12 ms·

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, ap

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

727374 9y ago
I agree it could do better explaining what Jewelbots are, but I wouldn't assume there's a dedicated "marketing team" for this product yet.
- sarajo 9y ago
  Hi! We're a 5 person team located in NYC. I'm the marketing team (plus my cofounder Brooke). This is all super helpful feedback, thank you!
addicted 9y ago
I thought it was pretty well done considering the target audience. Brief tagline "Friendship bracelet. That you can code" to pique your interest. Then a user story showing how someone actually used it. I'm sure it can be improved significantly, but I feel the idea behind pitching why you would want to buy it (it's a friendship bracelet that does cool things like light up the same color when you're together) as opposed to its capabilities is not necessarily that far off the mark for a product of this nature (e.g. the Apple Watch landing page as of right now doesn't describe anything about what the Watch can do...it's just selling the fact that it's a watch).
untog 9y ago
I disagree. "When Nyla got Jewelbots for her birthday she gave the second one to Wenhao, a girl in her class." "Nyla and Wenhao's Jewelbots light up blue when they are together (Blue is Wenhao's favorite color)" "They make a secret language just for their Jewelbots. Sending one buzz means "look behind you!"." "Using the power of STEM, Nyla and her friends make games and custom friend animations by writing code and uploading it to their Jewelbots!" That pretty unambigiously describes a piece of programmable jewellery to me. It's doing it in a more story-driven way than presenting a bulleted list of specs, but given the target audience that makes sense. Having read that page I'm really not even slightly confused about what it is.
- subroutine 9y ago
  "Step 2 To begin coding your Jewelbot, you will need to download the Arduino IDE."
  - samfriedman 9y ago
    "Step 1: In a terminal, input the command vimtutor..."
  - Double_a_92 9y ago
    Yeah good luck with that. Most people struggle (not just little girls) already struggle to install software where you literally have to click "continue" 3 times...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
sarajo 9y ago
Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like we have some things to add to the FAQ! Jewelbots can be programmed just like an Arduino using C++. Real code! Because we believe that kids are super smart (Also, I starting writing C++ at 11).
- scrumper 9y ago
  My knee jerk reaction was pretty negative, but on only a few seconds’ reflection I think this is great. Absolutely no reason why kids can’t start with C++; it doesn’t have to be template meta programming insanity from the get-go. Motivated kids have infinite capacity for learning and a lot of time for exploration. Kudos for not patronizing them with some awful imitation of flow programming or some neutered scripting language.
  - sarajo 9y ago
    Yeah, right? I don't think the drag -> drop coding does a lot of help when it comes to learning. Talking to my male peers, I learned that most of them started coding when they were Tweens, largely because they wanted to make games or found an open source project they loved. Jewelbots are designed to be the same for girls. So far so good!
    - scrumper 9y ago
      Yup. There's a lot of stuff that tries to teach that 'programmer mindset'; flow programming is one end of it. My eldest daughter is 5 and is at the other end: the 'Robot Turtles' board game. She likes it. I really don't know that it will make the slightest difference in her future programming ability, which will range anywhere from epsilon to a lot (and will have nothing to do with me beyond me providing food, a roof, and moral support.) Were she older, I would absolutely be making sure these got on her radar so I could gauge her interest. Nothing so crass as _showing her_ of course. I love the risk you're taking here: not only a hardware startup, but also one where success is predicated on passing the cool filter of tween girls. There is something delightfully subversive in marketing C++ programmable jewelry to young girls; it's like a 'fuck you' to Lego Friends. I really want this to succeed. Good luck.
KGIII 9y ago
What they will do is make the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends. The drama in a young teen's life seems to know no limits. It's all very important to them, at least for the moment. As a parent, you're sort of obligated to take it Very Seriously. These are just one more thing to be taken Very Seriously. I do find it amusing that marketing has decided to latch onto STEM for young ladies. It's a noble goal, but I'm not sure trinkets are the way to go about it. Sort of related: I'm a bit proud that my daughter is an MD, but my only help, aside from paying for it, was just offering to support her, regardless of her career choices - and trying to keep a good sense of humor.
- sarajo 9y ago
  Hi! I hope we don't get discarded! We're a new product, so we don't yet have too much data about retention. We do know that 44% of our users code their Jewelbots using C++, many as first time coders! We also are about to ship our 10,000th unit. That makes over 4,000 new coders in the world (many younger than 10 years old)!
  - Macsenour 9y ago
    Maybe a fallback, not that you need one yet, when/if discarding is an issue, make a ring that has less functionality but isn't as obtrusive. The cool kids keep their Jewelbots in their bag but a ring lets them know of some activity.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    I'd hope so too, but such seemed the way of my daughter and her friends when they were in that age bracket. Friendships were tossed aside at the slightest of reasons. It was a lot of drama. While probably sexist to note this, my son and his friends didn't seem to have nearly the same drama. I'm not sure what the difference is but it certainly was both real and notable. I'm also sure it isn't universal.
- apsec112 9y ago
  Starting lots of drama, and taking apparently silly things Very Seriously, is hardly unique to teenagers. At least petty teenage drama doesn't bankrupt whole companies, as I've seen happen multiple times with petty adult drama.

