After $10M of pre-orders, we (‘Portabl’ ex-Slidenjoy startup) started shipping our revolutionary triple screens for laptops.
(Version française disponible ici : https://medium.com/@portabl/apr%C3%A8s-10-millions-de-dollars-de-pr%C3%A9commandes-nous-portabl-ex-startup-slidenjoy-livrons-nos-eda37b3c646a)
We pre-sold over 10 million dollars worth of our triple screens before the first product was even delivered, stopped all communication for 18 months to save the project and we just spent the last 10 days hand-delivering to our first customers across 6 European countries. Their user experience feedback is just amazing, we explain it all here.
Today, the Slide has been seen more than 150 million times on social media, appeared in more than 1,000 news articles worldwide, generated more than 300,000 subscriptions to our mailing list, inspired more than 1,600 contributors to support us during the crowdfunding campaign, registered 4,500 firm orders, more than 10,000 pre-sales with down payments, and generated a community of 1,900 people who thought they had been screwed. The Slide brought us in a private face-to-face meeting with the CEO of Lenovo and made it almost impossible for us to hide from a malicious partner that we were moving forward with the project, producing our units and shipping them.
The Slide made so much noise, that we still don’t know if we are here today thanks to the intimidating media power of this incredible story that we kept ready to be activated at any moment, or if it is simply because we managed to hide our production in China in the greatest of secrecy.
The three of us, in three years time, are the first in the world:
- On the electronic side, to have conceived and designed the architecture of the Synergy System communication protocol (Portabl® Synergy System), the electronic board, the interface and the technology that make it a world first, combining 2 power cables and 2 video signal cables through a single USB cable.
- And on the mechanical side, to have invented the permanent data and power Constant Stream (Portabl® Constant Stream) system allowing 2 full-HD screens to slide to the left and right of your laptop screen, without any display break. The Slide is not the evolution of an existing product, it is composed of 89 custom-made parts and 159 components. It passed the certifications, respects the distribution regulations and benefits from a 2-year international warranty.
Today, it is with happiness and relief that we can resume our communication and you will understand why.
It is, unfortunately, a secret for nobody that many startups are robbed of their projects and their funds before even releasing a single product. This has been our case, however, we are convinced that the Chinese government has played an important and positive role in our story. They are doing their best to limit this image and the heavy reality it represents, but stealing projects and funds is still a national sport in China, with very few rules.
After receiving our first hundreds of Slides in Belgium, we are now very happy to be able to finally share a part of our story. Please note that if some of you take the time to look at when we started the absolute radio silence, it corresponds to the exact moment when former production partners in China started announcing on the social media that we had not paid their production invoices and that the Slide would be delivered directly by them. This was just a few days after we had paid them the sum of 400.000€.
Controlled by the Financial department, the anti-fraud unit, the judicial and fiscal authorities as well as the public prosecutor of Charleroi… everything we are going to tell you here is the strict truth. If this were not the case, we would never dare to write it. Neither to you, nor to the journalists who have been interested in our story or who will be interested in it, because we would probably be in jail by now.
All of the people who have come to us over the years and have agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement to learn about the facts and to consult all of the evidence and documents detailing this unpleasant chapter of our history can feel free to communicate on the subject from now on. Everything they have seen, read, and heard (recorded conversations, accounting, proof of the many transfers made for production, patents, trademarks, and all official documents …) is no longer confidential.
We would have so much liked that things happened differently. We would have preferred to be able to lift the secrecy of our strategy almost 2 years ago, in order to continue the adventure in a more peaceful way, but we never dared to take the risk that a second attempt of project hijacking (or theft of our production) might occur.
Even if we let ourselves be falsely accused for almost two years.
When we realized that we would never receive the Slides that were contractually due to be delivered to us 40 days after the payment of this 400.000€ invoice, when we read that our former partner wanted to sell them himself directly via social networks, claiming to have never received any money from us;
We had 2 possibilities:
1/ To stop everything and file the whole case to the competent authorities, since we were victims of an international fraud, disengaging ourselves from any financial, legal, and moral responsibility.
2/ To surpass ourselves and decide to fight to restart a production in the greatest secrecy so that the materials cannot be diverted again.
This is what we did for almost 2 years. It was extremely complicated, but afterward we don’t regret anything.
It was an incredible journey and this is what we did:
- We had to find a new qualified factory in the middle of Covid’s start-up period, while they were closed (at first).
- When they were finally able to reopen, they were running non-stop to catch up on orders from regular customers for whom they were already behind schedule, due to previous closures. We had to persuade these same factories of the potential of the Slide, so that we could fit into their tight production plannings. Even if it meant leaving their other customers aside.
- We had to convince our new interlocutors to launch the “small” production of 1,500 units of a new product coming to the market when it was impossible for us to go there (which is still the case today).
- We had to finance and then buy a second time a part of the components and prepay the factory for the whole production, during a worldwide and unprecedented electronic shortage.
- We had to get back on track, after having been completely discredited by repeatedly announcing and postponing deadlines that were communicated to us by our former partners and that were completely false.
