Out Of Office

Join us for an imaginative and deeply thoughtful episode of Out of Office as Kartik Sathappan and Jack Dwyer sit down with Daniel Kuntz — founder of Creature Co. and the mind behind The Little Guy, a wearable digital pet that blends nostalgic design, emotional tech, and low-level engineering into a new kind of companion.Daniel walks us through how a viral demo turned into a funded startup, how Fred Again ended up using his music plugin, and why he's rejecting the software subscription model in favor of playful, expressive hardware. We also dive into his artistic inspirations (like vintage Sony gadgets and absurd watches), the philosophy of meaningful design, and whether generative AI can ever create something with soul. 🦴 Meet The Little Guy 🎹 Try Daniel’s music plugins 𝕏 Follow Daniel 𝕏 Follow Kartik 𝕏 Follow Jack 🎧 Follow Out of OfficeSponsored by Noots — Enjoy 25% off your orderChapters: 00:00 Intro to The Little Guy and Creature Co 03:00 Rethinking Tamagotchi: A Digital Pet for Adults 06:05 Prototyping, Dev Kits, and Early Community Feedback 08:52 Raising $1.2M and the Vision for a Hardware Company 12:06 Business Model, Software Tools, and Artistic Intent 14:55 Daniel’s Journey: Music Apps to Wearable Companions 21:03 Design Philosophy: Playful UIs and Hardware Aesthetics 28:09 Apple, iDog, and the Lost Era of Beautiful Tech 34:28 From Demo to Funding: Going All-In on Hardware 40:23 Can We Have Nice Things Again? 55:11 Generative AI, Creativity, and the Future of Art