The first batch of Blocks Wearables modular smart watches will be delivered in September 2016
Everyone knows what Apple Watch and Project Ara are. But not everyone heard about Blocks Wearables - the world's first modular smart watches. Last fall, in the framework of the Kickstarter campaign, the startup collected almost $ 1.6 million, while the target $ 250,000 were on the account of the project authors already 56 minutes after the launch of the campaign. You may have read about the start of this extraordinary project and the launch on the Kickstarter platform in GT’s early publications, but how Blocks Wearables was developing, how much the team was able to get closer to the cherished goal and how great the chances of 5000 backers to get the long-awaited product are already in September 2016 we will tell today.
The head of a London startup, a 27-year-old engineer and entrepreneur, Sergey Didenko decided that it would be easier and faster to realize his ambitious plans in Taiwan, where he had recently moved with a team of 6 people. It is there, in Taiwan, that the manufacturing facilities of the industrial giant Compal Electronics are located , among which customers are Apple today. The possibility of direct contact and cooperation with a manufacturer of this level for a relatively small startup at a key stage of development is a tremendous success, and Sergei is fabulously lucky - the first batch of modular smart watches Blocks Wearables for 5000 beakers will be manufactured in Campal production workshops. However, the luck in this case turned out to be quite a natural reward for perseverance in achieving the goal.
The story of a startup
')
At the age of 13, Sergey and his parents moved from Lviv to the UK, where he later graduated with a degree in bioengineering at Imperial College London, one of the most prestigious British universities. Being a versatile young man, Sergey is actively interested in issues of machine learning and artificial intelligence. At the same time, he met Ali Tamaseb, the future cofounder of the Blocks Wearables project, who, like Sergei himself at that time, was keenly interested in wearable electronics that are gaining popularity.
Ali, Sergey (right) and Steve Wozniak
The idea of ​​creating the first prototype of the modular watch Blocks Wearables with a composing strap from various functional blocks of future companions appeared in December 2013 six months before the official September announcement of the Apple Watch. The idea of ​​the innovators was to make the design of smart watches on the basis of the sets of various sensor units that were changed by the user.
“We have been arguing for a long time which sensors are best for picking and could not reach a consensus. Therefore, we decided to make a clock that will be built from different modules, depending on which sensors the user needs. For example, sensors that measure heart rate and GPS-sensors will be useful for runners. And the sensors for controlling gestures are lovers of playing games, ”said Sergey.
The first prototype, rather cumbersome and clumsy, caused, to put it mildly, a very restrained reaction of fellow students at the university. Then Sergey and Ali developed a computer model of the concept, presenting it as it could be, ideally, created a video based on it and published it on the Internet. The movie caused a real sensation among IT journalists - the creators of the project recall.
“Many people wanted to write about the concept, because the prototype shown in the video was very similar to the popular free platform platform with open hardware for creating a modular smartphone Project Ara , which was launched by a subsidiary of Google, Motorola Mobility, announced on October 29, 2013. In the first week, 40,000 people subscribed to our site - everyone was wondering what kind of watches they are and how they will work, ”Didenko recalls.
Funders became frequent and welcome guests at various thematic conferences and even visited Buckingham Palace. “We were invited to Buckingham Palace, where we managed to talk with Prince Andrew. Then we went to Taiwan, presented our idea to factories that make all kinds of gadgets, ”said Sergey. It turned out to be important here that both partners already had entrepreneurial experience that helped them to gather at the right time and not be swept away by the crest of a wave of unexpectedly surging popularity.
Sergey and Ali were convinced that the modular gadgets have a future. “When you buy smart watches, after a year they are not needed by anyone, because technologies are developing very quickly and they become obsolete. The same thing happens with our phones and computers all the time. We can either replace the watch if the platform has greatly improved, or purchase new modules instead of throwing out the whole old device and buying a new one. That is the same as upgrading a computer. That's the beauty of modular technology. ”
Sergey is sure: any average person is already tired of buying new devices every year: “I had an iPhone 4S, and it completely suited me. Manufacturers themselves can no longer make significant upgrades to the devices themselves - they simply invent and add new features. So why change the whole phone if you can just buy a new battery, a new screen or a new camera? ”
First investment
With the popularity of the project began to grow, like-minded people joined Sergey and Ali. First, the team has grown to five people, then to seven.
