Preemadonna’s deadline was April 6, 2018
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Women have painted their nails with lacquer, polish, henna, ink or other substances for over 5,000 years to express themselves creatively. Nails can change from week to week or even day to day. Yet we still predominantly use a method that has not changed in a century.
Analog Methods: DIY can be messy. Nail Salon trips are inconvenient & expensive.
Preemadonna has created a family of Nailbots - devices that automate the nail decoration process. Lacey, the first Nailbot, prints instant custom nail art directly on nails using your smartphone! We leverage the vision capabilities and processing power of your smartphone to make the Nailbot affordable and accessible.
Prep
We recommend painting your nails with a lighter colored base polish to make the art pop. You can use any major brand, but we will recommend and include polish in the Nailbot Kits. You will also need to use a pre-print polish that comes in the Nailbot kit. We have plans down the road for creating our own 2 and 1 formulation (base polish + pre-print coat.)
Choose whatever you’d like to print from our mobile application that works with the Nailbot. The mobile app is paired wirelessly and is your entertainment portal during the entire Nailbot prep and printing process. You will be able to select licensed art from partner galleries, free art from open source galleries, import from your camera roll or select third-party applications, and eventually design within the app.
Put your finger in the finger cradle of the Nailbot (if Lacey or Grace Nailbot) and tap print on the screen of your smartphone. In about five to ten seconds that image will print on your fingernails.
Preemadonna has protected its technology and brand through its strategic international patent portfolio and trademark positions. Specifically, Preemadonna owns the IP directed to several aspects of the innovative Preemadonna system and processes. As of February 5, 2018, Preemadonna has one issued US patent and additional assets in the US, Europe and Asia. Preemadonna also has trademark applications in a number of jurisdictions for its brand and product lines.
For more details, please refer to our Form C Patent and Trademark Application Section
We have been working on various models and configurations of the Nailbot to address different segments of the market. For example, the Tess Nailbot uses an ampule or pod and contains material more similar to traditional nail polish. Our goal is to eventually decorate the entire nail to automate the polish change. Our intellectual property portfolio also reflects this vision.
*The features, components, mechanisms, launch dates, printing specifications and industrial designs of the Nailbot product family are preliminary and subject to change.
*In future generations of the Nailbot, Preemadonna may generate more revenue from recurring physical consumables.
3. Mobile platform outreach. Since emerging from stealth, Preemadonna initiated Facebook Live Nailbot demonstrations with several media brands and influencers with large female consumer audiences which resulted in customer education, product awareness and waitlist signups. Entities that have agreed to have Nailbot art collections upon launch include Brit + Co, Hello Giggles, Cute Polish & MakerGirl.
Preemadonna is first focusing on the pre-teen and teen segment of girls (“Preemadonnas”) in the United States (21M total) that decorate their nails regularly. 92% of girls aged 8-18 decorate their nails regularly (at least once a month) and 14% decorate their nails at least once a day. It is the most popular form of cosmetic amongst that demographic. The average US teen spends around $963 on cosmetics and accessories. Our first product, the Lacey Nailbot, addresses this target segment and acts as a “Snapchat for Nails” with its instant fun prints on demand.
Our strategy is to grow with these Preemadonnas and eventually provide an experience for every Preemadonna in the home - whether you are 6, 16, 36 or 56. We intend to deliver a Nailbot that suits your needs from our starter Nailbot (Lacey), toy Nailbot (Gracie Nailbot) to full nail art coverage (Grace Nailbot) to eventually a Nailbot that paints your nails with a one time use pod or capsule (Tess Nailbot). The hardware kits (Nailbot) are powered by our Preemadonna software, art and content marketplace.
*Nailbots are named after inspirational women. Lacey is named after Ada Lovelace. Grace and Gracie are named after Grace Hopper. Tess is named after Tess McGill - Pree's favorite character in the movie Working Girl.
*Select Market Size Sources: Statista; Grand View Research Inc., Mintel; Statista
Preemadonna closed a $1.1M seed round in late December 2017 from prominent industry investors. Jesse Draper lead the round with Halogen Ventures and took a board seat. All existing convertible notes or safes converted in the seed round (the $1.1M raise reflects this conversion.) Other investors include Per Capita Ventures, SOSV, QVP, Helen Greiner (co-founder iRobot), Charles Huang (founder, Guitar Hero), Meghan Asha (CEO, FounderMade), & Charles Songhurst. Preemadonna was also selected for the following prestigious accelerators: HAX Hardware (Shenzhen, China) & Founders Factory (London, United Kingdom).
