#smartfeeding

[ostdrossel]

Birdfy by Netvue was so nice to send me a Hum feeder cam to try out, and today I had the first visitors. They alerted me that the grape jelly needs a refill 😄It has two cams, which is fun for editing. I'll post a more thorough review soon. I also have the pretty Allura feeder out, with a Birdsy camera, and will set up the red fountain again soon. All I need now are

[primechoicereviews]

5G WiFi Magic: Smart Feeding with PETLIBRO Automatic Pet Feeder

[givaldizhafran]

Hilirisasi Multi Komoditi

First of all, judulnya keren.

Karir saya di eFishery ini udah cukup tua sebenarnya. Mulai masuk di sini dari masih pacaran sampai sekarang udah punya anak umur 2 tahun. Ibarat anak, karir saya di eFishery sudah memasuki persiapan SD. Bahas bahas soal working desk sesuai tema pada hari ini, saya jadi kilas balik. Kok.... Rasanya.... Gak pernah dapet meja khusus di kantor ya. Mungkin karena lebih dari separuh karir saya di eFishery banyak dihabiskan di lapangan. Cembetul ini ngabisin jatah bistrip? Bukan woy, tapi emang rolenya begitu. Mari kita kilas balik walaupun tidak penting buat hidup kalian.

Masa - Masa Offline Activation Team

Dulu waktu awal magang sampai jadi junior staff memulai kiprah di bidang marketing tepatnya bagian offline activation. Lewat sini mulai banyak ngenalin Smartfeeder kita ke petani petani di daerah yang baru saya denger: Lubuk Linggau, Pasaman, Kampung Brandan, dan lainnya. Ikan dan Udang dibabat habis.

Masa Masa Nyemplung ke Udang

Tahap ini banyak di riset dan piloting business model baru. Mulai dari disease prevention, eLab, pembiayaan pakan, Contract Farming Community, dan lain lain. Keliling ke tambak udang dari segmen tradisional sampai ke intensif yang punya garasi mobil berasa showroom. Kunjungan ke tambak yang panas dan cek anco (kaya digambar) begini udah jadi kegiatan sehari-hari.

Masa Masa Downstream Shrimp

Nah puas menjelajahi dan ngobrol dengan banyak petambak udang, lanjut pindah ke jualan udang. Targetnya juga gak kalah beragam. Mulai dari Hypermart sementereng AEON sampai ke pasar pasar induk juga tak kalah dilahap. Mulai dari pakai jas biar punya kredibilitas sampai pakai sendal jajal pasar.

Kembali Merangkul Komoditas Ikan

Setelah 1.5 tahun berkecimplung di dunia udang, akhirnya kembali lagi ke pangkuan ikan. Walaupun ikan gak punya paha. Rasanya kangen dan heboh juga karena memang memori ikan ini simpang siur. Alhasil langsung kita terjun juga dari Gurame, Nila, Lele dan Upstream maupun Downstream.

Jadi, selain Pak Prabowo dan Mas Gibran Rakabuming, saya sudah praktik hilirasisi multi komoditi di perusahaan Mas Gibran yang lain. Melalui pengalaman ini, saya berani jamin seratus persen bahwa hilirisasi itu super duper penting. Terakhir, saya datang ke seminar ASOSIASI PRODUSEN PENGOLAHAN DAN PEMASARAN PRODUK PERIKANAN INDONESIA (AP5I) di Surabaya yang dihadiri oleh banyak pelaku bisnis pengolahan udang dan ikan, serta beberapa tamu kehormatan dari negara lain. Semuanya sependapat bahwa saat ini, Indonesia terlalu berat bermain pada produk segar. Padahal, buat meningkatkan konsumsi sangat perlu dilakukan pengembangan produk turunan berupa value added.

Lewat pengalaman dan ilmu ilmu yang saya dapatkan, rasanya ikhlas dan rela kalau saya gak punya meja khusus di kantor. Lewat working desk yang semrawut dari ikan ke udang, upstream ke downstream, tradisional ke intensif atau supermarket ke pasar ini memperluas khasanah saya di dunia perikanan. Jadi, kalau suatu saat udah lulus di universitas eFishery. Saya bisa sombong pas interview : "Mungkin saya bukan karyawan paling bertalenta di perusahaan, tapi bisa jadi saya karyawan paling versatile lewat kesediaan saya blusukan turun ke lapangan.