727374 9y ago

I agree it could do better explaining what Jewelbots are, but I wouldn't assume there's a dedicated "marketing team" for this product yet.

sarajo 9y ago
Hi! We're a 5 person team located in NYC. I'm the marketing team (plus my cofounder Brooke). This is all super helpful feedback, thank you!

addicted 9y ago

I thought it was pretty well done considering the target audience. Brief tagline "Friendship bracelet. That you can code" to pique your interest. Then a user story showing how someone actually used it. I'm sure it can be improved significantly, but I feel the idea behind pitching why you would want to buy it (it's a friendship bracelet that does cool things like light up the same color when you're together) as opposed to its capabilities is not necessarily that far off the mark for a product of this nature (e.g. the Apple Watch landing page as of right now doesn't describe anything about what the Watch can do...it's just selling the fact that it's a watch).

untog 9y ago

I disagree. "When Nyla got Jewelbots for her birthday she gave the second one to Wenhao, a girl in her class." "Nyla and Wenhao's Jewelbots light up blue when they are together (Blue is Wenhao's favorite color)" "They make a secret language just for their Jewelbots. Sending one buzz means "look behind you!"." "Using the power of STEM, Nyla and her friends make games and custom friend animations by writing code and uploading it to their Jewelbots!" That pretty unambigiously describes a piece of programmable jewellery to me. It's doing it in a more story-driven way than presenting a bulleted list of specs, but given the target audience that makes sense. Having read that page I'm really not even slightly confused about what it is.

subroutine 9y ago
"Step 2 To begin coding your Jewelbot, you will need to download the Arduino IDE."
- samfriedman 9y ago
  "Step 1: In a terminal, input the command vimtutor..."
- Double_a_92 9y ago
  Yeah good luck with that. Most people struggle (not just little girls) already struggle to install software where you literally have to click "continue" 3 times...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

sarajo 9y ago

Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like we have some things to add to the FAQ! Jewelbots can be programmed just like an Arduino using C++. Real code! Because we believe that kids are super smart (Also, I starting writing C++ at 11).

scrumper 9y ago
My knee jerk reaction was pretty negative, but on only a few seconds’ reflection I think this is great. Absolutely no reason why kids can’t start with C++; it doesn’t have to be template meta programming insanity from the get-go. Motivated kids have infinite capacity for learning and a lot of time for exploration. Kudos for not patronizing them with some awful imitation of flow programming or some neutered scripting language.
- sarajo 9y ago
  Yeah, right? I don't think the drag -> drop coding does a lot of help when it comes to learning. Talking to my male peers, I learned that most of them started coding when they were Tweens, largely because they wanted to make games or found an open source project they loved. Jewelbots are designed to be the same for girls. So far so good!
  - scrumper 9y ago
    Yup. There's a lot of stuff that tries to teach that 'programmer mindset'; flow programming is one end of it. My eldest daughter is 5 and is at the other end: the 'Robot Turtles' board game. She likes it. I really don't know that it will make the slightest difference in her future programming ability, which will range anywhere from epsilon to a lot (and will have nothing to do with me beyond me providing food, a roof, and moral support.) Were she older, I would absolutely be making sure these got on her radar so I could gauge her interest. Nothing so crass as _showing her_ of course. I love the risk you're taking here: not only a hardware startup, but also one where success is predicated on passing the cool filter of tween girls. There is something delightfully subversive in marketing C++ programmable jewelry to young girls; it's like a 'fuck you' to Lego Friends. I really want this to succeed. Good luck.

KGIII 9y ago

What they will do is make the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends. The drama in a young teen's life seems to know no limits. It's all very important to them, at least for the moment. As a parent, you're sort of obligated to take it Very Seriously. These are just one more thing to be taken Very Seriously. I do find it amusing that marketing has decided to latch onto STEM for young ladies. It's a noble goal, but I'm not sure trinkets are the way to go about it. Sort of related: I'm a bit proud that my daughter is an MD, but my only help, aside from paying for it, was just offering to support her, regardless of her career choices - and trying to keep a good sense of humor.

sarajo 9y ago
Hi! I hope we don't get discarded! We're a new product, so we don't yet have too much data about retention. We do know that 44% of our users code their Jewelbots using C++, many as first time coders! We also are about to ship our 10,000th unit. That makes over 4,000 new coders in the world (many younger than 10 years old)!
- Macsenour 9y ago
  Maybe a fallback, not that you need one yet, when/if discarding is an issue, make a ring that has less functionality but isn't as obtrusive. The cool kids keep their Jewelbots in their bag but a ring lets them know of some activity.
- KGIII 9y ago
  I'd hope so too, but such seemed the way of my daughter and her friends when they were in that age bracket. Friendships were tossed aside at the slightest of reasons. It was a lot of drama. While probably sexist to note this, my son and his friends didn't seem to have nearly the same drama. I'm not sure what the difference is but it certainly was both real and notable. I'm also sure it isn't universal.
apsec112 9y ago
Starting lots of drama, and taking apparently silly things Very Seriously, is hardly unique to teenagers. At least petty teenage drama doesn't bankrupt whole companies, as I've seen happen multiple times with petty adult drama.