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Five years ago I had a simple problem: I could never get myself out of bed on time. I would hit the snooze button repeatedly, failing to wake-up enough to realize how late it was getting. Clocky, was my simple solution.

Clocky was an idea for an industrial design course at the M.I.T. Media Lab. I hadn’t given it a second thought until the next semester in April, when one blogger found it from the M.I.T. Media Lab website. Then Gizmodo and Engadget caught on. And Clocky went viral. I was even on the cover of Inc. Magazine, which I used to read in College.

I could have never guessed that this idea that popped into my head one morning could turn into a career, a company, with thousands of Clocky advocates, countless 80 hour work weeks, and a mission.

What is this mission? It’s a question I try to articulate to myself nearly every day. After hundreds of thousands of Clockys sold in 45 countries worldwide, it seems that people are definitely determined to get up on time (or get someone they love up on time)! But what is it about Clocky that generates so much buzz and resonates with people on a global level with no cultural or language barriers?

He makes them laugh.

Almost every time I speak about Clocky, I get the same reaction. A laugh. A chuckle. At the very least, a smile. He’s a clever solution to a very mundane problem and that makes him funny. I thought Buzz Aldrin described it best, in the enlightening interview with Ali G (after he asks Buzz when we will walk on the sun), “Things are funny, or comedic, when they mix the real with the absurd.” We want to take the everyday reality of life, figure out what’s absurd about it, and then create the solutions that will make the “real” a little easier
and a little more fun.

To be honest, my Clocky has been out of work for some time. He now lives inside of me forcing me to get up early and create his brothers and sisters, the other household helpers we will soon release.

As Nanda Home welcomes these new additions to its family, I’ve decided to make the company more accessible.  I get asked a lot: “You’ve put Clocky out; it’s selling; what more is there to do?” That’s what this is blog will help me describe. I’m curious too- I want to hear from you, our customers, about how to make our products better. We want to hear your stories and experiences with Clocky. Your suggestions, questions, and comments will not go unnoticed.

I will be writing about the products, but in addition I’ll be writing about my life as an entrepreneur, what it’s like to work for Nanda Home, the development of products, design, marketing, funny anecdotes about waking up in the morning – you name it. I want to entertain as our products do.

Please feel free to drop me a line about anything – ideas on what to share, thoughts on the products and the company, etc. I really do want to hear from you. “Like” Nanda Home and Clocky on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Check us out on Flickr, too. Interact with us where you want to interact with us, and we’ll be there responding to your questions, sharing your suggestions, and retweeting your tweets.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 8:13 am and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.