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Photos of the fourth-generation Soundboks speaker.Image Credits:Matt Burns
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From festivals to backyard parties
Denmark - basedSoundboksjust released its latest $ 1,000 Bluetooth speaker . Now in its 4th coevals , the latest Soundboks utterer is just like the old models : It ’s a large , unembarrassed black corner design to withstand a rowdy , off - the - grid weekend of music . While the speaker has been wildly pop in Denmark and Sweden , co - founder and CEO Jesper Thomsen has struggled to find the same thriving production market primed in the States .
Soundboks speakers are the ultimate party starters , with volume levels that can wake up the entire neighborhood . The latest variant packs a more potent slug , courtesy of kick upstairs amplifiers driving 10 - inch woofer . With up to 40 hours of battery life , this talker can keep the party going long after everyone else has call it a nighttime . And the mass cash in one’s chips to 11 — a rock - and - roster nod to the furor motion-picture show classic “ Spinal Tap , ” the founder and CEO tells me .
“ In Denmark , we were pay out of fete , ” Thomsen told me , saying he make the original to play to the Danish medicine festival , Roskilde Festival . “ festival were our foothold market , and if you go to the Roskilde Festival now , there ’s 100,000 people , and there ’s 10,000 Soundboks speaker system there . ”
Early on , Thomsen and his co - founder found a long - go intersection market fit for their company . Even after 10 yr of operation , Soundboks continues to manufacture speakers design for Europe ’s fete - going audience , earning them a reputation as a hometown hero in Denmark . Their success is truly telling for a $ 1,000 Bluetooth speaker system , with a claimed market insight of 1 % of Denmark menage .
Regardless , Soundboks has yet to achieve the same stage of success in the U.S. , where there is more contention and the population is less devoted to music fete .
Kickstarting hardware companies
Soundboks launch in 2014 during the heyday of direct - to - consumer hardware startups . Remember viral Kickstarter products like the Coolest Cooler , Lily Drone , Zano , and all the rest ? Most fail , bequeath behind jaded consumers and disappointed investors . Soundboks oversee to pull round . The founders were part of Y Combinator ’s Winter 2016 class and quickly found success on Kickstarter , where the speaker system gather $ 600,000 in preorders in 20 twenty-four hours .
Now , in 2023 , the market involve companies engage otherwise . “ I suppose we have to melt down our business more as a hardware company than a venture ship’s company , ” Thomsen explained . “ And that means , do n’t originate at all costs , but develop healthy . ”
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As Thomsen see it , when the society launched , the MO around startup nation was to get as quick as possible , include burning a dollar for every dollar bill of generated revenue . “ It ’s not like that anymore , ” he said . “ For us , it ’s about construct a troupe that grows [ in a goodly elbow room ] . And in a way where we work up the profits as we ramp up the revenue to finance our own outgrowth . ”
Soundboks raised a modest amount of capital : With two exception , the monetary fund came from in high spirits - deserving individuals and angel investors . For its Series A , Soundboks raised John Cash from Copenhagen - found Heartcore Capital and Best Nights VC , Jägermeister ’s corporate venture subdivision that invests in companies that focus on , well , experience the good night .
In June 2023 , Soundboks raised $ 8.6 million from existing , unheralded investors , bringing the full amount invested to $ 20.93 million . He notice that if the company raises additional outside working capital , the funds must be designated for something specific rather than earmarked with a loose definition of “ society growth . ”
I demand Thomsen what VCs like about his caller right now , and he pointed to Soundboks ’ unequaled product , its authentic firebrand , and its strong connexion to its community . He spoke with pridefulness , identify how people utilise a Soundboks speaker .
“ When all the nightclubs and bars closed down during COVID , here in Copenhagen , we see Kyd gather with Soundboks , ” he said . “ It ’s a bit like a modern campfire , bringing people together . It ’s what connects them and what the conversation is about . And I desire we can take that globally and be a spot of a counterbalance to some of the other trends like digitalisation , AI , metaverse — whatever . We can be the opposite . ”
Thomsen say he wants his product to be something that makes hoi polloi gather in genuine life “ with their music , their bunch , and at any time and place they want . ”
Big box, big sound
Soundboks verbalizer have always done two things well : mass and battery life . This late speaker persist in the custom . The verbaliser get hold of 10 seconds to set up up , a critical point , Thomsen allege , but it is grueling to advertise .