“At that time, smart watches were not yet in trend, as they are now, but we understood what was going on. There is not enough space on the human hand, and there are a lot of interesting sensors - all of them won't fit on the wrist. And we have come up with a platform that can be changed depending on the interests of the user. Moreover, such watches can be used not only in the consumer segment, but also in business - flexibly adjusting to the specific needs of specialists from different industries and directions, ”says Sergey.
The first investors also came - first $ 5,000 from FFF, then $ 10,000 and $ 30,000 from angels, and after larger investors. After some time, Berkeley Investments showed interest in the project and the team was invited to California. Thus, before the release of Kickstarter, $ 700,000 had already been invested in Blocks Wearables.
Gradually, the team grew to 15 people and the startup organically grew into a business. On the other hand, expenses have also increased - it was necessary to find an opportunity to pay salaries to qualified engineers, to purchase high-quality, expensive parts. At this stage, Sergey and Ali decide to launch a campaign on Kickstarter.
$ 250,000 per hour
The campaign kicked off on Kickstarter on October 14, 2015. For the first 56 minutes, the Blocks Wearables of the goal was $ 250,000, which the startup needed to launch the production line. “We assumed that this would be so because at that time a lot of people were already waiting for the opportunity to issue a pre-order - we had 100,000 emails and Facebook messages from people who wanted this watch. And we understood that we would collect more goals, ”said Sergey.
Then the excitement was somewhat asleep and the fees went slower. On November 20, 2015, the campaign was completed, collecting a total of $ 1.6 million from 5063 backers. On crowdfunding success then there were notes on the pages of the BBC, Forbes, Mashable and a number of other popular publications.
The standard price of Blocks Wearables and four additional modules in the Kickstarter kit was $ 275 and this offer was dismantled in the first hour. The same set, but on pre-order from the site today is estimated at $ 330, and each module separately - at $ 35. Sergey does not yet speak about the final retail price, but it was decided that the watch itself, which is about the same functionality as all the other smart watches on the market, will be valued at $ 270. In total, the following modules will be available at the time of delivery: pulse measurement, GPS module, backup battery module, pressure sensor, temperature and humidity (3 in 1), a programmable button if desired.
The base module of the device is a round display (1.39 ”Gorilla Glass AMOLED Display) complete with WiFi 802.11 b / g / n functional blocks, Bluetooth 4.1 (BLE), gyro, compass, G-sensor, microphone and main battery 300 mAh, Qualcomm processor Snapdragon 2100 Wear and 512MB RAM. Announced support for Android Marshmallow.
Last preparations
Participation and winning the prestigious annual start-up competition "Make it Wearable" in California attracted the attention of Tops from Intel, Nike, Louis Vouitton to Blocks Wearables. With their direct participation, a small startup was able to negotiate a partnership with one of the largest manufacturers in Taiwan, Compal Electronics. Thus, the first batch of Blocks Wearables modular smartwatch will be manufactured in the same place where Apple products are produced. Specialists of the British jewelry company Tateossian were involved in the design.
Now Sergey and the team in Taiwan are headlong in preparation for the launch of the line and the release of the first batch of 5,000 block clocks. His cofounder, Ali is involved in business development and investment in California. Two programmers are connected to software development. The design and marketing team is located in London, there are project participants from Germany and Hong Kong. In total, today the team is represented by 13 full-time employees and 12 specialists working on parttime.
Compal Electronics engineers advise company workers. On the assembly line of the Kunshan factory
In early June of this year, Sergei was delivered the final version of the prototype, which will go to the conveyor after several minor modifications.
“For the last seven months, we have not been striving for much promotion - we are working on the product, because in September we already need to deliver the first five thousand copies to the backers. At the next stage, it will be possible to invest in marketing and further develop the business - search for distributors and establish wholesale sales, ”explains Sergey.
About a thousand of pre-orders from Blocks Wearables customers made a purchase through the site. Delivery is scheduled for them in two weeks after the backers receive their watches. Recently, the team launched a new version of the site, and in the autumn it intends to concentrate fully on direct sales. The platform will be fully open to third-party developers, which will create new, almost unlimited possibilities for intellectual improvisations with Blocks Wearables stuffing.
