Author: Jamie

Founder of Nest Box Live

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Kickstarter Progress

Sold out in the UK and funded within 1 hour

Well, that went better than expected! Yesterday I launched the crowdfunding campaign for the Nest Box Live smart nest box and integration app via Kickstarter. Within one hour of the launch, the funding target was reached, meaning that the project will go ahead into production. The UK allocation was sold out within 24-hours, but there is still good availability in other regions. If your region is not on the list, please drop me an email at jamie@nestboxlive.com, and I will see what I can do.

Back the Nest Box Live project now on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/3ES4eTq

I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who have backed this project so far, plus the ongoing support I receive from thousands of people like you. With this backing, I can continue with my ambition to create a worldwide network of these nest boxes for many to watch and enjoy. If you know any friends or family that may be interested in becoming part of this journey, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share the Kickstarter link above.

A couple of questions have arisen from the launch.

Can the nest box camera be sold separately without the wooden box? The short answer to this is no. This is an all-in-one system because careful attention has been taken to perfect the camera angle and focus. I have spent the best part of 12-months getting the image quality this good, and this is because I have removed almost all variables by installing a nest box camera. The artificial intelligence I developed works best with these nest box dimensions. If a different specification nest box were to be used, this feature would not perform as intended (this is one of the standout features of this system).

Can I add the add-ons at a later stage? Yes, if you have completed your backing on Kickstarter and have forgotten to include an add-on such as an extra cable or entrance hold enlargement, please drop me a message via Kickstarter, and I can add this to your pledge.

I need to use Powerline Adapters with my nest box as the cable won’t reach my router, I couldn’t add this on Kickstarter? If you require Powerline adapters, these are sold separately and not by Nest Box Live. These are relatively inexpensive and can save the hassle of long cable runs. Expect to pay around £25/£30 for a set of these on Amazon.

Again, if there are any problems or questions, please drop me an email.

Categories
Kickstarter Progress

7 Days Until Launch, Price Announced and more!

Introduction

First of all, I’d like to thank the 300 plus people who are currently following the pre-launch page on Kickstarter. If you are not already signed up for the pre-launch page, please follow this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nestboxlive/nest-box-live-smart-nest-box-and-app. You will be presented with a button ‘Notify me on launch’ where you can sign up and be emailed when the project goes live.

It’s only seven days until the Crowdfunding campaign launches via Kickstarter. This critical milestone encompasses many years of research and development to get to this stage. The past three years have been spent designing hardware, writing software and conducting extensive testing of the whole system with a small number of nest box partners on the Facebook page. If you have been following the page, you may know that I regularly host live streams from the existing boxes on the Nest Box Live network.

Most of the boxes are currently located around the UK, with some in northern Europe, the USA, Canada, and South Africa. With the crowdfunding campaign’s launch, the plan extends this even further worldwide.

How much does it cost?

This is the most common question I get asked, and until now, I have been unable to offer a solid response. Before diving into the numbers, it’s worth mentioning a few points about where the Nest Box Live project is and ultimately managing your expectations regarding price.

In e-commerce, retailers often have a race to get prices as low as possible to capture business. When new products enter the market, they are often backed by big bank loans, investors or hedge funds. Unfortunately, being a single person tech start-up, none of these options is available to me, and I don’t benefit from economies of scale.

I believe that honesty and clarity are the best policy as with anything I do. I am always upfront about how much things cost and the benefits and constraints to our nest box partners.

The introductory price offered exclusively to backers on Kickstarter will be £220/€265/$290. This is a limited time offer for the campaign’s duration, and if I decide to do another production run in the future, I’m almost certain the cost will increase.

Most people will probably look at this and think it’s too expensive. However, if you look at the most costly nest box camera currently on the market, it sits at around the £190/€230/$260 price mark. Considering that these cameras are often low quality, have no integration app and don’t send you notifications each time a bird visits, paying an extra £30 for a system that does so much more might make more sense. 

The breakdown of the production costs for each nest box system is as follows (this is what it costs me to manufacture the whole system):

    • Wooden nest box £40
    • Components and manufacture – £90
    • Cables and accessories – £11
    • Packaging – £5
    • Kickstarter fees – £22
    • Taxes – £30
    • 10% margin of error – £22

Why am I not making any profit from selling the nest boxes?

One of the founding aims of the Nest Box Live project has been to create a worldwide network of connected smart nest boxes. Existing nest box owners have benefited from many exciting features that the technology offers, and in all reports, people have been delighted.

To make this affordable, one of the things that I do is live-stream some of the nest boxes on my Facebook and YouTube channels. These cameras have provided millions of people with much-needed joy and happiness at difficult times in recent times. We already know the benefits that nature has on mental health and wellbeing.

