Fri Oct 27 '23 Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 11:43:44 AM
Hello,
In our last update, we promised to share more feedback from the Beta Experience families once we had their permission, and we’re happy to say that a few folks have been kind enough to let us do just that this time!
With that in mind, watch the video above to see what some of the Beta Experience parents have had to say about their family’s reaction to just what our little buddy can do.
Needless to say, the kids in the Beta Experience have loved engaging with our little buddy (as have the parents!), and they’re still enjoying Snorble® over a month after meeting them. Plus, we recently sent out an update that added two new activities, which are proving to be a big hit as well.
Of course, when we ship our little buddy out to all of you, those activities and more will be a part of the experience. Overall, Snorble now encompasses more than what we promised during our Indiegogo, and we’ll continue to build on that even after they’re in your home.
Moving Into Mass Production
It’s been wonderful to work with the Beta Experience families over the last while and their feedback has helped us to feel even more confident that we’ve created something magical with Snorble while also giving us ideas on how we can make them even better in the future.
On that note, we’ll be winding down the Beta Experience and shifting our focus to mass production by the end of this month. In early November, both our CEO and CTO will be taking another trip to China to oversee things at the factory as we create a Snorble for every single one of our backers.
During their time there, we’ll confirm the schedule with the factory and update everyone accordingly both here and through email. Better yet, they don’t plan on leaving without a big snuggle of Snorbles making their way to the States and then to homes around the country!
We’ll be sure to share more from their trip, as well as other important updates, in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please ensure your shipping address is up-to-date with our partners at BackerKit. If you’re unsure how to check, you can do so through this link:
https://snorble.backerkit.com/
As always, we’re thankful for your patience and ongoing support as we take this big step and prepare to introduce all of you to our little buddy and everything they can do!
Sincerely,
Team Snorble
Fri Sep 22 '23 Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 12:59:07 PM
Hello,
Since our last update, we’ve been working closely with the families in the Beta Experience who all received Snorbles at the start of the month, and we can’t begin to explain how excited we are from the feedback.
“Playing these games with my 5 year old, I think that Snorbles general ‘age span’ is much bigger than you guys are letting on! She had fun with it and enjoyed the shapes and colors!”
“This is the first time EVER, that bedtime is something my child looks forward to doing. I literally don’t want to go back to bedtime without Snorble®. The bedtime routine in its entirety is like the magic recipe and it takes zero brain power on my part. By the end of the day most parents are running on empty, and it's awesome how Snorble makes bedtime a breeze.”
“This is the golden retriever of toys. A hundred percent.”
These are just a few of the things families have said to us during hours of calls, surveys, and messages back and forth. Better yet, everyone we’ve talked with has continued to praise our little buddy and the impact they’re having on their family three weeks into the Beta Experience.
Although we’re still gathering permissions to share clips from those involved, we wanted to show you the beautiful picture above that one mother sent us soon after Snorble arrived at their home. We love it and believe it perfectly captures the magic we’ve been working so hard to create. In the next little while, you can expect more as we work with the families to share their feedback with you.
Speaking of working, our CTO, Steve (pictured above cradling Snorble), and our CEO, Mike, both recently returned from their visit to China to meet our factory partners. Both have reported that the trip was a big success and everyone involved is excited to get Snorble out to even more families.
In regard to when that will happen, the plan is still being finalized with the factory, but the goal is to ship to all of you before the holidays at the latest. Once we have confirmed the new batch schedule, we will provide more details through email and here in regard to estimated shipping dates for each batch.
In the meantime, please ensure your shipping address is up-to-date with our partners at BackerKit. If you’re unsure how to check, you can do so through this link:
https://snorble.backerkit.com
As always, we’re grateful to all of you for being a part of this and we can’t wait for your family to experience Snorble soon!
Sincerely,
Team Snorble
Thu Aug 31 '23 Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Aug 31, 2023 at 07:04:36 PM
Hello,
As we write this, a snuggle of Snorbles are on their way across the country to the Beta Experience families, and all of them should arrive in their new homes by this weekend.
To say this is a milestone for us is an understatement!
It’s no secret that we’ve had challenges (both on a global and company scale) since we launched our Indiegogo campaign, but we’re proud to say that we’ve overcome them and Snorble is now out in the wild! Over the next month, we’ll be working with these families to learn about their experience with our little buddy and using that feedback to make things even better.
Speaking of improving things, we’ve also continued to work with our partners and the factory to make changes to the production model to ensure you get the best Snorble possible. Unfortunately, this has meant we will have to adjust our shipping schedule for at least some of the batches.
