Konowledge And Power

Last week we got the final certificate for our first OEM consumer product that will be offered by our international distribution partners. The certificate means the assembly lines are clear to start the mass production. The product is a Bluetooth Smart Plug. It is our first complete design of a software - defined physical product. It has everything in it to become a bestseller. And it has been an enormously steep learning curve for us. The reason we've made it to the finish line, was our complete lack of experience at the beginning, coupled with a non-compromise mindset and desire. Otherwise we simply would not start the project, judging it impossible or too difficult at best.

So from start to end it took us 10 months (mid February till mid December). Looking at similar Kickstarter projects we see they score a 10 months DELAY on average. Industry veterans say it is impossible to start shipping a hardware product just ten months from the inception. Especially as it requires 3-4 months of formal tests alone (including radio PHY, software conformance to the international standards, and a number of safety / durability tests).

Then we wanted it to be small. Really small. Actually it is the smallest fully certified smart plug in the World (EU-type today, American is coming!). Ain't it nice when your first product makes it into the Guinness Book in several categories?

It also has the World's best radio range, better than any other Bluetooth Smart Plug. We have designed a special amplifier circuit together with a custom antenna to achieve this.

Three records in a row are not bad. We are counting on the forth one - the best selling Smart Plug. It is all in the hands of our market partners now and I'm sure they will match our target!

This product is the ambassador of everything we do at Seed - which is mainly software. Yes the Plug is powered by the World's best software. Which will get even better over time thanks to the built-in over-the-air upgrade feature. Sometimes it is difficult to explain how software is built inside. So we've created this hardware masterpiece to visualize and materialize our mindset, our approach to everything we do. And masterpiece is the right word. We are proud of this product.

This road we've gone through with the Plug was so amazing. Mostly for the learning curve. And for the teamwork. Thank you all!

"Every company can move further down its curve. Every worker can enhance his performance through increasing his units of experience. As engineers saturate the possibilities of physical theory, they move down the curves of learning in information theory. In their efforts, they create the market and extend it until the product is mature." --George Gilder, Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World