During the live streams, viewers send in donations and adverts are shown, for which I receive a small percentage of the revenue.

A lot of the money goes back into developing the project and supporting small wildlife charities and conservation projects. Everyone wins!

The actual cost of the nest box and all the technology inside is far greater than what is being offered on Kickstarter. Most businesses would estimate to make a 50% profit on their products. This would take the price of Nest Box Live over £440, which is not affordable.

This is the only way that the business model works, and it will form part of the legal terms of conditions of using the service. Almost everyone has been more than happy for me to share the live streams of their nest boxes with my 450+ thousand followers on Facebook. It has been an engaging and rewarding experience for users as they can get involved in the action through the live chat during broadcasts. If live-streaming does not sit comfortably with you, this project might not be for you.

As a user, you will still have exclusive access to your nest box live feed via the app, amongst other breakthrough features outlined on the website.

The bigger picture

One aspect of the technology not previously mentioned is the amount of data that the nest box collects. Information such as types of birds are visiting, temperature, air pollution and much more. At some point in the future, the aim is to share this with research organisations to help better understand species and what we can do to support them. By becoming part of Nest Box Live, you will also be helping conservation efforts.

If there are any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below, and I would be more than happy to answer them.

Categories
Production Updates

How Shipping will Work

The countdown is on, with only 16 days until we launch on Kickstarter. I know it’s not a very exciting topic, but it’s essential to deal with some of the particulars around how shipping will work for backers of the crowdfunding campaign.

If you do not already know how crowdfunding works, please take a moment to read my blog post on this, as it explains in detail: https://nestboxlive.com/crowdfunding-campaign-date-announced/

Sign up for the Kickstarter pre-launch page here

After backing the Kickstarter, you are essentially securing yourself a pre-order for the product before it is manufactured. For the reasons I explain below, delivery to backers won’t be until January 2023. This allows enough time for production to be set up and overcome any hurdles along the way. Although this process has been thought through in fine detail, there will undoubtedly be some unforeseen challenges along the way, which is why I am extra cautious with the delivery date. There is every possibility that delivery may be sooner if things go better than according to plan. But having been on this journey for many years, I know that this is often not the case.

The regions that Nest Box Live will be available to on Kickstarter will be:

    • United Kingdom 
    • Europe & the EU
    • USA & Canada
    • Australis and New Zealand
    • South Africa
    • Asia (Selected regions only)

There will be 20 units available for each region, except for the UK and Asia, where there will only be 10. The reason for a limited production run is as follows: Firstly, this is my first attempt at launching a product, and I don’t want to overwhelm myself and get things wrong. I have seen many product launches that start too big and, as a result, are unable to fulfil orders which leave customers feeling disgruntled and ultimately not having any faith in the product. Secondly, securing a batch of microchips is a challenge due to global supply shortages. Thirdly, I am looking to place nest boxes in locations outside of the UK, so that I can live stream a range of birds worldwide to social media channels.

If your region is not listed above, this is most likely because the import duty and local sales tax are too high and make the product unaffordable. If you believe I have got this wrong for your region and want to back the Kickstarter project, please drop me an email at jamie@nestboxlive.com with the subject line ‘Kickstarter Shipping’, and I will get back to you.

Shipping costs are not included, these will be charged if you choose to back the campaign. I estimate these costs to be £20-£30 for the UK and Europe and up to £55 for regions outside these areas.

As I am only a small business so won’t be collecting taxes at the point of sale. This shall be the buyer’s responsibility. The courier usually collects these before delivery to customers. I have produced a blog post for guidance that outlines these costs: https://nestboxlive.com/import-taxes/. Please bear this in mind before backing the project.

If you have any questions about this, please post a comment below.

Categories
Production Updates

Import Taxes and Local Sales Tax Per Country

For the benefit of backers of the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, I have compiled a list of countries and their taxes for goods being imported. Nest boxes sold through Kickstarter won’t be charged sales tax, so these will be collected at the point of delivery and is the responsibility of the buyer.

