This is a fixed campaign which means if we do not get at least 400 supporters it won’t proceed in this way and all contributions are refunded. This is the bar we have set to pass before we sink our own tooling capital into it as it will indicate a popular design and it is a good minimum order quantity for the best Perk prices.
The bulk of your contribution will cover the production order costs of your Perks with the balance used for the prototyping and global safety certifications. We are funding the tooling and incidental costs ourselves which are significant. We have the design, App build, project management and IT architecture resources in house – these are our skill sets.
With a committed team of contributors backing us we will make the Petfeeder Like No Other, and do so with the confidence there will be a good market for it.
We have a strong record of success in delivering large projects and are in the middle of the production order of our Smart LED Light, a prior successful Indiegogo project.
Prior to starting their UKnekt company and brand Chris Davis and Ron Chandra had a lot of success delivering IT and manufacturing projects when working for Unilever and Brown-Forman (Jack Daniel’s) and now have assembled a smart committed team to develop these new connected products.
We have proven longstanding relationships with our electronics engineering team and many of the factories that will produce the components and assembly for us.
We have confidence in our timeline, and in addition to our collaborative final design process, all progress and changes will be regularly communicated to our supporters.
We believe our Petfeeder is like no other and will be a very effective connected feeder that meets many pet and owner needs. It really will make it much easier to be away from your home when you have to be.
What will be the retail price of this Petfeeder Like No other?
We don’t know exactly until we take it to the market but based on the features and the build quality it will be in the vicinity of $475.
Why 400 contributors? What is magic about that number?
We originally budgeted for 300 at around $300 average per major Perk, but then decided that a 500 first production quantity (100 for our selling samples) we can lower these Perk prices for everyone. We hope this doesn’t backfire and we hope the average extra saving of $50 gets us that extra 100 contributors? Please share after you contribute!
What power supply does it require?
The UKnekt Petfeeder is 120-240V universal mains powered and will be supplied certified and with the plug pack for your region.
The power lead can run from either side. There are three choices for the Optional Water Bowl. This is also means safe low voltage cable to the unit.
I have read reviews of some pet feeders where the programming has been identified as hard to work out. Is yours like this?
No. Because ours is App based and we are designing our own control boards (not using a standard module that times everything from pool filters to outside lights) we have 100% flexibility to make our App look and feel very intuitive and obvious to use. Even better, for the slightly tech-phobic we will be testing our App screen flows and design with our Contributors through our Collaborative Final Design process, so you will be an expert by the time the Petfeeder is delivered.
How does the optional cloud storage work?
The motion sensor activated camera will store the pictures locally on the device, likely on an SD card at this stage. Users will remove the card to access the photos. We will be designing a cloud storage system to enable accessing these photos from anywhere, which will have a small subscription cost attached. The design and features of this service will be part of the Collaborative Design Process. All Indiegogo major Perk supporters will get a 12 month cloud subscription included free.
It looks big. How big is it?
The feeder has a base dimension of 12″ (300mm) wide, 24″ (600mm) long and 16″ (400mm) high.
It can have a smaller ‘paw print’ with the water bowl removed or used elsewhere. We have designed it so it can be configured 3 ways. It will work with all size pets.
I have been told that timed feeders can cause susceptible dogs problems with pacing and other behaviour issues. Is this true?
This is not our area of expertise but if regular auto feeding can be a problem it could be easily minimised with our Petfeeder by setting a different time for each day, or just calling up at varied times and manually feeding. It does help those pets that need smaller meals more often. We believe our Petfeeder really helps you and your pet when you just cannot be there.
I see that you accept PayPal, is there anything I need to be aware of?
Whilst PayPal does support crowdfunding projects you need to be aware that this is not a pre-selling campaign, and you are making a contribution to us to further develop this product. If we are successful, which we fully plan to be and are working tirelessly towards, you will be rewarded with a Perk aligned with your contribution. We will make our best efforts to provide the reward as presented here but delivery cannot be guaranteed.