Hidrate Spark: How College Student Designed a Smart Bottle in 54 Hours and Earned $10 Mln

23 years old college student Nadya Nguyen took part in Google Startup Weekend in 2014. It’s a 54-hour event, during which participants share their ideas, and try to implement them with mentors’ help. Nadya built a bottle that is synced to a smartphone and tracks water intake. It reminds the user when and how much they must drink.

The idea came to Nguyen when she, a practitioner of healthy eating and lifestyle, got so dehydrated that she almost passed out on the street. Nadya realized that if she despite being a health-conscious person wasn’t able to get enough water there is such a risk for everyone. And she decided to find a solution.

Although Nadya’s project took third place in Google Startup Weekend, people started asking when the bottles will be available for purchase. So Nadya started to turn her idea into a real product.

Nadya with her team of fellow students worked for half a year to get to Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator Program, what they successfully did in 2015. According to the terms of the program, participants went to Kansas City, Mississippi, where they continued their work on the project, getting financial and mentoring help.

After that Nadya decided to gather funds with Kickstarter campaign — what she successfully did, getting $600 000 from supporters of her idea. She got 17 000 pre-orders in a month.

Hidrate Spark wasn’t the first smart bottle presented on Kickstarter, but no competitor managed to gather so much money. Nadya explains their success by finishing 80% of work before launching Kickstarter campaign — they had a real product to offer.

In 2015 Nadya presented Spark 1.0, and soon after that, the team started development of Spark 2.0 — an improved version according to buyers reviews. Now bottles have better Bluetooth connection and colourful LED indicators. When the app determined it’s time for you to drink some water, the bottle makes a little light show to notify you. Also, Hidrate Spark bottles are environmentally-friendly — they are made of food-safe tritan plastic and are BPA free.

The company has earned $10 mln since 2015.

Why Hidrate Spark succeeded:

• participation in large business events — as a result before launching product already had pre-orders and potential investors;
• successful Kickstarter campaign — great pre-work and people who really wanted to support the project;
• simple but useful product — a healthy lifestyle is becoming more and more widespread, and proper water intake is an important part of it.

One more reason for success is Hidrate Spark app, that is connected with a bottle and makes the usage more simple and enjoyable. And the development of the app is the next step after having a great idea. If you have one, but you don’t know where to start to make it real — you can always consult with our team. We are S-PRO — a development company, and we see our mission in helping people turn their ideas into successful startups. Don’t hesitate to drop us a line — we are always glad to help!

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