The CEO Turning Passionate Gadget Fans Into Product Designers

Growing up, Steve El-Hage was, in his words, “a phaser.” That is, every few months he would develop an obsession—electronic music, esports, sneakers—and immerse himself in that world. And for each of those phases he’d find an online community of enthusiasts to learn from.

One thing about those communities stood out, he says: When it came to gear, discussions weren’t focused on what was the coolest brand or who had the best marketing campaign. “It was more of, ‘What were the materials, what’s the price to performance?’ ” he says. Compared with the rest of the internet, “the way that enthusiast communities talked about products was just fundamentally different.”