Pebble: Wearables Pioneer

In the summer of 2016, wearables “wunderkind” and Pebble founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, was pleased with the young startup’s success in the five years since its founding. The Silicon Valley–based company had recently shipped its two millionth smartwatch; held the record for three of the four highest Kickstarter campaigns ever (raising cumulatively over $40 million on the site); launched its first non-watch product dubbed a “wearables game changer”; and enjoyed a loyal customer base, particularly among technology early adopters and the community of software developers that created applications and watch faces for its products. Nonetheless, the young company faced a variety of challenges. The nascent smartwatch industry recently saw a dramatic uptick in competition. Apple had introduced its smartwatch the prior year, other established technology companies such as Samsung and Motorola offered smartwatches, U.S.-based fitness tracker Fitbit had recently launched its first smartwatch, and Chinese firm Xiaomi was soon to release a low-priced smartwatch. Migicovsky considers an array of strategic options as he looks ahead.