Headphone startup Kanoa shuts down
getkanoa.com
getkanoa.com
Reminds me of so many people I've worked with who think it matters to consumers/users why something doesn't work. Like they can justify it, and it's not that big a deal.
To be fair, that's not the intended function of earphones.
I mostly solve this by carrying my phone in a side rather than a back pocket. But it still cuts out if I turn my head far enough to the side, as when checking traffic in a road I'm about to cross. Them's the breaks - if you want to wear a radio receiver in your ear and carry the transmitter in your pocket, there's some physics you pretty much just have to deal with.
Don't get me wrong - I totally get being upset with $150 earbuds that don't work reliably, especially when they're sold startup-style as the best thing since sliced bread and the cure for all the world's mobile-audio-related ills. But if that's your budget and solid signal in all circumstances is your major criterion, you might be better served by something that goes beyond the pure earbud form factor, like Apple's ones that have the antenna in an extension that puts it outside the pinna.
I was just trying to indicate that what he was saying wasn't just a hyperbolic/flippant statement, but a use-case not fulfilled by the product.
I guess there's no easy way round the fact that we're ugly giant bags of mostly water :-)
For comparison, my Rowkin Mini does fine anywhere in my apartment when my phone's sitting on the shelf by the door - but only if I happen to be oriented such that my head isn't between the earbud and the phone. If I turn to face the opposite direction, it cuts out and stays out unless I'm within about six feet. So the problem doesn't lie with the receiver per se, but with the thick layer of RF insulation that a human body can put between the receiver and the signal it's meant to pick up.
I don't think it's a totally insoluble problem. But it is a very hard one. As I said before, I get the dissatisfaction with $300 earbuds that don't perform up to the claimed spec. But, to the best of my knowledge, there is no fully in-ear Bluetooth earbud available for any price which won't exhibit the same behavior to a greater or lesser degree.
The issue is water, not walls. I had a pair of bluetooth earbuds that I could set on a table and walk all around my apartment between rooms no problem, but using in a pocket in my cargo pants they'd cut out due to my body (what is it, 60% water?) covering the line of sight between the buds and my phone.
That said form follows function. If you've designed earbuds that fail to defy the laws of physics you shouldn't sell them.
But at least they got a colorful review to show for their journey.
Founder immediately outsourced basic research and development - suspect at best. Working with an established engineering firm may be a good choice at some point, but my guess is that costs were 10x what they should have been, especially in the early stages where the product was going through iterations, bug fixes, etc.
The video review link is here - I've updated the timestamp directly to the bribe claim. Worth noting that the video title seems to have been updated in the last 24 hours too:
With that note, I have a question!
>Most significantly and to our unpleasant surprise, our investors recently backed out of our funding round.
I don't understand something about this.
I mean, yes, it is very un-specific, but I am wondering, when is the 'point of no return' for something like this? Is it possible for a VC firm to go through all the motions, and say all the right things, and then back out 10 seconds before wiring payment for whatever reason they want?
Of course, I don't know if that happened here. It just seems to me like stories regularly appear of a VC backing out at the last minute.
Furthermore funding is often not a one time payment but is paid in installments with preset milestones which means that the investor can still pull out at any time.
For the most part the investors hold all the cards, sure you can potentially draft a contract that would lock investors but no one would commit to those terms.
These people tend to exaggerate their funding prospective, saying things like "they backed out". Ultimately VCs don't owe anybody money and startups are not entitled with funding.
Investing is just like any other purchase, and as a VC if you believe that a company is not worthwhile to invest then you should be ready to say no no matter what stage the conversation is in.
Ironically the fact that the company couldn't raise another round / continue without finding is a sign that VCs did make a right choice.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of cool off period in the contracts.
If you put any URL in, it redirects to /password.
Wow, you are right. https://getkanoa.com/wescrewedupbigtime
But they haven't yet launched to backers so, It's a risk.
How can they be "the best on the market" without having launched?
The Dash Pro is the more advanced version of these headphones but reviews are mixed and $350 is a lot of money to gamble on headphones (for most of us).
By "sub-par", I mean "people can hear you, mostly, until they start talking or you step outside/out of range."
If that wasn't a problem, I'd still be wearing mine. Absolutely loved the product.
I don't think it's the webpage's fault, but something on pages like it is triggering it. Anyone know what the fix is?
//edit// Firefox 54.0.1 (32-bit) as well.