The story wasn't
built alone.

"If you try that many prototypes, success starts to feel inevitable."

I got my first glimpse of the Mayht technology while living in Japan, when Mattias and I met over dinner. After hearing his vision, I knew this would be an audio revolution and told him I'd love to join the team once they started expanding.

A few months later, that message arrived. I moved back to the Netherlands to join the Mayht adventure, not knowing it would take more than a year before I would actually hear a working speaker.

Honestly, I don't remember ever worrying about whether it would work; the only question was how we could build faster. We moved at such a pace that failing didn't feel like an option. If you try that many prototypes, success starts to feel inevitable. It changed our discussions from "which idea to try" to "what is the fastest way to test every clever idea in the room." Risks turned into experiments, and somewhere in that pace, the whole thing just became fun.

Ultimately, that iterative engine created an amazing team and unique technology of immense value that eventually caught the world's attention and led to our acquisition.

— Naphur van Apeldoorn

"We could test an idea in an hour instead of spending days on a fancy setup that would have given us the same answer."

When I joined Mayht, I came from an academic background — a world of carefully planned experiments, clean labs, and properly placed sensors. In most research institutes I'd worked in, you weren't even allowed to bring a snack into some buildings. The workshop at Mayht was a very different place.

At first glance it looked like a complete mess. Tools were all over the place, materials would show up in the strangest spots. But after a couple of weeks, it started to make sense. Everything was where it was because someone had grabbed it in a rush, and that was the whole point — the workshop wasn't set up to look nice, it was set up to get a prototype built or a measurement done as fast as possible.

And then there was Blu Tack — a putty-like adhesive used at Mayht to fix almost anything. Sealing a speaker enclosure? Blu Tack. Adding extra mass to derive the impedance-based parameters of a transducer? Blu Tack. Holding a jig in place during assembly? Blu Tack. And at the end of the day, you couldn't leave the office without finding a bit of sticky putty on your shoes.

But it didn't stop there. I once found myself sewing a speaker membrane by hand to reinforce it. Another day, we took a dremel to a carbon fiber membrane, cutting bits away to improve its efficiency — and ending up covered head to toe in black dust. And then there was the time we needed a light, stiff membrane and someone's answer was to buy a papier-mâché set for kids. From the outside it probably looked like a kindergarten craft session, but the hand-made parts turned out to work almost as well as proper industrial samples we tested later.

That was the Mayht way. Simple, cheap, fast, and a bit rough around the edges. We could test an idea in an hour instead of spending days on a fancy setup that would have given us the same answer. And that spirit, I think, was the real key to how fast we moved. It helped us spot problems early, fix them quickly, and keep pushing forward — without waiting for everything to be perfect.

— Andrei Kozhevnikov

"Nobody asked us to work those hours. We did it because we genuinely believed in what we were building."

The lesson that has stayed with me the most is what a team can accomplish when everyone truly believes in the mission. I remember the period leading up to CES, when Naphur and I spent long nights in the office assembling, testing, and troubleshooting demo units to make sure everything would be ready in time. If I remember correctly, we were back in the office again on Boxing Day to finish packing everything so it could be shipped in time.

CES turned out to be a defining moment for Mayht. It was there that we received the Billboard recognition for best in show, and from that point onward the acquisition process with Sonos really started to take shape. Looking back, what stands out most to me isn't the recognition itself, but the dedication that led up to it. Nobody asked us to work those hours, we did it because we genuinely believed in what we were building and wanted to give it every possible chance to succeed. That shared sense of ownership and commitment is something I've rarely experienced anywhere else, and it's what I remember most fondly about my time at Mayht.

— Thomas

"Culture is grown over time, not created in an instant."

"Building" has become a much broader term in my life since meeting Mattias. Building prototypes that grow into proof of concepts. Building minimally viable products that illustrate a business model. Building a set of values that evolve into a genuine company culture.

Mayht has been the tightest, most inspiring team I have had the privilege of being a part of. Essential to this is that everybody involved feels that they matter. That their ideas, knowledge and whimsical interests can contribute to a common goal.

To me, this is exemplified the most by the time we met. During my interview, we discussed everything remotely relevant to the position as much as our shared interests in music, building and design. At the end of the interview, he asked if I had any other questions for him at that moment. Without hesitation, I asked:

"Was this the first interview you've ever conducted?"

A brief pause, then a shared chuckle, confirmed that it was indeed a first. Culture is grown over time, not created in an instant. From our first conversation to the last project we collaborated on, Mattias was conscious of the value of building culture through honesty and a genuine interest in each person he was building the company with.

Nobody on the team was ever asked to stay until 04:00 in the morning to finish a prototype, but people stayed regardless. Everybody felt it was worth that effort, through a shared goal and a belief that what they were doing in the middle of that night mattered deeply.

— Job

"If a 3D printer is free, use it, even if the design of your parts was far from complete."

From the start I loved the go-getter energy in the office. Instead of saying, "I'll take a look at it next week," we would ask, "What can we design, test, or 3D print before the end of the day?" Moreover, from day one we wanted people to develop a T-shaped profile, meaning they are experts in 1 or 2 domains but have a basic skill level in many others. For example, if we hired someone new, the first thing that person would learn is how to 3D model, use the 3D printers, and order parts, even if that person's main job wasn't to design parts. This approach allowed us to divide tasks extremely efficiently, get useful feedback from everyone in the team and maintain a high pace of development.

Some lessons I learned early during my time at Mayht: If a 3D printer is free, use it, even if the design of your parts was far from complete. The feedback you get from having parts physically in your hand can be very valuable. The second lesson that stuck with me concerned tackling difficult challenges and de-risking parts of the design. Instead of spending time and money on a high fidelity design and test setup initially, we focused on prototyping and testing as early as possible. These early tests often taught us a great deal. Every time you pass one of the early tests, you take steps to increase fidelity, eventually reaching 100% certainty.

— Lars

"Never name a prototype after the month you hope to finish it."

During my first week at Mayht, I was completely overwhelmed by the fast pace and happy chaos. Joining as a later hire meant the iterative sprint process was already in full swing. It felt like hopping onto a bullet train that only stopped for 10 minutes a day during the morning stand-up — and even then, the destination was always different from the day before.

One of my favorite onboarding steps was assembling my own T3 driver. It was a perfect introduction to Mayht's technology and hands-on culture, where every engineer was impressively versatile.

My biggest takeaway? Never name a prototype after the month you hope to finish it, unless you want a constant reminder of how far behind schedule you are. I'll never forget the "November speaker," coming home for two months straight with black sealant all over my hands and arms, on my clothes and in my hair.

— Jens de Groot