Xyra | Make technology work for you.

By Arzan Irani on Aug 16, 2019

Xyra was a partnership founded by me fresh out of my undergraduate degree. The company was created out of my desire to innovate and exercise my engineering skills while developing technology that is utilitarian in its application and ergonomic in its form. This post will highlight my motivation and thought process behind the idea, while trying to walk you through the journey and excitement of launching your first company. Full disclosure, I’m gonna try my hand at being humorous with my writing while indulging in some nostalgia - for myself - along the way.

XYRA | Make technology work for you, not the other way around

What was my motivation?

Having seen a fair bit of Shark Tank during my undergraduate degree, I had a good sense of optimism that bolstered my ambitions of starting my own company. With a degree in aerospace engineering and a minor in computer science, a technology driven startup seemed comfortable and exciting.

With the ubiquity of smartphones well and truly on the rise at the time (2012), I vividly remember thinking to myself, “if I built a gadget that worked with smartphones I could potentially find a place in most people’s lives.”

The idea seemed brilliant at the time and cajoled me towards solving a problem surrounding smartphone users.

What problem could I solve?

Almost every savvy business man would tell you, never think about a business without narrowing in on a problem first, and at the time, there was no bigger problem afflicting a smartphone users than running out of battery.

Eureka! I had a problem. I was going to be a millionaire. I could see myself standing in front of those sharks and giving Mr. Wonderful a serious stink eye if he so much so as tried to call me a cockroach.

However, this was not a new problem and there were a number of solutions in the market. AC wall chargers, DC car chargers, long cables, short cables, power banks. It seemed like every possible solution to this problem had been administered to the world in every shape, form and color imaginable. Furthermore, such was the tenacity of the smartphone user that he/she would lap up multiple charging solutions for every space in their house, office and car!

What could I do to different?

Dejected, but not defeated, I knew there was something I could do different. While it was true that there were multiple solutions already available on the market, it was also true that these solutions existed because of a need. A need to stay connected to the digital world all the time, everywhere, constantly… and that’s when it hit me. All the solutions that existed on the market required you to be in a place of familiarity. A place where you would have chargers hanging around; your office, your bedroom, your car, and may be even your bathroom? (We all throne surf. No judgement.)

Now you’re probably thinking, wait a second, I have power banks for me to charge my phone on the go. But do you? Do you really? See most power-banks are big, bulky and heavy. To carry one, you’re gonna need to have a separate bag, which is why - in my humble experience - i’ve seen more women carry them than men. Unfortunately, barring a phone, set of keys and wallet, there isn’t much room left in our ever-so-precious pockets to lug around some extra power to stay connected.

Having narrowed in on the problem, I knew I was going to make the world a better place for men. All I needed to do was create a power-bank that was ergonomic and tiny enough for a man to carry everywhere he went without the need for an extra bag.

What was the solution?

XS-Powercard

Enter the XS-powercard; a sleek ergonomic portable charger that would fit inside your wallet. It would hold a 2200 mAh lithium-ion battery along with the all the necessary cables needed to charge itself and your device. To top it off, the XS-powercard would also come with a built in 32 GB USB flash drive and add no more than 0.7 centimeters (0.27 inches for my American friends) to your wallet.

Engineering the product

Electrical Engineering

circuit-miniaturization

The XS-powercard required an integrated circuit that would step up the direct current from the 3.7 volt battery to the 5 volt direct current required by the smartphone. Furthermore, the circuit board for the device would need to be aggressively miniaturized to ensure that it took up as little room as possible; thereby ensuring most of the space is dedicated for the battery.

3_layer_pcb

The circuit also featured other trigger based signal processing - via MOSFETs - that allowed the XS-powercard to maneuver current depending on the application. In it’s final form, the XS-powercard features a 4-layer printed circuit board with traces as small as 100 nano-meters connecting the components together.

Having both ends of a traditional USB cord on the device enabled the XS-powercard to double as a USB syncing and charging cable. With this feature the device and the smartphone could be charged through a single connection, wherein it would first charge your phone to a 100% and then charge itself. Referred to as single-port smart charging, this feature allowed device to seamlessly integrate into your life without the need to charge two separate batteries.

Physical Design

CAD_Drawing

The physical design of the XS-powercard features a body that was credit card size in width and 0.7cm thick. The top of the device had a protrusion that occupied the circuit board and the flash memory. The XS-powercard was intended to fit in the topmost credit card slot. The protrusion was meant to occupy the space above existing credit cards, and thereby not add any additional thickness to the wallet. Both the USB Type A and the micro-usb or lightning connector cables (depending on whether you were an iOS or Android user) were wrapped along the periphery of the device and locked into place.

The body was initially prototyped using 3-d printing and later manufactured using injection molding.

Features

With utilitarian function as the guiding principle, the XS-powercard had a number of unique selling propositions. You can find a list of all the device’s features listed below:

features

How did we bring it to market?

Having successfully built a prototype, we now had to raise money to mass manufacture it and bring the product to market. Xyra comprised of 3 partners:

Arzan Irani | Engineer
Armaan Gandhi | Finance
Sahej Sethi | Marketing

Together, we assembled a crowdfunding project and raised 51,254 CAD on indiegogo.com. At the time, we were the second crowdfunding project ever to have been hosted by an Indian company. This was extremely exciting, and was pivotal in allowing us to manufacture our product.

With the crowdfunding campaign complete, we were well on our way to mass manufacturing the XS-powercard. Over the next 4 months following our crowdfunding success, we contracted manufacturer to help us fabricate the body, electronics and packaging of the product. Finally we partnered with courier services that allowed us to ship our products to customers across the world in 42 different countries.

Press

Press Coverage

Following the crowdfunding campaign, Xyra received a lot of press in the country including renowned publications like the ‘Live Mint’ (in collaboration with The Wall Street Jounral), and the prestigious ‘Economic Times of India.’

Live Mint | A mobile charger that fits into your wallet
Economic Times | The men behind the sleek portable powecard
Tech Republic | The XS-powercard: a crowdfunding story
Tech Circle | Xyra offers a wallet-fit smartphone charger
Silicon India | Xyra’s XS Powercard: A Portable Charger That Fits In Your Wallet

Product Development

Following the launch of the XS-powercard, we expanded Xyra’s product line to multiple other products. Starting with the reversible USB cable that used reversible iPhone like connectors for the USB Type A and Micro-USB connections and in-turn bringing to market a truly reversible cable.

XL Cables

There were also other products that were being developed and researched for market fit and distribution.

X-Connect: Extend the power of your USB peripherals to your smartphone.
X-Drive: The smartest memory expansion solution for your iPhone. Always connected. Always backing up. Always there when you need it.
X-Locator: Locate all your everyday carry items on demand.
XL-Power Station: A mega power-bank with a built in 220V(100 Watt) socket and 4 USB ports to charge all your devices on the go.

Product Development 2

Retailing in Apple Stores

Following Xyra’s launch, the company retailed their products through multiple avenues online and offline. However, the perhaps the result that made us the proudest was being able to sell in Apple Stores nationwide

Offline
- Apple | In partnership with Maple
- Croma | A venture by Tata
- Other smaller stores in the unorganized sector