Tracking Technology Exposed: What You Need to Know in 2023 (Episode 186)
Jeff Bullas 00:00:04 - 00:01:11 Hi everyone, it's Jeff Bullas here and welcome to The Jeff Bullas Show. Today, I have with me Daniel Daoura. Daniel is the founder and chief technology Officer of Pebblebee. A serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience, Daniel has emerged as a visionary leader in the trackable industry. Daniel's journey to Pebblebee began at the University of Washington, with his thesis focused on predicting satellite communication traffic for military asset tracking systems. This would lead
him to Boeing, where he spent over 10 years in lead engineering roles developing global software and hardware systems for military asset tracking communication systems. Levering this experience, Daniel ventured to the finder space, creating Pebblebee to help people track what matters most to them. And Pebblebee is a device that is very similar to the Apple Air Tag, just to help people understand where we are. Daniel has more than 30 patents, wow that's pretty cool, in the trackable and finder market. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and a
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, as well as an MBA in finance from Seattle University. Daniel, welcome to the show, it's great to have you here. Daniel Daoura 00:01:12 - 00:01:17 Thank you, Jeff. I really appreciate this very exciting opportunity to be on your podcast today. Jeff Bullas 00:01:18 - 00:01:28 So Daniel, even though you have a, quite a, sort of an American accent made softer, you're actually from somewhere else.
Daniel Daoura 00:01:29 - 00:01:43 I am. I am from Beirut, Lebanon. So that is just north of Israel and just south of Syria, Turkey area on the Mediterranean Ocean, Mediterranean Sea. Jeff Bullas 00:01:43 - 00:01:55 So what brought you to America? What happened to get you to cross the ocean, the Atlantic and find a life in America? Daniel Daoura 00:01:56 - 00:03:04 I guess in a nutshell, it's the war in Beirut, you know, has had many wars over the years and we needed a way to get out of the country so we can follow a career path that would result in being able to afford a family. So my father planned that in advance and we came into the US, I believe probably in the mid 1900s is when we started coming in here. And my brother had been here prior to that and I sort of followed the engineering path just like my brother Marco.
And, you know, came to the US, started the University of Washington in ‘99 and graduated from U-Dub and went on to help Boeing in the military space. And so that was likely the reason probably for coming to the US because of the war. Jeff Bullas 00:03:05 - 00:03:19 Right. Yeah. So, what I find fascinating is that in life we all want peace and quiet, but quite
often the motivator to success and what drives people is sometimes where life gets a bit tough. Daniel Daoura 00:03:20 - 00:05:05 Absolutely. And there was a saying, successful entrepreneurs, they don't become successful because it was easy, you know, you don't go after the money, it's not about the money. I mean, some people do. But, I think from my perspective, at least my sort of feeling on this is that
you go after something that is true to your heart that is adding value in this world that makes you excited to wake up every morning to go and fight for what you believe in. And typically for me, at least it's not the money. It's a lot more than that because if it was just money and when you're, you know, naked in a sea of sharks, right? And they're coming after you and you're getting shred to pieces, you're gonna give up if it's just money. But if it's something that means a lot to you, you're gonna continue to fight and you're gonna persevere and that's what's really gonna shine through and make you a successful entrepreneur. So I think, you know, the war and the trepidations that I had to go through back when I was younger. And my, maybe when I was, I mean, born till I was about 13 years old, it was very difficult times, but we had to persevere otherwise you wouldn't be able to survive. And so that taught me quite a bit and it's not just me, it's everyone that went through
that phase and it's not just Lebanon, you know, I have to see lots of parts of the world is it teaches you to persevere and to have determination and basically go after what you truly believe in. Jeff Bullas 00:05:06 - 00:05:39 Yeah. And Lebanon's gone through some tough times and more recently as well. And so it hasn't got easier there really. And so it's, and we talked about that earlier and I have been to Beirut about 10 years ago and it's a city of chaos but also beautiful pockets of beauty and luxury. So it's a paradox actually in Beirut.
