Throughout our everyday lives, we often experience inconveniences we usually just learn to live with or just ignore. Like slow internet, bad cell reception, or short battery life. Often, we’ll search online to find a product or service that alleviate these issues; less often we’ll hire a team of wearable designers to engineer the product that would solve our problems. That’s exactly what the inventor of the Kharaband did. Meet Harp Gahunia, smartwatch aficionado who was looking to extend the battery life of his smartwatch.
Young athlete wearable the Kharaband while working out.
The Inspiration Behind the Kharaband:
The Founder of the Kharaband, Harp Gahunia used to own the Pebble Watch, a pioneer in the smartwatch space. Despite the product’s innovative features, it’s primary downfall was its battery life that only lasted at best 24 hours. As a result, Harp found it’s daunting charging requirements to discredit its valuable elements. He didn’t venture into the world of smartwatches again until Apple released the Apple Watch. Surely a company with such commitment to disruptive technology and pioneering tech products would give users a watch that lasts longer than a day. Unfortunately, the device lasted about 18 hours. After scouring the web, searching for anything that would solve the battery problem, Harp discovered there was nothing out there that could help him.
How Our Wearable Designers Helped Create the Kharaband:
The Kharaband was created with the help of our wearable designers to work with the Apple Watch. However, the connecting technology between the watch face and the band is very similar from one brand to another, and thus, the Kharaband was created with this customization in mind. Made of high-performance materials, the band shapes comfortably around any wrist for everything from running to sleeping. The refined, contemporary design compliments any style and can go with you from work to the gym, to everything in between. Best of all, with this band, the Apple Watch can last up to four times longer on a single charge! Check out this video on the Kharaband below.
Kharaband’s Medical Application:
Not only do these smartwatches and wearables have fitness applications, but they also have significant medical applications as well. Wrist-based wearables in the medical field measure elements like irregular heartbeats, blood pressure, and are also able to alert doctors of hypertension and risk of stroke while patients are sleeping. Imagine relying on such a promising piece of technology but having to charge it every day! Using the Kharaband, monitoring can continue for up to 4 times longer without having to charge the device or change it.
Advice for Other Entrepreneurs and Product Start-Ups:
All aspiring entrepreneurs know that it’s taking the first leap that can be the most daunting. We asked Harp for his advice to others who may be just starting their product development with wearable designers or even just starting their new business. As someone who has successfully launched his company, developed a product and is now in the licensing phase, Harp knows the hurdles like-minded entrepreneurs will face. He suggests breaking down the end-goal into smaller, achievable objectives with assessment gates at certain levels. Doing so aids in the progression of the business and helps operators focus on specific tasks needed to pass those assessment gates. When it comes to MAKO and their wearable designers, goals included talking to an engineer to work out a solution, and collectively refining the product design.
“The end to end experience that the MAKO wearable designers and the whole team provides is amazing,” says Harp. “They go beyond engineering and have the network to assist an entrepreneur for every step of the way. My favorite part was in working on the design of the product with the Engineers (Robert). I especially like the fact that the Mako team meets weekly and talks about its products they are working on and collaborate on solving problems related to the products. Product owners such as myself benefit from the mindshare of all of the engineers at Mako, not just one!”
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!
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