Flash funding recipient SmartPlate uses food recognition software to change the way we think about health.
Anthony Ortiz became passionate about the way people eat after almost losing his father to heart disease. He found that while many of the conversations about combating the obesity epidemic in the United States focused on exercise, the importance of diet was often overlooked. Ortiz created SmartPlate, the world’s first intelligent nutrition platform, to help people capitalize on the fitness advantages of a healthy diet.
“The first book I read about fitness, believe it or not, was Fitness for Dummies,” said Ortiz. “It said that 60-80% of your health is what you’re eating. If you don’t do anything else, eat right. Everything else falls into place.”
The SmartPlate team started as a meal delivery service that specialized in weight loss for people with diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. The problem with their meal delivery business plan, however, was that it stopped at the door—there was no way they could actually track what their customers ate, or how much, which made measuring the impact of healthy eating impossible to do. “We scrapped the food service idea because we wanted to get closer to where we can make the greatest impact,” said Ortiz. So SmartPlate was born.
According to the Wall Street Journal, tracking your food intake is one of the most powerful ways to change habits. But keeping a detailed food journal is often complicated and time consuming. SmartPlate broke the mold by creating a way to easily and accurately log everything you eat. SmartPlate uses advanced photo recognition and Artificial Intelligence to identify, analyze, and track all of the fat, fiber, sugar and sodium you eat. It’s powered by IBM Watson cloud technology, so all you have to do is take a picture and SmartPlate logs the info in mere seconds.
A Personalized Health Journey
Because health and fitness affects us all on a personal level, the SmartPlate team took a personalized approach to telling their story. They used a short video to convey the struggles Ortiz’s father had while also highlighting the ways that SmartPlate could help. The positive response they received made it clear that the message resonated.
“We had a lot of backers respond and say, ‘My mom, my dad, my little niece is a Type 1 diabetic,’” said Anthony. “So many people struggle with diseases like obesity, heart disease or diabetes that can be treated with better food habits. We always tell our story at the beginning of every pitch. It’s so important because that’s when people identify with our mission.”
Winning Over the Skeptics
Initially, the SmartPlate team had their share of non-believers. The ease of the tool had many thinking that the AI was pseudo-science. To combat the skeptics, Ortiz and his team made themselves visible and took all questions as they came.
“We have a world class team of scientists and medical advisors, and we all made ourselves available,” Ortiz said. “Here’s my Skype. Here’s my email. Here’s my cell phone number. If any of you want a one-on-one demo, my office address is here.” His goal was to put the debate to bed. And he did exactly that, by meeting with backers personally. When one tweeted a cynical comment, Ortiz reached out. He offered to take her to lunch and give her a live demo. “When she saw this thing working in person, she became our number one fan,” Ortiz said.
The Arrow Certified Advantage
To build SmartPlate, Ortiz and his team took advantage of the Arrow Certification program on Indiegogo. Campaigns that are Arrow Certified get access to Arrow’s engineering experts, design tools, marketing teams, product discounts, manufacturing resources, and more.
“We wanted to find an anchor partner that knew a lot about bringing products to market very quickly,” said Ortiz. “No one else had Arrow’s expertise when it came to procuring, supplying, and distributing electronic parts.
SmartPlate utilizes Analog Devices’ LTC2485 high precision analog-to-digital converter IC to enable accurate weight measurement in a compact circuit design. In addition, approximately fifty additional components were required to complete the Smart Plate prototype design.
“Arrow already had most of the parts in stock, and they had the others at their warehouse within a few days. Had we tried to get those parts as a resource-constrained start-up, it would have taken forever. You can’t put a price on that. That’s the value Arrow brings.”
Gaining Momentum
The SmartPlate team knew that one of the keys to crowdfunding success is momentum. Having a great product isn’t enough—you need a passionate audience too. That’s why they spent months prior to launch making sure they had a dependable email list of backers that were ready to fund them right out of the gate. “To be successful you really need to hit the first 30% of your project goal in the first 24-48 hours,” Ortiz explained. “We put a lot of effort into planning for that.”
Still, SmartPlate ran into some unforeseen delays. Sourcing issues put deadlines in question, and in an environment as competitive as the start-up tech space, when you miss deadlines you can lose credibility. “The most hurtful and challenging thing about not meeting your deadline is seeing how upset your backers are,” Ortiz said. “You need to have thick enough skin to deal with it.”
Addressing delays head on helped mend relationships. Ortiz credits much of their success to their backer-first approach, where regular updates, transparency, and customer service is key. “As long as people see progress and receive updates, you’re going to be in a good place. The minute you go silent and stop having anything to show your backers is the minute you run into trouble.”
Arrow Gives a Flash Funding Boost
As part of the Arrow Certification program, SmartPlate was eligible for a share of $1,000,000 in flash funding from Arrow Electronics. In June, Ortiz and his team were notified that their campaign would be awarded $100,000 to help get SmartPlate to market.
“It’s exactly what we need to get to market,” said Ortiz, who plans to use the funds to further develop the SmartPlate app for Android and iOS. “Our operating expenses are $15,000 a month. This is fantastic because it buys us an additional 5-6 months of runway. And the timing is perfect because we’ll have the device shipped by then.”
Even as the SmartPlate team prepares to scale up, they stay focused on their core mission: helping individuals get healthy. The more people they reach, the better. “We want to help millions of people change their health,” said Ortiz.
With help from the Arrow Certification program on Indiegogo, the SmartPlate team is well on their way to doing just that.
Is your tech idea the next SmartPlate? Arrow is still awarding shares of $1,000,000 in flash funding to Arrow Certified Indiegogo campaigns throughout 2017. Enroll in the Arrow Certification program today and get started with game-changing engineering resources, valuable discounts and more. The next campaign we flash fund could be yours.