Daniel Daoura 00:05:40 - 00:07:13 It is. Yeah, it definitely is a paradox. It is still in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places to go in the world because it's not just what you see, it's also what you eat, the food there is, I'm obviously biased but Lebanese food is the best, you know, it's just, it doesn't get any better than this. There's so much variety, if you're vegan, vegetarian or you love meat. Everything is available and then the sweets, you know, Baklava, Kunefe. I mean,
there's just so many varieties of food and that's just one aspect. People are just genuinely kind, they always want to help. They're flavorful, you know, there's just so much a great atmosphere in Lebanon and then, of course, the beauty, the geography is beautiful. You can ski and then go to the ocean within half an hour, which is amazing. Good weather, you know, and obviously they have had quite a bit of difficulties over the last few years. And the thing is, Lebanese people are, they definitely have calluses and they're tough. And even though this has been very difficult,
they are adapting and they are improving and I think in the next year or so, we'll start seeing quite a bit of improvement in progress. And obviously I'm talking from thousands of miles away, but I think that's at least my opinion and view of the topic. Jeff Bullas 00:07:13 - 00:07:31 Yeah, we hope so because when I was there, I was certainly, the people were beautiful.
I was really well looked after. I felt right at home. And so the hosts were fantastic. So, I'd love to go back but I think maybe it's not quite the right time. Daniel Daoura 00:07:32 - 00:07:33 Soon, yes.
Jeff Bullas 00:07:34 - 00:07:51 Yeah. So let's wind back to where your engineering focus. Where did that come from? What was the inspiration to become an engineer? Is it because it was already in the family? Your brother said was in engineering. What led you to engineering? Daniel Daoura 00:07:52 - 00:11:42 Yeah, I'm a problem solver, you know, I think challenges, I've been through challenges throughout my life, right? And as I mentioned earlier, one big challenge, I've mentioned it before on previous podcast is that when you're in a bunker and you wanna know the news, you want to hear what's going on out there, which areas are getting affected, which supermarkets can I go to just have supplies and food for the family. And one thing that you need is TV. And over there, as you know, bombs are falling from the sky. You have no electricity sometimes for a period of two or three weeks. And then you have to subscribe to generators in the area or you have to have your own generator just to have a little power. We didn't have that luxury. So, we'd have to come up
with our own concoction to make batteries, you know, in the basement. And so we'd always, you know, milk jugs, fill them up with acidic fluid and having an anode and cathode being the copper, the consumer electrons and you have batteries for maybe 20 minutes of TV time, you know. So that, you know, when you're presented with a challenge, there's always a solution. If there's a will, there's a way. And I think that's where engineering kind of stuck with me because it's, I just have an engineering mentality. And then my brother came in to the US and went that path
as well. And so it was just natural for me to take on the computer science and electrical engineering path. And so I think, you know, that's really kind of how it all came about. And went to, as I mentioned earlier, Boeing for phantom works and essentially worked for military aircraft communication systems worldwide, even Adelaide, as I mentioned earlier in Australia for Wedge Tail.
And that really got me into the software, hardware modem, transmission medium type of communication systems and leading teams in that realm. And it was just natural for us to come up with a solution for consumers because I was losing things, I was playing hide and seek with my daughter with my keys and, you know, I'd be late to work because I couldn't find my keys and my business partner at the time, Nick Pearson Franks, may he rest in peace. He and I got together in 2011 or 2012 area. That's when we started talking about the idea and we came up with a solution for your keys and then, you know, our neighbors and friends would love this new solution because we'd handed out the samples and, you know, fast forward, I mean, 2013 was great because we started preselling the devices. Fast forward to today, we're partners with Apple and Google and big giants in this
tech space and play a key role in this space. And we're very fortunate to be partners, very strong partners with them and helping them with not only deploying safe solutions but also helping with the new protocols in regards to combating, for example, unwanted tracking and rogue devices. So I think it's just a culmination of a decade plus of experience in this space and knowledge, obviously, on the technical side of things as well as having an MBA, which kind of helps with the tools that you need to start a business that helps, doesn't really help. I mean, helped, I think experience really helped me and that kind of got us together and to create Pebblebee, you know, with the vision to deliver a peace of mind for tracking important things in your life.