- Finally, we had to overcome the stress and humiliation, letting ourselves be seen as international frauds when it was so easy for us to clear our names at any time.
We let ourselves be falsely accused for many months when it was so easy to publish the proofs of our good-faith on social media, but we did it, with the only purpose of saving the project.
We did not know if we were on death row or in the launching pad of a success story.
We made countless mistakes, were woefully inexperienced with such a huge project, and had to deal with hundreds of the traps that make entrepreneurship so beautiful and so painful at the same time. It obviously took a lot longer than expected, but today, all that is behind us.
Imagine the relief it is for the small team that we are when we dreamed of screaming the truth all along.
We hope it’s the same for the thousands of people who have decided to continue supporting us and the major incredible companies who have trusted us and kept their orders.
We put all our heart and energy into it and as you read this, we are happy and relieved.
The Slide is a world first. It is the only one in the world to add 2 sliding monitors to any laptop (or Android tablet), with a single USB cable.
Our customers feedback is incredible
We have delivered our first batch of contributors/customers and have met a bunch of them. The experience and their user feedback is just amazing.
Our vision has changed quite a bit along the way, whereas at the beginning of the project, we wanted to position the Slide as an entry-level device on the market.
After seeing the worldwide interest in it over the years, we decided to make it a much more professional and qualitative tool by using premium materials.
While 99% of companies equip their workspaces, their employees, their consultants, … with boring black, white or grey monitors, the Slide is the only one in the world to be hyper-customizable. From 100 units or more, its colors, coatings, finishing materials and backlit logo can be customized without any limits to the image of the companies.
In addition to being profitable due to its increased work efficiency (+42% according to university studies), it becomes a communication tool through a visual space never before exploited.
The two screen holders, the hinges, and the sliding system are now entirely made of aluminum, like the ap*le brand.
The Slide is single-cable. The electronic system we developed is the result of our collaboration and hard work with the world leaders in data compression and USB display. We have designed the electronics and technology that make it a world first. Combining 2 power cables and 2 video signal cables through a single USB, allowing you to display 2 full-HD screens.
The Slide is now single size and self-standing. It was developed to be compatible with all sizes of computers/Android tablets from 10 to 17 inches and works either on USB Type-C or USB 3.0 or 2 coupled with a secondary power supply.
The Slide has 2 13.3-inch monitors. Its screen panels are matte, anti-glare and Full-HD (1920*1080p).
The Slide is universal, based on Displaylink technology (acquired by Synaptics last year). It works on MacOS (10.8 and above), Windows (XP — Vista — 7–8.1–10 and above), Ubuntu (14.10 and above) and even Android (V5.0 and above) if you want to use it on your tablet/smartphone.
The Slide stands on its own, on a flat surface. It now has a 14-level adjustable stand, making it usable regardless of the thickness or size of your laptop (whether it’s a MacBook Air or a gamer PC), without even having to be hung on the back of it. For those who want their Slide and their laptop to be one, it is still possible to match them thanks to the 4 mounting pads.
The back of the Slide’s screens, its <6mm edges as well as its stand are now magnetized for a better comfort of use.
We’re leaving a lot of problems behind
If everything took longer, it’s important to note that everything also cost a lot more than expected.
The 520.000€ of donations initially collected on Kickstarter were barely enough to make a single set of 24 hardened steel molds and didn’t even cover the R&D and material costs for the first batch of Slides.
In addition, there are many unforeseen events. Last year, for example, we were even sued in New York court over a patent we weren’t even infringing. One more chapter we can add to the list of unexpected problems we had to solve and that took us a long time. We don’t count the sleepless nights and all the energy and time we put into it. We also don’t count the astronomical amounts of money (on our level) that we had to leave in legal fees to defend our baby, get a settlement and keep moving forward.
We can’t disclose the terms or amounts of our settlement because we are under NDA, but including legal fees, we already spent over $100,000.
We would like to underline that no one else but Kickstarter contributors, pre-orderers and ourselves have contributed financially to the project. Some former partners have shared countless false information about us, aiming to weaken us, take advantage of the situation and take over the project, for the simple reason that we did not share the same vision on the quality of the product. The specifications and their commitments were absolutely not respected by them, trying to force us to close our eyes on the quality aspect and deliver an unfinished product that barely worked.
Delays have accumulated against our will. Absolutely all the delays we have announced since 2018 were communicated to us by the “professional” partners in the business, who guaranteed us delivery 40 days after our last invoice was paid. Which we did almost 2 years ago.
All this without even mentioning the multiple breaches of confidentiality that were made, the (totally false) disclosures of production costs and other absurdities of all kinds. We enforced our contracts, changed factories in the middle of Covid and restarted production without ever going back to China. It was not easy, and all this under extremely difficult conditions, because we had to select other partners without having the authorization to go to the territory. The remote management of such an unexpected dramatic change was extremely complicated.
Fortunately, we were able to count on the support of Alexis, the kind of partner that any entrepreneur would dream of having on-site in this situation. Without his support, his backing and the mutual trust we had, the Slide would never have seen the light of day. We are lucky that since the beginning of this adventure we have remained united as a group of 3 co-founders, but he probably felt very isolated, stuck at the end of the world. Bravo for his courage, his tenacity. He made the right choices, we can only thank him.
