How TimeChi Got Their Technology Arrow Certified, Built a Community, and Raised Over $200K

TimeChi’s origin story is similar to the beginnings of most good products: It was made to solve a specific problem. “I had been working at a coworking space, and I was spending way too much of my time there being interrupted — either by people tapping me on the shoulder, or because I was interrupting myself by going on Twitter, reddit, Facebook — things like that. And when I got the bill for my time in the coworking space, I realized how expensive it was for me to have spent much of that on Facebook,” says Sean Greenhalgh, CEO and founder of TimeChi. “Those were the most expensive Facebook sessions I’d ever had.”

So Greenhalgh decided to make a device that would help him focus during those long hours at the coworking space. He cobbled together a device that used proven timeboxing methods to cut back on distractions and cultivate deep focus. “I used a productivity method called the Pomodoro method, where you spend 25 minutes working and 5 minutes on a short break. It breaks your day into short chunks and then you get a little reward at the end of it,” Greenhalgh explains. “I had been working at a hardware startup at the time, so I made a hardware timer for my desk. It helped me a lot to keep focus — I supercharged the Pomodoro method. The device not only helped me keep time but also muted my phone and blocked me from going to websites.”

But pretty soon, his timer started attracting unexpected attention. Other people at the coworking space noticed it, and asked if he was planning to make more. It turns out Greenhalgh wasn’t the only person struggling to maintain focus. His startup decided to pivot to creating Greenhalgh’s design, and TimeChi was born. 

“Before we got in touch with Arrow, we chose what should have been a minor component for our product: a power regulator. It turns a 5 volt usb into 3.3 volts. Because at the time we weren’t working with Arrow and we were choosing our own components, we chose one that was end of life. Which means that when we went for our second beta production run, we had to search high and low to be able to get the part. It was an absolute pain in the neck, and that was just to get 50 or 60 units together. Let alone our mass manufacturing run, when we had over 2,000 units to fulfill,” laments Greenhalgh. 

“I wish we’d been in touch with the Arrow Certification Program when we first started out, because Arrow would have pointed out that it was end-of-life. They would have told us we might face problems later on, which we did,” says Greenhalgh. “We learned the hard way two scary new terms for individual components: ‘not recommended for new designs’ and ‘end of life.’”

“It’s good to find expertise in manufacturing,” he adds. “If you think you can make one, you can make ten. But the moment you go into making 100 units of something, it suddenly changes in scale in what you need to do and look out for. And then when you go to 1000 and then 10,000, it changes again. There are so many different steps you go through.”

“This is all stuff I learned along the way and it’s really daunting. It’s quite surprising how complicated things become when you add more numbers.”

The campaign soon received Arrow Certified Technology, which indicates to Indiegogo backers that TimeChi’s design was deemed feasible for manufacturing. “The Arrow Certification tells people that someone else has reviewed this project and certified that this project has the legs for mass manufacture. They’ve sorted out the design. They’ve sorted out the materials,” says Greenhalgh. 

“When you’re working on your own startup, you can’t see the forest through the trees. Having a community helps you focus on how other people will use the product. It becomes a place where you can ask a question. Your backers actually get heard, but on the other side of things, coming up with ideas is difficult. You can get other people to tell you what to make. It’s good for them and it’s good for you.”

“People were giving us feedback on what features they wanted in the product. Our biggest request was, ‘We want to see a matte black edition!’” says Greenhalgh. “So we made that our stretch goal, and we were able to meet it, which means that the limited edition matte black edition is something we’ll be able to make for our Indiegogo backers.

TimeChi’s community is what Greenhalgh believes will lead to the company’s long-term success. “It’s a beautiful thing to see people converse and share ideas, not just about your product but how it can be used. And, in the case of our product, they’re talking about how they use their time,” says Greenhalgh. 

Adds Greenhalgh, “Don’t get me wrong — getting the funding is great. But it’s only the start of a long journey. Community is really the heart of it. After your campaign ends, it’s what you build everything else on.”