UK

  • None

USA/CA

  • USA No import tax and no local sales tax as goods do not exceed the minimum threshold of $800
  • CA No import tax due to trade deal between UK and CA. All imports subject to 5% sales tax

Europe (Non-EU)

Non-eu but part of Schengan

  • Switzerland  Import tax of 1% and local sales tax of 7.70%
  • Liechtenstein Import tax of 1% and local sales tax of 8%
  • Norway No import tax and local sales tax of 25%
  • Iceland Import tax of 8% and local sales tax of 24%

EU

  • Import tax of 1% and local VAT rate between 19-22% depending on the country

South Africa

  • No Import Tax but a local sales tax of 15%

Australia & New Zealand

  • No import taxes or local sales tax

Asia

  • Singapore No import tax but 8% local sales tax
  • Indonesia Import tax of 15% and no local sales tax
  • Philippines Import tax of 10% and local sales tax of 12%
  • Thailand Import tax of 10% and local sales tax of 7%
  • Malaysia No import tax but 10% local sales tax

If your country is not listed above, please check this website: https://www.easyship.com/en-gb/duties-and-taxes-calculator/. Select ‘shipment origin’ as the United Kingdom and the ‘shipment destination’ as your own country. Put the ‘item selling price’ as 200 USD, although this won’t be the sales price for the nest boxes.

Categories
Production Updates

200 Followers on Pre-Launch Page

It’s been a whole month since launching the Kickstarter prelaunch page, and I am delighted to announce that it has reached 200 followers. These people like yourself have been following this project for many months and are keen to get their hands on one of our smart nest boxes and app, so thank you.

Follow this link to the Kickstarter pre-launch page…

If you are reading this post, you have probably clicked through from the email newsletter and are keen to find out more information about the product, such as price, availability etc. Many people have been asking about the price. However, I can still not publish this just yet for several reasons. One of the main ones is that discussions are still ongoing with several suppliers regarding parts and manufacturing. I want to make this as affordable as possible. Bear in mind that this is a first-generation product, so I don’t have the benefits of economies of scale to purchase components in bulk and at a discounted price. There is also a global microchip shortage affecting prices and availability, which has a knock-on effect. I understand peoples’ frustration, but I would kindly ask for your patience as I am working as hard as I can behind the scenes.

As I have mentioned previously, there will only be 100 units available for the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, and this is for a simple reason. I don’t have the means to produce more than this amount on my own.

As this project has been growing, I am keen to take one step at a time and not to overwhelm myself. If you remember, the ambition to create a worldwide network of nest boxes started three years ago with a single nest box on the back of my house. Today, there are 30 of my nest boxes located around the world with the aim to add 100 more, should the crowdfunding campaign be a success.

Several posts have circulated on social media suggesting that what I am doing is a scam and the product’s features are not what they seem. These claims are not valid. Everything I have demonstrated on the website, blog posts, and Kickstarter is genuine. I have not posted pictures or videos that mislead you about what my technology can do. This combines three years of hard work developing everything from the smartphone app to the AI software that runs on the nest box to recognise birds.

If you are still unsure, please follow this link to see a full demonstration video of the product. I was required to submit this, along with other documentation, to get approved on the Kickstarter website.

One of the problems I foresee happening in the future is the possibility of scammers impersonating my product and marketing it to the same group of people who are backing my project. I recall a bird feeder that launched on Kickstarter earlier last year, subject to scams. This was not the fault of the company launching the bird feeder. They had an excellent product, but scammers copied the design and made poor quality versions that did not function. These imitations were then marketed to people at a significantly lower price, and ultimately, the products were either not delivered or arrived and did not work.

So what can I do to prevent this from happening to me? Well, nothing at this stage. Start-up companies such as myself, and the one mentioned above, don’t have the resources to mount legal challenges to stop scammers in their tracks, and they know this! The best weapon in our arsenal is information. Making people aware to only follow legitimate information sources such as official websites and social media channels. Ultimately, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The best I can do is learn from others and make you aware of what might be around the corner, although there have not been any signs of this to date.

Should this happen in the future, I shall refer back to this blog post.

Once again, thank you for your continued support of this project.

Categories
Production Updates

Kickstarter Pre Launch Page is Live!

Well, it’s been quite a feat to get to this stage, but I am delighted to announce that the Kickstarter pre-launch page is now live. This means that you can register and be notified when the project launches in April.

Follow this link to the Kickstarter pre-launch page

I thought it would be worthwhile explaining how I foresee the crowdfunding campaign running. In my previous blog posts, I explained the reasons for choosing this funding route as it will enable me to set up production for 100 units.

The Kickstarter campaign will have a funding goal (published in due course). This is the total amount of money required to set up an initial production run. People who back the project, known as ‘Backers’, commit to funding the project in return to be one of the first to receive the product. The amount that each Backer will have to pay for the product will be revealed when the campaign launches (I have yet to finalise these costs). There will be an additional postage charge, depending on where you live in the world, and this will be made clear. To give you an idea, items will be dispatched from the UK so expect the postage charges to increase the further away you get.

