Felix: Today, I'm joined by Aneela Idnani from HabitAware. HabitAware is Keen smart bracelet that uses gesture detection technology to bring awareness to debilitating and translate hair-pulling, skin-picking and nail-biting making their customers habit aware and allowing them to take control. HabitAware was started in 2014 and based out of Minneapolis and Minnesota. Welcome, Aneela.
Aneela: Thank you for having me.
Felix: Yeah. So you and your husband co-invented the first, the [Keen1] smart bracelet to solve a personal pain that you had. Can you tell us more about what motivated you and what led you to develop this product?
Aneela: Yeah. I, since childhood have had a condition where, and I pull out my hair. It's essentially a coping mechanism. It's very trance-like. I didn't realize I was doing it. And it served a purpose of providing a sense of relief, a sense of self soothing. And so I continued to do it as my go-to mechanism to combat stress, anxiety, nervousness, tiredness, boredom, and it just became something that I was also ashamed of because to me felt a little weird that I was doing this to myself. And I didn't realize until my 20s that it was actually a mental health condition, but I still hid it for a really long time because of that shame that I had felt.
And a couple of years ago my husband, Samir, caught me without eyebrows. And we set out on a journey to simply hack nights and weekends with two other friends of ours who are now our co-founders, John and Kirk, to make something that would work for me. And then when we realized that it was working, we said we have to take this to other people in the community who have not just hair-pulling, but skin-picking and nail-biting behaviors that they want to get a hold of.
Felix: Makes sense. So you had this problem, you knew that it existed. And I think you mentioned too, maybe in our pre-interview that this is a problem that is not just faced by you, is faced by many others around the world. Did you go out and first look for a solution for this at first? Did you find anything?
Aneela: Yeah. The first thing we did was... Honestly, our aha moment was, I was sitting on the couch after my husband now knew that I had this condition and I was pulling out my eyebrows and he gently grabbed my hand. And that was the aha moment of, "Oh, if I just had something that notified me." Of course, he took to the internet, tried to find something because it was in the early days of Fitbits and Apple watches. And we thought, "Okay, something has to exist," but we couldn't find anything. So we said, "Okay, let's give this a try. Let's see if we can make this." So yeah, that was the first thing was, "Does this exist?" And then when we realized it didn't exist, we said, "Well, why not us?"
Felix: Makes sense. Now, what were the first steps? You mentioned that you and... Sound like there was four co-founders total working, you mentioned hacking nights and weekends. What was involved in the very early days of turning this thing into an actual product, at least enough for you to use yourself first?
Aneela: Yeah. So the very first thing was actually before diving into code or hardware, PCB manufacturing, we went to Michaels and we bought just these big jangly bracelets. And so the idea was, let's test this hypothesis of, if I know that my hands are near my eyebrows, will I change my behavior? And so the idea was, as soon as my hands went up, these bracelets would jingle and jangle and wake me up. And it was working. Obviously, I'm a hand talker and I type a lot for work. I was working in the advertising industry at the time. They were going off more than they needed to, but they were doing its job of alerting me.
So that gave us this confidence that, "Okay, if I'm aware, then yes, I can take that moment of pause to choose something healthier." And then we moved to, "Okay, now can we build something technical?" And that's where John and Kirk really came in as our technical co-founders to develop the smart bracelet, the algorithm and gesture detection, as well as the app which Samir was involved in the math around the algorithm and I was part of the app design process as well.
Felix: Got it. In terms of these kinds of startups where it's just a few people getting started, it's hardware and software, a pretty difficult combination to start a brand new company. What was everyone's background that was involved in getting this off the ground?
Aneela: Yeah. Myself, I have a background in advertising, graphic design. I was working in client management and digital production. So really managing projects. John is a hardware engineering, PhD. Kirk is, kind of been a lifelong CTO. He always jokes that his first computer was built when he was in kindergarten kind of thing. And Samir is all over the map in terms of things that he can handle, the MBA, hedge fund management and finance as well as applied physics. So kind of runs the gamut across everything that we do, as our CEO as well.
Felix: So definitely a powerhouse of a team to start a company. Now, these technical co-founders, John and Kirk, how did you guys link up with them?
