How It All Began
It all started when co-founder Lang Mei was on a trip in Paris and, after getting distracted in a crowded coffee shop, looked down to realize that his bag and laptop had disappeared. While desperately trying to find his belongings, Lang slowly began to realize that he would likely never see them again.
Afterwards, Lang wanted to find a way to combat this problem. However, after evaluating existing products aimed at doing just that, it became apparent that the best solution had not yet been found. That untapped solution would later become informu’s primary goal — stop loss before it ever happens.
Lang met co-founder Rishabh Berlia at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the two of them set out to build the first prototype of the Mu tag shortly thereafter. As they say, the rest is history!
A Glimpse of informu’s Journey
We have been working to bring this idea to life for the last two years, and it has been a truly incredible journey so far! Along the way, we have been lucky enough to work with friends and colleagues from a variety of backgrounds, each of them instrumental in breathing life into informu.
After going through Catalyze CU, a rigorous and immersive accelerator program, in 2016, we were eager to try our hand at crowdfunding. CU Crowdfunding, a university platform for bringing student run projects to life through community donations, proved instrumental in giving the informu team a taste of the numerous benefits of using crowdfunding to gain both financial backing and consumer feedback.
From that platform, we gained enough funding to produce prototypes and begin beta testing with early supporters. Utilizing feedback from these early tests, we gradually narrowed our focus, and began to form what has now evolved into the Mu tag.
Kickstarter Success
We loved Mu tag, and after launching our Kickstarter campaign in April of this year, it became apparent that we weren’t alone. Over the course of just 27 days, we raised over $100,000 — more than four times our original goal. However, money isn’t everything.
With that influx of financial support also came a wealth of consumer engagement and feedback, which has now become the basis for several new features we are working to implement in the final iteration of the Mu tag.
Through this process, our team realized that making a great product is all about the customer experience. Crowdfunding can connect the team directly with the early supporters who are excited about the product and are eager to share their thoughts. We at informu believe firmly that feedback, and even criticism, are vital for developing something groundbreaking. Because of this, we listened to our backers, and have implemented four new features into the Mu tag that are reflective of the feedback we received.
Armed with a cutting edge product and drive to continue perfecting it, we now aim to grow our consumer feedback loop by running a second campaign through Indiegogo. A successful campaign would generate a wealth of customer input to help us further develop the best product possible, and would allow us to begin production at a previously unachievable scale. The result for our backers would be receiving a higher quality product with more innovative features faster than previously expected.
So, Why Indiegogo?
Believe it or not, too much money can be a problem for an early stage company. As grateful as we were for the outpouring of support on Kickstarter, surpassing 400% of our original funding goal made our small batch manufacturing plan impractical for keeping up with demand. This left us in a grey area, with a considerable amount of demand for our products and a manufacturing plan that wouldn’t allow us to deliver on it. Having since reconciled this issue, we have shifted our manufacturing efforts, and are now ready to begin large scale production. This is were Indiegogo comes in!
In order to counter balance the initial costs of transitioning to a larger manufacturing plan, we hope to attract more support for our products through a new crowdfunding campaign. We identified Indiegogo as an appealing option because of the community’s very hardware and tech friendly nature, and we have not been disappointed. Only ten days into our campaign we have already achieved over half of our goal, and the support from the Indiegogo community is growing every day!
What the Future Holds
Put simply, the future excites us! Every day brings us a step closer to seeing our work culminate in a groundbreaking product enjoyed by our growing community of supporters.
With so many products and platforms out there to help us organize our digital world, we have neglected the physical aspects of our lives. Imagine a future where, with the press of a button, you can know precisely where all of your most important belongings are — a future where you will never forget a thing, and were you can live worry free, knowing that your belongings are safe when they aren’t by your side. This is the dream we are working towards at informu, and we are thrilled to have you along with us!
If you have any questions about our company or products, are interested in providing your own feedback or just want to say hello, feel free to email us at support@informu.io!
If you would like to learn more about us, show your support, or place a preorder for our products shipping this December, visit our Indiegogo page!
