Although smartwatches may appear to be a common technological device in today’s world, it wasn’t more than

The Original Pebble Smartwatch

several years ago that the first smartwatch was released for Apple’s iPhone and Android phones.  The name of this smartwatch is Pebble, and it was founded by Eric Migicovsky.  This millennial entrepreneur came up with idea for the innovation while he was living in the Netherlands and faced the challenge of finding a way to hold his smartphone while cycling.  He was driven to find a solution that would allow him to take advantage of features on his smartphone even when holding a phone may not be convenient or possible.  His solution was a high-tech watch.  After returning to the United States, he started a small, independent company in California, so that he could raise support and begin developing this revolutionary product.  Since his small company had limited resources, they resorted to crowd-funding on Kickstarter to get the idea off the ground.  This campaign was so successful that they raised ten million dollars and broke Kickstarter’s record for the most successful campaign.  Since raising this tremendous support, Migicovsky now has a team of more than 130 people working for his company and has shipped more than a million Pebble smartwatches.

This entrepreneur’s idea is great because it solves a problem that most people with smartphones have.  Eric Migivosky explained his success commenting that “there’s 14 billion wrists in the world.”  This innovator wisely chose a large target market with great potential for expansion.  The huge success that he experienced on Kickstarter confirms that many people experience the same problem as him.  Pebble was one of the first companies to jump into the smartwatch market and therefore continues to experience great success even after other large companies such as Apple and Samsung have launched their own versions of the watch.

This millennial entrepreneur’s success inspires me to continue searching for new opportunities in the technological realm.  Although not all innovations may be as successful and influential as Eric Migivosky’s development, his story shows that big innovations and changes are possible.  It will be only a matter of time before the next great technological device is created.

The quotation used in this blog post was taken from an article that can be viewed here.