Jeff Bullas 00:11:43 - 00:11:53 So let's go back to the inspiration for it. So you, was it the personal problems you had because you had a bad memory and forgot where your keys were? Daniel Daoura 00:11:54 - 00:13:33 Well, I, you know, I don't know about bad memory. It's more about having, you know, maybe that is the case. It's really about chaos. It's about being a parent and having other priorities and constantly changing priorities, focusing on work and life, personal life and running around and, you know, ultimately, even though you, most of the time you lose your keys, you'll eventually find them, it just might cost you a few hours, maybe a few days. And that's what I, but that's what we're trying to remove, right? And so I'll give you actually a very good example that happened recently to me. I was clipping my tree and my, I have a bunch of fruit trees on my property. And
so, you know, now there's the time to start pruning. And so I'm pruning and I put it in, you know, my pocket in my side pocket and I'm, you know, carrying all the branches and everything and chucking them on the side of my property and all of a sudden I lost my pruning, pruners, you know, and I couldn't find them. I spent hours because I didn't wanna have to go to the store and it's like my whole day. And so now I'm starting to think maybe I should put them on my pruners, you know, or even better yet build it into the pruners. So I think it's really about just having,
technology is there, it is capable and we can do it and we have done it. So why not improve our lives by, you know, making it help our lives to basically save time and have peace of mind. Jeff Bullas 00:13:34 - 00:14:21 Yeah, exactly. So, I actually bought some Air Tags about a year ago actually, which is basically a device tracking, you know, tag and I did it because the airlines coming back online, the luggage tracking weird horror stories of people losing their luggage. And I
remember one story that someone went to an airline, stood at the desk and going, where's my luggage? You've lost it. They go, we don't know, sir, we'll find it out for you. And he, because he was, what he'd done though, he had put Apple Air Tag in his bag and he said, well, I can tell you exactly where it is. It's in that room behind you. Daniel Daoura 00:14:21 - 00:15:10 It's definitely getting quite a bit of press, you know, traveling and being able to track your luggage. It's not just for tracking your luggage that I see quite a bit of value, it's also shipments. It's interesting. If you're willing to sacrifice, you know,
one or two of your devices, obviously, I have quite a bit in my possession. So, when I'm shipping to China or to Poland or to Norway or anywhere in South America, because we have employees across the globe. I'm always including one of those devices and then when they ship back to me, they include the same device. So I can track it
quite accurately through the whole chain. And so it's definitely quite useful technology. Jeff Bullas 00:15:10 - 00:15:50 Oh yeah, I think it's great. I walk away from the car and it's in one of my bags. So I actually use it to put it into my man bag so I know where my man bag is. I haven't put one in my car keys yet because I generally don't lose them. And I've even thought of putting one in my car. So if someone steals it, I can tell the police where it is. So you started,
did you start Pebblebee the device, you know, tracker. Did you start that? You said that you started before Apple came up with the Air Tag? Is that correct? Daniel Daoura 00:15:51 - 00:16:30 So yeah, we, yeah, we found it probably Pebblebee in 2013, officially, we started it a couple of years before that. But really just to create a universal tracking platform that would ultimately seamlessly work with your platform that you're used to. But really it does work across all platforms including IOS and Android devices.
