Hello
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Hello was a San Francisco hardware startup founded in August 2012 by James Proud, a Thiel Fellow. It built Sense, a bedside sleep-tracking device that monitored sleep without a wearable, paired with a mobile app. Sense tracked sleep quality as well as bedroom conditions such as air quality, light, noise, humidity and temperature, and a later version added voice control. The company raised $2.4 million on Kickstarter in 2014, one of the platform's biggest campaigns at the time, and went on to raise more than $50 million in venture funding, including a $40 million round led by Temasek in 2015 that valued it at $250-300 million.
02 / Hello FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors
Hello collapsing; Axios-reported fire-sale talks with Fitbit failed; source close to Hello said fundraising had become more difficult. Founder Medium (12 Jun 2017, opened) announced Hello will soon be shutting down after weeks seeking a home for Sense, past months incredibly tough.
firm found it more difficult to raise funds in recent months.
fire-sale talks with Fitbit failed to reach a deal; founder: working hard to find the right home for Sense.
Sense struggled against bigger brands including Withings Aura and Fitbit; Apple acquired rival Beddit.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Hello was founded.
- Operations ended
Hello ended operations.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Raised over $50 million in total funding, including a $2.4 million Kickstarter campaign in 2014 and a $40 million round led by Temasek in 2015 at a $250-300 million valuation.
- 02
Laid off most staff and announced it would shut down in June 2017, while seeking a buyer or a 'new home' for the Sense product line; reported fire-sale talks with Fitbit came to nothing.
- 03
Direct customers were told no refunds would be issued; users could export and delete their account data.