Aneela: Yeah. We were lucky to be in Minneapolis, which has such a huge, vibrant and supportive tech community. So we started going to meet ups. I started making friends with the community. We had moved here in 2011 for work. And that was just the way we said, "Oh, we're going to make friends. We're going to make friends with people who are like-minded." So we started going to tech meetups and just started making friends and as we came up with this idea, I just started telling my friends, "This is what I'd like to work on. Do you know anyone that can help?" And people just started introducing us to other people through events. And that's how we met John and Kirk.
Felix: Yeah. It's certainly an obstacle for a lot of founders to get over when they are building a technical product, you find these technical co-founders or technical early employees. You mentioned you use tech meetups to get around and build your network. How do you know when there is a good fit when you are someone that is looking for a technical co-founder to join your team?
Aneela: Yeah. I think it's very important to think about building these business relationships in the same way that you would build a personal relationship. You wouldn't sign a marriage license with someone you just met. So in the same way, you shouldn't be signing equity agreements. It's really about, like I said before, hacking nights and weekends, seeing how you guys gel as a team, who's showing up, who's not showing up and just seeing, "Can we work together as a team? Can we create something that works?" All of that plays a role and gives insight into how you work as a team and how well you work as a team.
And that's what we did. Throughout this entire process we've just been continuously testing and iterating and just building our knowledge base, building our relationships until the point where it was like, "Okay." We were accepted into a hardware accelerator program in Shenzhen, China, which is the manufacturing capital of the world. And that was like the moment of, "Okay, it's now or never. We got to quit our day jobs. We got to go give this a shot." And all four of us, by that point, having worked maybe about a year, nights and weekends together, we're like, "Yeah, let's do this. We see this is promising." At that point, we had had some beta testers show interest and excitement that it was working for them. And we said, "We have to at least try."
Felix: Yeah, that's great that there was this team-wide commitment to go all in. And when you do have a team of four in your case with different areas of expertise and knowledge, what have you learned through the years about how to make it all work together when there are different, again, areas of expertise? I'm sure there are differing opinions in the last six years that you've been in business. What do you learn though about how to make this all work together?
Aneela: Yeah. I think one thing that's definitely important is we all had some connection to the problem we were trying to solve. Whether it was very, very personal for me. Samir seeing a loved one and our other, both John and Kirk, seeing people in their family had similar conditions. And so, I think that passion and that drive always helped mitigate any tension that there might have been in the actual process of building this product, if that makes sense. Ultimately, it's all about the customer that we're trying to serve and the problem that we're trying to solve for people.
And so we try to just, as we're building, it's a saving grace that we all cover these different quadrants of the building, the development and the marketing process. So that we all are experts in our fields in a sense, but then we all look to each other for input and insight and feedback to make sure that things are working correctly. I think that's actually been what's worked so well is that we take each other's opinions and we roll with them and we try to use that information to improve the product knowing that our customer is that final kind of idol that we keep in our mind of, "This is who it's all for."
Felix: So deep down, everyone that was on the founding team had a shared purpose in that they wanted to help someone that they knew was suffering from this problem that the product could help solve. And also there's this trust and openness to getting this feedback is important because a lot of times people will hire people, either as a part of the founding team or hire them as early employees, but just tick the box, not as you actually trust in the person they have brought into the teams. I think that, that's an important point that you brought up. Now, this accelerator that you had all been accepted into, you said about a year into spending nights and weekends on the product, how real was the product at this time by the time you spent a year into it and were packing your bags to go to this accelerator?
Aneela: Yeah. By that point, we had actually gone to a mental health non-profit conference and had pre-sold about 50 units to people who had seen very rudimentary prototypes, but were so excited by what they saw that they were ready and willing to say, "Yes, I'll give you my credit card information in hopes that you ship this product to me," at a date that we couldn't even estimate at that point. So when we got into [HAX], we told those 50 families... We were almost ready to ship to them. And we said, "You know what? We want to go through this program because we want to make sure we're giving you the best product possible." And we told them that their product was going to be free because they were obviously going to have to wait much longer than they had anticipated.
And everyone was on our side. They were all so excited. And these were people that we had not met in person. So we knew their names, we knew their faces, they knew us. We call our customers Keen family because that's what it feels like. We go to this conference every year with the exception of this year because of COVID and it's like coming home. And so, our goal is to just do right by our Keen family. And that was in the moment of having these people backing us and supporting us on this journey was awesome to have. And that's what kept us going.
