What I learned from building In Shadows in Asia
And why aural augmented reality is the future.
In Shadows started as a technical and social experiment. How can we make urban living healthier? While running one day in Gardens by the Bay by myself, I thought wouldn’t it be more fun to run with a group of people.
Breaking news. Lot’s of people regularly meet up in running groups to keep their running regime and be social. That was not the point.
What if these would be running to-ge-ther? What if I could make an augmented running experience where a group of people could play a running game for 30 min to 1 hrs that would combine anaerobic and aerobic exercise for maximum effectiveness, includes elements of gamification, and augmented reality? What if the players in this game could tag each other using a technology like iBeacons?
This is how In Shadows (inshadows.asia) saw the light of day back in 2013. The app was quickly done, website (+teaser video) as well, run events were scheduled, a press release was written and posted, and we even started a IndieGoGo campaign. So far so good.
What started out as a technical and social experiment unfortunately, at least in the current version, can be considered a right-out failure.
Or in other words, here is what I learned for the experience.
Understand your competitors
When I started actively considering this new app idea it always makes sense to understand your market. The app originated in Singapore which holds a stable temperature of ~30 degrees Celsius (86 F) throughout the year and because of it there are hundred- thousands people regularly enjoying outdoor activities because of it.
So it was clear to me that the market size was just right.
Mistake 1 : In my ‘the great innovator’ hubris I thought the idea is so great and so unique that nothing will hold all these running enthusiasts back to use my app. Wrong.
Every weekend in Singapore you have at least one major running event. Examples for 2016 are the Standard Chartered Marathon (http://www.marathonsingapore.com/), the Electric Run (http://electricrun.sg/) , the Puma Night Run (http://puma-nightrun.com.sg/), or the Batman vs. Superman run (http://www.batmanvsupermanrun.com.sg/).
What do all of these have in common? They are major runs with massive marketing budgets, fun goodie bags and a unique value proposition to runners. So, unless you have the marketing means to organize your event with a serious marketing partner like HSBC, Puma, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, or you are the most amazing growth hacker genius. You are out of luck.
So why again should a potential runner be joining my run event?
Well of course one can argue that most casual runners don’t necessarily sign-up and still want to train so they might still use you app. But for the event organizing, a.k.a. content marketing, this is what you are up against.
In addition, there are several wonderful and well established running apps by major sports companies out there already .
There will be rain
Mistake 2: Check the weather when doing and outdoor event and have a backup plan.
One of the risks in organizing outdoor events is the weather. An boy had I shitty weather and no backup plan.
The first running event I scheduled (‘the beta run’) was planned to be in the lovely Gardens By The Bay. GBTB is a major tourist attraction in Singapore and one of these strange places on this planet that feel like imported from a different world. It feels like straight out of a video-game. The surreal super trees, the artificial pathways, the maze like architecture.
It is the perfect location for my event!
For the ‘beta run’, I asked a group of close friends to show up by 7:00 PM in Gardens By The Bay. Main reason were that I did not know if the technology worked or if there were too many tourists in GBTB to have the run. We received approval beforehand, though.
Lessons learned for events organizers. From the 10 people that RSVP’d only 7 showed up and only 3 had brought an iPhone that could run the software. Next time I should really check this beforehand. After some hustling, we finally ended up having enough versions of “In Shadows” on phone to start the trial-run. I handed out the goodies (unique ‘In Shadows’ t-shirts and phone arm bands) everyone seemed happy and then…
Then it started to rain. A heavy, dark, South-East Asian monsoon type rain. Right on cue.
It was way past 7:30 PM, the sun had set, the floor was slippery and not everyone could participate in the event.
That’s when I decided to cancel the event.
Back to the lab, check the small amount data that was collected. Improve the app, setup another outdoor event.
This time, I setup an event with the Tokyo iOS user group. We planned a presentation at their location in Shibuya, follow-up by a running event in the nearby large Yoyogi-park. I really love this park and I have been there many times. It is maybe not the perfect location for a run like this due to the many street performers and the sheer size of the park. But it was close by and it felt like it made sense.
First the rain, then the heat.
It was a lovely Saturday in late July in Tokyo. My presentation had been well received by the developer group with the occasional chuckle and a fun Q&A session at the end. Then we wanted to start the event .
Little did I know but should have checked, the temperature had risen in the late morning hours to 38 degree Celsius in the shade. 38 degrees Celsius (100 degree Fahrenheit!)! Who in their right mind wants to do outdoor sports activities in that type of climate.
It turned out no-one. There were at the end three people to join for the event. Matt and John from the iOS group and me. Neither of us was in the mood nor dressed for running as well, so we played around with the app and had a small picknick. That’s it. I have a picture of a bug to prove it if someone is interested.
In the end, I should have known better.
Technical issues
Besides the obvious inability by me to organize successful events, the app was constantly struggling with technical issues. Apple had just recently launched the iBeacon framework. The iBeacon technology is based on the Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) standard. At this stage, Bluetooth LE is implemented in basically every smart phone build since 2010 but hardly used for anything useful. And if there is one thing that I am sure of it was full of bugs.
Mistake 3 : Make sure that the technology you want to use actually works.
In general, iBeacons are a fascinating technology that might help us do amazing things (not advertising) in the near future. And the technology that we at tenqyu had developed to dynamically enable/disable iPhones as iBeacons on the fly will surely used for another fantastic application on the future.
But back in 2013 Beacons were new and same as today battery power was a daily struggle. Many of the people I talked to turned off Bluetooth by default or didn’t even know if it is on or not.
“Bluetooth what is that?”
“I always turn it off because of the battery drain.”
These were common replies when trying to debug non-functioning devices. Other times, a stalling Bluetooth framework would brick phones where they would be coming completely unresponsive with the need for a hard reset.
Take that customer experience!
During all these times, I hustled to get funding for the app to develop the idea further. So I did a IndieGogo campaign and tried to get funding from the Singapore government.
Bonus mistake : the money hustle
Lessons 4 : Take the time to properly fund your product if you need.
While the development of the app was done internally, I wanted to raise money via an IndieGogo campaign to further improve the app, schedule more events, and create awareness that the app exists.
Little did I prepare for the campaign and little did I engage myself and others in the campaign and without surprise the result of the campaign was more than underwhelming.
So before you start the campaign make sure that you have all the necessary tools, buzz, and connections warmed up to get traction on your campaign. These campaigns are a lot of work where you during it is life have to market it 24/7, And no, creating cool gifts for funders does not cut.
In addition, I applied for several Singaporean grants (GeoInnovation Funds and Tourism Industry Fund). Here I still don’t have a clue how to get them.
One thing that worked really well though is the aural guidance while running . Compared to the traditional visual augmented reality the aural interface is far less intrusive and gives a more immersive and fun feeling.
I recommend and daily use earphones like these to guide me along.
They are comparably cheap, don’t fall out even in the sweatiest runs, and have an acceptable quality.
In addition, because they are only in one ear, you are not fully disconnected from the dangers of ‘real live’.
Thank you for coming all the way here.
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