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Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky has joined Y Combinator as a partner
- simonbarker87 9y ago> I didn’t have that longer-term vision in mind necessarily when times got hard. I wasn’t thinking about the company’s world-changing mission, and that’s something I talk about with startups. To me this was the number one reason Pebble failed, I don’t think anyone in the management ever thought of it as more than a series of individual products. They didn’t need a “world changing mission”, they needed a business model with some kind of long term strategy to get off the crowd funding platform. If you are asking your customers to pre find your manufacturing runs after 6 years then something has gone wrong. Shame because it seemed like a great product and everyone I know who had/has one really liked them.
- purrcat259 9y agoIt really was. I still have my Pebble classic on my wrist, and patiently wait for a similarly priced and spec'd (B&W eInk screen, HR sensor, simple look) watch to the Pebble 2 so I can retire it. I was genuinely bummed when they announced they aren't going ahead with Pebble 2 shipments because of their closure.
- mateuszf 9y agoHi, I'm wondering about buying a used Pebble 2. Does it make any sense though? Isn't it using some services now maintained by Fitbit which they can shut down at any point?
- deadonarrival 9y agoYou can still buy them new [1] but fitbit is discontinuing support and services on June 30th. [2] 1. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KM4NCP8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mB-IAbQ18Y38T https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KM4NCP8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mB-I... 2. https://dev.fitbit.com/blog/2018-01-24-pebble-support/ https://dev.fitbit.com/blog/2018-01-24-pebble-support/
- stevewillows 9y agoWhile the servers are going down in June, projects like https://rebble.io https://rebble.io are moving toward replacing those services. For the last release of the Pebble app, they included a dev mode which allows us to change the path for the store. We'll see how it goes, but I bought a Pebble 2 HR a few months ago and love it. This is my third Pebble.
- mateuszf 9y agoThanks. Just ordered Pebble Time Steel
- stevewillows 9y agoIf you ever find that the screen starts to tear, check this post on reddit for a quick fix. https://redd.it/4fgn6e https://redd.it/4fgn6e It most likely won't happen, but if it does, its an easy fix.
- wlesieutre 9y agoSomeone linked me this last time Pebble came up: https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750 https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750 Heart rate data is stuck in their ecosystem and it doesn't have any open ended app capabilities, but for $60 on GearBest it's definitely interesting
- albertgoeswoof 9y agoThis actually looks amazing, 30-45 days of battery life! thanks!
- madez 9y ago> Heart rate data is stuck in their ecosystem Unless you live in a country where every user can demand the release of the data about them. In Germany (and AFAIK all of the EU) for example, that is the case. Besides that, I consider unfriendly design like that a big reason not to buy a product. Why buy a product you know you need to send legal letters to the developer just for properly using it?
- blutack 9y agoGadgetbridge claims decent compatibility - does anyone have any experience? https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Amazfit-Bip https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Amazfit-...
- PakG1 9y agoI bought a Pebble 2 and it was delivered just before the sale to Fitbit. It's great value for money, and I love the battery life. It's too bad they couldn't figure out a way to become more independent.
- spullara 9y agoThe buttons on my original Pebble fell off in the first 5 minutes I owned it.
- mtrimpe 9y agoNot to mention Eric's precursor to the Pebble called inPulse where they basically just shipped everyone a plastic brick, pretended nothing was wrong and then stopped supporting it. ScamFunding the Pebble...
- IntronExon 9y agoIn 2018 that just gets you praise for your “hustle” I think... followed by a YC partnership.
- jacquesm 9y agoNot just in 2018.
- jtruk 9y agoSame thing happened with the first Pebble Time Steel I bought. I took it back to the shop and swapped it. This one's been perfect for years, so I put it down to a batch problem.
- brucephillips 9y agoIt also contradicts PG's advice that startups should hill climb.