That's all with you was Dronk.Ru. Do not forget to return money for purchases in China and subscribe to our blog , there will be many more interesting things.
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The head of a London startup, a 27-year-old engineer and entrepreneur, Sergey Didenko decided that it would be easier and faster to realize his ambitious plans in Taiwan, where he had recently moved with a team of 6 people. It is there, in Taiwan, that the manufacturing facilities of the industrial giant Compal Electronics are located , among which customers are Apple today. The possibility of direct contact and cooperation with a manufacturer of this level for a relatively small startup at a key stage of development is a tremendous success, and Sergei is fabulously lucky - the first batch of modular smart watches Blocks Wearables for 5000 beakers will be manufactured in Campal production workshops. However, the luck in this case turned out to be quite a natural reward for perseverance in achieving the goal.
The story of a startup
')
At the age of 13, Sergey and his parents moved from Lviv to the UK, where he later graduated with a degree in bioengineering at Imperial College London, one of the most prestigious British universities. Being a versatile young man, Sergey is actively interested in issues of machine learning and artificial intelligence. At the same time, he met Ali Tamaseb, the future cofounder of the Blocks Wearables project, who, like Sergei himself at that time, was keenly interested in wearable electronics that are gaining popularity.
Ali, Sergey (right) and Steve Wozniak
The idea of ​​creating the first prototype of the modular watch Blocks Wearables with a composing strap from various functional blocks of future companions appeared in December 2013 six months before the official September announcement of the Apple Watch. The idea of ​​the innovators was to make the design of smart watches on the basis of the sets of various sensor units that were changed by the user.
“We have been arguing for a long time which sensors are best for picking and could not reach a consensus. Therefore, we decided to make a clock that will be built from different modules, depending on which sensors the user needs. For example, sensors that measure heart rate and GPS-sensors will be useful for runners. And the sensors for controlling gestures are lovers of playing games, ”said Sergey.
The first prototype, rather cumbersome and clumsy, caused, to put it mildly, a very restrained reaction of fellow students at the university. Then Sergey and Ali developed a computer model of the concept, presenting it as it could be, ideally, created a video based on it and published it on the Internet. The movie caused a real sensation among IT journalists - the creators of the project recall.
“Many people wanted to write about the concept, because the prototype shown in the video was very similar to the popular free platform platform with open hardware for creating a modular smartphone Project Ara , which was launched by a subsidiary of Google, Motorola Mobility, announced on October 29, 2013. In the first week, 40,000 people subscribed to our site - everyone was wondering what kind of watches they are and how they will work, ”Didenko recalls.
Funders became frequent and welcome guests at various thematic conferences and even visited Buckingham Palace. “We were invited to Buckingham Palace, where we managed to talk with Prince Andrew. Then we went to Taiwan, presented our idea to factories that make all kinds of gadgets, ”said Sergey. It turned out to be important here that both partners already had entrepreneurial experience that helped them to gather at the right time and not be swept away by the crest of a wave of unexpectedly surging popularity.
Sergey and Ali were convinced that the modular gadgets have a future. “When you buy smart watches, after a year they are not needed by anyone, because technologies are developing very quickly and they become obsolete. The same thing happens with our phones and computers all the time. We can either replace the watch if the platform has greatly improved, or purchase new modules instead of throwing out the whole old device and buying a new one. That is the same as upgrading a computer. That's the beauty of modular technology. ”
Sergey is sure: any average person is already tired of buying new devices every year: “I had an iPhone 4S, and it completely suited me. Manufacturers themselves can no longer make significant upgrades to the devices themselves - they simply invent and add new features. So why change the whole phone if you can just buy a new battery, a new screen or a new camera? ”
First investment
With the popularity of the project began to grow, like-minded people joined Sergey and Ali. First, the team has grown to five people, then to seven.
“At that time, smart watches were not yet in trend, as they are now, but we understood what was going on. There is not enough space on the human hand, and there are a lot of interesting sensors - all of them won't fit on the wrist. And we have come up with a platform that can be changed depending on the interests of the user. Moreover, such watches can be used not only in the consumer segment, but also in business - flexibly adjusting to the specific needs of specialists from different industries and directions, ”says Sergey.