Felix: Got it. I like this, that you went to this mental health conference and try to pre-sell it at that point. Can you tell us more about what the product looked like? At what price point you were selling it at the point? How much of the end product was there at the time that you pre-sold it to them?
Aneela: Yeah. That initial bracelet was, honestly, it was a 3D printed casing and inside it was our microchip. And then it was just a watch strap that you can order off of Amazons. So it was very, very, very much a prototype that we shared with them in person, put the bracelet on, let them train it for their behavior. They'd feel that vibration, their eyes would light up and say, "Oh my gosh." Doctors were coming up to us saying, "We've been waiting for something like this." People were ready to take that home with them. And we're like, "No, no, no, no, no, this is a 3D printed. This is just a test."
But they were so excited. We tried to iterate on that a little bit before we delivered. And then when we got into HAX, we realized, "Oh, we can make this a real product." And so the HAX process really got us connected into the manufacturing flow of both hardware and the silicone strap that we created. The ultimate product looks just like an activity tracker. It's meant to blend in. So you don't have to talk about these issues if you don't want to. You can just say, "It's my activity tracker." We call it the hug on the wrist that just reminds you of where your hands are so that you can take control. And that was the process of taking customer input throughout this whole process to make sure that we were putting out the product that people wanted.
Felix: Got it. And a lot of entrepreneurs that have taken this approach that you've talked about, about pre-selling it at events or conferences always tell me that they always learn a ton about the product in terms of what people liked, what they might not have realized people liked or what they might have realized needed to be changed, or even how they can speak about the product. Do you remember things that you might learn in the early days when trying to pre-sell the product that affected the direction of the product development or the marketing of the product?
Aneela: Yeah. We received feedback on... At that conference specifically, we actually had a few image options of, "What would you like this bracelet to look at, to look like rather?" And that was how we landed on, "Okay, let's try to do something discrete and sporty." We tested pricing as well because it was such an early stage of pre-order, that conference special was like $99 or something, very introductory pricing. Retail now on our site is 149. We learned a lot. We also, through the process of the development worked with doctors and clinical researchers in the space so that we were getting to create just the correct user flow and user experience. And so taking input from them about how the app should interact with the bracelet and things like that was very helpful as well.
Felix: Got it. Now at this one-year mark, the accelerator that you all went and joined, so you actually had to fly to Shenzhen to enter into the accelerator?
Aneela: Yup. Yeah. It was an incredible experience. We took our three-year-old son, I believe he was at the time and found an English-speaking daycare and we made it work. And we both wanted the experience of being out there and the education of being out there. And it was just phenomenal. HAX was an extension of our team in terms of marketing, graphic design, industrial design, mechanical engineering, and then the connections to manufacturing partners was just invaluable.
Felix: Yeah. Tell us more about this. How long did this program last?
Aneela: Yeah. It was a three-month program. And through the process, it was basically a rushed... It was basically, every 30 days, their goal was for us to have something new to show them from a marketing perspective, from a hardware and design perspective, like the product design perspective. We were just hustling and moving really, really fast, but we were able to do that because we had their safety net, if you will, like we had their team to support us in that endeavor of the industrial design of the bracelet, for example. So shifting from that 3D printed generic watch strap designed to a beautifully designed smart bracelet, sporty looking, just something that can easily be on a shelf at Best Buy kind of thing was because of their guidance.
Felix: Got it. What were some of the biggest advantages of joining an accelerator? What can they give you at accelerator that is not as easily done on your own?
Aneela: Yeah. I mean, obviously, one of the things is funding. But really, it's this extension of team filling the gaps that we didn't have from an industrial design perspective, mechanical engineering, helping us get to manufacturing ready, and the relationships that they helped us build and connect with people in China where we produce our product.
Felix: Got it. Is there any reason why someone out there that is looking at accelerator in their industry, why they might want to pause and think about whether it's the right decision or not?
