepreneur360 Most Innovative Companies in America (twice), Indigo Gold, Creative Pool Gold, Best Places to Work List (multiple times), Lux Magazine Best Design Firm in North America, DesignRush Best Industrial Design Firm (multiple times), and many others.

Kevin's Back Story: Kevin started Mako Design in high school in 1999, then incorporated in University in 2006 where he was section class president at the Ivey Business School (Harvard's sister school and Canada’s top business school). Kevin then studied overseas at Hong Kong University for supply chain management & manufacturing. After graduating both programs by late 2007, he went full-time at Mako Design after nervously turning down some great job offers in investment banking and management consulting, despite being $50,000 in student loans. Still, to today, Mako Design has no debt, no financing, and no shareholders - A true grassroots organic startup story.