Totem Tuesday: July 30th, 2024
Hey fam 🫶
I've got a riddle for you.
⬇️
I'm sweet, but a little spicy
smooth, but a little high-key
sincere, but a little savvy
What am I?
🤔
The answer, dearest Tribe,
is, of course...
🎉 TOTEM TUESDAY 🎉
(ok, that may not have been the most challenging riddle you've ever come across but—points for the creativity, no?)
😁
Alright Tribe—let’s vibe.
Our whole team is back in Chattanooga, and it feels sooo good. 🤗
This week is all about debriefing on all the testing results from this past month and making improvements to validate on our next QA Testing Trip this weekend... Hard Summer!
That said,
there's a lot to catch you up on, so we'll dive right into all of it.
Two quick announcements before we get started:
1)
Here's where we are in the process:
We're still conducting QA testing, which is the final phase before rollout (keep reading for exciting Testing updates).
We expect that it will be at least another 5-6 weeks before we start shipping.
Based on all our recent testing data, we've decided to make one final design improvement before rollout. More info on this below!
Good things come to those who wait, we promise 🫶
2)
If you missed the last couple of Totem Tuesdays, you might want to check your spam folder (or just peep our Blog)
We recently escaped from the clutches of Microsoft and migrated over to G Suite.
This is a great thing, but resulted in some temporary technical issues on email delivery. That should all be fixed now!
Thank you for sticking with us through the process 😊
---
OK! Enough housekeeping.
Let’s get into it.
This is our weekly progress report to all our favorite people.
Welcome to the Totem Tuesday 3-2-1.
3 things we accomplished,
2 things we learned,
1 thing coming up
Let’s go, Tribe!
(P.S. — we have so many new people joining the Tribe this month! If this is your first Totem Tuesday, welcome 🤗
We are so grateful that you found your way here. 🫶)
3 things we accomplished
1) Design Improvements
Based on all the extremely thorough QA Testing we've conducted over the past month, we made a big decision.
We are making one final design improvement to the Totem Compass before rollout.
This design improvement will give you a much better Totem Experience in all kinds of different settings!
Things like...
- the SOS button will be a little easier to press (particularly for those of you wearing beautiful acrylics)
- the LEDs will be brighter so you can see them more clearly while the sun is out
- the durability and weatherproofing will be even stronger
- better power latching to improve your battery's longterm lifespan
and a few other things that are a little more technical.
We expect that this is the final design change we'll make—then it's time for rollout!
The new design has already been completed and the mold production has officially begun. Things are moving, and we're building great momentum.
The Totem Testing Tour has been a great success thus far, and you can rest assured that you'll receive a world-class product as a result of all this hard work. 🫶
2) Website Facelift
We are in the midst of a big website redesign! Have you checked out the Totem site recently?
The UX is better than ever and will continue to get EVEN BETTER over the next 2 weeks.
Just a few highlights for you:
- new product images (no more prototype shots—hooray!)
- filtering tabs on the Blog page
- dedicated signup page to make it easier for new Tribe members to join us here for Totem Tuesday
- Google Maps integrated into our new contact page so you can see exactly where Totem HQ is located
- new homepage video (coming soon 😎)
Feels great, scrolls great, looks great. What more could you ask for?
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3) Tech For Good Award
This week we also received some exciting news...
Totem has been nominated for the annual Tech For Good Award!
Every year, the Chattanooga Technology Council holds the TechX Awards, a ceremony to recognize the best & brightest in our tech community.
The Tech For Good Award is a new category in the award ceremony and we are very grateful to have been nominated. 🫶🏼
We've heard so many of your stories from around the world this year...
➡️ Stories of getting lost—sometimes in silly and fun ways, but sometimes in serious and even life-threatening ways.
➡️ Stories from people with physical or mental disabilities who feel comfort knowing that our product is coming to help them.
➡️ Stories from people in third world countries who can't rely on their cell phone in daily life.
Getting lost is a vulnerable but universal human experience. We are on a mission to remove anxiety, worry, and pain from the world—and replace it with love, unity, and beautiful memories.
We are so grateful to even be considered for this award, and it's all because of you guys. Our Tribe. 🩷
Thank you for making our work possible.
