To celebrate Mother’s Day, we asked some of you to build a Chipp’d page just for mom. 

We’ll be showcasing these pages over the next few days and we hope they’ll inspire you to do something wonderful for your mother on her special day.

Visit Chipp’d to build your own fun and personal gift for mom.

We’re finally open for business!  

Or as we like to say here at Chipp’d HQ, the shackles have finally come off and our work is only just beginning.

It’s been a long and tumultuous ride to get to this point.  We’ve learnt more about casting, molding, soldering, polishing, letter pressing, assembling, laser cutting, packaging and shipping than we ever imagined in our wildest dreams.

A little over a year ago, we had a vision for a fun, little company that would make authentic, keepsake products to help people connect and reconnect in a more personal way.

We stumbled across a super talented illustrator, who gave us our whimsical pigeon, and everything snowballed from there.

Truth is, we’ve been very fortunate to work with some amazing people (they know who they are) and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without all of their contributions.  We just hope to do their work justice.

Before we sign off, we wanted to share one last thought with you.

There’s no such thing as launching.  A launch date is only some arbitrary line drawn in the sand to give startups a clear target and some added discipline.

Every company – big and small – launches every single day, because every single day, someone is:  interacting with your product for the very first time; visiting your website for the very first time; or watching your promo video for the very first time.

To these customers, their very first interaction with our brand is the day we launch.  They don’t care what happened on February 6, 2013 or what Chipp’d accomplished on any other day before they found us.

So, to all of you out there that we haven’t met yet, we hope to offer you the very best launch we can when our paths do finally cross - because that’s the only date that matters to us.

Until next time.

Launching a startup can be emotional.  Things never work out the way you expect – in good ways and bad.  The ups are awesome, while the downs can bring you to your knees.

With Chipp’d – as with many startups – we completed most of our product on schedule.  We’ve been “on the verge of launching” for months now – a fact that’s unfortunately been highlighted by the changing launch ‘season’ on our social media profiles.

[Lesson for the books – don’t publicly declare a launch date/month/season until after you’ve launched.  It’s no fun to look flaky.]

In our defense, the things that have taken us a ridiculous amount of time to get done have been all the details – the little things that can be the difference between a “good” and “great” product.

We’ve gone through a couple rounds of testing and we’ve refined Chipp’d a ton already.  But, just like the “80/20” rule says, it’s that last bit that’s the real adventure – and so it’s been for us. 

From working to get our product right to the nearest tenth-of-a-millimeter to refining the app based on beta tester feedback - we’ve spent the last few weeks applying the finishing touches to all that is Chipp’d.  

So, while the delays we’ve experienced so far are nothing to boast about, it’s all for a good cause: to offer our customers the most joyful experience we possibly can.

With that – we have no more announcements to make other than to say:

Chipp’d is coming soon! 

In today’s world of cost cutting, outsourcing, and Indian call center operators named Rachel, we’ve seen values like authenticity, brand integrity, and attention to detail fall by the wayside.

The soullessness of Chinese manufacturing practices has been well documented for well over a decade now and yet some of the world’s leading consumer products companies, including our beloved Apple, continue to produce their wares there. 

Does it really matter that the products were designed in Cupertino?  Do you think either the exploited Chinese child laborer or the out-of-work American cares?

Contrast this to the way Hermès - the legendary apparel and accessories label - does business.  The vast majority of the company’s goods are made in France by hand in mid-sized workshops.  In fact, most items are entirely produced by one person – it doesn’t get more authentic than that.

Granted, a Birkin or a Kelly will run you thousands of dollars and that’s only after you’ve waited for months on the waiting list.  But it is a testament to Hermes’ self-belief and commitment to its principles that the company hasn’t followed in the footsteps of almost every one of its competitors.

‘Handcrafted in NYC’ is important to Chipp’d for the same reason as handmade in France is to Hermès (well, sort of…).

First, it says something about your brand and your own personal beliefs. Are you competing on price or are you focused on offering a truly remarkable experience?  Are you cheap and easily replicated or are you high quality and authentic?

Second, it says something about the legacy you want to leave behind.  How do you want to be remembered? 

Our dream has always been to build a brand that outlives us, one that our grandkids would be proud of. 

We want to be remembered for doing our bit to give something back to the city that inspires us. 

We want our children to live in a world that rewards integrity and authenticity, not one that encourages the pursuit of profit at all costs. 

The good news is that we’re not alone.  Just from looking at this list of technology startups made in NYC, you can see that the movement is already underway.

Aside from the idealistic reasons behind the ‘Made in NYC’ choice, there are a slew of practical benefits to consider as well.

New York is fast becoming one of the hubs of the tech world, sprouting more and more innovative startups than ever before. 

The city is also going to great lengths to support local startups and plays host to a vibrant community of universities, investors, organizations, and events.  Only Silicon Valley offers more resources to local startups than NYC and the gap between the two is rapidly shrinking.

Finally, no matter what anyone tells you, NYC still has cachet, especially in the rest of the world.  It implies quality, innovation, and just straight up cool.  Jay-Z is from here, John Lennon was assassinated here, and ‘Linsanity’ started here. 

If you want to change the world, or at least start a trend, there’s no better place to be than NYC.  After all, you can’t beat the real thing, no matter how hard you try.