Whew, these last two weeks have been a whirlwind here at Kello HQ! A quick update:
- Kello was fully funded in less than two hours. That’s right. We launched at 8am EST on September 20 and smashed our $50,000 USD Kickstarter funding goal by 10am. Thank you to everyone who supported Kello right out of the gate. You know who you are.
- We’re now 521% funded (and still have 13 days to go!). As of this morning, 2,235 backers have pledged $260,537 USD. Incredible.
- The press loves Kello. Fast Company’s John Brownlee marveled at Kello’s “smarts,” The Verge’s Ashley Carman was intrigued by its “sleep training” capabilities, and Digital Trends’ Luke Dormehl was impressed by Kello’s promise to “actually teach you how to sleep better.” We also got a thumbs up by our friends at Slashgear, PD&D Magazine, TechinAsia, and New Atlas magazine.
- Kickstarter called Kello a “Project We Love”. Last week, we were front-and-center on Kickstarter’s homepage as a “Project We Love.” What an awesome accolade to wake up to!
- Our co-founder shares his sleep journey. Before he quit his job and moved to Hong Kong to start Kello, our co-founder Antoine spent one year trying to “hack” his own sleep. Last week, Startup Grind published Antoine’s fascinating tale about why he chose to dedicate his career to helping others find better sleep. Check it out.
And now, a word from the Kello community
One of the best parts of introducing Kello to the world this year has been reading the hundreds of comments, emails and Tweets from the Kello community. We thought it’d be fun to share a few of our favorite ones so far:
… on why Kello is so beautiful
“It’s so beautiful you’d want to lick it.” – Gwynaeth
… on their current alarm clock situation
“I have a radio alarm clock. It's like Russian roulette. Sometimes you're lucky and you wake up with a good song, but most of the time you try to move as fast as you can to turn it off.” – Sebastian
“My alarm was the spawn of some dark insidious creature bent on torturing me at the same time Setting me up for a bad day at work all starting with those monotonous beeps from the depths of purgatory.” – Emileigh
“I wake up every morning to the sound of Dusty Springfield singing Son of a Preacher Man. Obviously, not the real Dusty (she’s dead), so I have to make do with my smartphone as a poor substitute.” – John
“I use this bomb alarm noise that startles me awake, which I've been told is bad for you.” – Dennis
“Can I call my begrudging wife an alarm clock?” – Bryan
… on why they can’t wait for Kello to jumpstart their new nighttime and morning routine
“Every morning, I choose to be awful and go onto Facebook on my phone for 20 minutes rather than make breakfast. Because I'm an adult.” – Becca
“I have been feeling for months now that the smartphone is making my mornings worse.” – Julia
“I try to get to bed early but then I spend another hour playing on my phone. Then I wake up tired and snooze until the last minute. Kello will help me break that cycle.” – Peter
… on why they love the name Kello
“My girlfriend's nickname is Kello also!” – John
… on which Kello features they love the most
“Banking snooze time is actually kind of cool.” – Jessica
“I liked how it can progressively wake you earlier without jarring your system.” – Jess
“I really like that I can connect with Spotify for music, and the 'use up your snoozes' philosophy.” – Melanie
… on why Kello is poised to win the Sleep Revolution
“In a world where there are so many things trying to work against our natural health requirements, I am excited that your team has made it a mission to improve the most important one. Sleep.” – Brittany
“Kello seems like it will fit that bill better than other options on the market, because with a lot of other options the alarm seems like an afterthought rather than the focus.” – Garrett
“Most companies aren't in the alarm clock game to help the consumer – they just want a clock that will scare you awake. I'm excited to see the finished product on my nightstand soon.” – James
For more details and updates on our Kickstarter campaign, head on over to http://ks.getkello.com.
Until next time!
The Kello Team