And I think from the beginning, we've always focused on safe and easy to use tracking systems for all consumers. We are now going into enterprise as well and embedded such as skis, golf, bikes and then of course, enterprises as well on a more of a B2B model. Jeff Bullas 00:16:30 - 00:16:57 Right. So obviously with your satellite tracking and, you know, military assets and everything else and in Boeing. So you're saying, well, it would be good to track, you know, stuff, you know, important stuff. So what do you use it? Is it before, so the app, so we, you do, you need to download an app as part of the Pebblebee device? Daniel Daoura 00:16:58 - 00:18:09 That is one way to interact with the device, correct. So it depends on which network you're
using. If you're using the Apple Find My Network, then it comes built in to your iPhone IOS or iPad. And that particular app will allow you to pair with that device that essentially start it, you know, in terms of pairing it to your account and then you can use for example, find my online on a web browser if you want to find your devices because it does piggy back on the network. So whoever is walking by with an iPhone will pick up that signal and report it to the cloud. It's all safe and secure encrypted, but only the owner will be able to see that information. Same thing works with Google and Pebblebee. So it's just different sizes of networks, different platforms, different
ways of interacting with it. And then when you're talking with enterprise solutions, that's also a little bit different. It could be a gateway, a Wi-Fi gateway, cellular LTE gateway, et cetera. Jeff Bullas 00:18:10 - 00:18:30 So the networks you tap into, they must be multiple. So you've got the cellular networks,
you've got Wi-Fi networks and then you got, I'm trying to make it as simple for me as possible. I'm just, you know, I'm not an engineer. So, and then you got the satellite networks. Do you use all three? Daniel Daoura 00:18:31 - 00:21:21 Well, we can, depends on the product. So if you're looking for a simple sort of insurance policy, let's say product that does not require a subscription on a monthly basis, does not consume extraneous amount of power. Then this is the bluetooth, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy product that you'd be using. For example, I put it on my dog because I feel that in case my dog leaves the vicinity of my home, I can have some form of being able to track where my dog is if someone is nearby with their phone. Now, that is not the best solution because I would panic and I would
say where's my dog? And I need to know right now where my dog is, but now I'm dependent on someone walking by to pick up that signal versus if you had LTE. And as a fallback being LTE, then you can control and command that device at any time and you can receive those updates at any time. We do have a product called Profound and that is LTE based subscription product and there's also consumer based, of course, we can also use it for enterprise. But the idea is that whenever my
dog leaves the vicinity of the geo fence or the virtual fence around my home, it activates LTE. And then I get a notification that my dog left and I can track them live. I can see them live exactly where they are through GPS, which is also not on our bluetooth devices. And GPS is also a different form of communication. It's through the satellites in terms of getting a location fixed. And then there's another also form and let's say you're backpacking and hiking in the woods and there is no LTE, there is a new standard that, it's not a standard yet, but they are proposing a standard and I likely, I think it will happen next year where you can connect to low Earth orbit satellites that will work with your existing narrow band IOT antenna, which is also in our product so that it could fall back onto satellite and communicate over satellite to get a location and data as opposed to LTE if it doesn't exist. So there are definitely several forms and of course, there's also Laura. Laura, which is another form sidewalk uses, for example, which is Amazon based
network very, very effective. And so there's just a several forms of transmission mediums and it really just depends on the application you're going for, how much power you can fit in that small form factor, how much power is it going to consume and then how active do you want it to be? Jeff Bullas 00:21:22 - 00:21:51 Yeah. So you must have to navigate a whole rainbow kaleidoscope of different networks to work out which device would work with what network and so. And that would have come from your Boeing background obviously. So, is that space, the communications networks, is that evolving rapidly or is it sort of relatively stable still? Daniel Daoura 00:21:51 - 00:22:40 I would say it's stable but it is still evolving rapidly, but it is stable and it's very effective.
