Eric Migicovsky at Startup School SV 2014

As an engineering student in the Netherlands, Migicovsky wanted to check calls and messages while biking without pulling out his phone. He first sketched a phone-connected bicycle computer, then shifted to a watch after a friend pointed out that not everyone bikes all day. A Nokia phone and an Arduino became his rough first prototype.

Migicovsky pitched the idea, won competition funding, borrowed from his parents, and worked with friends on a version that connected to BlackBerry phones. The team refined its designs and showed people increasingly wearable prototypes, including a 3D-printed model. They also used a planned product render to attract blog coverage, which brought about 1,000 people to a mailing list.

The team assembled its first 500 watches by hand in a university lab and shipped them in small batches. The first 20 shipments had backs break off, reinforcing the value of starting with limited production. Migicovsky said 80 percent of early Impulse buyers used the watch daily, and their feedback helped shape new features.

Early customers prompted basic fixes, including adding the time to a watch that initially showed notifications but not the time. After the team released an SDK in 2011, developers created more than 100 apps within two or three months, despite only about 1,000 watches being in use. Feedback also drove Pebble's move to longer battery life, better outdoor visibility, water resistance, and iPhone compatibility.

After failing to interest 20 or 30 investors, the team launched Pebble on Kickstarter, seeking $100,000 for 1,000 watches. The campaign reached that goal in two hours, raised its first million in 28 hours, and finished with $10 million from 70,000 backers. Migicovsky attributed the response to three clear uses: notifications, sports and fitness updates, and customizable watch faces.