Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
The best candidate we had just asked us to work for free for a month to see if we would like him. We could not say no. And today he's a co-founder :D
Hykso's comments
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Don't get me wrong selling and getting real product validation is the best.
But emails are one of the most valuable resource for marketing. You can always email people. But even advertising to the people that liked your page will cost you money and will be competing with tons of information.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
It was scattered as we won some pitch competitions and had a few interviews but we didn't focus on it.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Hi Martin,
We actually went through some influencers on our side (known fighters or coaches).
It definitely helped gain a lot of credibility on our end because if it was that much of a revolutionary product, why would pro athletes not use it amd endorse it. so for us it helped a lot convince our customers that it was a legit product.
However, we have been offered to post on a few famous people pages for 5k but we didn't do it as we thought it would actually be seen as paid advertising instead of genuine and authentic love for the product. We're still exploring those avenues though.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
+1 with the boys above! By the time someone replicates you, you should have an improved version of your stuff on both software and hardware.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
We created a lot of content and spread it guerilla way aka bombarding facebook groups that were relevant. On the other hand we through all of our network as word of month is still one of the best way to market your company.
PR helped but did not make the whole difference.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
No we did not see it had much of an impact. But what we saw had the biggest impact is our website! We refined it a lot based on customer interviews to make sure to convey the worth of the product (which was lacking in the previous version). Also customers had a lot of questions, which is not good for sales. As soon as we put the new website up, sales increased!
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Build an email list! And try to pump up the subscriptions with different sales channels - you'll be able to know which ones work best for your business before launching your campaign
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Product development and improve our sales cycle/customer acquisition cost!
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Somebody once told me: you'll deal with patent infringement once you're successful, which is already a big milestone...so to try to get there first.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
What about a problem that you wish you could solve for yourself?
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Hell yeah! You'll learn tons especially what you should build and refine about the product!
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
A hardware cofounder :D
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Open source it is a substantial investment of time and energy in my opinion.
Some products will just not have a big developer community behind it also.
But again, online community is one of the biggest defense as a company and I definitely software should be a focus in most IoT companies.
Hykso | 10 years ago | on: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding
Hi jmcmahob443,
My name is Khalil, CEO of Hykso (www.hykso.
Are you talking about product crowdfunding like Kickstarter and Indiegogo or equity crowdfunding?
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