4 ms·

After years of R&D, heartache, and rough decisions --- I finally turned my hardware company (http://pavlok.com http://pavlok.com) profitable! We make technology

by maneesh 10y ago

After years of R&D, heartache, and rough decisions --- I finally turned my hardware company (http://pavlok.com http://pavlok.com) profitable! We make technology to break bad habits, wake up earlier, and reduce cravings. I decided to try to build a hardware company without raising VC --- which is probably one of the hardest decisions you can make. And required about 30 people to make a reality. But now that we have finally got our manufacturing and supply chain working, I've been building our sales & marketing team --- and I can't wait to see how 2017 progresses :)

NicoJuicy 10y ago
And quite a niche. Just wondering, do you dropship or sell to webshops? Seems quite nice usage of a watch. I also have another proposition which i would like to share / ask. Is there an email where i can contact you?
- maneesh 10y ago
  maneesh@pavlok.com, of course. I'm better at FB: http://facebook.com/msethi http://facebook.com/msethi . We manufacture in Massachusetts and we sell on our own site, Amazon, and as of last week in retail(!!!). We are certainly open to wholesale, whitelabeling, and partnering --- we have a totally open API as well! (http://pavlok.com/api http://pavlok.com/api)
  - NicoJuicy 10y ago
    I've send a pm ( unknown source ;) ) Thanks
  - mistermann 10y ago
    Does this have sensors on it? Does it support variable power shocks? Does it support "no shocks for 5 minutes"? I could see something like this being useful for things like anger management....detect rising heart rate (or some other physiological changes) and give some small warning "calm down, be mindful" shocks. Another thing I'd like to see on vendor websites like this: a "remind me in <x> months" email signup - I'd like to buy a future version of this with more features, but I don't want to get an annoying email every week advertising other things I'm not interested in.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
arrmn 10y ago
I got one this year but I'm not really using it. I should really give it a shot
- maneesh 10y ago
  Awesome! You should go through our intro course (in the app) to see the power --- and we now have a new integration with Pavlok Coaches for the New Year! Let me know if you're interested and I can help you make 2017 your best yet :)
rock3m 10y ago
Wait. I remember you on Shark Tank!
- maneesh 10y ago
  Hehe yea. The most viewed clip in Shark Tank history :p. Thank God I turned down that deal.
  - ensignavenger 10y ago
    The few episodes and clips I have seen of Shark Tank, I always think the deal terms are absolutely terrible for the founders.
nkkollaw 10y ago
Very nice. Congratulations, looks great.
- maneesh 10y ago
  Thank you!!!
dang 10y ago
That's interesting! Since https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615687 didn't get attention, we emailed you a repost invite for it.
- maneesh 10y ago
  This is awesome! Can I use this repost link tomorrow? Or does it expire tonight?
  - dang 10y ago
    Tomorrow will be fine. I suggest adding a comment to the new thread pointing people back to this one, since it's kind of an unusual loop.
ivrrimum 10y ago
Wow, this is something i might acctualy use.
jackgolding 10y ago
Looks like a great product! I'm not a designer the design feels a bit confused between extremely durable, male focused and mass market (lightning bolt, yellow on black) and very tech focused (thin fonts, use of icons.) I'd love to see an a-b test or a landing page which is more female/fashion focused. I hope you don't take this is an insult, its a very good landing page!
- maneesh 10y ago
  I would LOVE to get your advice on this! We NEED a female-friendly page, and honestly we are just kinda figuring out what we are doing. Any resources, design firms, contacts you might recommend?
za_creature 10y ago
Awesome idea and the website looks great too! Congratulations for bootstrapping a 30 man team! Does Pavlok have any other automated detection capacities other than wrist to mouth? You might consider making a video on how that works and how to temporarily disable it when eating: if that's the only "magic" feature, I for one would definitely want to see it in action before committing. If you have more magic, I think those features could use more exposure
- maneesh 10y ago
  Yes! We integrate with chrome, rescuetime, and todoist to be a productivity trainer (http://pavlok.com/productivity http://pavlok.com/productivity). We integrate with slack as a team haptic conversation device (http://pavlok.com/slack http://pavlok.com/slack). We integrate with IFTTT so it zaps me when I text my ex girlfriend, walk into a mcdonalds, or do other trackable stupid stuff (http://pavlok.com/ifttt http://pavlok.com/ifttt). You are right -- we need to make more videos. You can see a lot of our users' stories on our site, or read about it in the NYTimes (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/a-shocking-way-really-to-break-bad-habits/?_r=1&register=facebook http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/a-shocking-way-real...)
hartator 10y ago
Were on you on shark tank? Sounds/looks familiar.
- maneesh 10y ago
  Yep that was me
kfrz 10y ago
Hey I've been a follower for awhile, both you and your brother have been huge influences on my growth mindset. It's amazing to see you posting on HN and I will leave it at this: thank you.
richard___ 10y ago
How exactly does it sense something like eating unhealthy food? Or, not eating enough calories in a day?