But I know that it's gonna continue to improve over time whether it's best in class energy consumption, so very low energy consumption in terms having smaller battery size, smaller device that can still work over LTE cellular. And we're already there. We're seeing numbers that are quite low to where cellular is even less power hungry than Wi-FI in certain cases. So that's happening, bluetooth is starting to improve. Now, you have bluetooth point-to-point where you're getting 2000 ft of range. In some cases, up to 2000, I would say, in fact, our products work. Jeff Bullas 00:22:40 - 00:22:43 Bluetooth only works at 20 ft normally, is that correct? Daniel Daoura 00:22:44 - 00:23:29 It depends on the application. I've been able to connect to my device through an iPhone or a Google
Pixel, for example, Pro 7 that I'm using that at 1500 ft with our devices. Now, it has to be a line of sight, you know, it happened to be raining that day. So it's still pretty impressive how it worked that far. Now, yeah, if you have people, human bodies moving around, walls, you know, you're typically, you're gonna see three to 400 ft, maybe, maybe 500 up to 500, we say up to 500. So yeah, it does depend, it's not like LTE, right? Where it goes to a cell tower and then the tower is essentially distributing that information to the networks. It's different. Jeff Bullas 00:23:30 - 00:24:14 So what I find fascinating about technology is quite often an invention is the intersection of multiple technologies, the enablement of an invention. So if you're just thinking about it,
the tracker having a trackable device requires satellite, Wi-Fi, GPS, well, cellular networks, bluetooth and it requires a phone, a smartphone, for example. Then it requires battery technology that is actually light and easy and rechargeable, which is one of your different differentiators. So, people sort of say, well, that device is just a technology, it really is an intersection of multiple technologies, isn't it? Daniel Daoura 00:24:15 - 00:26:26 It is. And honestly, we take things for granted because they just work and they have been working.
And I mean, this is just the evolution of humanity because we just built something based on what our ancestors built, right? And it's just, but it's evolving at an exponential rate to where it's too much to think about all of this, all these advancements and everything, right? We need to focus on what we can add value, what we can improve on but this foundation, I'll give you an example. We're the only company in the world today that can have both IOS Find My and as well as switchable spew, as well as Google Find My Device in the same product using the same architecture of memory. And that is a very difficult challenge to solve because you have to re-architect the entire ecosystem of that protocol to basically have both live in there. In fact, it's not just both, it's also the Pebblebee protocol living in there. And that is sort of where you start fine tuning and improving your solution, which directly translate into benefits. Because if you think about it, if you have a switch spew, you're now having a unified platform capability.
So it seamlessly integrates with either, you know, Pebblebee, Apple or Google. It offers users unparalleled choice if you can pick your own platform, allowing them to select, you know, based on their preferences. And then you have the operational efficiency when you talk about retail, you know, drastically reducing overhead and inventory challenges, eliminating the need for multiple versions of the product, you know, while catering to different platforms. And so I think it's just a matter of, you know, we take all of this technology for granted but not really. We recognize it and we take that into consideration, we start focusing on what else
can we improve. Now, once we've improved this, we're gonna move on to the next topic, right? And that's just evolution, right? The exponential evolution, especially with technology recently. Jeff Bullas 00:26:26 - 00:26:31 Yeah. So is the product waterproof as well? Daniel Daoura 00:26:32 - 00:27:10 I would say it’s water resistant. It depends. So the Found is waterproof. The other bluetooth products are water resistant because of the recharge ability. Now we have some new exciting developments that are underway for 2024. I'll just stay tuned to that. But yes,
right now we say it's water resistant. We haven't really had any issues really because you put it in your wallet, you put it on your keys. We've never really had issues unless someone puts in their washer, you know, washing machine and I haven't done that yet but I'm sure I will someday. So, you know, let's not jinx it.
Jeff Bullas 00:27:10 - 00:27:19 So can you sum up what makes the Pebblebee trackable device different to Apple's Air Tag? Can you tell us what are the major differences? Daniel Daoura 00:27:20 - 00:29:17 Yes. It is rechargeable. So, within 30 minutes or so, you have full recharge ability for the most part for up to a year of use. It has LEDs that actually are very useful in telling you the battery charge level, it changes from green to yellow to red and in between, it also blinks when you're trying to pair or when you're trying to find. So in the dark, you'll be able to locate your device even though you can hear it, but you can't see and pinpoint where it is.
