Our WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2015 USA is approaching fast. Charles Michael Yim, CEO of Breathometer, has shared his interesting experience about the industry. You can hear him speak on July 10th.
1. You can already look back at a breathtaking career for your young age. What is your tip of all the young exciting wearable startups out there?
Stay focused, nimble and honest. We are in exciting times and there are lots of advances being introduced on the market every day, so make sure you execute on your vision, but keep an eye to how these changes may help, or evolve your product!
2. You company was crowdfunded. Looking back is this something you can recommend to others starting a company? What are the pros and cons?
Our Indiegogo campaign was critical in the success of our company. Through the campaign we were able to validate the need, understand our messaging and generate financial support that helped take our prototype into production. In fact, we went back to Indiegogo to launch our new Mint product over a year later to refine messaging and gauge consumer interest in Breath Quality and Hydration monitoring. This was less about generating sales, but to access enthusiastic customers and obtain engaged beta customers to help up evaluate our product. It is always a good idea to obtain early customer feedback and validation before building a product and crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo have very loyal followers.
3. Shark Tank probably gave your business an important boost. Can you recommend the format to other young companies?
Participating in Shark Tank was a fantastic experience personally, as well as for the company. Reaching over 12million viewers and having the opportunity to pitch the Sharks- really makes you appreciate all the due diligence, preparation and early feedback we were able to obtain through crowdsourcing and early product development. You have to know your business inside out as well as what is important to the Sharks if you want to really optimize your experience and the opportunity.
4. What is your favorite wearable product (besides your own devices of course)?
There are a few of them, but at the same time- I am always interested in what may be coming next! Beyond basic ‘features and functions’, I think it is critical that any product that describes itself as wearable better have a unique and compelling industrial design that compliment your lifestyle and does not become a distraction, or a nuisance to wear. Misfit has done an excellent job advancing the category and you have to keep an eye on the Apple Watch as it begins to integrate a number of key functions that enhance everyday life. Products that drive better personal understanding as well as non invasive access to information that can actually help you live better are going to be critical for long term adoption.
