Promising fakap: why we closed Mevics – says the startup team

Mevics is a healthcare startup, created in 2016. The project team wanted to create a compact device that attaches to clothing and controls your posture, as well as measures physical activity throughout the day.

4 years later, the co-founder of the startup, as well as his employees in the column for AIN.UA, told what they had to go through before they decided to finally close the project.

Foreword

Almost two years have passed since the moment our team suspended the development of the Mevics project. Why is it suspended, but not completed? I guess it’s just psychologically easier to say that.

In fact, a year ago it was clear that the point of no return was passed, and the technology was outdated. Attempts to make a pivot failed. Today Mevics is a story.

I would like to share our experience, to talk about what we managed to achieve and what not, and also to share my emotions. For the whole team, Mevics was not just a business – it was a part of each of us, the first major achievement in life.

Three factors in decision making

 

Everyone has their own motive in creating a business: someone wants to change the world through the development of a new device or technology, someone just wants to make money – the list is endless.

My true motives were very mixed, and in different proportions.

1. 1. The desire to create something interesting and as innovative as possible.
   2. Fund my dream.
   3. The desire to achieve something important and prove to everyone that I can.

That is, at every moment of time, at every decision, I was guided by these three factors.

I do not consider them bad. There is no good or bad. There is how you deal with them and how they influence. Psychological trauma and fears also directly affect your decisions in different situations. The only way to work effectively with this is to practice mindfulness. To ask myself why I do this, and look for answers within myself.

The right motivation will help you find a resource and not give up when it comes to an end.

Problems with electronics in Mevics

I met many talented people who were simply afraid to take risks, doubted and because of this were afraid to act. I was their opposite – I moved forward and did not see any obstacles. I did not think about the difficulties and in the end overestimated my strength.

It is very important to approach everything rationally. Soberly assess the capabilities of your team, experience, personal strength.

We thought we could develop a world-class device with a team with no experience. And even successfully solved most of the important tasks, but with one task we very much overestimated ourselves.

At the time of freezing, our device worked well and performed its functions. We had the final prototypes that we gave for tests to Intosana (a private clinic in Odesa) and passed them well.

But there were problems. Mevics could not connect to the smartphone, after charging it might just not turn on, did not live as long as we needed. The list was long, and all the shortcomings eventually led to the fact that development in this form could not be sold.

We had an iOS application ready, but we couldn’t send the devices to Cupertino so that the application would be validated and published in the AppStore.

There were no resources left for experiments, as well as outsourcing electronics.

You can not? Learn!

At the beginning of startup development, you have few opportunities and resources to hire a large team of employees, each of which will be responsible for one thing. The only way out is to learn on your own. It will be difficult at first, but there are a lot of opportunities on the network, and over time, everything should work out.

Having gained this experience, I understood a few key points:

1. You need to learn what happens and what you like. Then there will be a clear opportunity to form their own areas of responsibility.
2. You should not break into any sphere if you do not feel it “yours”. There is a chance to quickly burn out and hate the project.
3. Do not take a lot of responsibilities on yourself. There is a risk of losing control over the main and main tasks (company strategy, sales) if torn. Better to find another person in the team.
4. One of the most important factors that you need to learn is to look at the project from the side, be able to abstract.

Dream team – what is it?

Gathering the backbone, you sell the idea, and most likely you do not have the resource to hire people for money. You need to find people who will be on fire with the idea just like you. People are strong, independent, responsible.

Why is it important:

• If you understand each other perfectly, you save an unrealistic amount of time. You know that if you set a task and minimally describe the requirements, then the contractor will do exactly as needed. Everyone should be on the same wavelength. The basis of the team should be from people who are not afraid to make decisions on their own.
• Trust and reliable rear. You must have support, because at every fall (and there may be many) it is really important that there are people with whom you will pass along.

We had such a team, and I am grateful to each of them.

Do not be afraid to “sell” the idea to experienced guys who already work in cool companies. As a rule, they have good experience and it is likely that they are already bored with their work. In this case, your project may become a “breath of fresh air” after work, if you can attract and carry them away with your idea.