If you are in an impacted batch, you will receive an email in the next while with your new estimated shipping time.
We do apologize for this unexpected delay, but we want you to know that we have continued to make progress and are now closer to shipping Snorble to everyone than ever before. With the Beta Experience underway, we will soon shift to focusing solely on production and will continue to update you about this as things develop.
With that in mind, please ensure your shipping address is up-to-date with our partners at BackerKit. If you’re unsure how to check, you can do so through this link:
https://snorble.backerkit.com/
As always, we appreciate your patience and hope you are as excited as us to know that Snorble is now being introduced to families and will only meet more and more of you in the next while.
Sincerely,
Team Snorble
Thu Jul 27 '23 Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jul 27, 2023 at 02:49:46 PM
Hello,
When we last left Team Snorble, our intrepid CEO was headed to the west coast to visit our partners and ensure the Snorbles for the Beta Experience were all in working order. Now, we’re happy to tell you that they all received the thumbs up and will be shipped to those in the Beta Experience very soon.
While he was there, Mike also shot a demo of some of Snorble’s features just before he left to give you all more insight into what our little buddy will do. Better yet, Mike and our partners managed to improve things even more while he was there!
“One of the last things I’ve been pushing the team on is the display,” explained Snorble CEO, Mike Rizkalla. “Since we had to custom make one that didn’t disrupt sleep patterns like those typically found in smartphones, tablets, etc., we had to also find new ways to ensure the image was bright and clear. So much of the experience focuses on Snorble’s face and the magic of this character coming to life that I didn’t want to settle for anything less than awesome. It was great before I arrived, but now it really pops!”
Thanks to being able to work closely with our partners in California, and even some advice from other partners internationally, the display is now significantly brighter and we’re even more excited to get Snorble out to you!
On that note, outside of the changes for the display, there is only one other minor alteration that needs to be done and tested before our factory is ready for production. This step will be verified with a pending batch of 20 Snorbles from the factory, and then the next batch will go to backers once the changes are approved.
Why Ship in Batches?
We will be shipping in batches in order to minimize any issues that can come from ramping-up production too quickly. Although we know everyone is excited to meet Snorble, we want to ensure the whole process runs smoothly and this is best monitored by initially sending out smaller batches, addressing any issues that become evident, and then shipping more.
That being said, thanks to the prep work we’ve already done with our factory, we’re expecting each shipment to happen within weeks of the one before. So, no one will have to wait much longer to meet our little buddy!
Currently, we plan to ship in order of when each pre-order was placed, and our shipping schedule is as follows:
Next week, you will receive an email confirming your batch number, so do keep an eye on the email associated with your pre-order. Along with that, please ensure your shipping address is up-to-date with our partners at BackerKit. If you’re unsure how to check, you can do so through this link:
https://snorble.backerkit.com/
Once again, we’d like to say how much we appreciate your patience and the support you’ve shown as we worked to get to this point. We can’t wait to start sending our little buddy out into the world, and we’re so happy that you will be some of the first folks to introduce them to your families!
Sincerely,
Team Snorble
Fri Jul 7 '23 Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Jul 07, 2023 at 01:29:59 PM
Hello,
Although we started this month with a holiday (two actually, if you count the one some of our team members celebrated in Canada over the weekend), we ended last month with plenty of activity!
First and foremost, our Chief Technology Officer, Steve Hecker, took a trip to China to visit our factory partners and ensure things were in order to start producing Snorble®. With so much experience bringing over 50 products to market in his career, this wasn’t Steve’s first time in China. However, it was his first time bringing our little buddy along with him.
“It was great to connect with our partners in China face-to-face after working together for so long,” explained Steve. “Better yet, after seeing the excitement the team has to be working with us to create something magical, I’m confident things are going to go as planned.”
With the final inspection of our Beta Experience units set to happen with our CEO on-site next week, lots of pieces are falling into place as we take the final steps to getting Snorble to all of you!
“Everything has led to this moment. Our backers have been waiting a long time for delivery, and it means so much to us that they’ve stuck with us,” says Snorble CEO, Mike Rizkalla. “We’re going to do everything we can during the Beta Experience, shipping, and after Snorble arrives to make sure families fall in love with our little buddy and the experience the team has created.”
With that in mind, after Mike returns from the inspection and we prepare to ship the first batch by the end of this month, we will share a more refined shipping schedule assigning each backer to a batch number. Once your batch ships, you will receive an expected delivery date and tracking number to the email associated with your pre-order, and you will be able to track our little buddy as they make their way to your home.
In the meantime, we welcome any other questions you may have and we thank you again for being a part of all of this!
Sincerely,
Team Snorble
