The Internet of Things is becoming so commonplace that it is almost almost invisible. About a year ago, Moff launched an extremely clever IoT toy called the Moff-band that allows kids to add sound effects to their every-day play. They toy had been successful, but for Moff to take the next step they need to create a platform around the toy.

Akinori Takahagi explains how he bootstrapped up Moff while receiving a steady stream of rejection from so-called experts in the field and how a successful Kickstarter project and enthusiastic children changed the industry’s opinion. Aki is based in Japan, but he explains the importance of launching overseas.

There is a lot of good advice in here about how to build a hardware startup, how to get international attention and how to make the big jump to nationwide (and international) retail distribution.

There is a lot to unpack in this interview, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Show Notes for Startups

What’s Moff and why do kids need it?
Why the US still leads in wearables and IoT devices
How to run a Kickstarter project from Japan
Why relying on resellers too early is a mistake
Getting retail distribution in an over-crowed market
How startup ecosystems differ in different parts of Japan
The importance of having an early investor who "gets it"
The importance of creating a platform to leverage raw data

Links from the Founder

Moff Home Page
Moff demo video - The toy makes more sense when you see it in action
Moff's Kickstarter Page
Follow Aki on Twitter @allsymphony
Connect on LinkedIn

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Transcript from Japan
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. This week we are talking about toys, well one toy in particular anyway. Today I am happy to introduce you to Akinori Takahagi founder of Moff and inventor of the Moff Band. Now we talk a bit about what the Moff band is during the show but I think I should explain it now so that the rock guitar solos, the light saber duels and the drum fills you will hear during the interview will not take you too much off guard.

The Moff Band is a wrist wearable device about the size of a watch that makes all kinds of programmable sounds based on how the wearer is moving their wrist. So kids can pretend they are playing tennis or slaying dragons and the Moff Band will generate the appropriate sound effects. Cool. But of course we do a lot more than just talk about toys. Aki gives some very practical advice about bootstrapping a hardware startup, what it takes to run a successful Kickstarter campaign and the rocky road to getting retail distribution both here in Japan and in the US. But it’s more, more interesting to hear Aki tell you about it himself so let’s get right to the interview.

[Interview Start]

Tim:    We are sitting down with Akinori Takahagi.

Aki:     Yeah.

Tim:    Of Moff who makes this incredible, wearable smart toy which I am not even going to try to describe without a visual representation, but Aki why don’t you tell us what Moff is because it’s pretty cool.

Aki:     Okay yeah cool, as you’ve introduced we are Moff we have given it for original wearable devices and this wearable device detects all the motion about, so position change.

Tim:    So it’s a device you wear on your wrist?

Aki:     Yes. That’s right.

Tim:    And it detects position changes, motion and just snaps right on there?

Aki:     Yes that’s right.