[gis56]

The Foundation of Farming: Starter Feed Market Trends Ahead

Starter feed is specially formulated to provide young livestock, like chicks and piglets, with the essential nutrients they need for rapid growth and development. Rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals, it ensures a strong start, supporting the health and immune system of animals in their early stages. This feed is crucial in laying the foundation for optimal performance and productivity throughout their lives.

#StarterFeed #AnimalHealth #GrowthNutrition #YoungLivestock #FeedInnovation #FarmSuccess #AnimalWellness #FeedEfficiency #AgriTech #NutrientRich #HealthyAnimals #LivestockFarming #EarlyGrowth #FeedForSuccess #FarmToFork #SmartFeeding

[bonzatrading]

🐾🍽️ Introducing the Future of Pet Feeding: The Ultimate Cat & Dog Smart Feeder! 🚀

🐶😺 You won't believe the purr-fect solution we've discovered for all our furry friends! 🐕🐾

🌟  Cat Smart Feeder Pet Automatic Timed Quantitative Feeding Machine! 🍽️✨

📡 With its WiFi Remote Feeding capabilities, you can now feed your pets from anywhere in the world! Whether you're at work, on vacation, or just cozy on the couch, your fur babies will never go hungry again! 🌎🏡

🕒 Set precise meal schedules for your cats and dogs, ensuring they get the right amount of food at the right time, every time! 🕰️ No more overfeeding or worrying about meal portions. It's all automated! 🤖

📷 Share mealtime moments with your pets using the built-in camera and app! 📸 You'll get to see those adorable faces light up as they enjoy their meals, even when you're away. 🥰

📈 Plus, it's not just a feeder; it's a health tracker too! Monitor your pet's eating habits and keep them in tip-top shape. 📊🐾

🛒🎉 #PetTech #SmartFeeder #HappyPets #TechForTails

[bionicbasil]

WHAT'S IN THE BOX? on In The Spotlight ~ Product Review featuring Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder by PetSafe

[pumpkin-stars]

Mirroring

Nathan Bateman/GN!Reader. Fluff

Request: Heyyy 👀 Congrats on your blogversary!! ❤️✨⭐️ I’m gonna put in a request for Nathan Bateman + fluff (maybe involving a cat [reader’s cat?] disrupting his work/sitting on the keyboard/usual cat behaviour) Only if you want to/are comfortable writing that of course!! No pressure 😌 - for @santiagogarcia

I had so many ideas for this that I had to limit myself to just one 🥺

Word Count: 514

Warnings/Content: Nathan is not-so-secretly a lovebug, cats named after people, pet-centric technology.

The seventh of 12 drabbles for my 1 year tumblr anniversary :)

Nobody really understood BlueBook’s sudden release of pet-related technology. But people liked it - most products were instant hits.

The collars with in-built cameras and tracking software, accessible through a secure app so you could see what your cat was doing at any time of day. The wireless SmartFeeder that, again, could be accessed with an app, to release a portion of food to your animal from anywhere in the world. And the wireless usb keyboards - nothing was really new about those on the surface, but they didn’t truly function as a keyboard, instead, as a heated panel for a cat to sleep on beside the actual keyboard being used to work.

All that (and more) was prompted by one email Nathan had sent you about seven months before…

~~

From: Nathan

Subject: fufdck4t dindfg csdw\atis

Th eyhgd’re doh2-binsg ifrt a gd25;aide!n!

You can’t tell what it says but you know exactly what it means, and sure enough, when you check the security feed, Nathan’s staring at you through the camera, unamused as the two little gremlins make a bed for themselves on his keyboard, having walked across it while he typed the email - and likely while he was working on some very important code.

To: Nathan

RE: fufdck4t dindfg csdw\atis

I’ll be right there.

You smile, winking at the camera in the corner of the room before you head to Nathan’s office, not bothering to knock as you walk in, smiling as the cats barely react to your presence.

“They keep wrecking the code.” Nathan complains, “I can’t stop them walking on my fucking keyboard. I get Shithead out the way and then Asshat jumps right in.”

“Alan and Fabio love you,” you smile, “despite their nicknames.”

Nathan huffs, “If they loved me they wouldn’t get in the way of the thing that pays for their food.”

“You’re a fucking billionaire.” You stare at him, reaching out to stroke the furry terrors, “They’re just mirroring you, Nathan, it’s what happens when they love you.”

“Mirroring?”

“They see you with the keyboard and they want to take part too.” You shrug. “Probably because you remind them of their mother.”

“Their mother?” His eyebrows shoot up.

