We launched our first product, an alpha-grade smartwatch, and learned valuable lessons from customer feedback, including the need for a firmware upgrade to show the time.

I leaked a render of our product to a popular BlackBerry blog, which generated excitement and led to widespread speculation about a BlackBerry watch. We saw massive adoption of our product, but we struggled to connect it to our brand until we followed up with blogs, clarifying that the watch they covered was actually our startup's product.

After some feedback, I pivoted from a bike computer to a watch, combining a Nokia 3310 with an Arduino to create an early prototype.

I started working on wearables six and a half years ago because I wanted to create a more affordable smartwatch, as I didn't want to spend $400 on existing options.

We designed Pebble by incorporating feedback from our first product, ensuring it worked with iPhones and included features that users wanted.

In 2011, we published an SDK for our smartwatch, inviting developers to create apps, which resulted in over a hundred apps being developed within a few months.

The failure of Pebble smartwatches highlights the importance of urgency in product necessity compared to competitors like the Apple Watch.

We highlighted three key features of Pebble: notifications and calls on your wrist, sports and fitness app integration, and customization options for watch faces, which had never been done before.

We built our first 500 watches by hand in a garage, which gave us a deep appreciation for the effort involved in creating consumer electronics.