We emerged from stealth mode in late 2015 and have been improving prototypes, incorporating customer feedback and raising capital from value add investors. We are committed to shipping Nailbots to our Indiegogo and Kickstarter backers this year (approximately 750 units) with beta and pre-production units, before we open up pre-sales to our existing waitlist.
Bringing the Nailbot to market requires the skillsets, experiences and perspectives of diverse group. Our team reflects the ambitious mission of Preemadonna - mobilizing the next generation of technologists, democratizing self expression and inspiring creativity with on demand printing applications. Our management team is complimented by an all star roster of Preemadonna artists, coders and marketers that both use and create our products and platforms. Read more here.
Pree Walia is the CEO & Co-founder of Preemadonna. Previously, Pree worked at high growth venture backed hardware start-ups focused on LED lighting and building automation. Pree started her career working in grassroots politics across the United States. She is passionate about causes that impact women and girls and is a certified volunteer domestic violence counselor. Pree serves on the Board of Advisors for MakerGirl, a nonprofit that inspires young girls to pursue STEM fields. Pree was named one of the "25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About" by Robohub. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Northwestern University, and is a Delta Delta Delta.
Casey Schulz is a co-founder at Preemadonna. Casey has diverse systems engineering experience building quadcopters, satellites, cartesian robots and small motion control systems. Casey has worked at NASA Ames, the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Accel Biotech and Techshop. Casey holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University. She loves crafting and is passionate about teaching girls and diverse communities about technology, especially robotics, through her work.
Jesse Draper is an investor in Preemadonna and serves on the Board of Directors. She is the founding partner of Halogen Ventures, as well as creator and host of 2015 Emmy nominated television series,“The Valley Girl Show”. Jesse is a 4th generation venture capitalist. Through her show and ventures, she’s helped pioneer the way in digital media and has an initiative to interview 50% women in technology. She is a new mom, a graduate of UCLA and a Kappa Kappa Gamma. Jesse is the ultimate Preemadonna and passionately supports our mission to build a female consumer technology company for the next generation of girls.
The past 5 years of my life have been spent bringing Preemadonna to life. What started as just a big idea - a robot to decorate nails ("jetson" style) turned into my passion. Along the way, I encountered public successes and setbacks. I recruited makergirls, engineers, interns, coders, hackers, artists, and other investors that believed in a technology company for the next generation of girls. The Nailbot is not just a beauty device to us, it’s a tool to express ourselves creatively. We want our Preemadonnas to make, design and eventually code their own art. We want our users to be creators of technology.
Some ask why the name of the company is Preemadonna and not Nailbot. Well, it's simple to me. Nailbot is a product line, and a very exciting one. But the Nailbot will only get better (and cheaper) the more it's used by our community. Our community is full of dynamic and creative young women with big dreams and innovative skill sets that still enjoy a traditionally "feminine" beauty routine with nails. That's not a contradiction. We feel like Preemadonnas when we get our nails polished, and the Nailbot is the enabler of that experience.
Being a Preemadonna really means that you are original and comes from the Italian for "first lady". Over the years, it's been given a negative connotation for someone that is too pushy or "diva" like. We believe it means someone that is smart, beautiful, original, creative and dynamic. We are taking back the word and turning it into something that is overtly considered feminine and simultaneously powerful— Preemadonna.
We've worked on this venture because it's part of a bigger ecosystem and movement. It’s bigger than just increasing the number of women in STEM & STE(A)M, it’s bigger than changing the ratio of women in venture capital or female CEOS — it’s about channeling the power of being born or identifying as a woman, with all of its gender constructions and assumptions, into something extraordinary using our consumer power and investing in other girls and women.
Thank you for considering an investment and joining our mission. We will make you proud.
Pree Walia
#GoNailbot
Apr 7
Preemadonna needs to reach their minimum funding goal before
the deadline. If they don’t, all investments will be refunded.