“Your beard. When you kiss their heads - don’t pretend you don’t - it mimics their mom’s tongue.”

He’s silent for a moment, but then he strokes the nearest ear to him, “How do I stop them from walking over the code?”

You smile, “They need their own keyboard.”

~~

And so began seven months of product development, repurposing cameras and trackers from his other products, frantically writing code for the apps to release food, rewiring keyboards to work as mini heaters that wouldn’t overheat.

“You don’t need to mass market them, Nathan.” You remind him, “The boys can be the luckiest cats in the world.”

“Already are,” he grins at you, “Us as parents. They’re living the dream, babe.”

~~

The product launches usually take place in person, but Nathan chose to video call into the conference this time.

By using Alan’s CollarCam while both cats lounged on his desk.

~~~~

Taglist: @amneris21 @fisforfulcrum @foxilayde @idreamofboobear @irrelevantbutembarrassing @jitterbugs927 @joanofarkansass @mypedrom @salome-c @santiagogarcia @seasonschange-butpeopledont @the-little-ewok @thedukeleto @yours-truly-r

[xranker]

5 New Crazy Tech Inventions You Can Buy On Amazon ◈ 2019 ◈

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EB37aPUV0YQ Read the full article

[ostdrossel]

Birdfy has sent me their Feeder 2 cam to test, and I have to say I love it! It comes with up to two cams, one of which is a dual lens that takes widescreen as well as close-up portrait shots. The app is working smoothly as always, and I am having a lot of fun with this. I think this is the first smartfeeder that actually improved their setup, and I also think this is the best one yet. I'll add a special presale link in the comments, and you can get 15 % off with the code OSTDROSSEL. I will also write about it in a bit more detail on my website in the coming days.

[primechoicereviews]

Enjoy Peace of Mind with PETLIBRO's Automatic Wet Food Feeder

[miniaturesharkuniversityclo-blog]

Petnet SmartFeeder (2nd Generation) - Automatic Wi-Fi Pet Feeder Personalized Portions Cats Dogs - App Android, iOS Works Amazon Alexa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C3V32VR/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_.JWgCb9WMGHBP

[givaldizhafran]

Menjadi Spons

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1 : Sahabat Pembudidaya

Sebelum bercerita tentang pengalaman menjadi pejuang eFishery, saya ingin berbagi mengenai makna eFishery bagi saya. Hal yang paling tepat menggambarkan ini ada di tahun 2019 di sebuah kota yang saya sudah lupa letaknya. Saat itu sedang diadakan event seminar Smartfeeder yang presentasinya dibawakan langsung oleh Sang CEO kita. Pada akhir presentasi, Bapak CEO menyampaikan closing statement yang sangat membekas bagi saya hingga saat ini.

"Saya gak menjamin kalau Smartfeeder ini anti rusak dan 100% memuaskan untuk Bapak. Tetapi saya akan menjamin kalau eFishery akan selalu hadir untuk Bapak jika ada kerusakan, keluhan, atau bahkan curhat tentang patah hati, Pak."

Hal ini tervalidasi ketika saya visit ke salah satu petambak di area Subang. "Awalnya saya ogah pakai eFishery, tapi karena tim lapangan sering kunjungan ke saya dan ngobrol, saya jadi pakai layanan eFishery." Kata si Bapak. Ini yang akhirnya membawa saya pada satu kesimpulan bahwa makna dari eFishery adalah Sahabat Pembudidaya. Dua kata itu lebih dari sekadar slogan semata. Dua kata itu menjadi dasar mentalitas eFishery dalam menjalankan visi dan misinya. Apa itu Sahabat? Sahabat ya Dia yang selalu hadir, Dia yang mendengarkan, dan Dia yang memberikan solusi. Sahabat ya kami semua, eFishery.

Part 2 : Menjadi Spons

Pada satu waktu di area SCBD Jakarta tepatnya di salah satu high end italian resto yang terdapat di sana, saya mewakili eFishery bertemu dengan dua orang dari potential partner. Mereka adalah Country Manager dan Technical Director salah satu perusahaan animal health besar di dunia. Pada sesi itu sambil menyantap lobster seharga 400ribu secara gratis kami sedikit berbincang mengenai bisnis dan potensi kerjasama antara kedua belah pihak. Sebagian besarnya diisi dengan obrolan ringan terkait Rolex, Sports Car, dan topik topik yang asing bukan main bagi saya. Untungnya, saya sangat fake it till you make it di sesi itu.

Pada waktu yang lain, di suatu weekend saya menghadiri pertemuan di hotel mewah Jakarta Selatan antara lead saya dan CEO dari salah satu perusahaan teknologi besar di dunia. Kali ini karena tidak sendiri, tentu saja saya menjadi pendengar setia dengan sesekali menambahkan satu dua kata yang dirasa penting bagi perbincangan. Hasilnya berjalan dengan memuaskan. Pada lift menuju ke lantai bawah, CEO dari perusahaan partner tersebut mengatakan satu hal yang masih terngiang sampai saat ini : "You are so lucky to be here. When I was 25 years old, I was working my ass of in field and nowhere on your level" Wah, dengan sedikit malu malu dan pura pura humble saya cukup membalas dengan : Thank you, I have an excellent mentor.