- Cyberdog 9y ago> If you are asking your customers to [pre-fund] your manufacturing runs after 6 years then something has gone wrong. From what I understand, their later crowdfunding campaigns were more about building hype than actually raising funds. They could have made the watches without them, but since they were known for making such a splash on KickStarter, they went back again for later rounds. Was that the right thing to do? Did it project the right image for their company? That's up for debate, I suppose.
- tudorw 9y agoCan someone ask Eric when my 2010 inPulse will get an update?
- fsiefken 9y agoI'm the proud owner of two Pebble Time's, battery on one is unfortunately not so good but I can get 6 days with the other one, and both are swim proof. Great for festivals etc.
- fredley 9y agoI still wear my pebbles daily (one at a time!). I'll be loath to replace them when the time finally comes, nothing else comes close to the perfect balance of including what I want in a watch and excluding what I don't want. So many other watches out there, including the Apple watch and every Android watch are packed full of crap I actively don't want cluttering up my wrist. It takes guts to make a device with push-buttons in a touch-screen world, but in every way they're a better interface for a 1" screen, that is totally obscured by most digits. It also takes guts to use a dull e-ink screen, but it's perfect - always on, battery lasts for a week (still!), and combined with the beautiful animations of the OS it looks fantastic. I wish there were more device companies out there with the guts to use mature, if slightly dated tech to build amazing products, rather than try and make everything voice activated just because they can, even if it makes for a worse experience over all.
- Dayshine 9y agoShame it'll die in 4 months :( Fitbit are finally shutting down the servers, and who knows what effect that'll have.
- lazycouchpotato 9y agoXiaomi's Mi Band/Amazfit bands are probably the only good options left. I had a Mi Band 1 for 2.5 years before it died, and I'm currently running a Mi Band 2. It has a 20 day battery life and has good third party app support.
- poisonborz 9y agoIt baffles me how a niche product that everyone loved could fail like this. Smartwatch competition seems like a barren field compared to smartphones, and Pebble had things no other rivals could do - double the battery life, true always on display and a great open platform. The functionality was there, an the hardware was good enough. It would be really interesting to see what actually failed - much smaller companies with niche products like Flirc.tv are chugging along well. I can only hope that someone picks the torch up and makes a Pebble successor - the userbase is still there, without any matching product to choose.
- SubNoize 9y agohonestly, i don't they they were aesthetic enough. everyone I saw was incredibly ugly. I think most smart watch companies had this problem and by the time some had solved it, the novelty had worn off. I bought a second hand moto 360 and got tired of having to charge it and my phone for what was practically the same return.
- sbarre 9y agoObviously this is your opinion, but I will counter with mine.. I think the Pebble Time Steel [0][1] is actually the only good looking fully-functional smartwatch on the market, even to this day.. The Apple Watch looks like a wrist computer (yeah I know), and most of the other ones out there are either HUGE (I'm not into massive watch faces), or also look clunky and un-appealing. Or they are very blatantly "sport watches". I want a watch I can wear to work (where I have to dress up somewhat), or wear out at night.. Combine that with once-a-week charging, and I'm still super sad that mine will one day stop working and there won't be anything I can do about it. :-( [0]: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Jn9cYI1QL.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Jn9cYI1QL... [1]: http://i.imgur.com/Wqbaibt.png http://i.imgur.com/Wqbaibt.png
- vvanders 9y agoDitto Time Round. It's the only smartwatch that doesn't look/feel like a giant brick.
- darrenf 9y agoHellishly expensive in comparison, but I found the Garmin Fenix 5 to be the perfect replacement for my dear departed Pebbles. It helps that I wanted a fitness watch too, but even just as a smartwatch it ticks every box that the Pebble did for me, and looks way nicer on the wrist.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y agoHellishly expensive in comparison to a product that wasn't sustainable. It's probably priced right where Pebble should have been.
- modi15 9y agoVC funds is where founders go to retire. Im not sure why this is a big/good deal - afaik, its a waste of talent. The only people who can sustain investor jobs are the MBA hacks driven primarily by money and fomo. I have yet to meet a single founder who was happy with the lack of control that such a job requires.