Learn more
Crowd SAFE
·
Learn more
The Crowd SAFE is an agreement for future equity in the startup,
meaning that it can convert to equity in the future.
0%
If a trigger event for Preemadonna occurs, the discount provision
gives investors equity shares (or equal value in cash) at a reduced price.
Learn more.
$8,000,000
The maximum valuation at which your investment converts
into equity shares or cash.
Learn more.
$25,000 – $1,070,000
Preemadonna needs to raise
$25K
before the deadline. The maximum amount Preemadonna is willing
to raise is $1.07M.
Learn more
Form C
PERK Details:
*Each investor selecting the $10 perk will be alerted of the next pre-order campaign via email at least twice before the rest of the Nailbot email waitlist.
**+ Perk above. Each investor selecting the $25 perk will be given a 10% discount code to pre-order the Nailbot. Discount codes will be issued after this Republic campaign ends and at least 2 weeks before the start date of the next pre-order campaign (estimated late October 2018). Shipping costs are not included in any preliminary direct to consumer pricing. Shipping dates for the next pre-order campaign are estimated, subject to change and anticipated to begin in January 2019.
*** + Perk above. Estimated in October 2018. Shipment estimated in 2019. You will receive a discount code by email to use at that time. The $100 perk includes a shout-out on Preemadonna's Facebook and Instagram pages, along with one special digital nail art created in your honor.
**** Each investor selecting the $1,000 perk will receive 1 Naibot. Shipping is guaranteed only within the United States for this perk. Nailbots will only ship after Preemadonna ships its committed units to Indiegogo and Kickstarter backers.
***** Each investor selecting the $5,000 or more perk will receive 1 Naibot. Shipping is guaranteed only within the United States for this perk. Nailbots will only ship after Preemadonna ships its committed units to Indiegogo and Kickstarter backers. Group investors calls will be scheduled once every three months at the discretion of Preemadonna's CEO. The schedule of these calls will be outlined by Preemadonna after this Republic campaign ends.
Pree: I kind of call myself a Jill of many trades, so anything that needs to be done, I generally do it. We had quite a journey. I was a girl with a big idea that didn't even know how to get anything built from how to make this prototype. Luckily I worked in Connected Hardware for a number of years here in Silicone Valley before. So I was able to recruit some early team members to get prototyping going.
We went through a hardware accelerator and actually lived in Shenzen, China, for about six months. Then we came at a stuff. We were lucky enough to be part of Tech Crunch Disrupt Battlefields and made it to the finals. From there, we're able to recruit new partners and get a pretty active wait list going, so it's been quite a journey for us.
I feel prepared. I think as an entrepreneur all you can do is make sure that you present yourself in a poised and confident way, and really showcase what you've built. Hope that the judges, or in this case the Drapers really see the value of what you built. Yeah, I'm nervous, but I'm really proud of what we've accomplished with such little capital today and my goal is to really get this product into the girls. Into girl's hands all across the worlds, and I hope the Drapers feel the same way.
Jesse: We'll be right back after a quick break. Welcome back to Meet the Drapers.
Pree: I'm Pree Walia, and I'm the CEO or Preemadonna, and we are the inventors of the nailbot. The Preemadonna is a technology company for the next generation of makers. Imagine the 13-year-old version of Jesse. She's smart. She's dynamic. She's creative, and she's a prima donna.
And Jesse loves art. In fact, she loves nail art. But for Jesse and her prima donnas, getting a customized instant manicure is actually a challenge. Going to a nail salon's expensive and inconvenient and doing it yourself can lead to disastrous results. We looked for a better solution. We couldn't find it. So we invented it.
We invented the nailbot. The nailbot prints custom instant nail art directly onto your fingernails using your smartphone. Now it's time to personalize. Choose whatever you'd like to print on your nail. Maybe it's your dog, your cat, your family members, you can choose something from our 3,000 free emojis. Eventually you can design your own nailbot nail art. Then you stick your finger in the cradle, and you tap print. In about five seconds, that art, that image, will appear instantly onto your fingernail.
We want girls all across the country to code, design, share, and create nailbot nail art. We make revenue in three different ways. One is in the entire nailbot hardware kit, and then also for our mobile subscription and services. Because we know the data and the usage of when girls are printing with the nailbot, when they're discovering art, we can also ship out replacement consumables.
