HearO Innovative Kickstarter CEO Shares Startup Secrets

Introduce us to your business, how you got the idea, and how you sourced any materials.

hearO is a championship tennis ball repurposed into a beautiful sounding Bluetooth speaker. It is the first fully developed product by Rogue Projects, a design studio that focuses on special projects. We sourced tennis balls from the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon. And we’ve developed our cutting tools and techniques in Northampton England’s Boot & Shoe Quarter. For our electronics we developed a custom-built one-button speaker with audio specialist in Paris, France.

How did you go about manufacturing your product, as that is a major obstacle for many entrepreneurs?

hearO developed through a number of studies and prototypes. We developed our precise cutting techniques and cutting tools. We sourced a specialist audio factory in Shenzhen, China. After several iterations we streamlined the design and improved the audio quality. We are manufacturing the electronics in Shenzhen and assembling and packaging the product in London.

How do you handle the logistics and inventory management of a crowd funding campaign, not knowing how much product you will end up needing?

It is a tricky question. We are still underway. We are in the process of securing some special wholesale and corporate partnerships with the extra inventory that we have not sold. This is the first production run for hearO so the industrial flow has not been streamlined. The products will be assembled, tested and packaged in studio in London, then shipped out and sent to backers, boutiques and partners.

Tell us about the backend of your business and if there is any online tools or apps you use to stay organized?

hearO is small. We are only just beginning. Outside of spreadsheets, mailchimp and our Kickstarter platform we pretty much pushed ahead.

How have you been able to get the word out about your product? Any direct or online marketing tips?

Very word of mouth based. And we punted at lots of special press titles. We got some and had a few great pieces of coverage that went a long way validating the idea to the consumer space. We got harassed by many marketing companies but did everything ourselves. We sourced contacts and punted – no pr or marketing company. We tried to identify our audience and our ideal titles.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Try pin down two great blog titles and two special influencers. Less is more. So long as the quality is TOP.

What tips do you have for crowd funders and entrepreneurs, from making a crowd funding video to making a website and selling product?

You should try in some way build your audience and fan base early on. We didn’t. It hurt us in a few ways. Kickstarter only open there eyes to projects that SPRINT out the gates, we did not. And we never got featured nicely. But we stuck at it. We believed in the concept, the product and the idea. That is the best piece of advice I can give. You have to believe in the idea. And try things. See what works. Forget status anxiety and hesitation putting content out. Be thoughtful but keep building your community. A sales team or sales friends are important too… you need to take as much sales responsibility away from the creator (I think). Making the creator responsible for each sale makes the sell hard and forced. Your team and friends need to back the product not just share it. You need to make them believers early on so you come out the gate sprinting!

Lastly, what should consumers know about your product that is different from what is already on the market?

We have upcycled a championship tennis ball. The ball is a forgotten object we were intent on repurposing. Not only does each ball have a story being played by tennis greats it provides a protective and tactile skin. The tennis ball casing allows for a warm, rich sound that projects from a Fibonacci speaker grill. hearO’s environmental consciousness and forethought set it apart.

Thanks so much for talking with us!

-The Create Team