- dbuder 9y agoIs Pebble seen as a successful exit? I see it as a bit of a disaster, not to say that Eric wouldn't be a good VC (no opinion).
- jtruk 9y agoI adore my original Pebble and Pebble Time Steel. I'm curious to see whether Rebble [1] can pull together a new ecosystem. I was under the impression Eric and the original Pebble team had deliberately ensured enough openings for that to happen, when the Fitbit acquisition news broke. Thanks to them if so. [1] http://rebble.io/ http://rebble.io/
- erohead 9y agoI'm extremely proud to be joining YC. PG, Jessica, Harj, PB and Trevor were the first venture investors to believe in me and the idea back in 2010. Over the following 7 years YC helped in innumerable ways. While neither I nor anyone else was aiming for the particular conclusion to the Pebble story, YC and the whole network gave support at every twist and turn. Very excited to be helping startups full time!
- cabaalis 9y agoPebble was the best watch I've owned. I moved away to a mechanical watch since, but that experience is still what I want when I occasionally think of buying a new smart watch.
- jjb123 9y agoCongrats, Eric! Big win for every hardware company going through YC that will undoubtedly learn an immense amount from your experience.
- m-p-3 9y agoI'm sad the Pebble story had tonend like this, but I'm proud to have participated to both Kickstarter (own the OG Pebble, Pebble Steel, Pebble Time Steel) and I'm still wearing the PTS today! The Timeline concept is unparalleled in the smartwatch ecosystem and the interface really put the "time" concept on the spotlight which I feel that current smartwatch makers forget to often about (to the benefit of fitness stuff, which is "trendy" amongst customers). I'll be sad when the thing will die. :(
- distantsounds 9y agoAh, that's what happens when you kickstart $15M (only asking for $1M) and then don't deliver. Thanks. :(
- xkcd-sucks 9y ago- start up - cash in - sell out - bro down
- dhruvkar 9y agoA lot of people on this thread have praise for Pebble watches. I never owned one or any of its current competitors. Always got a a gimmicky feeling from those types of devices (i.e. no real added value over a regular watch and smartphone). Genuinely curious: What value was added by a Pebble watch?
- s73v3r_ 9y ago"What value was added by a Pebble watch?" Unlike the vast majority of other smartwatches, I could look at the screen in bright daylight, and actually see it.
- wvenable 9y agoUnfortunately it was pretty hard to see other, more common, situations like indoors with indirect lighting.
- vvanders 9y agoNo need to drag your phone out of your pocket every time it vibrates. Get directions directly to your wrist while walking/etc.
- dhruvkar 9y agoNice, I can see the value in directions while walking around.
- wvenable 9y agoNever have your ringer on, ever. My phone hasn't made a sound in 4 years.
- dhruvkar 9y agoDid it buzz and/or light up? Isn't that just as distracting? Would a phone on silent/vibrate only mode offer the same convenience?
- jonbarker 9y agoHow much do founders typically get when their startups sell for less than what investors put in? Not a troll question, genuinely interested. Any data on how this averages?
- Hydraulix989 9y agoA 1x liquidation preference is a pretty standard term for VCs.
- snowmaker 9y ago$0.
- leelin 9y agoOfficially, founders typically only hold common shares (often with further restrictions). Common shareholders should get $0 when selling for less than money raised because of liquidation preferences. However, the acquiring company usually wants to retain some of the team. The founders often receive an employment offer, and that offer can contain anything negotiated, including signing or performance bonuses. There can be some conflict of interest and negotiation ugliness if the investors view the employment offers as too generous at the expense of shareholders. In practice, most decent investors would prefer to spend their energy on their big winners rather than optimize a small loss into break-even. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html#f12n http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html#f12n
- s73v3r_ 9y agoCool. I'm still looking for a decent replacement for my Pebble Time. I haven't found one yet.