And it has the, for example, the clip, a built-in loop for attaching to your keys, as opposed to Air Tag, you do have to buy an attachment that's an extra, you know, $30 expense. It also has, obviously it works with both like I mentioned Apple and Google. And then it's louder, quite considerably louder than the Air Tag. And it also has better range, we say up to 500 ft because we've confirmed that it has a longer range, further range than the Air Tag. So those are some of the things and then, of course, let's not forget form factors. We do have the card which is a very thin form factor that goes into your wallet and we have the tag, the Pebblebee Tag, which we've released for Android only. That’s on pre-order today. And it will become available this fall for Apple Find My as well. And the Air Tag sorry, the Pebblebee Tag,
you can affix to your remote control for example or it's great for pet accessories, I would say like the leash or your dog's collar or something like that. My kids take off my dog's collar on a daily basis because they like to pet our dog without a collar on it. And we always lose the dog collar. So we have several of them. And finally, now I'm putting an air or a Pebblebee tag on it and I can easily track it and find it. Jeff Bullas 00:29:17 - 00:29:21 It's very cool. So, what's the price point compared to Apple Tags? Daniel Daoura 00:29:22 - 00:29:38 We're comparable. Although if you take into consideration that you don't need to have the accessory, attachment accessory, we're a lot less expensive. It's 29.99 for either product, all three of them.
Jeff Bullas 00:29:39 - 00:29:49 So let's talk a little bit about enterprise. So you're moving into the enterprise space. So that must be a huge market for you. Daniel Daoura 00:29:50 - 00:32:13 It is a very large market and it's very exciting. It's new territory for us. We've dabbled in it in
the past, but we're definitely going strong since last year. The company's enterprise strategy is to embed Pebblebee, basically insight of sporting goods like equipment, skis, golf bags, travel bags and many other markets. And an example of that is we've partnered with sports brands like the Peak Ski company, which is by Bodie Miller and Bozeman Montana, and then also Henry Griffiths, which is in Idaho, golf clubs. Really demonstrates the versatility of our tracking platform and
capability of not only providing that, what I call soft benefits is essentially all the features you see on your phone and being able to track but also the hardware. So essentially have an extendable and expandable product that goes inside of a club, for example, or a bike handle or a ski. I mean, imagine all the difficult, challenging innovation pieces that have to go into putting into a ski. Not only does it have to be waterproof, it has to be shockproof, it has to be extremely thin. So it
doesn't compromise the rigidity of the ski and the flex of the ski, right? The effectiveness of being a very truly pro ski, you know, by Peak Ski, for example, by Bodie Miller. So I think those are some of the challenges we're overcoming and then this is kind of a, I would say, B2B2C play that we've mentioned. And then there's, of course, it's strictly enterprise. So car lots, you know, tracking car keys, for example, on the lot or for enterprise in terms of airline industry, we are working on that as well. I can't say specifics, but we will probably shed some more light on that later in the next few months. And then there's other capabilities that anything that a product has. For example, a battery can also be trackable. So we're working on that with larger companies and
it's very exciting that we'll probably bring some more news to the public in the next few months. Jeff Bullas 00:32:13 - 00:32:17 So the market size must be in the billions and billions of dollars. Daniel Daoura 00:32:18 - 00:32:44 It is. $4 billion industry. It's a very large industry and the compounded annual growth rate on that is about 25%. And we've seen 30% when you talk about consumers strictly, I mean,
if you just look at Air Tags, it's really growing fast and it continues to grow fast, surpassing expectations. So it is a very large market and it's gonna continue to grow. Jeff Bullas 00:32:44 - 00:32:49 So the Apple Air Tag coming on the market would have helped you rather than hindered you. Is that correct? Daniel Daoura 00:32:50 - 00:34:51 Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it used to be good and now it's great because when you talk about satellite, LTE, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, et cetera. The network is also another, I would say a vertical or a piece of the puzzle. The network is very strong when it comes to Apple or Google,
you have billions of users, you know, using phones, specifically either iPhone or Android. And that is a feature that is a very important feature that translates directly to a benefit. And that benefit is if your lost item is anywhere, not within your vicinity of, let's say 100 ft if it's Air Tag or 500 ft if it was Pebblebee, then that's when it kicks in. That benefit kicks in when your devices or your product or item, whatever it is you're tracking is outside your range. And although I would say it's true that 90% of the time, if you're talking about a consumer, use case, it's gonna be either at home, in your car, at your friend's house, et cetera. So you'll be able to within range, be able to track it, but it's that 10%. That is the biggest value because it's just like insurance, you know, I don't have insurance.
