Memoto | @Memototeam

Oskar: Memoto started to sort of solve the problem with capturing your memories, in a way that is more effortless than the normal diary. Most of us enjoy having a scrapbook, or diary, or whatever, to be able to relive your memories. Creating, and capturing that record takes a lot of time, we were looking for a way to do that automatically. We figured, if you had a wearable camera, you could capture everything immediately. We found out it is possible to make camera small enough that it’s wearable.

There’s a team of three of us. Me, Oskar the Marketing manager, and Martin Källström the CEO, and the third guy, Björn Wesén who is the CTO and camera engineer. So the three of us started working on a prototype in 2011. We brought in money from a British investor, and that allowed us to build the whole thing. We ended up raising more than $550,000 through Kickstarter. More than what we needed, but it was raised We have finished making the product and it should be ready for shipping this summer.

TechFaster: Great. So, you hear about people raising 10 times as much on Kickstarter and then they say, now what? Did that sort of happen to you guys?

Oskar: The first two days were crazy; we raised $200,000 the first two days. First we were just relieved that we passed our goal. The next phase was cheering and then we had to start making and growing it all. But overall It was good to have these backers to help us with this. Since we have this shipment date we are all set to build a product that is perfect.

TechFaster: So you have 2,000 backers. What is the date you guys are shipping?

Oskar: We haven’t set an exact date but we say we’re gonna ship later this summer.

TechFaster: Okay, so what maybe just explain the functionality of the camera at this point.

Oskar: Sure, the product is an automated camera that takes 2 photos a minute in an interval. It also gives a GPS tag to see where you were. You can also upload those photos on Memoto so you can access the photos with you iPhone, or computer. We also organize all your pictures so you don’t have to go through them. It also picks out the best image from the moments and it shows up on the timeline.

TechFaster: How many version did you guys make before you came to where you are now?

Oskar: We are still in sub 1.0 version.

TechFaster: Okay, so what went into the decision to go into Kickstarter instead of pursuing VC or angel investors?

Oskar: We did have a firm, but there was a concern about how much time it take us to get into sales mode. So we asked how can we start selling something that we haven’t produced? And that’s exactly what Kickstarter is for. And so we also made some research on what projects so best in the Kickstarter community. Using Kickstarter was quite an easy decision.

TechFaster: So what’s next for you guys, other than shipping?

Oskar: We will ship this first unit and based on what the people think we will start building new versions. Most important is to add features to be able to search for these pictures a lot easier.

TechFaster: How much will the camera retailing for?

Oskar: Right now it’s $279. And that’s through our own website. We are looking into retail strategies right now.

TechFaster: Alright great, I guess that’s really about it. Is there something I didn’t bring up that you might want to add?

Oskar: That’s the basic part of our story. We’re a young company, we haven’t been around for more than 18 months. We’re just trying to keep up and get a good product out for our backers.

TechFaster: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Oskar.