KickstarterForum.org

Hi there! Happy to meet all you fellow crowdfunders and backers! We're YOUMO and currently on Kickstarter with our innovative modular smart power strip: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13 ... ower-strip.

I'm happy to say we we're 100% funded in our first 3 days! Now, we're trying to get to our first stretch goal at 300% and nearly there! It's been a great experience so far with some quick lessons on how to manage shipping costs concerns and so on. We're a small team, 3 friends, from Germany who have a solid background in designing, developing and engineering.

YOUMO is the first collaboration between all 3 of us and we think it's doing so well because:
-There are a lot of tech/gadget lovers on Kickstarter
-YOUMO is more stylish, innovative and flexible than the average power strip: Build your own power strip so it goes way beyond just charging to include IoT functions, as many multi-USB ports/outlets as you want while mixing and matching US and EU outlets, a speaker, a light, ethernet hook up, wireless charging and much more
-We were featured in a lot of press the first few crucial days
-And, of course, Kickstarter featured us in their newsletter and on their Products We Love section--which helped a LOT!

We're so thankful for all the support we've had so far and hope to keep it going strong during our last 2 weeks!

Firstly, I wanted to say - how come I'm the only one commenting on this campaign! It's great and with 130k euros raised, it's massive achievement.
- I think later, if you were to post again on this forum with "130k Euros Raised + Still 2 weeks to go" - you'll get alot of response + attach photos to the post so people can visualise what it's all about.

This is a really great campaign page, probably in the top 5 of pages I've seen (I've seen alot!) so congrats on that.

Instead of going over the good points, how about these:
- You mention international plugs, which ones? So it'll be European (are French and German plugs the same?) + UK. Then US and Canada (same plugs or different voltage), Africa, parts of Asia too - it'll work with all of them?
- How does it deal with the elements/weather. What about safety, durability and changing colours?
- You're (app) connected with your phone, how does the app work and how often would there be updates.

I saw you've been featured on some big sites. Feel free to connect with us by PM on this board or by email: email@hyperstarter.com as I'd like to go over our platform and explain how we can help.

All the best!

Thanks so much for your kind words! It's been pretty exciting so far.
-To start with, we aimed at mainly the EU and US market so YOUMO is compatible with those countries (so not Switzerland, UK and other non-EU countries with their own plugs). Needless to say, we've been getting a lot of feedback about that, but our first-production run has to be limited given the costs and all the different parts involved. We are working on adding a universal plug in the near future and the good news is that at 300% funding we'll unlock our first stretch goal: Type G and Type I plug compatibility, which means UK, China, Australia and other Asian countries.
-We have experienced engineers and developers on our team so we will be completely certified in all appropriate countries and meet all safety standards. But it's still a power strip, so the general elements precautions for electronics are necessary.
-We're working with a German-based start up who specializes in IoT who is currently designing the app features for us. The app will basically allow you to control each outlet, so each appliance/device plugged in can be individually controlled. You'll be able to monitor the power use of each appliance, control its settings (for ex. make a lamp brighter or dimmer, turn on or off your washing machine when it's done, etc). But best of all, the YOUMO app will be smart enough to communicate with you, to make suggestions and give you warnings based on the power behavior/habits it's already sensed from you. So if you leave a light on or the TV and leave the house, the YOUMO app would send you a message (having noticed something is left one when normally it wouldn't be) reminding you it's on and if you want to turn it off. With pre-set demands, just by hitting Yes or No, it will be switched off.

OK sounds good!

If you want to get in touch, feel free!