I always seem to have an endless parade of devices in need of charging, especially right before departing on a big trip. Right now, on my desk alone, there are two smartwatches, one rugged walkie-talkie, one Fujifilm digital camera, one set of Bose noise-canceling headphones, two pairs of earbuds, one Apple Magic Mouse, one Theragun massager and one jet-powered electric duster all in need of a power-up. But I’m not concerned.
And if you had the Plugable PS-10CC 10-port USB-C charger, you wouldn’t be stressed either, because this bad boy can handle the task with ease. It even features left-to-right priority charging, so your most important gizmos get juiced up first.
Better yet, the device can simultaneously charge multiple devices at once, assuming there’s enough power to go around. Measuring ten inches long and constructed from one single piece of stamped metal, the design is both brilliant and a little ridiculous at once. And as a tech nerd, that’s a combo I can get behind.
So, what kind of madman would conceive and launch such a product for less than $100 no less? The answer is Bernie Thompson, a former software engineer who cut his teeth at IBM and Microsoft working on USB and Bluetooth plug-and-play, before founding Plugable in 2009 out of his garage.
Now one of the largest USB docking station manufacturers in the world and a personal favorite amongst the TG staff, Plugable is based out of Redmond, Washington, not too far from Microsoft’s HQ and some of my favorite hiking trails.
With an emphasis on innovative yet simple design and top-notch customer service, I wanted to find out more about what it takes to grow a successful peripherals brand from the ground up and take on giant international conglomerates like Anker. So, I caught up with Bernie in Las Vegas, shortly after the official launch of the Plugable PS-10CC, where we chatted about the product ideation process, the competition, and the potential for an even longer 20-port USB-C dock from Plugagble.
Tell me a little bit about why you started Plugable.
Bernie Thompson: "I'm a software engineer by background, and I started at IBM and then at Microsoft doing operating system development, but always on the side of enabling devices. At IBM, I worked on graphics devices. At Microsoft, I worked on USB and Bluetooth stacks. Our goal was to enable plug-and-play back in the '90s and 2000s when a lot of groundwork was being done."
There was always something that the device maker had to do right, communicate right, to create that great device experience.
Bernie Thompson, Plugable founder and CTO
"But, you know, in the end, we could only solve a certain portion of the problem. There was always something that the device maker had to do right, communicate right, to create that great device experience. So the founding question of Plugable was, could I create a device company that did some of these things better?
Our internal mantra is better products, better information, better support. It reflects the three areas where always trying to do things, to create, to solve compatibility problems and to do things in a better way. So, we're a 15-year-old company that has 150 products, almost all USB-based."
What are some of the pain points of USB charging?
"USB charging is ubiquitous, and yet it's really awkward, ugly, frustrating. I mean, there are a lot of bad things about it, like having to carry multiple chargers, having to be aware of multiple charge rates when you do have a multi-port charger and having inconsistent behavior between ports. Each device having its own charger results in a lot of stuff ending up in landfills, and things like that."
Tell me about the design of the new 10-port dock.
"I'm really excited about our work here. The goal is to plug in all your devices — up to 10 — and have them all charged by morning. If there are some devices you want charged sooner than others, plug them into the leftmost ports. We call it Priority Charging. There's a compromise with the priority charging. You’ve got to think a little ‘Okay, left or right priority, how am I going to use that to make sure I get what I'm expecting out of this?’ But other than that trade-off the design is perfectly symmetric. It was first done as a patent, and then we did a ground-up design with a custom PCB (circuit boards), custom firmware and a Kickstarter. Now we're excited to get it to the full market here in February."
The goal [of the PS-10CC] is to plug in all your devices — up to 10 — and have them all charged by morning
Bernie Thompson, Plugable founder and CTO
"So we originally did it as a stamp metal case, which was quite nice. The elegance of this design is it's a repeating pattern internally, the PCB for every two ports is identical, and then there's one controller that oversees it all. We knew that we wanted to have different size factors. We went for 10 to start with because it's a little over the top, it's a little impressive.
But we also knew we wanted to do smaller port counts because it's more practical. So, we're doing a six-port version right on the back of the 10-port version. To support that, we changed the case to be an extrusion. So the way extrusions work is, you've got this shape and it's just that same shape extruded out, like, imagine Play-Doh or a pasta. And so we just cut it off at a different spot."