Aneela: I can't think of one. I don't think it's a question of, "Do I go to an accelerator or not?" I think it's a question of, "Which accelerator do I go to?" Like, "Which one is the best fit for me at my stage of business or idea," more than anything. And knowing upfront and trying to understand upfront, what is the value that that accelerator provides beyond just the funding, because it's really the knowledge and the relationships, I think, that really help. I mean, obviously funding is helpful because it helps you pay for all the prototyping and all that other stuff, but if you don't have the plan to do all of that other stuff then the money in the bank doesn't really help. You know what I mean? There are like, "Good accelerators out there and they're not so great one." I think it's more so what's right for you. What gap are you, as an entrepreneur, what gap do you need to fill and try to find an accelerator program that helps fill that.
Felix: Is that easily discoverable from the outside when let's say you know that maybe you aren't great at logistics or manufacturing? Is it easy to tell which accelerator are going to be the best fit to help you fill that gap?
Aneela: I feel like there are a lot of accelerators now in the US and they're usually pretty focused on a particular vertical. So I feel like it should be doable in terms of maybe if you're building something in hardware or if you're building something that's sass, or if you're building something that's like a toy-related. I feel like there's so many niche accelerator programs out there now. And even regional, like looking in your own looking in your own backyard to see what's available. Maybe through your government might have many accelerator programs or co-working spaces might have programs.
There's also a lot of accelerator programs now dedicated to diverse background founders to help encourage entrepreneurship for folks of those walks of life. I'm saying all this, because I know and see what's happening in Minneapolis with some of these programs. So my hope is that other cities are following suit in that respect of supporting the community.
Felix: That's great. So does this, you mentioned that the biggest resources from joining the accelerator for you are, that the knowledge and the relationships. Now, once you land on the other side of the world and you step foot into, I guess the offices, is that knowledge and relationships just handed to you once you get there, or do you have to put in the work once you're there to get as most out of it as you can?
Aneela: Absolutely. I mean, just like our bracelet, we help you build awareness of your hands, but what do you do with that awareness that's yourself taking stock of what's happening and learning to replace the behavior and doing that work. And it's the same thing with going to an accelerator or going to a day job or going to anything. You are going to get out of it, what you put in. And so, it's absolutely trying to figure out what are the right questions to ask these people who have seen company after company after company go through their program.
It's definitely about really looking within yourself and saying, "Okay, what are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? What do I know? What don't I know? What do I need to know?" And trying to solve those things for yourself. And also recognizing you don't have to have all the answers. You have to then, that's where you need to build your team. And so, an accelerator program, they're going to give you access to people, access to partners and employees, access to a workshop where you can cut and sew and all this other stuff, but if you don't step foot in the door... All they can do is open the door, you have to step through kind of thing.
Felix: Got it. Yeah, three months is not a lot of time. I'm sure it flew by. You had mentioned that it filled a lot of gaps for your business. At the end of those three months, how do you transition out of an accelerator? What did you end up leaving with at the end and taking it off, when you were taking the training wheels off and now going off on your own?
Aneela: Yeah. The whole goal of the accelerator program is to culminate in a demo day, which also corresponds to a pre-order campaign, if you will. It's your launch essentially? So you're working for these three months, every moment of the day, even probably in your sleep to get to this point of being able to turn on a website and say, "Here is what we've built. Here is why we built it. Come join our Keen family." And for that, that was our pre-order campaign. And we spent the next year wrapping up the actual manufacturing process before we were able to deliver. Our first Keen1 deliveries actually started in 2017. And so now we've been in market for about three years. It's been really exciting to actually see the progress and the change that we've been able to empower in people's lives.
Felix: Yeah, I bet. What was involved in this pre-order campaign? Tell us more about during this time of driving attention awareness traffic to pre-order pages, what was that like?
Aneela: Yeah, so what we did was we set up a pre-order site on our own website and we did Facebook advertising to essentially capture people's interest and email addresses so that we had a database of, I don't know, it was probably around 3 to 5,000 people ahead of the actual pre-order launch. And then we just nurtured them. We took them along a little bit on this journey at HAX of, "We're in China, and here's what we're doing," and sending them photos of prototypes. They kind of got a feel for what we were doing on the technology side. Also, sharing my story and things like that. So that then on launch day we could say, "Orders are open."