MVP awry

Hardware developer Vladislav Hmelevsky:

1. At the stage of the conditional “cardboard-arduino” layout, it is important to test the idea. Identify and write out all the strengths and weaknesses. Potential pitfalls. Work out the design. To some extent, this is a crucial stage.
2. When it is completed, you need to proceed to the prototype on your own board. Compliance with the sequence of these stages will ultimately save the financial and emotional resources of the team.
3. After that, purchase the necessary debug boards of the selected microcontroller company. Choose components, if you are not sure of something, it is better to consult many times. Buy and disassemble a couple of devices from your segment, see what they use. Buy them and make friends with the debug board.
4. Assemble the device, write the firmware and make sure that the main and main functions of your device work. Make bluetooth connectivity with Android and iPhone.
5. Decide on the industrial design and type of device. At this stage, it is important for you to combine two critical components: how much you can reduce all the electronics and what dimensions of the case are dictated by the market and the device concept.
6. Next, you can print the prototype of the final case on a 3D printer. Delve into the design of the case, texture, color.
7. The most important step is to correctly transfer the circuit from the debug board to the printed circuit board and at the same time fit into the necessary dimensions. And then run the board and make it work and nothing breaks.

It is clear that in the intervals between the stages you will have iterations, iterations on the final board, selection of components, etc. But it is strategically desirable that the sequence be just that. Everything was wrong with us due to lack of experience.

We started on the wrong microprocessor, didn’t think over the case, but installed the electronics in what was placed … All this took a lot of precious time.

Kickstarter Failure

We had a negative experience on Kickstarter. We went to the site twice and both times collected a little less than half of the declared amount.

A Few Key Lessons I Learned:

• This is a lottery.
• This requires a budget roughly equal to the goal that you want to collect.
• If you don’t have a device with which you will go into production, do not go in there.

If you already have a device and you only need funds for production, then it is better to spend the money that you want to spend on Kickstarter, invest in production and already start selling. If you invest this money in Kickstarter, then they may not return to you.

Failure factors are many. It’s not necessarily a matter of a product – you simply could have come out at the wrong moment, not got into targeting with targeting and advertising, and so on. Therefore, it is better to try to sell the minimum batch yourself on the site by testing hypotheses. And then, if you really want to, go out on Kickstarter, as in the end it’s still a very good advertising platform.

Investor Relations

If you have a Hardware project, then most likely without investment you will not be able to create a device and launch sales. Therefore, investor relations are very important.

• Firstly, as a rule, investors have more resources and any documents can be famously turned against you. Therefore, do not count on them like that.
• See how you interact, how much you are your people. If you feel support from them and you are on the same wavelength, if you are sure that at some point the investor will not leave your project, if you do not have to worry about the tranches being delivered on time, you will succeed.

We had a mutual understanding with our investors and partners. And after freezing Mevics, we remained in a good relationship.

So hear yourself, take a break after the meeting and think about whether you would like to go further with these people, which your instinct tells.

Sleepless nights

If you think that sleepless nights are something cool, as we initially thought, then you have big problems with time management and the organization of processes. If this is already on a regular basis, then it is definitely worth changing the estimate of the time of tasks, processes, your approach.

Of course, it will not work without sleepless nights, but every such night is a valuable resource, your health. If we run a marathon, do not give all the best for the first kilometers.

As a leader, I made such a mistake, respectively, and the team worked in this mode. It resulted in burnout when you were doing some things, only to do it, because time was running out, and there was no more energy left to think or create.

I recently realized how important it is to stop. And that sometimes two minutes of stopping or a day of pause can change a lot.

Emotions

This section was written by our Lead Designer Ksenia Filipchuk.

“I want to talk about stress and emotions.

Due to the fact that everything will not happen as you expect, you will experience a range of different emotions. Mostly negative. You must learn to survive pain and sorrow with your team.

One important person told me: “Sadness is spoiled anger.” Indeed, if you get angry in time, you can avoid a lot of regrets and sadness in the future. Do not be afraid of your emotions. Do not be afraid to admit that something is not working out for you or you are not ready to do something. Self-deception is a terrible thing, be honest with yourself.

Ultimately, you will still fulfill your responsibilities. However, an accurate understanding of your limits will give you the freedom to experience the joy of new discoveries and not think about what is expected of you.

Remember to ask yourself the question “Why am I doing this?” Do I enjoy it?”. And of course, love what you do. With all my heart”.

Epilogue

Probably it was clear to everyone who knew us that the project was gone. However, only now I can consciously say that Mevics is closed. That was the story of our project, so it changed our lives.

Now I can confidently say that it is precisely such a device and such a business model that will no longer exist. Will there be something else and new? Maybe, but that’s another story.

If you still have questions or are building your project and want to ask something, add me on Facebook or LinkedIn, and I will be happy to answer all questions if possible.

Source: ain.ua