Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this episode, we visit Impulse with founder and CEO Sam D’Amico for a tour of the office, a live demo of the most powerful induction stove on the market, and a cooking session with new AI features. Sam breaks down why Impulse rebuilt the stove from first principles around a lithium iron phosphate battery, how that unlocks dramatically more power and tighter temperature control, and why he thinks home appliances are becoming software-defined hardware platforms. We also get into his path from Meta, Oculus, and consumer electronics into appliances, how AI is changing how he builds, and why Impulse is launching through Zephyr showrooms nationwide.
We talk about:
• The Impulse cooktop and why it can push far more power than a normal stove
• How the battery-centered architecture changes appliance design
• Why Sam sees appliances as software-defined hardware
• The origin story that started with a pizza in Japan
• Why Sam chose stoves instead of other hardware categories
• How AI and Claude are being used on the stove itself
• How AI tools helped Sam build internal software systems faster
• Impulse Core, OEM partnerships, and nationwide Zephyr rollout
Where to find Impulse:
• impulselabs.com
• https://x.com/impulselabs
• youtube.com/@Impulselabs
Where to find Sam:
• https://x.com/sdamico
• linkedin.com/in/s-damico
0:00 - Intro
0:12 - Start of Tour
0:18 - The Impulse Cooktop Demo
0:55 - Zephyr Partnership + Showrooms
1:14 - Magnetic Knob Interface
2:04 - How Impulse Tests and QA’s Every Build
3:34 - Rebuilding the Stove From First Principles
5:02 - Impulse Core and OEM Partnerships
6:09 - How Long It Took to Build the Product
8:07 - The Japan Pizza Story That Sparked Impulse
9:22 - Why Sam Left Consumer Hardware for Appliances
12:42 - Why the Stove Was the Right Entry Point
14:31 - Building Appliances “Like a Phone”
17:17 - Will Impulse Ship a Single-Burner Version?
17:37 - Cooking Begins on the AI Dev Unit
19:10 - How Sam Uses AI to Build Software at Impulse
20:36 - Scallops Demo: Real-Time Temperature Control
22:20 - Boiling Pasta at 10,000 Watts
24:49 - AI Recipes, Figma, and Multi-Burner Cooking
28:25 - Butter, Pasta, and Controlled Temperature Cooking
30:21 - Zephyr Launch and the Bigger Smart Home Vision
32:45 - Global Expansion Plans
33:34 - AI Features, OTA Updates, and What Ships This Year
35:14 - Taste Test with the Judges
36:42 - Where to Buy Impulse
In this episode, we visit Impulse with founder and CEO Sam D’Amico for a tour of the office, a live demo of the most powerful induction stove on the market, and a cooking session with new AI features. Sam breaks down why Impulse rebuilt the stove from first principles around a lithium iron phosphate battery, how that unlocks dramatically more power and tighter temperature control, and why he thinks home appliances are becoming software-defined hardware platforms. We also get into his path from Meta, Oculus, and consumer electronics into appliances, how AI is changing how he builds, and why Impulse is launching through Zephyr showrooms nationwide.
We talk about:
• The Impulse cooktop and why it can push far more power than a normal stove
• How the battery-centered architecture changes appliance design
• Why Sam sees appliances as software-defined hardware
• The origin story that started with a pizza in Japan
• Why Sam chose stoves instead of other hardware categories
• How AI and Claude are being used on the stove itself
• How AI tools helped Sam build internal software systems faster
• Impulse Core, OEM partnerships, and nationwide Zephyr rollout
Where to find Impulse:
• impulselabs.com
• https://x.com/impulselabs
• youtube.com/@Impulselabs
Where to find Sam:
• https://x.com/sdamico
• linkedin.com/in/s-damico
0:00 - Intro
0:12 - Start of Tour
0:18 - The Impulse Cooktop Demo
0:55 - Zephyr Partnership + Showrooms
1:14 - Magnetic Knob Interface
2:04 - How Impulse Tests and QA’s Every Build
3:34 - Rebuilding the Stove From First Principles
5:02 - Impulse Core and OEM Partnerships
6:09 - How Long It Took to Build the Product
8:07 - The Japan Pizza Story That Sparked Impulse
9:22 - Why Sam Left Consumer Hardware for Appliances
12:42 - Why the Stove Was the Right Entry Point
14:31 - Building Appliances “Like a Phone”
17:17 - Will Impulse Ship a Single-Burner Version?
17:37 - Cooking Begins on the AI Dev Unit
19:10 - How Sam Uses AI to Build Software at Impulse
20:36 - Scallops Demo: Real-Time Temperature Control
22:20 - Boiling Pasta at 10,000 Watts
24:49 - AI Recipes, Figma, and Multi-Burner Cooking
28:25 - Butter, Pasta, and Controlled Temperature Cooking
30:21 - Zephyr Launch and the Bigger Smart Home Vision
32:45 - Global Expansion Plans
33:34 - AI Features, OTA Updates, and What Ships This Year
35:14 - Taste Test with the Judges
36:42 - Where to Buy Impulse