Berdasarkan dari 2 kisah di atas yang terasa seperti humble brag ini, membuat saya justru menjadi bertanya : "Kok saya bisa ada disana dan bisa survive ya?" Kalau bahasa gaulnya : Aing teh saha euy! Setelah melalui proses evaluasi dari perjalanan selama di eFishery, jawaban yang saya temukan cuma satu. Karena selama di eFishery, saya selalu menjadi spons.

Tweet dari founder Initialized Capital ini sangat menggambarkan tentang perjalanan saya menjadi spons selama di eFishery. Sejatinya, sifat spons adalah menyerap. Itulah yang saya lakukan mulai dari masa intern dengan pendapatan jauh di bawah UMR hingga pada detik ini yaitu : Menyerap Ilmu. Mulai dari perjalanan BDSM (Business Development - Sales - Marketing) tempat saya belajar building awareness, membuat deck yang persuasif, hingga menghitung istilah istilah yang tidak saya pelajari saat kuliah. Hingga diskusi dan koordinasi dengan function lain dimana saya bisa belajar pasang sekrup sampai menghitung financial feasibility secara baik dan benar. Bahkan tepat satu jam sebelum menulis ini, mulai dari jam 9 malam hingga 12 malam di salah satu cafe di Sulawesi saya belajar banyak mengenai debt collection process yang super berharga dari salah satu karyawan perusahaan pakan di Indonesia. Selalu ada kesempatan belajar di eFishery.

Tentu saja hal ini tidak akan terjadi jika saya tidak berada di eFishery. Perusahaan ini menjadi wadah yang sempurna bagi para fakir ilmu yang ingin menjadi saudagar ilmu. Spons tidak akan menyerap jika tidak ada keran yang menyala. eFishery hadir menjadi enabler yang menyalakan keran ilmu buat saya. Melalui tulisan ini saya ucapkan terima kasih kepada segala manusia di eFishery yang secara sengaja maupun tidak sengaja memberikan pelajaran yang berarti bagi saya. Karena mentor yang saya maksud membawa saya bisa mengalami 2 peristiwa luar biasa di atas adalah rekan dan leader di eFishery yang selalu mengucurkan ilmu untuk saya serap.

Bagi saya, tidak ada batas waktu umur posisi untuk menjadi spons. Marilah kita menjadi spons dengan daya serap yang tinggi. Karena uthlubul ilma minal mahdi ilal lahdi. Tuntutlah ilmu dari buaian hingga liang lahat. Tuntutlah ilmu sepanjang hayat. Menjadi spons, tak kenal kata terlambat.

[offtheprice]

The Petnet SmartFeeder is a Wi-Fi connected automatic pet feeder for individual cats and dogs, up to 60lbs. Using the Petnet App you can personalize your pet’s daily meal times and portions, order pet food for delivery – and even feed Fido from your phone! Comes with a 1-year limited warranty and customer service for the life of the product.

(via Oh, I Gotta Buy This)

[myitpros2021]

In an ideal world, we’d get to spend every waking moment curled up with our pets. But with today’s hectic schedules, that’s just not possible. In fact, sometimes it’s hard just to make it home by Fido’s dinner time!

[your-dietician]

What Happened When the PetNet Smart Pet Feeder Went Out of Business

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/business/what-happened-when-the-petnet-smart-pet-feeder-went-out-of-business/

What Happened When the PetNet Smart Pet Feeder Went Out of Business

The Amazon and PetCo-backed startup PetNet sold a WiFi-connected pet feeder controlled using an app.

When a failed acquisition forced the company out of business in 2020, customers were left with useless hardware.

An analysis by Insider founder that of 33 wearable or connected home startups leading the industry in 2015, only 12 sold products that are actively supported today.

See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Allen Sampsell knew something was up when his cats started to act out. Freya, a “chonker” born without a tail, and May, a younger tortoiseshell with all of her appendages, were hungry. Sampsell had no idea how many days or hours the duo had gone without eating.

“My cats very obviously kept acting like they weren’t getting fed,” said Sampsell, who works on an Air Force base near Omaha and travels frequently for his job. 

Normally, such daily business as feeding the cats went off without a hitch. For the last few years, Sampsell had used the PetNet SmartFeeder, an $150 Internet of Things device which dropped a set amount of kibble into a feeding bowl based on a schedule set using a smartphone app. 

But in spring 2020, the feeder started to go offline. Then PetNet asked for more money. In a letter to customers last May, the company said that anyone who didn’t pay a $30 annual subscription fee would no longer have a working cat feeder.

“I am not even sure if people actually fell for that,” said Sampsell, who opted against the subscription. “And then they folded up shop completely.”

From doorbell cameras and smart locks to fitness trackers and smart glasses, Americans are increasingly dependent on internet-connected devices that rely on software and servers to perform basic functions. But as early venture capital funding runs out, and business plans fall through, many of these startups are forced to sell their assets or shut down entirely, leaving consumers with closets and junk drawers filled with beautifully designed but useless hardware. Worse, because many of these connected devices are designed to handle essential aspects of household life, their sudden demise can create all sorts of problems and headaches.

