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Introducing Pebble Time

kickstarter.com

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Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#371

Post by jusben1369 »

DenisM wrote: post #343
jusben1369 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play devil's advocate let's do this from the perspective of the VC/Banker guys: 1) "Can we have $10 million to build the next wave of our watch?" 2) "Woah. There's a good chance AppleWatch will crush you. It's all anyone talks about. We'll lose our money and you'll waste 2 - 3 years of your life. Not sure it's a good idea" In the old days 3) was i) nothing happened as the VC guys feared risk or ii) They did lend/i…

How exactly do VCs win when the company crowd-raises $6m? Seems to me they make exactly $0 and receive 0% of equity, because they are not involved at all.

All VC's (at this stage of a company's life) want to see sales before they'll invest. These are the sales. I think Pebble wants a heck of a lot more money than $6m to compete with AppleWatch.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#372

Post by jeremy8883 »

myth_buster wrote: post #200
jeremy8883 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just swiping and tapping to control is useful than having to fiddle with 4 buttons What's fiddly about buttons? It's much faster than swiping a couple of times to get to the option you want.

The screen interface is more accessible than the buttons. With buttons I've to feel my way around since there are three on the right side. Also I've to support the watch from the side opposite to the one where the button is being pressed. Also with gloves, jackets etc I've to wiggle my way to be able to press buttons also sensing which button I'm pressing is not easy.

I do wish the pebble buttons were easier to press.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#374

Post by [deleted] »

kbd wrote: post #12
arrrg wrote: post #6

It's a bland gadget. I'm really not sure about that approach. It's so cheap and uninspired. Whatever you think about the overall shape of the Apple Watch, at least it's not a bland gadget. It seems to pay meticulous attention to all the micro details that make jewelry jewlery and not a bland tech toy. (Seems to because obviously no one has looked at it in detail. But first indications are good.) This one does not. I'…

You say bland, I say functional. Since my Casio data bank watch in the 90s I didn't wear a watch until I got my Pebble. To me a watch is a tool, not a fashion accessory. I understand not everyone looks at it that way, but really I don't think there's any smartwatch that looks like an elegant timepiece anyway.

[deleted]

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#375

Post by nilkn »

baldeagle wrote: post #171
eitally wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really just want a "normal" watch that has some "smart" features. I already have a sports tracker (Garmin Forerunner), and I have given up wearing my Moto360 because it's almost never useful in compelling enough ways that I don't just pull my phone out after seeing a notification ... and I have to charge it nightly.

If you want a normal watch combined with a fitbit, check out: http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html

Wow, that's a beautiful watch first and foremost, and a "smart" accessory second. It reminds me of the Bauhaus style of Nomos and later on Stowa, both held in extremely high regard by the watch community.

$450 is high for a smartwatch, but low for a watch in general. Nomos watches cost thousands. Granted, that's in large part to their in-house mechanical movements. But $450 is certainly not unreasonable for a high quality quartz watch -- see Seiko and Citizen. And this has the aesthetics to compete with the best of them in my humble opinion.

I have a Moto 360 and I stopped wearing it a bit over a month in. The extra features it has aren't very useful to be completely honest, and it's a bit bulky, having to charge it daily was really a drain, and it just felt flat-out fragile. I was afraid to even wash my hands while wearing it.

Lack of Android support is unfortunately a deal breaker for me right now, as I don't have an iPhone.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#376

Post by kevinnk »

fragmede wrote: post #307
simonswords82 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree, and here int he UK I've encountered crowd funding for businesses selling to businesses. I run a software company and one of my clients raised nearly £500k in 2 weeks by crowdfunding via an intermediary. There's also organisations such as https://www.fundingcircle.com/ that provide crowdfunding on a scale...

There are many crowdfunding platforms but at least here in the US they all need to follow the same SEC regulations which require investors to be accredited which essentially means you have to be a millionaire to play.

Those regulations were essentially removed in a lot of cases by the JOBS act in 2012. The rules are still under review but crowdfunding of equity will be possible sometime in early 2016.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#377

Post by andrewhillman »

DenisM wrote: post #287

As I look at the total pledge amount climbing higher and higher, at $5.5m presently, I can't help but think that VCs and bankers got completely cut out of the "deal". It used to be that you had to please a whole bunch of finance guys to get anything done, but this time they weren't even invited to the table. It's a big change. I also keep thinking about other ways in which the financial sector can get disintermediate…

Are there ways to get the future beneficiaries of a new b2b product to fund its development, and that don't involve spending 6 month to raise funding?

Sort of... I've been spending my free time learning the ins and outs of retail/distribution. It's not the most transparent industry but 'factoring' plays a pretty big role. If you are pitching/selling a physical product (iphone case) to category buyer from a Big Retail chain and they like your product, then send you a Purchase Order to buy your product, but you don't have the funds to manufacture/package/distribute the product you can find a Factoring Company who will fund the money in exchange for the Purchase Order from the Big Retailer. Some say the rates are too high and terms aren't great, but they can be a good source of backing. A lot of companies use Factoring. Perhaps maybe some Angels will start thinking about doing Factor deals in the near future.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#378

Post by puranjay »

djloche wrote: post #348
DenisM wrote: post #287

As I look at the total pledge amount climbing higher and higher, at $5.5m presently, I can't help but think that VCs and bankers got completely cut out of the "deal". It used to be that you had to please a whole bunch of finance guys to get anything done, but this time they weren't even invited to the table. It's a big change. I also keep thinking about other ways in which the financial sector can get disintermediate…

So far Pebble has raised $375k from angels, plus a $15M Series A (per Crunchbase). If they hadn't had any outside investors, I would definitely agree with you, but the VCs/Angels that invested in Pebble have to be loving the funding results of this Kickstarter. Tens of thousands of new and return customers pre-launch is always a good thing when launching a new product.

But you'll have to agree that after Pebble's Kickstarter sucess + the cash they got from it, they were in a much better bargaining position than your typical startup out to raise its first round.

It's not perfect, but at least Pebble didn't have to fork over 10% of the company for a few hundred grand in cash to investors who brought nothing to the table (besides money)

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