Over the course of the past two years, HWTrek hosted 80 hardware creators and accelerators to visit Taiwan, Beijing, and Shenzhen on Asia Innovation Tour 2016 (April), Asia Innovation Tour 2015 (August), and also on the first tour in April 2014. We’re organizing the next tour in November 2016 to Shenzhen, Osaka, and Kyoto. You can register on the HWTrek platform and create a project to apply to join the Asia Innovation Tour Winter 2016 cohort destined to meet manufacturing industry experts, see assembly lines in China and Japan, and gain insights about their consumer markets for smart, connected devices.
We reached out to a participant in our third tour HWTrek Asia Innovation Tour (Spring 2016), Morteza (CTO of Betternet) to learn more about his project and his insights.
While on tour in Shenzhen, Morteza had this to say: “I am here looking for partners and gaining some experience in hardware development. This tour has been really fantastic. I learned a lot from visiting factories, from talking to projects from other participants, and the HWTrek team.”
Please introduce yourself and your project?
I am CTO of Betternet, a startup launched with the idea to equip the Internet for a better life—an Internet without censorship, spies or hackers. Betterspot is our next product, a smart secure router with the aim to make it easy for everyone to use the security tools available.
Betternet launched a crowdfunding campaign for Betterspot on Kickstarter September 14, 2016.
What’s the inspiration for your project? What problem does it solve or address?
In a sense, the Internet is a nice place that helps everyone solve problems and find answers to all questions. But, in a sense, it presents the means for hackers, corporations, and governments to monitor activities and to break into one’s private life. There are many tools out there to decrease the risks, but not everyone can afford setting up one: they are either difficult to setup, or expensive to maintain. Betterspot administers the best tools in the easiest form.
Is your team co-located or do you work with remote team members?
Betternet’s headquarters is located in Vancouver, Canada. We have remote team members in the Middle East and Asia.
What tools, if any, do you use for real-time collaboration on your project (with team members and partners)?
We use Trello for task management. We also use Slack and its integrations for real-time collaboration.
What’s the greatest challenge working with a team?
A team that thinks together and builds together. It’s like playing a symphony. Working in harmony is the most challenging task.
What have been the significant challenges or obstacles you’ve faced on the project? How were they resolved?
Betterspot is our first hardware product. We entered a new world in which its disciplines are different from that of software and, unfortunately, a bit old-fashioned. The most challenging part was choosing the bests from all the manufacturers around. HWTrek did a great job and helped us find our partners.
What are the takeaways and lessons learned from working on this project that you’d like to share with other hardware startups? What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to the beginning of your product development?
Take enough time to build your prototypes. Never rush into the next level before you have a fully functional prototype that you love! Even if it is a software feature that is remaining and you think there is no reason for it not to work, give it a try!
If you are planning a new version of your project or future devices, what will you do differently?
We are working on Betterspot’s user-experience for the new version. The look-and-feel and its functional properties will be different so that users can interact with the device a lot easier. We are going to do more fieldwork and will talk to a lot more people to design and manufacture Betterspot v2.
We all know the phrase “hardware is hard.” Is there something that was much easier than you had initially thought when you started out on your hardware journey?
No, that’s really hard! I can’t imagine how we could do it without the help of firms like HWTrek.
You joined the HWTrek Asia Innovation Tour to China this past spring, what did you learn or what are the significant takeaways you have from the experience?
Wow. That was amazing! I learned a lot about the integrated hardware ecosystem in Shenzhen and the endless possibilities for hardware startups. I also met with innovators that were special at what they were doing. After getting back to our office, I received lots of emails from manufacturers. It shows the tour is really helpful for startups to know manufacturers and investors and to get known by them.
And now for something completely different, some fun questions:
What are your ‘go-to’ sources for tech information and news? (Do you have any recommendations for a must-read/watch/listen to article, book, blog, film, or podcast, etc.?)
I regularly visit Hacker News. It is a good mixture of culture and tech news. I also click on the links starting with medium.com!
What fuels you (coffee, tea, or….)? When you’re low on creative juice, what is your #1 method to get back on track?
I mostly drink tea. I bought a tea set from Beijing and learned about Chinese tea culture. I also bought a big pack of white tea that I drink when I need to get back on track!
What gadget would you love to have from your favorite science fiction film or book?
I’m not sure if it is mentioned in a book or movie, but I would like to have smart contact lenses to measure health conditions and to use as a display. I read Google is working on it so it is no longer a fantasy.
