Thanks, We Shipped!
Finished Saent buttons are on their way to crowdfunding backers in 59 different countries.
There were days we thought we might not make it. On others we were nearly certain we wouldn’t. At some point it seemed the day would never come, and when it did come into sight, it didn’t register for weeks, as it had seemed so impossible at so many points. But whatever happens next, we now know for sure: Saent shipped its first hardware device!
Russell
While many people deserve lots of credit, one man stands out. His name is Russell Haines. If it weren’t for him, you would not be reading this post, and our backers would almost certainly never receive anything.
Russell stands next to the first 500 Saent units, boxed up and ready for delivery to our shipping partner.
He designed and delivered a gorgeous product, from the device itself all the way to the packaging. He has pushed relentlessly to improve the product and ensure quality at every stage along the way, even in the face of immense financial constraints and pressure, not the least of which came from me.
But perhaps just as important, Russell has shown himself a master of negotiating and deal-making with Chinese partners and vendors. Most people in Shenzhen will not even answer your phone call when you want to produce only 1,500 units. So with no leverage whatsoever, Russell managed to get credit lines, got parts redone again and again until they were right, and then he still got our production partners to pay for lunch.
Russell, what you’ve done is truly remarkable. You pushed for quality and excellence against all odds. Most people will not comprehend the depths you’ve gone through to make this happen, but I do (or at least I think I do, haha), and I will be forever grateful. I salute you!
Josh
Far away from China, on the East Coast of the USA, Josh would wake up to another series of WeChat voice messages, learning of yet another delay. To him fell the agonizing task of finding a way to explain this to our backers without unleashing a massive backlash and a shower of refunds. He did so time and again.
Injection molding machines work through the night to bring Saent buttons to life.
But Josh has done so much more than that. He is the sole reason why I’ve been getting so many compliments on my writing since May 2015. And he is the voice of Saent, carefully crafting and mulling over every word we say at Saent, whether in the app, on our website, or in blog posts. He’s also been instrumental in providing Saent with a beachhead in the USA. Not only through his amazing network, but also by filtering out yet another stupid joke from the Dutchman (Tim) or Kiwi (Russell) that would have certainly gone off wrong with an American audience.
Josh, you’re the embodiment of balance, deliberateness, and human intelligence. I know your talents can be put to work in many different places, yet you chose to stay with us, believing we would make this happen. It means a lot, thanks!
Jan and Helmut
While the $60,000+ we raised through Indiegogo would certainly be a lot to receive in your personal bank account, it’s nothing when you’re trying to create and manufacture a hardware (and software!) product. Based on the amount we raised, the founder of a well-known hardware accelerator program even advised us to cancel the entire campaign the night before it was supposed to end!
In a way he was right: our initial calculations predicted Saent would cost $120,000 ; it turned out to be quite a bit more (though in part that’s because of the software, which has gone way beyond what we originally pitched during the crowdfunding campaign).
Left: final quality control before packaging. Right: each Saent button is packed by hand.
In other words, we were way short with the money we raised through Indiegogo. Behind the scenes this has caused some agonizing moments, where we were only days away from the whole thing derailing because of the perilous state of our bank account. Additional funding from our investors enabled us to complete the beautiful buttons that are on their way to backers now, and the app that hundreds of people are already using.
Jan and Helmut, without your trust, patience and wisdom, none of this would have been possible. We are fortunate to have you as our patron Saints.
Fleur
A look inside the final Saent button design.
Creating an entity in Hong Kong, opening a bank account, dealing with accountants; it all seems utterly mundane and far removed from the reality of shipping Saent. But it would not have happened without those things in place, and Fleur went to great lengths, running around bloody hot Hong Kong in summer, to make it all happen.
But she did much more than that, stepping in with loans, advice, or simply a place to stay at crucial moments over the past twelve months. If it weren’t for her, the wheels would certainly have come off.
Thanks Fleur. It’s a pleasure to be working together and it will only get better with Guy and yourself now stepping up the support even further!
Maggie
If you make it through a series of interview rounds with over 400 other smart people, you must be special. Maggie applied for our librarian position and did exactly that.
As our in-house librarian, Maggie has already proven her worth in gold; she has setup and structured an amazing Knowledge Base for our users, done preparation work on our upcoming community site*,* and will soon hit you with our completely renewed monthly newsletter. You might also find her answering questions coming in to support@saent.com.
Maggie, you’re living proof that a librarian holds invaluable skills in today’s information overloaded world, and I can’t wait to see what other exciting projects we will work on together in the future.
The product assembly line on the right, and the packaging assembly line on the right.
*Our partners* Moments of great wonder, frustration and agony have surely come to pass at our partners’ offices in Shenzhen (China) and Ho-chi Minh City (Vietnam); Russell demanding yet another remake of a tiny component of the device, me announcing our intention to redo almost the entire app, just when everyone thought it was nearly finished.
Jimmy, Thuan, Vincent, Fenggao, Alex, Huy, Hau, Nguyen, and of course everyone else on your teams, we know you’ve put in great efforts to make our dream of Saent a reality, and you’ve supported us way beyond simply building a product according to spec. We’re really thankful for your heroic efforts on making this happen.
Memory Design
The silent, almost secretive support from everyone at Russell’s Memory Design agency would be easy to overlook. They helped with design, sorting out contracts in Chinese, testing yet another version of the button, managing all the courier deliveries (thanks Lily!), and more.
Lily, Libo, June, Roger, Xu and everyone else at Memory: it’s been great to have you all involved and the magic white button wouldn’t have come into existence without you!
Motel took our rough UI concept and refined it into the beautiful interface that’s in the app today.
Motel
Our app would certainly not have been what it is today without the talented folks at Motel having a crack at it. We gave them a rough idea for a conversational interface, then they turned it into something beautiful that actually works, including the brilliant visual progress bar at the top of the screen.
Matt, Caleb, and the rest of the team: a big thanks not only for your amazing work, but also for your trust, flexibility, and support in making this happen. We look forward to a long-lasting partnership!
You!
If you’re reading this, you have shown some interest in Saent and we’re thankful for that. Perhaps you have bought our product, maybe you told a friend about it, or you might have just followed along with our story.
Whichever it is, know that having deserved a slice of your attention, whether big or small, is what has pulled everyone mentioned in this article, including myself, through the tough moments. Seeing our product about to land on desks in 59 countries around the world has made this all worth it, no matter what happens next. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
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