I don't pay for insurance for my auto insurance or my home insurance because I'm planning to use it every day, right? I'm planning to never use it. I don't ever want to use it, right? But in case I have to, it's gonna work, right? And so, and that benefit I think is a very, very large benefit that comes into play when I think about which product should I buy, right? And so that's when Apple came into the market, it really amplified the benefit. And now Google is in the market as well or they'll be launching their FMD solution soon. And that's great. That's great news. Jeff Bullas 00:34:51 - 00:34:54 So, who's coming to the market? Is Google are or? Daniel Daoura 00:34:55 - 00:36:13 Google. Yes, they announced that Google I/O in May that in partnership with
Pebblebee will be releasing a product. We have sort of paused that as of July because really it's about safety and I think it's extremely important to emphasize that since Apple came in and now Google is in that space, it has become the most safe product on the market when it comes to tracking because you could also buy a cellular device today. And let's say you're stocking or whatever it is. Basically, it's a rogue device that is, has been placed in your car. I can't find that device because if it's on an independent network, if it's cellular, I can't find it. But because of this new safety protocol, you know, with Apple and Google that we've worked together on, it's become the safest network because if it works to be able to track my device somewhere else, it also works to tell that person that they're being tracked if it was not near by the owner and it's moving, right? So it's extremely safe and that's why we put a pause on it, but we'll be launching with Google very soon. I would say over the next few months.
Jeff Bullas 00:36:13 - 00:36:20 I guess in other words, you very, very focused on privacy as well to make sure that. Daniel Daoura 00:36:20 - 00:36:33 Hundred percent. Exactly bad actors can't track you. Yeah, exactly. And you'll be notified, you can disable the device, take it to the local authorities and they can find who it is as well. Jeff Bullas 00:36:33 - 00:36:41 Alright, cool. So, I am curious about one thing. How do you, if you embedded device, how do you charge it? How do you like? Daniel Daoura 00:36:41 - 00:37:44 That’s one of the challenges. Yeah. And so, you have to work with the form factor. For example,
I'll give you an example of the ski. It has to be waterproof and it doesn't, you can't plug something in. So it's wireless, it's wireless charging, just like your phone, wirelessly charges with key charging. There's a wireless contact but not pin contact. It's just you bring your charger over your ski and it charges and you have a full year or full season, I should say of functionality there and benefit. And if it's a golf, you know, there's a little hole at the butt of your grip golf club. And that whole purpose is
to allow air to escape as you're sliding the grip into the club. And that hole is a way to be able to charge your device as well. So we have a little 2.5 millimeter connector that essentially inserts into the butt of the club and charges it and you're good for an entire season, which is typically six months, unless you live in Arizona, then it's 12 months. Jeff Bullas 00:37:45 - 00:37:53 Very cool. So, what's the size of your team now? Like you've, obviously it was just you and your original founder so.
Daniel Daoura 00:37:53 - 00:38:15 Yeah, we're approximately 30 people now and we're small but mighty obviously playing with, you know, big roles with large companies like Apple and Google and others. But we're a very efficient and nimble team and we like it that way and it's a small community and we're very effective at what we do. Jeff Bullas 00:38:16 - 00:38:24 That's cool. And do you work virtually? Is it a virtual team or you have an office and warehouse?