This includes the cartridge that comes with the nailbot, and the nail polishes itself. We've had very exciting traction over the past view months. With zero marketing spend, we have over 30,000 sign-ups in our nailbot wait list. We had 1,300 volunteer preteen and teen ambassadors signed up to design art. In addition, we have eight patent applications, one of which has been issued. We're just so excited to bring the nailbot to girls across the country and across the world.
Tim: So now Jesse can paint her nails with her father on each finger? To remind?
Pree: That would be kind of creepy, but yeah, I could.
Tim: To remind her of her good father who's done so much. A good developer.
Pree: Well, absolutely. She can print every member of the Draper family on her fingernails if she likes it. Well, we keep adopting new members. In fact, we'd like to adopt you to become member of the Draper family.
Rajeev Madhavan: But the question is I think ...
Jesse: Okay, guys, back to the company. I actually ... So if I remember correctly, were you going to a hardware incubator or something?
Pree: We were still stealth. We hadn't really shown anyone what we are building. In fact, I just kind of had an idea. We filed some early intellectual property. I knew I wanted to use the smartphone to create devices to decorate your nail. What that meant was I was going to use the processing power. I was going to either use the front of back facing cameras to detect your fingernail, and then I was going to print on demand.
But in order to get to that point, we really needed some key hardware help. So we went through a hardware accelerator called Hax, which brought us out to Shenzen, China, for six months, where we really understood how to prototype and bring our product to market and develop our supply chain.
Tim: Can we see your nails?
Pree: Absolutely. So here I put my dog.
Tim: Oh, that's fantastic.
Pree: This is from Instagram. You can touch them as well. They're not stickers. They're not take-outs.
Tim: Oh my God. But you don't get into Instagram if you hit the button.
Pree: Not yet, guys. Very soon. Here's some pizza.
Tim: And pizza and Facebook.
Pree: Facebook, yeah.
Tim: So you're really promoting. We're going to have to put a Meet the Drapers logo here.
Bill: Those are great.
Pree: I think we will. Well the reason I put Facebook and Instagram on my nails is that nail art is the number five most pinned, tweeted, posted category across social media.
Jesse: That's interesting data.
Bill: How-
Jesse: Great pitch. Have a seat. I have a couple of questions. I know these guys for sure have a lot of questions.
Rajeev Madhavan: The toner cartridge, how was it built? What is inside the toner cartridge and how?
Pree: Yeah, exactly. So we are utilizing HP thermal inkjet technology. We do use a CMY cartridge. So it just prints the full spectrum. We don't need to use the black cartridge. It will last around 30,000 prints because we're printing on such a small area. It's really the canvas of your fingernail. We are using non-toxic ink in the nailbots that ship out. So it's ink that's used in food packaging labels.
So think of that apple or that chicken label, that's not actually non-toxic ink. One thing to remember is that the smartphone is really the controller of this entire device, which means that most of the image processing is actually done at the smartphone level, because it's such a small image. This is how we can really bring down the price point.
Bill: They usually try it once and that's kind of ... But they probably don't repeat, do they?
Pree: So you asked a great question. That target preteen, teen, prima donna, there are 21 million girls strong here in the US. 92 percent of which decorate their nails regularly. That's at least twice a month. 14 percent decorate their nails at least once a day.
Bill: You've done a Kickstarter?
Pree: We have done a Kickstarter.
Jesse: So how much did you raise?
Tim: How much did you?
Pree: Yeah, so we raised about 100K. For us, it was actually one of the great things about the Kickstarter was really generating more of the wait list.
Tim: And how many units did you sell on Kickstarter? How many did you?
Pree: We sold around 500.
Rajeev Madhavan: Around 500.
Pree: 500, exactly. So our goal is ...
Rajeev Madhavan: How much time did it take to sell the 500 units?
Pree: We hit our goal within nine days.
Rajeev Madhavan: Nine days.
Pree: Yeah, within nine days.
Bill: How much money have you raised so far?
Pree: We've raised about half a million dollars thus far to get where we are.
Tim: What's your background?
Pree: Yeah, so I used to work ... But I always dreamed of building the nailbot as a five-year-old girl. My background. So I used to work in Connected Hardware. I worked for early stage startups here in the Silicone Valley, for an LED lighting control startup. We did smart lights, smart strips, smart plugs, and another building automation startup.
