Interview with Angela Pan from Ashley Chloe, creators of Helix

At Ashley Chloe, we bridge the gap between high fashion and functional form, with our world–class product design and engineering teams. We are confronting this challenge head-on with our stylishly innovative new Helix™ Cuff.

Business development and branding are a big part of what I do each day. I’m always looking for partners that can help us grow our brand and work with us to increase exposure. I’m very interested in the Helix Cuff’s fashion elements and want to make sure it has a fashion-forward aesthetic that meets the market’s tastes.

Discovering the history of different things is something I love to do. I was born curious. Learning the fundamental element behind theories fascinates me. I am addicted to the discovery channel and learning how things work and how I can apply that knowledge into my life.

Creating a solution for tangled headphones came from the constant personal experience of dealing with annoying wires and hard-to-find earbuds. Having them on your wrist is so much more convenient. With the Helix Cuff, we solve the problem of annoying headphones in a fashion-forward way.

Kickstarter was a great place to find market validation. We got great feedback from the market before our product was even ready. Early-stage financial support. marketing, and community building are a great way to jump start a business.

By making our core focus bridging the gap between fashion and technology, we stand out from our competitors. Just looking at the wearable market, we realized how many tech companies haven’t been using fashion in their design. Bringing a fashion element into the design of the Helix Cuff has been the best decision we’ve made because it makes us unique in a large wearable market.

Our vision is to continuously innovate in the intercession between fashion and technology. We’d like to add new technology to the Helix Cuff in its next generation and will add future products to our brand.

I would definitely tell myself to get more resources at the beginning in terms of manufacturing and supply chain. To have these resources earlier in the development of the Helix Cuff would have been helpful.

My father has been so influential in my life from the beginning. He taught me the importance of being an entrepreneur. I grew up with family running their own businesses so I’ve seen how a company runs from the beginning. This taught me how to be an entrepreneur and to never give up. I learned how integrity is important in business, to work smart and to follow my passion. From this influence at a young age I began to want to start my own business.

I can’t overstate how important preparation is for a crowdfunding campaign. Some people think that all you need is a nice video, but that’s just the beginning. You need to exposure in the market to attract customers to your product. You need to communicate with who you know and early backers to spread the word. It’s critical that you’re transparent with your backers.

Once you’ve started your campaign, analyze where traffic is coming from and make decisions with your marketing plan based on that. If you’re paying for an ad that isn’t bringing traffic to your campaign, it’s better to turn your attention elsewhere.

Wearable devices are getting smarter and smarter. They’ll do more to combine fashion over the next generation. They’ll be more personal, have a better battery, and see great technological breakthroughs. Wearables will seamlessly integrate into your daily lives so that you can better enjoy them.