The funding goal is central to the campaign. Only when, and if, the funding goal is reached is the moment when Backers credit cards are charged. This is worth noting because no money is taken from Backer’s accounts if the funding goal is not met.

As this is only an initial production run of 100 units, there will be a limed number available in each geographical region worldwide. So why have I decided to do this? One of the greatest joys I have had during the pandemic (if there can be any) is live streaming the incredible journey of birds nesting and bringing new life into the world. These live streams on my social media channels provided millions of people with so much happiness and joy at such difficult times. Being based in the UK, one of the limiting factors is that breeding only happens once a year around April/May. This means that I can only provide live content for this brief period. My ambition is to have more nest boxes located around the world to provide live streams all year round

As well as being part of this exclusive club of nest watchers, you will be able to view other nest cameras on the Nest Box Live network via the app. This is going to truly revolutionise how we watch birds nesting and I can’t wait for you to become part of it.

In the meantime, make sure that you follow this link to the Kickstarter pre-launch page and click “Notify me on launch”.

In my next blog post, I hope to being you more details about the pricing structure.

Categories
Production Updates

Full Product Demonstration Video

As part of Kickstarter’s strict approval process, I was required to submit a full demonstration video showing the app and nest box working together. I am delighted to be sharing this with you today.

Whilst it’s not a big production video with moving camera shots and fading lights, it does show the technology working in its entirety. I think it’s important to remember that I am working on this project single-handedly and don’t have the resources to put together a fully produced video. However, I am committed to the aim of this project which is to create a worldwide network of connected nest box cameras for everyone to watch and enjoy.

The video demonstrates a range of unique features that I have developed specifically for this project, such as AI image recognition to identify Birds, push notifications to your smartphone and the ability to watch other nest boxes on the Nest Box Live network.

Usually, when tech products are released, there is no option for them to be updated, and you are stuck with the features advertised at the point of sale. However, the development of Nest Box Live is an ongoing process and something that I’m always improving on. For example, the software running on the nest box is designed to receive updates when I release them automatically. These updates may include routine bug fixes and additional patches that bring increased functionality to the app and the community of nest boxes as a whole.

As a user, you won’t see any of this happening but you can be assured that I am continually working on this in the background. You will see changes in app updates via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store (and there have been some released already for existing nest box owners). 

Nest box software updates are essential because in order to bring new functionality to the app, usually, the nest box has to do something new too. Developing these features is often a lengthy process and involves writing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of lines of code!

What you also don’t see is the worldwide cloud infrastructure I have built to enable all of this to happen. As I have mentioned previously, this is not just a nest box camera, but rather it’s part of a bigger network and community of nest box watchers.

This project is part of a bigger vision of how I foresee us observing nature in the future, and I would love you to come on this journey with me.

I’d very much welcome suggestions in the comments section below for features or functionality you’d like to see.

Categories
App Updates

All about the App!

On the run-up to launching the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, I committed to keeping you updated with the project as it develops. If you remember, in my previous post, I explained my reasons for choosing this route as it has lots of benefits for getting new tech products off the ground, like this one.

I thought it would make sense to take an in-depth look at the integration app that comes bundled with a Nest Box Live nest box. I believe this is one of the stand-out features that make this product different to anything else on the market. Having spent the past six months working on it, it is now at the stage where I can explain some of the features on how it integrates with the hardware.

First of all, I’d like to mention that many third-party apps work with existing nest box IP cameras (some of them with woeful results), but this has been developed from the ground up and to work specifically with the hardware I designed. The app is a working project, so new features are being added, and the final version may look slightly different from what it is now.

After logging in, you are presented with the Home Screen, otherwise known as the Dashboard. This is intended to be the app’s main navigation screen, and you can reach all aspects of the app from here. There are four main options in the centre: Videos, Timeline, Live Nests, and Notifications. I shall explain more of these individual screens below.

Underneath these buttons is ‘Device Status’. This explains what the nest box is currently doing. The example below shows “Live mode active”. This means the nest box camera has automatically detected birds inside and is broadcasting the video to the app. One of the other most common options to see here is ‘Detection mode’. This mode means that the camera’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being used to check if there are any birds inside. Once it makes a detection, it sends a notification to you, and from there, you can view a video of that visit.

When you receive a notification that a bird has visited the box, the most likely place you will come first is to the Videos page to see what bird has visited. This page contains videos of all the visits to your nest box in ‘Detection Mode’. Each of the videos can be scrolled through, tapped on and watched. Note that when you watch the videos, you can see information gathered about that visit. Such as the current weather, the temperature inside the nest box, and the date and time of the visit.

