North America’s
Leading Expert on Hardware Startups

Kevin Mako is a Startup Consultant, Builder, and Investor. He has won over 20 business and professional awards, built the largest physical consumer product design firm in Canada, has worked with over 1,000 hardware startups, lectures at the Masters of Engineering Program at Toronto Metropolitan University, and was the past host of The Product Startup Podcast.

Business Awards

Click any of the logos below to go to Kevin Mako’s page for that award

Small Business Consulting

Kevin has worked with over 1,000 hardware startups through his highly successful design firm Mako Invent, let alone many more companies on boards, through lecturing, and in startup incubators he helped. After selling Mako Invent in 2024 to TriMech, Kevin now does high impact 1-on-1 management consulting with a small number of startups and small businesses so that they can be the next big success.

  • Small Business Consulting – Setup, Structure, & Strategy
  • Product or Service – Planning, Development, Launch, & Scale
  • Marketing – Planning, Building, & Best Practices
  • Sales – Planning, Systems, & Strategies

A passion for small business, construction, and family.

Outside of Consulting, Kevin is most involved in the following initiatives:

Rural Land Development Fund

  • Kevin runs a land banking investment fund, open to accredited investors, that researches, relationship builds, buys, and develops large acreage in small towns and rural areas across Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Canada.
  • Currently 40 properties owned, totaling almost 2,000 acres of land including mining, quarries, forestry, and rural home development.

Keynote Speaker & Lecturer

  • Host of The Product Startup Podcast, the world’s largest podcast on physical consumer product development with over 200 episodes.
  • 50+ Keynotes on hardware product design.
  • Lecturer for Commercializing in the Masters of Engineering Program at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Investor

  • Owner of investment firm Mako Group, which lends Private Mortgages in Canada, US, Nicaragua, and Bahamas.
  • Equity and debt investor into small businesses in Canada and the US.
  • Rural land across Canada.

Waterfront Vacation Property Rentals

Head of Mako Property Corp which buys, renovates, and rents executive waterfront vacation properties in Canada, USA, and Bahamas.

Secure Home Builder

Director of Development of Legacy Manors, Canada’s builder of fortified and self-sustaining custom homes that last 500+ years.

For Fun

A family man with an amazing wife and 4 little kiddos. Pastimes are hosting gatherings, ice hockey, bass fishing, and being a private pilot.