Live data from Hacker News

Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

jewelbots.com

11–20 of 173 posts

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#11
I want to be cynical because I hate the idea that a gadget has to have "jewel" in the name and be a fancy "friendship bracelet" to appeal to girls. But it's a neat little trinket that somebody worked hard on, and if it really was a young woman who designed it to enjoy with their friends, I can't really hold that against them. I don't think scaring away guys from it by saying it's "for girls" is doing them any favors though.

Thinking back though, one gadget I remember being very appealing to kids of both sexes was Tamagotchi. It would be cool if someone made a more customizeable/programmable/less annoying version those in a wearable format.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#13
post #8

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

I agree it could do better explaining what Jewelbots are, but I wouldn't assume there's a dedicated "marketing team" for this product yet.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#14
post #8

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

I thought it was pretty well done considering the target audience.

Brief tagline "Friendship bracelet. That you can code" to pique your interest.

Then a user story showing how someone actually used it.

I'm sure it can be improved significantly, but I feel the idea behind pitching why you would want to buy it (it's a friendship bracelet that does cool things like light up the same color when you're together) as opposed to its capabilities is not necessarily that far off the mark for a product of this nature (e.g. the Apple Watch landing page as of right now doesn't describe anything about what the Watch can do...it's just selling the fact that it's a watch).

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#15
post #8

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

I disagree.

"When Nyla got Jewelbots for her birthday she gave the second one to Wenhao, a girl in her class."

"Nyla and Wenhao's Jewelbots light up blue when they are together (Blue is Wenhao's favorite color)"

"They make a secret language just for their Jewelbots. Sending one buzz means "look behind you!"."

"Using the power of STEM, Nyla and her friends make games and custom friend animations by writing code and uploading it to their Jewelbots!"

That pretty unambigiously describes a piece of programmable jewellery to me. It's doing it in a more story-driven way than presenting a bulleted list of specs, but given the target audience that makes sense. Having read that page I'm really not even slightly confused about what it is.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#16
Anyone who is active in the NYC JS scene knows Sara Chipps, the CEO of Jewelbots. She has given a couple talks about what it takes to run a hardware startup, and has been a wonderful member of the community. I only wish her and co. the best of success with everything they have put together, the new version looks great!

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#17

I want to be cynical because I hate the idea that a gadget has to have "jewel" in the name and be a fancy "friendship bracelet" to appeal to girls. But it's a neat little trinket that somebody worked hard on, and if it really was a young woman who designed it to enjoy with their friends, I can't really hold that against them. I don't think scaring away guys from it by saying it's "for girls" is doing them any favors…

Yeah, with a different 'face', I think boys would think this was cool too. I know 9 year old me though 'secret codes' were very cool, so I'd have probably been into it.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#20
post #13
post #8

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

I agree it could do better explaining what Jewelbots are, but I wouldn't assume there's a dedicated "marketing team" for this product yet.

Hi! We're a 5 person team located in NYC. I'm the marketing team (plus my cofounder Brooke). This is all super helpful feedback, thank you!
Post reply on HN