Today I am presenting another written interview with Andy Goubarev who is the creator of the Smart Back Brace.
Check out the interview:
1. What gave you the idea to design a posture correcting device?
Well, I don’t like to admit it, but I do have problem with my posture. I don’t stand straight and I slouch my shoulders. To fix these issues I’ve tried using a clavicle support, that’s the type of posture correcting devices that pull shoulders back. This clavicle support worked well, but it was somewhat uncomfortable and I’ve noticed that it only worked for the first few minutes and after that my body would start to rely on the device to keep my shoulders back. I thought about how I can improve the functionality and came up with idea of SBB. Basically, it works the same as standard clavicle support, but it also knows then user starts to slack off and reminds him or her to pull shoulders back. Granted, that good posture is not only having your shoulders back, but also keeping your spine straight.
2. What are the biggest benefits to helping someone achieve correct posture?
The benefits are numerous – starting from healthier body and ending better image yourself. I believe that SBB will be the most beneficial to younger users. Medical science showed that it is much easier to correct posture at the younger age. Parents should take notice of their kids posture and, if necessary, should introduce corrective measures. Not only it will make kids healthier and reduce chances of spine injury, but also should improve the looks.
3. How have you gone about marketing your new device with Indiegogo? What’s working for you?
It’s been a struggle. Before the campaign was launched we’ve accumulated about 50 potential clients through personalized email and messaging. After the launch we have notified about the campaign. Most of them have purchased perks – so, that worked well. However, it was not even close enough to what we need. I’ve also contacted and personally convinced several investors – they have put some significant amounts towards our goal. Yet still, it campaign is not going “viral”. Additionally, we are spending several thousand dollars towards various marketing strategies: advertising on Facebook, Google, Twitter, many different blogs and forums. We wish that we have done more “pre-launch” advertising, but we are tight on our schedule and need to finish this whole thing by Feb 1st, so we could move on with development plan as we’ve contacted with IDP (the company that does our design and prototyping)
4. How does this device compare to other methods for helping with back issues? Some examples I’m thinking would be massage therapy, chiropractor visits or inversion tables?
The SBB was not specifically designed to “fix back issues”, rather it was designed to improve posture. The correct posture in itself should help improve back issues. For example, if somebody is suffering from lower back pain, the SBB will not help with that. But if, in addition, this user is also suffering from bad posture (slouching shoulders forward), then wearing the SBB will improve posture and as the consequence it should improve lower back pain, but only marginally. As to how SBB compares to other posture correcting devices on the market please see this comparison table:
To see how SBB compares to other, “non-device” methods of correcting posture, one should think of how posture correcting works in general. What is bad posture? That is when user is NOT using his or her muscles to stand straight and keep shoulders back. Would massage therapy, chiropractor and inversion tables help to teach user’s muscles to stay proper? Unlikely. These methods will undoubtedly help with relaxing of the muscles. They will help with improving the range of muscle movement. But they will not actually teach user to have proper posture. To learn that, the user will require some kind of constant reminder until the time when he subconsciously does it by himself.
5. What are your future plans for 2015 and beyond?
The 2015 will be a huge year for SBB. We plan to finish all major designs by Q2 and will be shipping SBB’s in July. Major development steps must be completed very fast, but I have been reassured by IDP that they can do it. Since they have 20 years of experience and about 200 similar projects completed – I have no doubt that SBB will be a reality in a short order.
Check out the Indiegogo campaign here.
IDP’s website: http://www.innovativedesignproducts.com/
