When we launched on Kickstarter, we were just five people, none of whom had experience in consumer electronics, so we spent six months in Asia developing the first prototypes of Pebble.

Using crowdfunding as a marketing and sales channel can be effective, especially if you've already sold a significant number of units before launching the campaign. We received feedback from about 1,500 eager individuals who were very open with their thoughts, allowing us to tune and tweak the Pebble product effectively.

Crowdfunding can create significant challenges for hardware startups, as many founders lack a clear understanding of costs and timelines, leading to unmet expectations.

I pitched 75 investors for funding, but we faced rejection after rejection, which made me cynical about fundraising, especially during a time when no one was investing in consumer-driven businesses.

We aimed to raise $100,000 to sell 1,000 Pebble watches, but we reached that milestone in just 2 hours and hit our first million in 28 hours, ultimately raising $10 million from 70,000 people in 30 days.

Despite having a promising product, we struggled to secure investment, leading us to consider launching on Kickstarter, which was suggested by Paul Graham. We built our Kickstarter page and filmed the video ourselves, starring our friends and interns.

Raising money through crowdfunding can lead to negative public perception if a product fails to deliver, making it a risky strategy for hardware companies.

Crowdfunding can be useful at the early stage to raise funds for a working prototype, especially for hardware engineers with limited resources.

The hardest part of my journey with Pebble was the five years it took to achieve product-market fit, which involved a lot of trial and error.