In short, financial difficulties were numerous, delays multiplied, the coronavirus did not help, and today, the shortage of electronic semi-components does not make things easier for us (the significant increase in the price of raw materials does not help either). We hear a lot about the semiconductor shortage, but the aluminum shortage is just as important, and we are suffering tremendously from it today for the mass production of the Slide. This is one of the many factors we need to take into account to catch up and keep up with our growing ramp-up plan.
When you read every day in the press that thousands of production lines have to stop, that Sony has suffered more than two years of delay in the production of its PlayStation 5, that Tesla is now announcing that they will deliver every 3 months, that it is impossible to have a Volkswagen in less than a year, that it is practically illusory to find an NVIDIA graphics card … it is important to understand that even if the biggest companies in this world did not manage to do it, while managing huge purchasing volumes and production rates as phenomenal as we can imagine, we can consider ourselves lucky to have secured several thousands of chips and to have a production that can keep up.
We have identified the suppliers of semi-components whose shortage is the most critical, met with them, presented them with the Slide and now have enough to make a few thousand units.
We are obviously fighting and focusing our efforts on securing the supply chain for these key components as well as ramping up our production capacity.
Regarding the product itself, the delays are good in terms of testing. We were forced to stress our product for almost a year and a half. While one of the biggest risks for hardware startups is the unavoidable delay in using their products intensively and fixing defects over time, we and our family members work daily with one or more Slides. We have unintentionally taken advantage of all these events for the benefit of the Slide and its lifetime.
At the beginning of this journey, our contributors were at the base of this project from a financial position. Today, some of them are on the user side.
We have been lucky
In addition to thanking each of the contributors to this project as well as all of the people who supported us, we will not forget to realize that we have been extremely lucky throughout this fabulous adventure.
The product is incredible and meets real needs. If it has managed to attract interest and orders over time from entities as different and giant as NASA, Harvard, the U.S. Navy, the French army, Amazon, Tinder and other companies all more incredible than the others, it can only be because of the everyday problems it solves. It’s thanks to the trust of our Kickstarter community, of these big companies and of thousands of other firm orders that the Slide is born. We are grateful to them above all.
We know how much we need them, this article is also for them and for our family and friends who were worried about us and to whom we could not disclose this information during all this time, thank you all.
Here we are
We come to the market, offering a solution (in our opinion) ideal for home and part-time work in companies. Even though the global Covid19 pandemic has caused a lot of damage to many companies, we consider ourselves lucky for the launch of the Slide, as the needs have changed drastically over the last 18 months.
The Slide is a product that helps you work comfortably from anywhere, that plays a role in today’s new standards, whether it’s for health or ecological reasons, we all understand the importance and luxury of home-working (partial or not).
We get it and it’s been our corporate mission since day 1. Reinventing portability.
We have developed a tool that is extremely easy to use, offering maximum freedom between your different workspaces.
At home, in the office, at the local Starbucks, wherever you want.
Now
Our branding is changing.
- First, because what was originally denominated as “Slidenjoy” has become a much more natural and easy to say diminutive and “common name” on its own over time. You’ve all used it without realizing “How many inches is the Slide?” / “Is the Slide available in my country?” / “How should I plug in the Slide?” -> “Slide” has become a product with an identity of its own.
- And secondly, because all future products that will be announced in the future confirm our corporate vision: portability.
The branding has changed, but the company’s ownership, HQ address and company number remain the same.
All communications, branding, packaging, social networks, email addresses and other support are available tonight via www.portabl.com
At this moment, probably one of you is reading us, for the first time, by turning your head slightly to the left or to the right of your main screen, to our great satisfaction. The one who will be reading us on his Slide, will smile.
And we’ve been dreaming of this since the first prototype.
This is just the beginning. And for those of you who would like to get on board, we are proud to announce that Portabl® is hiring many profiles, all as different and crazy as this project. Feel free to visit our website for more information.
For those who have supported us or helped us in any way since day 1: You didn’t buy a product, you were at the base of an incredible story that has animated us from day one and we can’t thank you enough.
We are nobody and we will never give any lessons to anyone. But we will continue to think and tell those who read and listen to us (whether they are in the same situation or not), that it is important to never give up, and how crowdfunding carries magic.
Afterwards, we think that the Slide should have been developed by a Billion Dollar Company (such as HP, Dell, Asus, Lenovo or many others). These giants have teams that have already made millions of molds, hinges, electronic boards, laptops, tablets or screens, and would certainly have created a system similar to ours more quickly. As for us, we started from a blank sheet of paper and had no knowledge in the field. The road has been extremely complicated and winding, but we can tell you that the longer and harder it is, the better it feels.
It’s a pretty incredible feeling to realize that we are the first in the world to have achieved this.
And we’re going to take advantage of this immense personal and professional enrichment to surprise you even more with the arrival of the new completely different products we have developed.
Thank you for everything.
Laurent, Thomas et Charlee.