And that's how we got our initial set of orders, as well as doing more Facebook advertising to people as well as working with a major nonprofit to help amplify what we were doing, that nonprofit that I mentioned before the mental health conference. So asking them to share our launch via email which they did, which was obviously another way to build awareness of the launch. I just lost in my head. There was one other thing we did, but now I've forgotten it.
Felix: No worries. Maybe come back to it in a bit. You mentioned the Facebook advertising, and when it comes to the medical or health-related field targeted advertising is not often the easiest to run, to identify your target customers for privacy reasons. Any advice that you can offer out there for companies like yours that are in the health and medical field to work with online advertising?
Aneela: Yeah. It's definitely a little bit trickier because you can't obviously go straight for specific keywords for example, but there's enough, if you know enough about your consumer by building relationships with them through your email marketing or through your Instagram Messenger or seeing what else are they doing on Instagram kind of thing, you can start to get a sense for their persona as a whole and start identifying your demographic and what else they could be interested in. For us, if we're talking to people with skin-picking, nail-biting and hair-pulling behaviors, then we can guess that, "Okay, they're probably interested in things like hair care, skin care and nail care as well." And so play around what else is going on in their mindset that you can access through these advertising platforms.
Felix: Got it. So during that first, during the pre-order phase with the online advertising, with the Facebook advertising, you were driving them to a pre-order page, or what was the, I guess the conversion event for that campaign?
Aneela: Yeah. That was driving to a pre-order page. We took credit card information, delivering information, and then again, kept them through our emails, kept them on our journey of development so that they knew where we were. They knew the hurdles we were facing, they knew the challenges, but they also knew the celebration moments as well.
Felix: Now, when you first brought them to that pre-order page, did you know at that point when you would be able to fulfill the orders?
Aneela: We had a good inclination of when we were going to ship, but you cannot control everything. And unfortunately, that year there were a few typhoons in the cities where our manufacturing partners were, and that pushed out obviously, rightly so, pushed out their manufacturing schedules, which then pushed into Chinese New Year, which essentially, China shuts down for a good month or so. And so, no matter how much planning you do, you can't control everything. That's why it's important to take your customer on the journey with you so that if you tell them, "We're going to ship by this date," and you don't talk to them until that date, and on that date, you have to say, "Oh, actually we're not shipping that day." They're going to be so mad.
But if you take them on this journey and ahead of that date, say, "Hey, this is what's just happened. We could not predict this. We're very sorry. Here's our new game plan of how we're going to make this right for you," you get less upset people. You get more cheering you on and saying, "Thank you so much for keeping us in the loop. And we can't wait." I think it's just important as a business to just remember that you're still human and they're still human. And to keep that sense of humanity as you try to sell a product. I think we've kind of lost that a little bit in our world of e-commerce to be honest. Like you click a button and you expect something to be delivered in 24 hours and you forget that there's actually people behind all of that. And so that's part of my M.O. is to make sure that people remember there's people behind all that.
Felix: Makes sense. So you've done these pre-orders in-person. At these events, you've done pre-order campaigns online. What advice do you have for people that are pre-selling or taking pre-orders for a product that's not complete yet, that's not ready to be fulfilled immediately yet? What advice do you have for them to help them sell and have a successful pre-order campaign, but then also balance this fine line of not overpromising?
Aneela: Yeah. I think one thing to remember is, you know what you want and what you expect out of your product, but your customer may not. To your point of overpromising, don't overpromise, because then that locks you in a corner. It's probably better to underpromise and overdeliver. And that way you really keep your customer engaged and excited and happy and thankful that, "Oh, you went above and beyond." And really, I think it really is all about this journey of taking people on a journey with you. I think people want to be a part of something. They want to feel a connection.
And if you can do that and tell a story and not just your story, but their story of how your hard work now is going to pay off for them later and help them with whatever your product is helping them solve, whether it's bringing them a moment of joy or helping them build awareness of their hands, whatever it is, you're making this product because it does something for someone. It solves some sort of problem for them. And I think as long as you just keep that connection, you'll be building such a loyal customer base that even when things do go wrong, they're cheering you on. And they're jumping on social media when they see someone say something negative and they say, "Oh, no, you should actually talk to the founder. They helped me, blah, blah, blah," kind of thing, where they become your advocates.