2 things to learn
1) SOS Mode
Have you read our latest blog all about the SOS Mode on the Totem Compass?
There has been SO MUCH enthusiasm and excitement about this feature.
In fact, we've even gotten a bunch of great ideas from the Tribe this past week on our SOS Instagram post about how to make it even better!
Currently when you SOS, it makes your light on your friend's Totem begin to blink. This tells them to come find you.
But feedback from the Tribe also got us thinking about ways to make it even more noticeable when you're vibing hard at a show and not paying much attention to your Totem.
So we're going to add in a little extra feature to make it even more noticeable that your friend is SOSing while your Totem is in Vibe Mode.
A few ideas we're playing with...
- make the Touch Crystal begin blinking red
- make the Light Ring begin strobing red
- a revolving red light around the Light Ring
We're going to try out a few options over the next few weeks and decide which one is best at catching your attention! If you want to learn more about SOS Mode, or any other feature on the Totem Compass, be sure to check out our blog!
2) Tribe Management Mode
Have you ever wondered about how to manage your Tribe of friends on the Totem Compass once you've bonded?
If you've read our blog about Bonding the Totem Compass, you know that the Totem Compass doesn't come in hard-paired groups.
That means you can bond with anyone, at any time! Even with a brand-new friend (or rave-bae) that you meet at the event. 😉
But what happens when the event is over? Or when you meet a new friend and want to add them, but you're already Bonded with 4 people?
Enter Tribe Management Mode.
Tribe Management Mode allows you to delete a peer from your Totem—and also to delete you from theirs as well.
Using Tribe Management Mode is super simple. 🤗
- double-tap the Touch Crystal to enter Tribe Management Mode
- tap the Touch Crystal to cycle through your friends
- hold the Touch Crystal to delete the selected friend
It's that easy! We'll have a few videos showing the process on social media over the next couple of weeks. Keep your eyes peeled 👀
1 thing to look forward to
Of course, we're going to Hard Summer this weekend for the next stop on the Totem Testing Tour, which is BIG...
but we mentioned that in last week's Totem Tuesday (you can read it here)
So here's something else for you to get excited about.
We've done 4 podcast interviews in the last few weeks!
And the first one went live just last week 🙌
Carter was invited onto a great show called Venturing with Vishesh and it was an awesome 90 minute deep-dive into all things Totem.
The show highlights interviews with founders, top executives, and thought leaders from around the globe. It focuses on insights about entrepreneurship and scaling a company.
On Venturing, Carter went deep into the Totem story and the philosophy that has guided our design, product development, and marketing from the very beginning.
The episode is available on all major podcast platforms—give it a listen! 😁
Over the next month, other interviews will be published on:
With these coming interviews, you'll be able to go further behind the veil than ever before. 🫶
A Special Reflection
Hey there 😊👋
You made it all the way to the end.
That makes you pretty special.
With you, special person, I want to share a quick reflection.
In life, sometimes things don't work out how we expect them to.
There's something tricky about expectations. We create them. But then our creations can quickly take control of us.
But sometimes expectations get in the way of truly experiencing life for what it is.
That's one of the most challenging parts of building a startup that gets worldwide attention, practically overnight.
We don't just have to deal with our own expectations—which are MASSIVE, by the way.
We also deal with expectations of tens of thousands of people from all around the world, every single week.
It's a lot of emotion.
That emotion can fuel you, or it can paralyze you.
It can embolden you, or it can imprison you.
Take notice of the expectations you have for yourself and your life.
Don't let them get in the way of your happiness.
And whatever you do—don't let your life be controlled by expectations (regardless of whether they are yours or others).
You have to do you.
Make the best decision you can, with the information you have at the time.
If the results exceed your expectations, that's a valuable learning opportunity.
If they fall short of your expectations, that's an even MORE valuable learning opportunity.
Life is about learning lessons.
The day you stop learning, is the day you die.
What you make of your life, is up to you.
Expectations are merely a distraction from doing the work.
Totem Team, out.
✌️
(P.S. — if this is your first Totem Tuesday, we hiiighly recommend that you go back and check out the Totem Tuesday archives on our Blog. Every single decision we’ve made with the product is detailed extensively in past editions. Have fun 😘)
