new-and-improved prototypes to the beta testers—being a beta tester was one of the original Kickstarter rewards—by the end of April, as it announced in an update published on the Sound Band’s Kickstarter page this week. Bob says the company will solicit testers’ feedback and incorporate changes, if feasible.
After I met with Bob, I called Joe Thiel in search of answers to other concerns expressed by Kickstarter backers. Right away, it was clear that Thiel is approaching the ongoing strife with backers in a much more reflective way than he did a year ago. He’s also learned to be more measured in his on-the-record comments. Last April, he dismissed the most vocal, unsatisfied backers as a handful of guys living in their mothers’ basements with their cats. This time, he thanks them for spurring Hybra to overhaul the Sound Band.
“I’m a totally changed person in a positive way,” he says. “It’s been a huge growth experience for the company and me personally. Sometimes, things get off track and you have to pull back the reins and get around the corner. I think the majority of our backers are still supportive, and I still feel very blessed.”
Thiel says in addition to the updates the company has posted, he reaches out to backers privately “all the time.” Hybra, he concedes, was audacious in its initial claims in September 2013 of having a new Bluetooth headset that was production-ready—hubris he chalks up to being a young startup.
“When we said we nailed it, that was driven by the entrepreneurial spirit,” he says. “Don’t blame anyone for being positive. It was a lack of experience—they really did believe what they were saying. We found some things that they missed, but everyone tried their hardest.” (By “they,” he’s referring to co-founders Ryan and Meagan Wells and Marty Stevenson, who have since left the company.)
In addition to providing office space, Thiel says Central Transport has provided support personnel, and he says the company’s belief in the Sound Band project has been “wonderful.” He also mentions unnamed investors who have helped fund the Sound Band’s continued development. “The time, funds, and effort required to do what Bob did is staggering, really,” he says. “But it needed to be done. We got a lot of flak for [the delay], and we did explain a lot of it, but some of the more vocal backers had their own opinion and I appreciate that.”
Thiel says he was involved with the Sound Band’s initial development at a high level, but most of his energies were going toward running Hybra Energy back in 2013. After Ryan and Meagan Wells left, the project came back to him, and he delved in “full bore.” Once Bob took on the task of re-engineering the Sound Band, Thiel says he stepped back again. He’s no longer CEO, instead taking the title of advisory board member. (He didn’t respond when asked to name Hybra Advance Technology’s current CEO.) Thiel says the money for the Sound Band’s ongoing production comes from Hybra Energy and a group of Detroit-based angel investors.
So, will he be offering refunds, as the list of 282 backers is demanding? “I went back and forth with it, and I got good feedback from Kickstarter. As long as we don’t feel the project is going to fail, we’re going to keep going forward,” Thiel says.
He claims that once the company’s updates started up again last year, the list of backers demanding a refund began shrinking: “I think even more will come off the list if we continue to drive forward. We didn’t communicate well in the beginning. We were really offended by [the backlash] because we had worked so hard, and it showed. It’s a natural knee-jerk reaction. As we grow, we just have to take a deep breath, grow a thicker skin, and learn from it.”
He says Hybra’s updates haven’t been “super informative” because there is so much proprietary technology to protect, and he didn’t want to risk alienating potential partners. “The delivery is key,” he says. “We can say anything we want, but everyone just wants to know if we’re going to deliver the product.”
And when do they plan to deliver the final version of the Sound Band? Thiel says the beta testers will get 90 days to use their Sound Band prototypes and offer feedback, and he hopes the videos and comments they post on the Internet will “satisfy everything.” Once the beta testers finish their evaluation period, Bob and his team will make any necessary improvements, and then Thiel hopes the Sound Band will go out to the rest of the 3,292 Kickstarter supporters by Christmas.
The Attorney General’s office didn’t respond to my repeated requests for comment. But Thiel confirms that he got a letter from them spurred by complaints from at least one Kickstarter backer. He says he responded and didn’t hear anything further, but he’s not worried. “We did a forensic audit, and we have a full-time CFO that watches every penny go in and out the door,” he says. “All those i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, especially after we reorganized. We have nothing to hide.”
To those who accuse him of fraud, he says, “I look at all the people who know and respect me, and I have no history of that. I appreciate their opinion, but I know my history. I just don’t like it when it gets personal; it hurts my feelings and it makes my family uncomfortable. I’m always the guy on the road who stops to help.”
Asked why visitors to Hybra Advance Technology’s website continue to get an “under construction” message almost a year later, he says, “We haven’t had a final product to show on it. What’s the benefit of a website with no content? We’ve used Kickstarter as our main channel of communication.” Once the Sound Band goes out to all the backers, he says Hybra will make it a “big, cool thing” on its website.
The bottom line, he says, is that no matter what it may appear to be, Hybra has not thrown in the towel on the Sound Band. He still believes the company has created a game-changing product, and he’s already talking to a few “big names” about licensing options.
“I don’t step down from challenges or take promises lightly,” he adds. “Spiritually, I feel much stronger. A lot of times, I was pretty stressed out, but I’ve worked through that now. I really appreciate the positive support from backers, and I respect and care about the vocal backers. They’ve taught me a lot. It’s been a heck of a ride.”
