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Posted on Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 5:58 a.m.

Tangled headphones a thing of the past? U-M startup TurtleCell nearing solution

By Ben Freed

TurtleCell_Schrems_Turnbull.jpg

TurtleCell co-founders Nick Turnbull (left) and Paul Schrems started the company when both were mechanical engineering students at the University of Michigan

Courtesy Nick Turnbull

While necessity may be the mother of invention, inconvenience probably is somewhere on the family tree as well.

When Paul Schrems got fed up with constantly untangling his headphones on his way to class, he knew he wasn’t alone in his frustration. As a mechanical engineering graduate student at the University of Michigan with a background in 3-D prototyping, he figured he was the right person to develop the solution.

Schrems teamed up with U-M mechanical engineering senior Nick Turnbull to launch TurtleCell, a company that aims to solve the headphone woes by keeping them wrapped up inside a specially designed and patented phone case.

“We built our first prototype Jan. 1, 2012,” Turnbull said. “I think officially we’re on version 32 by now.”

As the pair progressed through each version, the hard-shell cases got thinner and simpler. Turbull said the first iteration had more than 30 parts made on a 3-D printer, but the current version is down to 15 parts and is much easier to assemble.

Turnbull and Schrems took their invention to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers “iShow” innovation showcase in June. The pair beat out nine other semifinalists, including teams from Tufts, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and three teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the competition to win a $10,000 grand prize.

On the heels of the victory, TurtleCell launched a Kickstarter campaign to offer “version 32” of the case to consumers for preordering. Kickstarter is a crowdsourcing website that can help new companies and products get off of the ground. The company set a funding goal of $50,000 and will not receive any pledged funds unless the goal is reached.

Kickstarter projects can give out “rewards” to backers who pledge at certain levels and these incentives often include prototypes of the product offered at approximate cost. Many companies use the campaigns as a method of ensuring they have enough interest and in-hand capital to make a first production run.

“We’re hoping to get a little bit of profit out of the campaign, but it won’t be anything super significant,” Turnbull said.

“The main thing is to fund it, to get the units out, to get enough money so that we can comfortably get these units to the people who preorder them and then get the reaction from users so we can continue to improve.”

Other local companies that have used crowd funding to launch their products include Pinoccio, a tech startup that raised $105,000 in February, and The perfect Heist, a board game that raised nearly $60,000 after it caught the attention of viral website Reddit.

Turtlecell_techarb_older.jpg

An early iteration of the TurtleCell shows its unique "pancake" design for the retractable headphone holder.

Ben Freed | AnnArbor.com

Turnbull said TurtleCell already has raised $100,000 from an angel investor, but that money is earmarked for research and product development rather than mass production.

“That money is our lifeline right now. So we’re spreading it as thin as we can. We’re not using it to buy tooling or large chunks of machinery,” he said.

“We’re using it to do our testing and make new iterations and build our initial marketing campaign. Kickstarter is a great platform for us to use in getting our initial buzz out there. The best way to fund a consumer product project is to get people to buy it through preorders because then you don’t have to raise a ton of capital and sell part of your company.”

If the Kickstarter campaign is successful in raising the necessary $50,000, the company will work with a supplier in Minneapolis to manufacture the preordered TurtleCell cases. Turnbull said the company wants to move manufacturing to the Detroit area when it starts producing the cases in large quantities.

Local manufacturing is important to Schrems and Turnbull who both grew up in Michigan. The pair began their company while both were still U-M students and its first home was in the TechArb student startup incubator. Like Schrems, TurtleCell “graduated” recently to the Ann Arbor SPARK startup incubator — just one block down East Liberty Street.

Turnbull is still finishing his senior year at U-M but says he’s become a part-time student to focus on the company he and Schrems believe solves a problem that bothers a critical mass of people.

To prove how widespread the agitation is, a live Twitter feed on his company’s website showcases hundreds of people every day broadcasting to the world how upset they are with their tangled wires and earbuds.

The company had raised $16,800 as of Wednesday morning, with approximately two and a half more weeks until the Kickstarter campaign ends August 4. More than 50 TurtleCell cases have been preordered as part of the campaign and one backer pledged more than $1,000 for the perk of having a dinner party with the company’s founders.

Want to hear more? Watch the TurtleCell founders explain their product:

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Get in touch with Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2

Comments

Ben Freed

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:31 p.m.

A quick update from the company's kickstarter campaign. They have raised just less than $1,000 since this article was written and have now (Monday at 3:30) raised $17,595 towards the $50,000 goal.

snapshot

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:19 p.m.

Could there be patent infringements on retractable power cords, air hoses, and even the pull start on a lawnmower which are the same concept?

Ben Freed

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:28 p.m.

That's a great question. I know that TurtleCell had to apply for a very narrow patent for their device. So far I do not believe any other companies have made patent infringement claims on their innovation.

Ben Freed

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 6:28 p.m.

I think the question of these headphones vs. bluetooth is a valid one, but as someone pointed out, the bluetooth headphones are often either bulkey models or the "jawbone" type earpieces. These are earbuds that can be used for working out/other activities. I think it will be interesting to see whether the market bears out their hypothesis that this is a necessary innovation. I think that a stronger social media push (they have twitter feeding into their website, but how much are they interacting with these people who tweet about their headphones being tangled?) could help get them over the hump.

Hmm

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 2:25 p.m.

Bluetooth headphones make all this obsolete. I don't know why more people aren't using them, wireless is really the way to go all together

Sam S Smith

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:22 p.m.

This is so cool! If I had a phone like that I'd buy one! I wish you much success!

Grimace

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 3:34 a.m.

Most people I know don't really even listen to music. I wonder if these new earphones will work for books-on-tape??

spaghettimonsters

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:48 a.m.

If it really bothered someone, why wouldn't they just get bluetooth headphones? This is a non-issue...

Nicholas Urfe

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:29 a.m.

If they can execute exceptionally well, and keep costs low, maybe they can get some traction. I hope so. I would like to see more "gadget" maker's coming out of Umich and developing products in this area.

Jay

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 5:29 p.m.

This is not an original idea!

AdmiralMoose

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 2:17 p.m.

It's great to see the Ann Arbor area's entrepreneurial infrastructure at work. I'll see you guys on Kick starter... lobbying for an Android version once you get this one off the ground. :-)

Ron Oblander

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 4:59 p.m.

Amen

theodynus

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 1:50 p.m.

Kind of concerned about what's going to happen when my earbuds snag on a doorknob or something... It's too bad there isn't a low power wireless technology that would allow us to deliver audio without the wires altogether, wouldn't need to be replaced every time your phone's body size changed, would allow you to use whatever case you wanted, and wouldn't add bulk and complexity to the phone. You'd expect something like that would have been invented a decade ago!

a2gretta

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 7:21 p.m.

But then you wouldn't have cords dangling from your ears to indicate to others that while you may be physically present your attention is elsewhere.

Brad

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 6:16 p.m.

D'oh! Guilty as charged ;)

ThinkingOne

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 4:55 p.m.

Brad I think you missed some sarcasm. 2000 - first BT cell phone 2003 - first BT MP3 player 2004 - first BT stereo headphones I think this is why theodynus said he would have expected something to be invented a decade ago; because it was about 10 years ago that BT became available for this type of use. (Of course, you can still debate issues such as effect on battery life, costs, etc...)

Brad

Sun, Jul 21, 2013 : 4:26 p.m.

Bluetooth earbuds and headphones already exist. I don't have any personal experience, but they are exactly what you are talking about.