So, if you wanted to, you could make a 20-port or 25-port USB-C dock.
"Yep, or eight."
On the subject, can you confirm that the PS-10CC is the longest USBC hub currently on the market?
"I think it is. I'm not aware of another one."
Where do your new product ideas come from? Is it internal or based on feedback from customers?
"It's a little bit of both. The feedback from customers tells us where the problems lie. And, you know, good product design starts with a problem. Our same North American team that supports our products is also the ones who do the product design.
And so we, we're really in touch with where our customers are frustrated. We read all the reviews, we do 100,000 tickets a year of customer service. And then it's matching up those customer pain points with technology. Is there something today or tomorrow with a new spec or a new chip that will solve that problem?"
Who are your biggest competitors? And what sets you apart from them?
"In this space of charging Anker is our biggest competitor. Anker is public in China and has become probably bigger today than even some older brands like Logitech and Belkin were in their day. In fact, much bigger."
Our same North American team that supports our products is also the ones who do the product design. And so we, we're really in touch with where our customers are frustrated.
Bernie Thompson, Plugable founder and CTO
"Generally, Western companies cannot go head to head with a Chinese company. If you try to do the same thing as them, they're going to do it at a lower cost, right? So, [with the PS-10CC] we stripped a lot of cost out of this product by only needing one charger input. And again, this is leveraging this kind of magic flexibility of USB. We can negotiate with that one charger to get its maximum charge rate and then put it to full use charging all these 10 devices that you have attached to our hub as quickly as possible, based on the available power."
Outside of individual customers like TG readers, who is the intended target for Plugable products?
"We focus a lot, actually, on business. In the corporate environment, you have people who have a bunch of devices of the same type, whether it be, in a retail environment, for example, every employee has a headset. That headset charges with USB. So, you can have a single charging station that everybody plugs into.
The other example that we use a lot is in education. Our charger works whether it's a phone charger or a laptop charger (you’re plugging in). So you plug in you're 100-watt PC laptop charger and you can charge 10 laptops, and by morning in a classroom environment, they'll all be charged. I have kids, and the big thing with kids and laptops is they're always losing their chargers. Here, you don't need to have one charger per laptop. You only need a few chargers per classroom."
What are some of the biggest challenges Plugable faces in 2025 and beyond and some of the most significant opportunities?
"The biggest challenge is the global situation. With the dominance of China and as a U.S., company, how do we succeed in that environment? But fortunately, from the market and customer challenges come opportunities.
We've chosen to focus largely on this technology, USB. Fortunately, since I started Plugable in 2009, it has become even more ubiquitous. USB is the one thing that we connect everything to and charge everything with. So, as part of that, the evolution of USB is constantly solving problems while also creating problems because you’ve got different versions of specs. You've got different behaviors. Our mission is dealing with those sorts of confusions and compatibility problems and trying to come up with solutions that are easy on people through better products, better information and better support."
We hope that Plugable will be the company that people go to when they think about, ‘How do I connect this with that?’
Bernie Thompson, Plugable founder and CTO
"Again, I'll use the 10-port charger as an example. We really thought it through, like, ‘How can we leverage all the tools at hand that USB gives us to charge a lot of devices and do it in a way that is elegant?’
And so there are more opportunities to solve other problems that are like this. Our other big areas are docking stations and multiple display setups. And that's a great one where people want to do things and they're frustrated that current products and current technology don't.
We've been on a journey of progression, launching about 20 laptop docks in our product line right now, and they all serve different purposes and solve different problems."
"The other big product that we announced is our UD-7400PD five-display docking station. It's going to sell for under $200 [at launch] even though it's kind of a do-everything dock. So we have high-end docks like that, where we've taken everything we've learned and everything we've done and kind of brought it into a single product. But then we also have mid-range and entry docks where we may cut down on things to focus in a certain direction. So that's why we end up having a kind of a broad dock line.
Because of the ubiquity of USB, that is a huge area of opportunity for us. There's also a lot coming up and happening with AI devices. So we hope that Plugable will be the company that people go to when they think about, ‘How do I connect this with that?’"
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