Today, we have Maurice Mosseri with us who is an entrepreneur based out of USA. He is very innovative and has come up with unique products that are changing the way we use technology in our everyday lives. Not just that, he has been extremely successful on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. 679 backers pledged $49,635 to help bring his project to life. So, let us embark on this journey
1. Please tell our readers about yourself
I am the founder of Evotechlabs. We are a company that specializes in developing tech products with a focus on simple functionality and minimal design. Our mission is to push forward the industry by offering new and advanced technology to everyday tech users. We want to set a standard for how tech products should be developed- to solve problems. We hope to inspire an Evolution in Technology so the products you interact with in the future look, feel and function as they should in the golden age of tech design.
2. There are already several Wireless chargers and power banks in the market, How did you come up with the idea of PBL Charger?
The PBL Charger is a wireless charging powerbank but what makes it most special is its ability to recharge by simply being docked on its station. The idea here was to remove the need for wires altogether. To your point, many wireless charger and powerbanks in the market advertise themselves as “wireless freedom” or “completely wireless”, but in the end of the day, everything has to be recharged or plugged in eventually.
We recognized this as a reality and brainstormed a way to create a product that takes this new handy technology of wireless charging and pair it with true convenience. The important thing we focused on was this. We knew that if we were going to be develop a wireless charging powerbank, we didn’t want users to have to fiddle with wires or cables ever again. We thought of the docking system as this solution. To recharge your phone simply place it on the PBL. To recharge the PBL simply place it on its dock. It’s as simple as it sounds. As simple as it should be.
3. Please tell us more about PBL Charger
The PBL is super slim and light weight wireless charger and powerbank. That means you can wirelessly charge your phone on-the-go. It docks on its station to recharge itself which makes it a really convenient gadget for everyday use. Other than its design and docking system, the PBL is fully loaded with features making it a one of a kind tech solution.
The PBL is a highspeed wireless charger so it charges at double the speed of a traditional wireless charger. It features an integrated Smart Chip which can detect the device it is charging and transmit the most effective voltage based on your device’s battery size.
This Smart Chip also prevents overcharging your device, so if your phone hits 100% charged, the PBL will shut off so it doesn’t overcharge and damage your device. It also features a Nano-Suction pad which will help you seal the PBL to the back of your phone while on the move. The Nano-Suction pad will stick to your phone without actually being sticky or leaving any residue behind. The PBL even has an integrated USB Type-C Input / Output port so you can choose to charge using wires if you’d like or you can use it to charge two devices at once. These are just some of the PBL’s long list of features, to find out more information check out our campaign on Kickstarter
4. Please also tell us about your product Opus True Wireless earbuds.
The Opus earbuds are an EVOTech Labs product released in early 2017. The Opus are a true wireless earbud set with an included charging case. This product was released when True Wireless Technology had just been discovered. We were really excited about bringing the product to market as Apple’s Airpods had been released only a month earlier and we were able to offer tech and music lovers alike an alternative product using similar technology but at half the size (and at half of the price!) The buds are super lightweight and comfortable fit with Dolby Surround Pro Logic 3D sound and Noise Isolation Technology. The Opus’s charging case recharges the earbuds 5 full times giving you 12 hours of music time. The earbuds also include a built-in mic for calls and are coated in waterproof and sweat-proof material which makes them perfect for working out.
5. What made you choose Kickstarter for your campaign?
When developing the PBL we knew we wanted to create a video to showcased its functionality and design. At this point, we weren’t sure if we could even mass produce the PBL given the high cost of the components within it. Our factory needed a deposit to purchase the expensive Smart Chip necessary to give the PBL all it’s functionality and safety related requirements. As tech lovers ourselves, we’ve always been huge fans of Kickstarter and some of the creative tech products we’ve seen come to life because of the platform (we’ve happily backed over 15 projects in the past). Generally, we love the idea of creating a product with its users in mind. When those same users help bring the product to life, you create a special relationship that shapes how you design products and interact as a business in a larger sense.
For these reasons, we thought of Kickstarter as the perfect place to showcase the PBL to see if techies are as excited about the product as we are. We’re now happy to say that they are, as we broke our $5,000 goal in just 5 hours! Backers helped us cover the deposit for the PBL Smart Chip component and truly helped bring the PBL to life. We can’t wait to bring more interesting products and ideas to Kickstarter in the future and look forward to using the platform as a stage for our capabilities as well as a way to interact with our customer base as a whole.
6. There are so many products on kickstarter, what did you do differently that help you in overachieving the target?
There is a lot of that goes into running a successful crowdfunding campaign. I think it’s important and what helped us most was having a really interesting video that pulls people in. In addition, working hard to design a campaign that falls in line with your brand and product definitely helps. We did our best to offer backers a highly discounted rate at the PBL for being an early backer and I believe this was a big part of what brought so many backers to our campaign so quickly. Above all, it’s about having a product that hits the mark- it’s original, solves a problem and looks sexy.
7. As a hugely successful Entrepreneur on Kickstarter, what advice would you like to give other aspiring entrepreneurs on kickstarter?
Firstly, I’d say don’t be afraid to create. After working on the PBL for 6 months we almost didn’t produce it due to the high cost of the products smart chip component. Even after spending hours creating Kickstarter campaign assets, we almost didn’t launch due to issues in production scheduling and cost of advertising. In the end we’re so happy to have pushed through and launched successfully. Second, do your homework! I can’t stress this enough. Crowdfunding campaigns take a lot of work- both planning and executing. Make sure you do all the research you can and if possible, speak to someone that has run a campaign before. This helped us immensely. We’re paying it forward so feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions we can help with.
8. What is still your biggest challenge?
We are still doing our best to come up with stretch goals and perks that keep potential backers interested and excited about the PBL and EVOTech Labs. The time from backing to shipping is about 2 months and we hope to keep our supporters in the loop and excited about the product and brand as a whole. The goal is to ultimately keep them on board for our next product launch. Our business model is dependant on building a strong relationship with our customers so they feel a certain trust in us and in our products. As a business this is a hard thing bake into your infrastructure as it’s usually not the most profitable strategy. We’re okay with that as we see the growth potential in having a dedicated following.
9. What online marketing and social media marketing strategies are you implementing for your company?
For online marketing, we are running Social Media PPC Advertisements as well as social media influencer partnerships. We were featured in some tech publications and YouTube videos that highlight new and interesting gadgets. All our PR efforts are organic so we don’t pay for posts or for features. We don’t think this is fair to consumers who can be misguided or deceived for monetary interest. Therefore, we only ask influencers to post our products if they like them. We even encourage public feedback. Our online marketing strategies have been mostly successful and we believe our customers appreciate our transparency.
10. Looking back, what’s one thing you would do differently?
I would definitely have done more research on crowdfunding campaigns and what’s involved. While thankfully we had a successful campaign, we were not as prepared for the huge reaction the PBL would get and had to scramble to keep up with the demand, emails and questions related to the campaign.
11. Would you like to share any success secrets that helped you in your journey?
I don’t believe in “success secrets”. There’s no one secret that breeds success over another. Each situation, person and business are different and cannot accurately be used as a case study for achieving success. I do personally believe in some important principles: being prepared and informed, pushing forward despite doubts and fear, honesty and transparency as a cornerstone, good design in everything you create, and of course hoping for a considerable amount of good luck.
I hope you liked this interview. Please do share it with your friends because they might also get inspired by it!