Tim: I've seen nails done beautifully like this. Are they using your nailbot or are they? What's the alternative?
Jesse: It's people.
Tim: So individuals are doing that kind of work?
Pree: Yeah. So exactly, so nail art really ...
Jesse: This is so fun looking at a beauty company with you guys, just so clueless.
Pree: So yeah. So there's our people doing it, and those are really fantastic nail artists. They are likely influencers. They're people like Sandi Crystal Ball. She is the number one nail artist. She does very intricate designs. I like the Instagram for nail art, but it takes her hours.
Tim: How much are you raising and what valuation?
Pree: Yeah, so we are raising an immediate $500,000 to get us to that next milestone. You asked the question, "How long is it going to take for me to get from here to here?" About six more weeks. It's really just to get us to that point. We are raising on a $10 million valuation.
Jesse: Okay, and really quick, do you have any pre-existing relationships with L'oreal or any beauty companies? Are they involved?
Pree: Yes, absolutely. So we actually are part of founders factory, which is L'oreal's beauty accelerator, and they reached out to us after Tech Crunch disrupt.
Jesse: Okay, so now we have a couple of questions from our studio audience.
Pree: Sure.
Female: So what are your or what have your biggest challenges been as a company and how do you stay relevant to young girls as all of their interests keep changing?
Pree: So your question, how do we stay relevant is we really engage our girls to be co-creators with us. I am the oldest person at my company. I am. We really surround ourselves with Gen Z and young Millennials. That is what keeps us relevant, so I was just at Girl Scout convention. We were sponsors of G.I.R.L 2017, 10,000 girls in Columbus, Ohio. They are harder audience than you guys.
But it's that kind of environment, it's partnerships with Girl Scouts, with maker girl, with girls in tech. We have partnerships with schools. Now we go into our computer science classes and we show them how the nailbot was built, and they become our coder ambassadors and our artist ambassadors. So it's really getting to the girls directly themselves and showing them you can be an entrepreneur. You can be a prima donna. There's a place for you.
You can be coder or a hacker, an artist, and really catering to them.
Tim: So let's try it out.
Jesse: Yes.
Pree: Well, let's bring you both over.
Tim: Okay, here we go. Yeah.
Jesse: Oh my gosh.
Pree: I think it went well, but there were some curve balls and some surprises in the pitch. I live demoed the nailbot, and I live demoed it twice, and I printed on both Jesse and Tim's nails. It actually printed. So that's always a good sign for an entrepreneur. I printed a picture of pops on their nail, so ...
The one area that I was, wished had been a little bit more crisp was maybe an art go-to market strategy. We really are targeting pre-teen, teen girls, and people that buy those or their mums or their dads, and kind of digging deeper into how we can get to market very quickly.
The one thing I really enjoyed about that, the past 15 minutes I guess, it really felt like a conversation that I was in some ways invited into their home or their kitchen table, and kind of sharing my vision, my dream, and what I'm trying to build. So regardless of the outcome, I'm really proud of what I was able to demonstrate, where we are with the company, and I hope they share my vision, and I hope ...
If they don't, I really hope that the viewers that were public and Sony Entertainment Television, really want the nailbot, believe in Preemadonna, and help me bring this product to life.
Jesse: She has been through the ringer and I have to say, I'm really impressed with how far she's come, because she's a real survivor.
Tim: On very little money.
Jesse: On very little money.
Rajeev Madhavan: Very little money.
Tim: I mean this is impressive. This is impressive.
Jesse: Yeah.
Bill: How is she going to market all that?
Jesse: So she's teaming up with all the influencers.
Bill: Yeah. But you think that's going to work?
Jesse: It's like celebrities.
Bill: Do you think that'll work?
Jesse: Yeah, I think it's working for a lot of companies now, and she seems to know her demographic.
Rajeev Madhavan: But I think part of the challenge is she's just trying to do half a million at a time kind of thing.
Jesse: Yeah.
Rajeev Madhavan: I think she should have asked us for a million for example. Just to kind of give you ... If I, I mean for the amount of progress she's making, go out there, ask for a million. A valuation of 10 million is also little question, but you ask, half a million for ...