Unlike Videos, Timeline helps keep track of all visits to your nest box even when the camera is in Live Mode. Having this screen is essential because Videos only record the occasional visit in Detection Mode. However, Timeline keeps track of all visits to your nest box even when the camera is in Live Mode.

One of the most stand-out features I believe users will love is ’Live Nests’. In ‘Live Nests’, you can view any of the cameras currently streaming on the Nest Box Live network, so you don’t only get to see your own nest box camera, but others from around the world. I know this raises privacy concerns, and this feature is disabled by default. You can opt-in to share your nest box with others on the network, and in return, you can also view others who have also decided to opt-in. There is the further option to disable microphone sharing from your nest box so that conversations can’t be overheard.

I have yet to explain how you view your nest box camera. This is very simple! On the bottom navigation tap, you can select ‘Camera’, which will take you straight to your nest boxes camera. If you have signed into the app via Facebook, you can instantly share your live camera to your Facebook profile for your friends and family to see in real-time.

The app’s final main feature is Insights. On this screen, you can see detailed information about the birds visiting your nest box. Above, you can see a chart of times when the nest box is most active. In this example, it is most active at around 1 pm and 4 pm. This can be further broken down to times when different species are visiting.

The app will be available for download on iOS and Android after backing the project on Kickstarter and when your nest box has been delivered.

Categories
Production Updates

Crowdfunding campaign date announced

Thank you for being so patient, as I know many of you have signed up to the mailing list without an update in a long time. Over the past twelve months, it’s been challenging to develop a new product from the ground up. However, I am now in a position to announce that the Crowdfunding campaign’s launch date is set for April 2022.

Many of you may not be familiar with Crowdfunding or how it works, so I shall do my best to explain my reasons for adopting this approach. Crowdfunding enables small businesses or individuals to raise money from investors to launch their products. This is becoming one of the more common approaches for tech start-ups. Launching a new product often requires large bank loans or capital raised from private investors.

Being a single person running a startup business, these two options are not readily available to me, so I am reaching out to the community of like-minded nature lovers to get this product off the ground.

The aim of the project has always been to create a worldwide network of connected nest boxes that we all can enjoy, learn and share whilst at the same time gathering essential conservation information about bird breeding. This has required a different approach to how traditional nest box cameras operate.

Typically most nest box cameras are simple devices that plug into the back of a television unit for casual viewing. This is fine for the most part however, there is no way of knowing when the birds are visiting or what species are using the nest box. Nest Box Live aims to change this with a revolutionary new internet-connected ‘smart’ nest box. The new technology I have developed comes with a smartphone app that sends a notification each time a bird visits. It uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to identify what species are visiting. You can also view videos each time a bird visits, so you will never miss any activity that happens. The app integrates with social media, meaning that you can live stream your nest box to friends and family on Facebook. The nest box also has intelligent sensors that track, in real-time, temperature, humidity and weather data which could provide researchers with essential information in the future.

Nothing like this has been attempted before!

Where is the project up to right now?

The nest box hardware is in the final prototyping stages. There are still some minor changes needed to ensure that the technology will run smoothly. The first version of the app (which will be available on iOS and Android) is being tested by a handful of existing Nest Box Live owners.

What is the plan for the next stage of the project?

The plan is to launch the Crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in late April 2022 to raise funds to produce 100 units. If the funding target is met, I will have the capital to put these units into production and deliver them to backers at the end of 2022.

Challenges moving forward…

One of the most significant challenges holding back production is the global shortage of computer microchips caused by recent events. Due to the complexity of the hardware design, the system would not function without them. I have attempted to mitigate this by placing pre-orders for out of stock components; however, there is a wait time of at least 6-months for some of them, and even then, there is no guarantee that they will be delivered on time. I shall be monitoring this closely. Once available, I estimate production should take between three to six months, bringing us to the estimated delivery time for initial backers of the crowdfunding campaign.

Why only 100 units?

The aim at this stage is to create an exclusive club of nest-watching individuals around the world. The crowdfunding campaign will have a limited number of nest boxes available for each region, and essentially the individuals who purchase them will become the representatives for that region. I regularly live stream nest boxes from the existing network on the Facebook page, which currently has over 430 thousand followers. I want to ensure that live content is available for followers all year round.

How much is it going to cost?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked, and unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that question yet. I am still in negotiations with suppliers and manufacturers. I won’t be able to update you further until I conclude those discussions. Please remember this is a premium product, so manage your expectations on the price accordingly.

In the coming weeks, I shall be sending out regular emails and messages on social media informing you about more of this product’s features and demonstration videos.

Once again, thank you for your patience and for taking an interest in this project.

All the very best,

Jamie