Daniel Daoura 00:38:24 - 00:38:42 We do, we have two offices. We have warehouses as well. But for the most part, ever since COVID, we've been very effective in taking advantage of working remotely, but obviously, sometimes we have to go into the office, right? And we want to, but yeah, for the most part, we're virtual. Jeff Bullas 00:38:42 - 00:39:01 Right. Cool. So, one last question, Daniel, what brings Daniel Joy? Whether it's in business or in life generally. I asked you this before we hit the record button, but what brings Daniel Joy?
Daniel Daoura 00:39:02 - 00:40:50 And that really is something that I combat with on a daily basis, Jeff. It's philosophical. It really kind of goes back to your true core because again, I mentioned this earlier. What is it that sort of keeps you up at night? What is it that when you go to bed, you close your eyes you think about and when you wake up in the morning, that's the first thing you think about. That's really what brings me joy. Obviously, I love my family to death and my kids, my daughters and my wife, they're everything to me. But there's something about, you know, what keeps you going, that little engine, you know, that's just, you know, keeping your heart going, right? And your mind, that's just keeping your blood flowing and that's that to me, it's adding value in this world. I want to make sure that whatever I do every day, I'm always ethical kind, but also effective in this world and adding value, whether it's through our employees, our team helping them through their career, helping them so much that they want to look outside the team for other opportunities, but treating them so well that they don't wanna leave, right? And to me, that's adding value for individuals, for people that is also our technology and our features that are bringing into this world. We're adding value to people to give them peace of mind,
be able to save that 30 minutes and not being late to your meeting. And so for me, it's really about adding value in this world because we're all gonna leave this world someday, you never know when your clock is gonna be up. And so really, it's every day trying to live by that motto and really try to continue to be very ethical, kind like people and adding value because when you're gone, at least you have that, you know. Jeff Bullas 00:40:50 - 00:41:33 Yeah, I think it's great that basically you're trying to help the world in humanity and solving a simple but complex problem which is making sure that the things they value are trackable, which is great. So, and I, that makes me think on a Japanese term for purpose, which is called Ikigai, which you might have heard of. Ikigai is the intersection of what you love doing, what you're
great at, what your experience is. What will, what does the world need and what will the world pay you for? And at the core of that Ikigai and guess what you're doing all of those which is fantastic. Daniel Daoura 00:41:34 - 00:41:39 Yeah. Thank you, Jeff. I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am today. Jeff Bullas 00:41:39 - 00:41:46 Yeah. But I think being grateful every day is very important because sometimes we get lost in the noise and chaos of life, don't we? Daniel Daoura 00:41:47 - 00:41:54 Exactly. Every day. Hello? Did I lose you?
Jeff Bullas 00:41:55 - 00:41:57 We lost. I think we lost each other a little bit there. Daniel Daoura 00:41:58 - 00:41:59 I got you back. Jeff Bullas 00:42:00 - 00:42:33 So I think, yes, being grateful. And I think you're most very grateful to be able to thrive in the USA after escaping a war zone. And it's made you tougher,
it's made you resilient and you've persevered and that is to be admired. And thank you very much Daniel for sharing your story. It's been fabulous and I have loved hearing it and you sharing it with the world. Thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure. Daniel Daoura 00:42:34 - 00:43:04 Thank you so much, Jeff. And I would say, you know, several exciting developments that are
continuing to come to Pebblebee and to market in 2024 and to stay tuned with any updates, just you can follow our company news on the usual social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. And you can also try to connect with me on LinkedIn. You can look me up as Daniel Daoura. I'm the only one on LinkedIn. Again, really appreciate this opportunity and thank you so much, Jeff.
Jeff Bullas 00:43:05 - 00:43:07 Thanks Daniel. It's been an absolute pleasure.
2023-10-27 06:33
