Apply HN: Companion, the smart backpack
Smart backpacks today (1) Use materials that are damaging other clothes (2) Are heavy (3) Are not fashion items but functional items at best (4) Can't be personalized (5) Don't focus on the "on the go" experience, but just at rest
Companion: 100% natural crazy horse leather. Waterproof. Can be engraved. Aiming for single cloth design. Wide shoulder straps for comfort and grip. Embedded 4g to wifi board + portable battery with USB ports. Recharge using chugplug / znaps type of adapters. iOS app for stats and configuration. Special pockets for earbuds and phone, to store and grab them while the backpack is on the back, without removing it.
About us: we're two guys, one product oriented, one sales, always playing with ideas and products we would be the first users. I'm an entrepreneur for 11 years, having created 2 startups to date, together with the teams around them. Andrei is an artist by nature, and a great product manager, we've worked on a prev startup.
Why apply: We want to build Companion for ourselves. The mentorship from YC + the network are world class and we believe it will be the best foundation to start with. Also, some additional finance would help with the experiments we need to do with all the materials involved. We believe in many iterations and beings hands-on with the end result.
Prior Work: We're using and improving a good part of what's above for 2 years. Others proactively admired it. Validated some assumptions with 50+ friends in IT and local manufacturers.
Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have. All feedback, regardless of its nature, is welcome :)