Felix: Yeah. And the important element in all of this, like you had mentioned, in pre-order, in pre-selling success is to keep them in a loop and you're mentioning taking them on this journey. What does that mean exactly? What kind of things are you emailing them? How frequently are you keeping in touch with them? Give us the level of communication that you're doing during this phase.
Aneela: Yeah. I have been doing for the last three years, what I call wear your awareness Wednesday. So I put out one newsletter a week. That's it. I also don't want to cloud people's inboxes. And then on social media, we're a little bit more active where we'll jump into conversations with people and offer encouragement and nurture our own channel as well. For example, this Wednesday... My emails are not always, "Here's Keen. Buy now." This Wednesday's email was literally, "I just want to check in on you. 2020 has been crazy. And I just want to check in to see how you're doing. And here's the two things that are working for me."
I don't expect everyone to write back to me, but I got three to five emails back saying, "Thank you. Thank you for checking in because it's been hard." And I went back and forth with a few of those people and that's it. And that's it. I think that's all you got to do to connect is just be honest and be truthful of what's happening and show that you are human, show that you are imperfect to build that connection.
Felix: Makes sense. And one of the things that you had mentioned to us that has helped you communicate better with your customers, is this post-purchase questionnaire that you guys started doing. Tell us more about that. What's involved in this post-purchase questionnaire?
Aneela: Yeah. What we use is we actually use the Grapevine Shopify app integration, and we just ask one question post-purchase, which is just, "How did you hear about Keen?" Because that's one of the biggest things is how are people finding out about us? We do Facebook advertising, we do Google advertising, and it's still interesting to know that word of mouth is still primarily one of our methods of people finding us as well as, I did a TEDx Talk in 2019, which seems to still, people are finding that and then finding us. It's always good to know where people are finding you from, because then you know, oh, if it's Google Ads, "Okay." Then as a business owner you know, "I should be pumping more ads out or putting more dollars behind that." Or if it's things like the TEDx, for example, "Well, maybe I should run ads linking straight to the TEDx," things like that. So that people are seeing it in other places other than just finding it through a search on YouTube, if you will.
Felix: I like this approach because attribution through advertising platforms is far from perfect. Why not just ask the customer directly where they heard from you or how they found out about you? So once you have learned things like your TEDx Talk, these kinds of content pieces that are not directly marketing pieces are places where people are finding you, has that led to any actions that you either have taken or want to take now where you have this new knowledge?
Aneela: Yeah. I mean, for example with the TEDx, we're running, like I said, an ad similar to that. And then with the word of mouth, we're looking to see, "Okay, well, how can we nurture our Keen family to..." As I said, at the very beginning, people feel a lot of shame for these conditions. They don't want to talk about them. They're willing to talk about them in online groups that are closed and safe and everyone's in it together, if you will. And so, how can we encourage them to share us beyond that. And so that's our next question mark that we're looking at after... Actually right now we're working to launch Keen2, and then my next thing is, "Okay, how do we nurture this word of mouth? How do we build loyalty and how do we nurture our most loyal Keen family to try to encourage them to share us more?"
Felix: Makes sense. Now you are now in the middle of Keen2, and by the time this episode airs, I'm sure people can go out and purchase it at that point. Tell us more about what's going on during this phase of such a version two of your product.
Aneela: Yeah. In 2018, we received a research grant from the NIH to improve our algorithm and to digitize some evidence-based treatments for these conditions. And so we are putting out, launching Keen2 which allows our gesture detection to just be more refined as well as a completely new mobile app that really helps a person through this behavior change process. And our plan is to launch very soon. We've been sharing out and seeding it on social media. We've been mentioning it on our newsletters. So people know Keen2 is coming. And we'll be introducing it and asking people again to pre-order with intention of shipping in early 2020, sorry, in early 2021 to just build excitement for it and start explaining how it works through graphical elements, through video elements, through different blog posts, which we'll be creating so that people really understand what we've changed about the product, what's different about it, what's improved and why it's the right thing for them if they're ready to get on this journey to awareness and change their life.
Felix: Now, one thing that you had mentioned to me too during this phase of you building this company was, in regards to being a people pleaser and a perfectionist, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs out there can relate to this. And you said the biggest hurdle for you is around fundraising. And then the ability to move past the noes and the endless noes, endless, "Failures," that you will run into as an entrepreneur and rather than chasing after those noes taking a different approach. Tell us more about that. Tell us more about the different mindset that you have about approaching the noes.