Even the most well funded of IoT startups have failed, including the $3 billion fitness tracker company Jawbone, which shut down in 2017 after struggling to pay its vendors. Others shut down after getting acquired, like the startup North, which stopped supporting Focals, its $600 augmented reality glasses, when Google bought the company in June 2020. Of 33 wearable or connected home startups leading the industry in 2015, just 12 sold products that are actively supported today, an Insider analysis found.

In some cases, unsupported IoT devices, including the PetNet feeder, Jawbone fitness bands and the smart food scale Orange Chef, are still being sold through online retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which give no indication that the hardware won’t be able to connect to the app required to use the product. Amazon and Walmart did not respond to requests for comment about why they are continue to sell internet connected devices that will no longer work as they’re supposed to.

Though PetNet was just one small company among many, I had personal reasons for uncovering why it failed. Like Sampsell, my PetNet cat feeder had stopped working. My cat Dewey was waking me up at the crack of dawn for a meal that she would normally get automatically. She was hungry. I was tired. That’s when I called PetNet CEO Carlos Herrera.

“The hardware was the Trojan horse”

By the time PetNet sent the email asking for subscription revenue, the company was already in a tailspin.

The startup released the second generation of its cat feeder in January 2018 but the feeder had trouble connecting to the internet. The issue, Herrera said, was with one of its vendors which stopped supporting a key piece of software right when the pet feeder shipped out to customers.

Reports about PetNet’s connectivity issues circulated, which hurt its sales. On top of it all, PetNet had taken on substantial debt from that same vendor to cover its supply chain costs.

“One hand is washing the other with poisoned water,” Herrera told me over the phone one day this June, a year after the company ceased operations.

Herrera had dealt with hardware problems before, but hardware was never supposed to be the heart of PetNet’s business model.

He started the company in Los Angeles in 2012 with two friends, one who he met while playing soccer as a kid growing up in Columbia, and the second who he knew from their job building sensors in the defense sector post 9/11.

Their idea was to sell pet food to cat and dog owners using information entered into the PetNet app. The automatic pet feeder was a way to get people to share that data.

“The hardware was the Trojan horse to get the online food business going,” said Bob Kron, a sales and marketing consultant for startups, who ran sales for PetNet in its early days.

PetNet raised a couple million dollars in seed funding through an accelerator and early investors like Grishin Robotics, but Herrera struggled to get the support of large venture capital funds. 

He had better luck with strategic investors and in 2015, PetNet raised $4 million, including money from Amazon’s Alexa Fund, followed by a $16 million Series A in 2016 led by PetCo.

Crystal Cox/Insider

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Crystal Cox/Insider

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Crystal Cox/Insider

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The strategic investments brought creditiblity to PetNet but the deals had strings attached. Most of the money from Amazon went toward integrating the device with Amazon Alexa, Herrera said, which meant hiring someone to do that work. (A spokesperson for Amazon said that integration with Alexa is not a requirement for Alexa Fund investments.)

The investment from PetCo came with a partnership deal that required PetNet to use PetCo to deliver the food that it sold through its app.

By 2015, PetNet had grown to around 50 employees with big plans to expand the application, but hardware problems derailed those plans.

Despite its sleek exterior, the first version of the feeder had major design flaws. Customers used a wide array of kibbles, and some brands of food contained oils that eroded the rubber router that moves food through the machine. Sometimes the kibble pieces were so big that they got stuck altogether. 

The money Herrera had earmarked for new projects was reallocated toward remanufacturing the hardware. PetNet addressed the kibble problem by offering its customers a free ramp, which went under the feeder and tilted it at an angle so the food would fall out more easily.

While a software company can fix a bug and redeploy its product overnight, even small issues with hardware products can take half a year to fix, Herrera said. “It means you have to repay for everything.”