The first investors also came - first $ 5,000 from FFF, then $ 10,000 and $ 30,000 from angels, and after larger investors. After some time, Berkeley Investments showed interest in the project and the team was invited to California. Thus, before the release of Kickstarter, $ 700,000 had already been invested in Blocks Wearables.
Gradually, the team grew to 15 people and the startup organically grew into a business. On the other hand, expenses have also increased - it was necessary to find an opportunity to pay salaries to qualified engineers, to purchase high-quality, expensive parts. At this stage, Sergey and Ali decide to launch a campaign on Kickstarter.
$ 250,000 per hour
The campaign kicked off on Kickstarter on October 14, 2015. For the first 56 minutes, the Blocks Wearables of the goal was $ 250,000, which the startup needed to launch the production line. “We assumed that this would be so because at that time a lot of people were already waiting for the opportunity to issue a pre-order - we had 100,000 emails and Facebook messages from people who wanted this watch. And we understood that we would collect more goals, ”said Sergey.
Then the excitement was somewhat asleep and the fees went slower. On November 20, 2015, the campaign was completed, collecting a total of $ 1.6 million from 5063 backers. On crowdfunding success then there were notes on the pages of the BBC, Forbes, Mashable and a number of other popular publications.
The standard price of Blocks Wearables and four additional modules in the Kickstarter kit was $ 275 and this offer was dismantled in the first hour. The same set, but on pre-order from the site today is estimated at $ 330, and each module separately - at $ 35. Sergey does not yet speak about the final retail price, but it was decided that the watch itself, which is about the same functionality as all the other smart watches on the market, will be valued at $ 270. In total, the following modules will be available at the time of delivery: pulse measurement, GPS module, backup battery module, pressure sensor, temperature and humidity (3 in 1), a programmable button if desired.
The base module of the device is a round display (1.39 ”Gorilla Glass AMOLED Display) complete with WiFi 802.11 b / g / n functional blocks, Bluetooth 4.1 (BLE), gyro, compass, G-sensor, microphone and main battery 300 mAh, Qualcomm processor Snapdragon 2100 Wear and 512MB RAM. Announced support for Android Marshmallow.
Last preparations
Participation and winning the prestigious annual start-up competition "Make it Wearable" in California attracted the attention of Tops from Intel, Nike, Louis Vouitton to Blocks Wearables. With their direct participation, a small startup was able to negotiate a partnership with one of the largest manufacturers in Taiwan, Compal Electronics. Thus, the first batch of Blocks Wearables modular smartwatch will be manufactured in the same place where Apple products are produced. Specialists of the British jewelry company Tateossian were involved in the design.
Now Sergey and the team in Taiwan are headlong in preparation for the launch of the line and the release of the first batch of 5,000 block clocks. His cofounder, Ali is involved in business development and investment in California. Two programmers are connected to software development. The design and marketing team is located in London, there are project participants from Germany and Hong Kong. In total, today the team is represented by 13 full-time employees and 12 specialists working on parttime.
Compal Electronics engineers advise company workers. On the assembly line of the Kunshan factory
In early June of this year, Sergei was delivered the final version of the prototype, which will go to the conveyor after several minor modifications.
“For the last seven months, we have not been striving for much promotion - we are working on the product, because in September we already need to deliver the first five thousand copies to the backers. At the next stage, it will be possible to invest in marketing and further develop the business - search for distributors and establish wholesale sales, ”explains Sergey.
About a thousand of pre-orders from Blocks Wearables customers made a purchase through the site. Delivery is scheduled for them in two weeks after the backers receive their watches. Recently, the team launched a new version of the site, and in the autumn it intends to concentrate fully on direct sales. The platform will be fully open to third-party developers, which will create new, almost unlimited possibilities for intellectual improvisations with Blocks Wearables stuffing.
That's all with you was Dronk.Ru. Do not forget to return money for purchases in China and subscribe to our blog , there will be many more interesting things.
We recommend:
- Save up to 8% on every purchase on AliExpress and other online stores in China
- Why do online stores give money for purchases?
- Return your money - Choose a cashback service for Aliexpress
- The history of the development of Dronk.ru - from choosing quadcopters to returning money for purchases on AliExpress and not only
- The best cashback service or 5 main criteria for evaluating cashback service
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/395635/
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