My First Hardware Startup: Rimo (7)

The startup area at CES gives companies the opportunity to present their products on stage

[ This series of articles is about my startup company, Rimo, from the conception of the idea, recruiting a team, producing prototypes, to fundraising. ]

Apart from journalists and media, there were also wholesalers and engineers interested in new tech gadgets at the Rimo booth. The most memorable encounter was with a manager from Huawei. He showed great interest in Rimo from the start, asking many questions. Later, he revealed that he was from Huawei and his purpose was to broaden his horizons and see if there was anything Huawei could adopt. This was both exciting and worrying. Exciting because such a big mobile phone manufacturer was interested in our technology, and worrying because our ideas might be stolen and used by Huawei. In the end, he said that although Rimo’s idea was good, it was not suitable for mobile phones. We shook hands, and he continued his journey to find the next big idea.

Rimo actually has several problems that we cannot solve. The first is that the friction is very high when rotating left and right 360 degrees. This is not surprising as it is essentially two plastic sheets with lubricant in between, resulting in uneven friction. The second issue is that it shakes violently when moving up and down, sometimes ejecting the phone, making it more like a phone launcher than a video device. This instability is because the motor requires different power at different angles. Imagine holding a water bottle and rotating it 360 degrees beside your body. Due to gravity, it feels particularly heavy when the bottle is directly in front or behind you, requiring more force to maintain a constant speed. Conversely, if the bottle is just hanging beside your body, it requires the least effort.

The third problem is the size; it would be better if it were smaller, but this is not the main issue. The fourth issue is that placing the phone requires two hands: one to open the spring and the other to insert the phone. Although not a major problem, it would be better if it were easier to use. Solving all these issues would take several more years, so we decided to pay out of our own pockets and outsource the work to other company.