Jesse: I hate to say this, but this is what all of the women that I fund, I see this problem with every woman that I fund. They don't ask for enough money, because often the incredible VCs like you guys don't understand this product in the market. You had much more insight than most.
Tim: I had to see it in nails.
Jesse: You understand it now, but just it's such a different situation.
Tim: I won't. Actually I guess I won't thoroughly understand until people start coming and know my fingernails.
Rajeev Madhavan: Well, it's a perfect holiday gift. Some New Year's gift and things like that. I really want this and at that age of 13, 14.
Tim: Okay.
Jesse: Okay, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs all around. Was it? Stop. Was it all four? Oh, you're a little bit. Good score, though.
Tim: It's a 3.6.
Rajeev Madhavan: 3.6 or something.
Bill: I like her by the way.
Jesse: Yeah, okay.
Tim: She's very innovative.
Rajeev Madhavan: I absolutely like her and I think the idea is great. I think she's got to get a little more aggressive.
Jesse: Definitely.
Rajeev Madhavan: Go out there for me to make it. That's it. Ask for a million to two million dollars, and I think that's what she should do.
Jesse: Would you like to invest or vote for Preemadonna? Is this the company that you would like to support? Do you believe the his is going to be the next billion-dollar company? Because you can invest $10, $1,000, or you can just vote and support her. So what did we think about the day? Rajeev, thank you so much for being here.
Tim: What a day.
Rajeev Madhavan: It was a fantastic experience. It was great to be on the show.
Tim: You are a great. We want to adopt you as a Draper.
Rajeev Madhavan: As a Draper?
Tim: You were great. It was great addition. I liked it.
Rajeev Madhavan: Well, Bill already did that by doing the investment that he did yeah.
Bill: That's right.
Rajeev Madhavan: For my second company.
Jesse: 40X, geez.
Rajeev Madhavan: So by doing that he automatically adopted me.
Bill: I did. I did.
Tim: Oh, those were fun. Yeah, perfect.
Jesse: I want to know ... What, Rajeev. I want to know what you thought of the day. Who stood out to you? Who was exciting?
Rajeev Madhavan: So there were lots of great inspirational people. The Pigeonly which was just fantastic to see something like that. Very hard. It touches my hard as well. Great business he's found. The nail aspect of things, it was just phenomenal. I know when my teenagers were at 13. That would have been something ... That would be there at all the party.
So overall, great companies including this one fantastic company. Great entrepreneurs. It's a chance for some of them to go out there and build some great companies.
Bill: You were a great judge.
Jesse: I know, good judge.
Rajeev Madhavan: Thank you. Thank you all.
Bill: You did a good job
Jesse: Thank you Rajeev.
Tim: Really fun. Yeah, what a great day.
Jesse: I think it was a good day.
Bill: A great day, yeah.
Tim: That was our virtual day. A lot of virtual things going on in this day, and it was ... And a lot of interesting things in the future, in the virtual world.
Jesse: And good people. Good people today.
Tim: Very good people working on that.
Rajeev Madhavan: Yeah, great people today.
Jesse: Good teams, good people.
Tim: That was really fun.
Jesse: So tune in next time on Meet the Drapers.
Tim: Meet the Drapers.
Bill: Meet the Drapers.
Rajeev Madhavan: Meet the Drapers.
Voiceover: Coming up next week. Who will the audience fund? Whose dream will come true?
Ridhima: Hi, my name is Ridhima. I'm CEO of Boon VR. My team at Boon and I are changing the face of healthcare with virtual reality.
Frederick H.: My name Frederick. This is Alfonzo, and we're Pigeonly.
Pree: I'm Pree Walia, and I'm the CEO or Preemadonna. We are the inventors of the nailbots.
Voiceover: Find out next week on Meet the Drapers.
Pree WaliaInvested about 1 year ago
Larry MarksInvested about 1 year ago
Jan DAlessandroInvested about 1 year ago
Lilia LopezInvested about 1 year ago
Linda WilkinsInvested about 1 year ago
Charles HuangInvested about 1 year ago
Sukhdev WaliaInvested about 1 year ago
Joong KoInvested about 1 year ago
Stuart MarshallInvested about 1 year ago
Brittnee CarrilloInvested about 1 year ago