“ Anyone can plight with our product , ” Thomsen said . “ We really want to be something almost like a modern - daytime campfire that brings masses together . It ’s so promiscuous to use that everyone from kids to drunk people have no issuance using it at all . ”
Pull the speaker from the box , and a user can tie a smartphone through Bluetooth . Or the loudspeaker can connect to a computer through a 3.5 mm stimulation or a professional sounding board through an XLR connection . Want to pair up a twain of Soundboks ? The utterer has a dead - simple wireless political party fashion that connects up to four Soundboks speakers ( in mono or two-channel ) , utter for European festivals or play teams in America .
The recent Soundboks boast several enhancements from past modelling . It uses three 72W RMS class five hundred amplifier to drive two 10 - column inch woofer and a concretion tweeter . A new DSP helps with sound quality and bass part reply . And the speaker ’s front grille can now be dispatch ( and customized ) without tools .
I ’ve examine past Soundboks and chop-chop learned to bank the battery . It does n’t give up , even when the speaker is at max loudness . The company say the latest battery should last even longer and has a claim liveliness of 40 hours — the battery charge while the utterer is plugged in and in use .
The companionship claims the speaker can reach a maximum intensity of 126 dB. All I know is my quizzer unit gets very brassy — and sounds dear , too .
At a mild volume , the fourth - generation Soundboks is clear and powerful . This reading is toilsome on the bass than past models , which had an unpleasant boomy bass voice response . you could feel the bass voice with the new speaker system , yet it does n’t submerge out the mids and highs . This speaker does n’t care what music it plays ; it just wants to run it loud .
Crank the volume to 11 , and your neighbors will call the pig . Yet the volume does n’t kill the fidelity like most company speakers . The low end does n’t trot at the max level , and the highs stay sharp and distortion - gratis . Some details are misplace at max bulk , but not enough to sprain off partygoers .
Finding product market fit
Soundboks found other securities industry borrowing part because the founders knew their mark market ; specifically , the target market is music festival goers in Denmark .
And that exact market place is where Soundboks find success . CEO Thomsen says 1 % of the universe in Denmark owns a Soundboks speaker ; it ’s .6 % in Sweden , too . And if these numbers are exact , it verbalize to the companionship ’s exceeding product market fit .
The American securities industry turned out to be wildly dissimilar . Instead of taking the verbalizer to festivals , U.S. buyers use it for political party and sporting events .
“ When we entered the U.S. to begin with , some years ago , ” Thomsen articulate , “ we thought it would be the same there . We thought festivals would be our foothold market , and we thought young males would also be our beachhead audience .
“ We ’ve see that the role font is very different in the U.S. , ” he say . “ Your festival refinement is different . You do n’t have the same camping civilization at festivals like we do in Europe , and especially in Denmark . ”
The Modern speaker is the third generation uncommitted in the States . I reviewed the second propagation in 2019 . I did n’t take it to a music festival and instead used the speaker at backyard parties and sporting result . My girl ’s dance squad enjoy the speaker ; it ’s the best portable speaker they ’ve used . I even used it in the back of my hand truck for a schooling parade .
“ We ’re ascertain there ’s more of an outdoor life in the U.S. , ” Thomsen enjoin . “ We see the sporting environment being an even bigger thing in the U.S. , and we can be a major part . In general , we ’re seeing a much more various customer radical in the U.S. ”
Soundboks expects to see slight growth in their household market of Denmark and are looking to Germany and the U.S. for extra growth . Thomsen lived in the U.S. for a few years and points out that extraneous founders must employ rely individuals when looking at outside markets . He accentuate that it would be dopey to think one can tackle unexampled markets alone .
“ This is me as a founder recognizing that when it occur to marketing and branding , I do n’t always know best , ” he say . “ I might sleep with a luck about Denmark , but truth be separate , I do n’t be intimate a gross ton about the U.S. ”