by maneesh 10y ago

NicoJuicy 10y ago

And quite a niche. Just wondering, do you dropship or sell to webshops? Seems quite nice usage of a watch. I also have another proposition which i would like to share / ask. Is there an email where i can contact you?

maneesh 10y ago
maneesh@pavlok.com, of course. I'm better at FB: http://facebook.com/msethi http://facebook.com/msethi . We manufacture in Massachusetts and we sell on our own site, Amazon, and as of last week in retail(!!!). We are certainly open to wholesale, whitelabeling, and partnering --- we have a totally open API as well! (http://pavlok.com/api http://pavlok.com/api)
- NicoJuicy 10y ago
  I've send a pm ( unknown source ;) ) Thanks
- mistermann 10y ago
  Does this have sensors on it? Does it support variable power shocks? Does it support "no shocks for 5 minutes"? I could see something like this being useful for things like anger management....detect rising heart rate (or some other physiological changes) and give some small warning "calm down, be mindful" shocks. Another thing I'd like to see on vendor websites like this: a "remind me in <x> months" email signup - I'd like to buy a future version of this with more features, but I don't want to get an annoying email every week advertising other things I'm not interested in.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

arrmn 10y ago

I got one this year but I'm not really using it. I should really give it a shot

maneesh 10y ago
Awesome! You should go through our intro course (in the app) to see the power --- and we now have a new integration with Pavlok Coaches for the New Year! Let me know if you're interested and I can help you make 2017 your best yet :)

rock3m 10y ago

Wait. I remember you on Shark Tank!

maneesh 10y ago
Hehe yea. The most viewed clip in Shark Tank history :p. Thank God I turned down that deal.
- ensignavenger 10y ago
  The few episodes and clips I have seen of Shark Tank, I always think the deal terms are absolutely terrible for the founders.

nkkollaw 10y ago

Very nice. Congratulations, looks great.

maneesh 10y ago
Thank you!!!

dang 10y ago

That's interesting! Since https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615687 didn't get attention, we emailed you a repost invite for it.

maneesh 10y ago
This is awesome! Can I use this repost link tomorrow? Or does it expire tonight?
- dang 10y ago
  Tomorrow will be fine. I suggest adding a comment to the new thread pointing people back to this one, since it's kind of an unusual loop.

ivrrimum 10y ago

Wow, this is something i might acctualy use.

jackgolding 10y ago

Looks like a great product! I'm not a designer the design feels a bit confused between extremely durable, male focused and mass market (lightning bolt, yellow on black) and very tech focused (thin fonts, use of icons.) I'd love to see an a-b test or a landing page which is more female/fashion focused. I hope you don't take this is an insult, its a very good landing page!

maneesh 10y ago
I would LOVE to get your advice on this! We NEED a female-friendly page, and honestly we are just kinda figuring out what we are doing. Any resources, design firms, contacts you might recommend?

za_creature 10y ago

Awesome idea and the website looks great too! Congratulations for bootstrapping a 30 man team! Does Pavlok have any other automated detection capacities other than wrist to mouth? You might consider making a video on how that works and how to temporarily disable it when eating: if that's the only "magic" feature, I for one would definitely want to see it in action before committing. If you have more magic, I think those features could use more exposure

maneesh 10y ago
Yes! We integrate with chrome, rescuetime, and todoist to be a productivity trainer (http://pavlok.com/productivity http://pavlok.com/productivity). We integrate with slack as a team haptic conversation device (http://pavlok.com/slack http://pavlok.com/slack). We integrate with IFTTT so it zaps me when I text my ex girlfriend, walk into a mcdonalds, or do other trackable stupid stuff (http://pavlok.com/ifttt http://pavlok.com/ifttt). You are right -- we need to make more videos. You can see a lot of our users' stories on our site, or read about it in the NYTimes (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/a-shocking-way-really-to-break-bad-habits/?_r=1&register=facebook http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/a-shocking-way-real...)

hartator 10y ago

Were on you on shark tank? Sounds/looks familiar.

maneesh 10y ago
Yep that was me

kfrz 10y ago

Hey I've been a follower for awhile, both you and your brother have been huge influences on my growth mindset. It's amazing to see you posting on HN and I will leave it at this: thank you.

richard___ 10y ago

How exactly does it sense something like eating unhealthy food? Or, not eating enough calories in a day?