In April 2016, Furbo, an intelligent home monitoring system for dogs, became an instant sensation after making its debut on crowdfunding website Indiegogo. With this product, pet owners can see and even toss treats to their furbabies through an app while away from home.
Furbo met its fundraising target on the first day it appeared on Indiegogo, and by the end of its financing period received pledges totaling some US$510,000, or 906 percent of its original goal. Available exclusively through Amazon in Canada, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., the product was the best-selling pet camera in the three Western countries in the last quarter of 2016.
People curious about the developer of the product are often surprised to learn it was created entirely in Taiwan, by a company called Tomofun Co. Ltd.
Tomofun CEO Victor Chang is the youngest son of Steven Chang, co-founder and chairman of multinational software security firm Trend Micro Inc. Possessing the enthusiasm and energy of a child, the younger Chang speaks in a slight American accent, and with great sincerity.
An entrepreneurship major from Babson College in Boston, the Tomofun executive said entrepreneurship runs in his blood. After founding his company in 2012, he developed journaling app LifeCrumbs in an effort to create his own social media calendar.
But after toiling for five months, Chang still did not know who his clientele were. The product did not seem like a necessity; neither could it solve any problem. Though puzzled by this impasse, he knew that 93 percent of first-time entrepreneurs end in failure. That is why he began contemplating his company’s second product before giving up on LifeCrumbs.
In early 2014, Chang attended the Consumer Electronics Show in the U.S., where he became aware of the immense potential of smart living and the Internet of Things. He made up his mind to delve into high-tech products.
Chang first began caring for a dog when he was 10 years old. Despite his busy schedule, his furbaby Gobi is always by his side. After conducting some research, Chang learned that there are 61 million pet dogs in the U.S., a big number when one considers that there are 73 million minors in the country. This demonstrates the potential of the pet market, he said.
With his past failure fresh in mind, Chang focused his attention on addressing the major concerns of potential consumers. Tomofun issued 1,000 questionnaires, and found that 90 percent of respondents worried about the safety of their pets while away from home. He then created a prototype of Furbo using 3-D printing, and invited 30 pet owners to try out the product.
“When these people saw how their pets reacted after Furbo tossed out a treat, they became very excited and said it was a great idea,” Chang said.
Every two weeks, Tomofun unveiled a new version of Furbo and invited more pet owners to test the revised product. After 50 rounds of revision and interviews, Furbo became the first and only interactive camera specifically designed to bring joy to dogs.
The company also adjusted its promotional strategies for different markets. For example, as the sizes of houses in the U.S. and Taiwan are different, pet owners in the two countries require different numbers of cameras. And since the British do not like to leave their pets alone at home for too long, Tomofun pitches Furbo as a great help for people when they are out shopping, instead of when they are at work.
Furbo is a product consisting of both software and hardware components, and given the hardware manufacturing advantages of Taiwan, Chang is able to meet with his local suppliers to discuss production issues on a weekly basis. This privilege is not available to most U.S. firms, which typically enjoy great resources in software development but have to rely on production partners in distant locations like Shenzhen, mainland China.
Furbo did not turn to Indiegogo for funding until its product development was nearly complete. Chang said this is because there have been too many cases where startups failed to deliver their products after obtaining funding.
Ben Bateman, senior director of strategic programs at Indiegogo, said he had never seen a startup like Tomofun that completed hardware development and started making deliveries within three months of securing funding from the platform.
Furbo has received overwhelmingly positive responses from pet owners, and has even helped save the life of a dog. According to Tomofun Chief Marketing Officer Maggie Cheung, who is also the wife of Victor Chang, there was a case in which a pet owner received a bark alert from the app and found through the camera that their house was full of smoke. After calling the emergency services, the pet owner rushed home and saved the dog.
With regard to future growth, Chang has set three distinct goals for Furbo. These are tapping the European market, enhancing digital marketing campaigns and introducing AI to the product. According to Chang, Amazon is the exclusive distribution channel for Furbo outside Taiwan. Now that the company has established a relationship with Amazon, Chang said Furbo should have no problem making inroads into Europe, adding that Singapore, Malaysia and countries in South America are also looking forward to seeing the product in their markets.
Unlike most businesses that conduct sales in the U.S. and R&D in Taiwan, Tomofun’s digital marketing department is headquartered in Taiwan. “If you can find the right people who understand the culture of a target market, you can do global marketing from Taiwan.” That is why one can see staffers from Brazil, Spain and Romania engaged in heated discussions at Tomofun’s offices in Taipei City.
Chang’s eyes brightened up when the discussions shifted to AI development for Furbo. “AI is definitely the future,” he said. Furbo is already connected to Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent voice service. “I want to add AI to Furbo and make it a smart dog nanny.”
Functioning as a customized product, the smart dog nanny will learn to understand the habits of a particular dog and recognize from its actions or facial expressions whether it feels anxious, happy or uncomfortable. There are three members in the Tomofun AI team, and Chang said he intends to recruit five more in Taiwan.
Chang recalled that his team worked very hard in the beginning, and he believes the business environment in Taiwan will only get better for entrepreneurs. He said the country was not very entrepreneur-friendly during his father’s time, and that many parents were reluctant to admit that their children were trying to create a business. But things are different now, he said. “So, never give up!” (E)
[By Hsiao Yu-pin / tr. by Meg Chang]