For every unit sold, PetNet lost around $10, Herrera said. For every ramp it gave away, it lost another $15. Herrera said he only took a salary one of eight years the company was in business. 

“The problem with early stage startups is that you’re always going to be tight with cash,” Herrera said.

By 2018, PetNet was ready to raise more money, and Herrera had his hopes set on a $100 million Series B. But his investors were wary and wanted PetNet to find an acquirer instead.

The startup got close to sellings its business in August 2019 after 18 months of negotiations, but the deal fell through, Herrera said. Soon after, the startup ran out of cash.

“Ultimately, the product/market fit was not there,” PetNet investor Alexey Alexanov, a partner at Cabra VC, said in an email. “Not enough pet owners purchased the SmartFeeder for the company to gain from the potential economies of scale in the supply chain.”

The PetNet feeder is still for sale on Amazon, even though the company is winding down and the product doesn’t work.

Becky Peterson/Amazon

Most consumer IoT companies disappear 

Julie Ask is a vice president and principal analyst for Forrester where she researches mobile technologies. But it’s her husband who bought the wifi connected teapot and door handles, and notably, a wifi-connected air filter. 

“These are expensive one-off products that entertain my husband,” Ask said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do if it goes out of business. I don’t know where we’re going to get the filters.”

Ask said she’s seen a shift in business models over the last decade as hardware companies adapt to the realities of the market. Like PetNet, most device startups offer their services for free in an attempt to win over customers, with plans to charge for premium services once the customer is hooked, and then eventually to monetize data garnered from the device.

A Ring doorbell in 2019. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Internet of Things. Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Two models of Google smart speakers, including the smaller Nest, on display. Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

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“Few companies go into this thinking they’re going to make money on hardware,” Ask said. “All of this data is generated to develop some kind of context that feeds insights that lets these companies know more about their ultimate customer or, in this case, a pet.”

Venture funding into connected devices has increased over the last few years, though there are fewer companies in the space raising money.

In 2017, IoT companies, which include consumer goods as well as products in healthcare, infrastructure and connected cars, raised $6 billion in equity funding across 788 deals, according to CB Insights. In 2020, IoT companies raised $10.2 billion across just 465 deals.

“Devices are a really, really hard business. And so a lot of them go under, even if the product is amazing,” Ask said.

PetNet’s product and brand went to creditors

Sampsell has become somewhat of a celebrity among PetNet customers thanks to his YouTube channel AllensCloud, where he posts instructional videos with simple tech projects, including two videos on “hacking” the PetNet feeders.

In the videos, Sampsell gives instructions on replacing the PetNet electronics with a wifi connected board that lets people control the feeder directly with another app. Collectively, the videos have 5,400 views.

The jury-rigged feeder works well, and it still sits in Sampsell’s kitchen in Nebraska. “I’ve been using it ever since I first put it in there,” he said. “I have no plans of buying a different one.”

Winding down the company has been rough for Herrera. He knows customers are angry, and many have told him as much directly. PetNet can’t file for bankruptcy because that would cost money, and there is none, but he plans to personally pay back each person who paid for a $30 subscription once he has the means, he said. 

Dewey reposes in the time between her nap and her meal.

Crystal Cox/Insider

The defunct PetNet feeder is still for sale on Amazon and Walmart.com, though Herrera said he gave up control over the product and brand to creditors. The app is down and the PetNet website now redirects to a pet blog called Pet Keen, which posts tips for pet owners. It’s not clear who runs it. 

For Herrera, there’s no question that consumer hardware startups are a dead end. He doesn’t think venture capitalists want to invest in the space and he no longer thinks they should. 

But the experience hasn’t turned him off to startups. He’s working on some new projects, none of which involve manufacturing.

“Most startups fail, so that’s just the world we choose to be in,” Herrera said.

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[704outdoors]

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