Founder & Principal Engineer

Edward
Laganis

Engineer · Maker · Leader

30+ years turning ideas into physical products — from kitchen gadgets to medical devices, EVs to wearables. The work that drives me is where engineering meets meaning.

300+
SKUs to market
$1B+
Client revenue
20+
Patents
Edward Laganis — Founder, Technilence

The person behind
the products

At a glance

Based in

Glen Ridge, NJ

Experience

30+ years

Specialties

DFM · DFA · DFX
Consumer Electronics
Medical Devices
Housewares

Teaching

NYU Stern
Adjunct Professor
& Venture Advisor

Languages

English · Croatian

I've spent more than three decades doing one thing obsessively: figuring out how to make things well. Not just functional — well-made, well-considered, and worth building in the first place.

My career started on the engineering floor and grew from there — through 15+ years building and running the engineering team at Tri-Power Design, to leading Smart Design's engineering practice (its most accomplished team in a 40-year history), to founding Technilence, where I now work directly with founders, product teams, and investors navigating the hardest parts of hardware development.

Along the way I've had the chance to build products for some extraordinary brands: Meta, OXO, L'Oréal, Stryker, Ziploc, Merck, PepsiCo, and Seattle Ultrasonics, among many others. I've also co-founded LOO — the world's first flushable wipe brand in recyclable packaging — because sometimes you have to build the thing yourself to understand the problem.

At NYU Stern, I spent eight years as an adjunct professor, startup coach, and venture advisor — teaching Design Thinking and Human-Centered Design to the next generation of founders. That work reinforced what I already believed: product literacy should be accessible to everyone, not just those who happen to know the right people.

My leadership approach is simple: listen first, mentor second, measure third. I'm most useful when the stakes are high, the timeline is tight, and the team needs someone who has seen the hard parts before.

"Live your life as if it were impossible to fail." — Casey Neistat

Awards & honors

Mentor of the Year 2018

NYU Berkley Innovation Center

Innovation by Design Award — User Experience Category

Fast Company · 2023

Design for Social Impact Award

Simprints

Aim Lighting Collection

Gantri

BetterBin NYC Competition Finalist

NYC Design Competition

20+ Granted Patents

Including medical devices, consumer products & eyewear

Where the work happened

2017 — Present 9+ years

Principal Owner & Head of Product Development

Technilence · Hoboken, NJ

Founded Technilence to provide complete Art-to-Part product development for innovative hardware companies. Leads full-cycle engagements across consumer electronics, housewares, and medical devices — from concept through manufacturing. Also conducts technical due diligence for VC and PE deal teams evaluating early-stage hardware investments.

2023 — Present Co-Founder

Co-Founder

LOO · New York, NY

Co-founded LOO, the world's first flushable wipe brand in fully recyclable packaging — made from the highest-quality plant-based materials, safe for both people and the environment.

2017 — 2025 8 years

Adjunct Professor, Startup Coach & Venture Advisor

NYU Stern School of Business · New York, NY

Supported the NYU Stern Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, focusing on early-stage hardware and device commercialization. Served as NYU's Design Thinking expert — hosting workshops on Design Thinking, Prototyping, and Human-Centered Design as a business strategy.

2014 — 2022 8+ years

Sr. Director of Engineering

Smart Design · Brooklyn, NY

Led Smart Design's engineering practice — building and running its most accomplished engineering team in the firm's 40-year history. Oversaw a multi-disciplinary group of engineers, designers, researchers, and prototypers working on products that touch millions of lives daily.

1998 — 2013 15+ years

Director of Engineering & Quality Systems

Tri-Power Design · Denville, NJ

Built and ran the engineering team at a multi-disciplined design and engineering firm. Managed ISO 13485 and ISO 9001 certification processes and delivered engineering solutions across medical devices, consumer products, and aerospace for clients including Stryker, BD, GE Aviation, and Boeing.

Built on strong foundations

MBA

NYU Stern School of Business

Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance, and Leadership

B.S.

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Mechanical Engineering

Certificate

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Computer Science (edX)

What Ed brings to the table

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Design for Assembly (DFA) Product Lifecycle Management Human-Centered Design CAD / CAM Rapid Prototyping 3D Printing FEA Analysis Plastic & Composite Part Design Consumer Electronics Medical Devices ISO 13485 / ISO 9001 Startup Advisory VC / PE Due Diligence Soft Tooling Strategy Supply Chain & Sourcing Design Thinking Executive Leadership IP & Patent Strategy Microelectronics

Have a product that
needs to get made?

Whether you're at the napkin sketch stage or stuck in production purgatory — let's talk.

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