Aneela: Yeah. I think it's important to decide where you want to spend your energy. And it's something of a reminder that I have to remind myself of often. Seeing a review on social media or something where someone says, "Oh, it didn't work for me. Too many false alarms," for example. But then getting an email saying, "My child has a complete full head of hair." So it's like, I know it works. We know it works. We can see it work. We offer free video training calls to help people with their false alarms and things like that. And with the new Keen2, I'm pretty confident that the new algorithm is going to mitigate all of that. But just remembering that you can't please everyone. And also remembering that sometimes what someone is saying is their reality, but not necessarily your reality.
So like I just said, someone may say, "Oh, it didn't work for me." And I can look to the right and see someone else just say, "It did work for me." So it's the same product, but two different realities. And so recognizing that and recognizing that different people are willing to put different amounts of efforts in. Same for investors, they're willing to put different amounts of effort or dollars or no dollars. And you just have to trust as well that no is actually a blessing, if you will. That the right people are going to, are in a sense, I truly believe that are going to be guided to you or you're going to be guided to them to help you fulfill whatever your, I don't want to say purpose, because it seems a little cheesy, but their goal, if you will.
And so yeah, the noes are really hard, especially personally in Minneapolis when it's people, it's angel investors that you see at events that either they're hosting or you're speaking on, and then at the end of the day, they're like, "Oh no, we're not..." Which is fine. It's good. Everyone's got their own MO. And for us we found that by focusing on the investors and the customers that are for us, that are gung-ho from the beginning, our energy is like, it doesn't get sucked out of you, it almost gets exponential if that makes sense.
Felix: That makes sense. Basically, instead of trying to push against the current, try to find where the currents aren't going, the direction that you already want to go down. I think that makes a ton of sense. Now, I want to talk a little about the website. You had mentioned that you're using Grapevine and the integration for these post-purchase questionnaires. You also had mentioned to us during the pre-interview about how you're working with developers to work on the site. Can you tell us more about the enhancements or changes that you're making to your website?
Aneela: Yeah. With Shopify, we're using a template that I purchased probably ages ago. And so grandfathered in, not ready to change. And Shopify itself is pretty intuitive to use. There's just minor things that you always want to tweak and make slightly better. But if you don't know code it's a little bit trickier. I know some minor HTML so I can get by, but at some point you need to bring in people who are true Shopify experts to help just make the site feel more credible, more responsive, especially the desktop to mobile. I'm sitting here on a computer all day long and designing the website and it looks wonderful. And then I go to mobile and I'm like, "Ah, why is this breaking?"
And so, yeah, I think it's always helpful to, once you get to a certain point to recognize that just those little changes are going to help someone new coming to the site feel like, say, "This company is legitimate. These people are legitimate. This product is legitimate. I'm ready to make that purchase."
Felix: Awesome. Thank you, Aneela. So habitaware.com is a website and I'll leave with this last question. Wearable technology, as you had mentioned, has really started booming in the last five to 10 years during the time that you've launched your business. What opportunities do you see in this space moving forward for anyone else out there that might be interested in this space?
Aneela: Yeah, I think wearables is really interesting for us. The way I see it is if you are trying to help a particular community solve a burning problem, then I truly believe that a single purpose device that's just meant for that problem is the way to go because then that product is truly built for that community and with that community, hopefully. That's where I see things going. I feel like right now there's a lot of Swiss Army knives of wearables, if you will. But I think if it's a very specific issue, then I think the wearable should be built for that issue rather than trying to shoe horn something into something that already exists. But I don't know. I could be wrong.
And I also think it's not about just the bracelet. I think it's really about going back to the drawing board and better understanding the people, the problem and the lifestyle so that you're building the correct thing, the correct product. It may not be a wearable, it may be something completely different. It may be something that sits on a desk or it may be something that's a mobile app type product. It all depends on all these other factors. And so I think it's really important before you start coming up with a product idea to really understand the problem you're trying to solve.
Felix: I like the way you put that. Awesome. Thank you so much again for your time, Aneela.
Aneela: Yeah. Thank you very much. This was really fun.