Nailbot

A serious gender imbalance exists with girls not continuing STEM education in the same percentages as their male counterparts. As the MIT challenge page notes "despite comparable levels of achievement in science and mathematics in K-12 education, by middle school, boys are already twice as likely to show interest in a science or engineering-related job; by college they are five times more likely to choose a STEM career path." Girls are also less likely to see engineering and other STEM fields as creative and allow for expressive thinking. 

To reinforce this statistic, surveys performed by Microsoft contended "that young girls become interested in STEM subjects around the age of 11 and then quickly lose interest when they're 15.....This means that governments, teachers and parents only have four or five years to nurture girls' passion before they turn their backs on these areas, potentially for good."

We believe that each individual has an innate need for creative expression. Young women have been the targets of arts & crafts, fashion and makeup product campaigns that push analog and static solutions. Meanwhile young men are pushed next generation computers, digital experiences, interactive games and consoles and other building robots at higher price points. 

Over 40% of young people have experimented with creative expression in the form body and nail art. Nail art is among the five most shared categories on social media. Gen Z & Gen A love instant gratification, changeable art and using digital tools to express themselves. Yet the solutions they have been offered have been analog and one-dimensional. 

Preemadonna powers smart beauty and builds “connected creativity” products & platforms. Our flagship connected creativity product, the Nailbot, prints creative art and photos on nails in five seconds. Along with the printer comes an art platform and a community of makers - particularly Gen Z & Gen A young women. Future products and platforms make nail polish and print body art & makeup.

Nailbot Printer Product & Platform

Nailbot is an at-home nail studio using proprietary smart creative nail machines, easy to use software and fast drying consumables. Nailbot is “Cricut for Nails.” 

Step 1: Prep your nails with a light-colored base coat or press on for a clean canvas, and then prime.

Step 2: Using the mobile app, select the art you want to print - you can create art, choose from thousands of preloaded images (nail art in the cloud) or choose any picture

Step 3: Tap Print on the app and in 5 seconds, the art will appear on your nail. Seal if you like the print!

Build A Bot / Nailbot STEM KITS

These Kits lets you build and assemble your own at home nail printing robot that executes the same printing steps/behavior as the fully assembled beauty SKU. 

You will learn how:

• How a printing system works
• How gears work to create movement
• How to assemble a complex system

Additional Levels teach users 3D printing and design, digital design, materials science & computer science. For example, users will learn:

• How to send commands to Nailbot from a remote device
• How bluetooth transmissions work
• Process of 3D Model -> Made part
• How to design a 3D model 

Market Size / Segmentation / Response

Key segments within the Connected Creativity Market total a $135B+ market: Nail ($15B),Tattoo ($50B), Crafts ($44B), and Wearables ($30.5B). Within our first $15B nail segment, nail trends are popularized by the 21M pre-teen and teen girls in the USA. 92% decorate their nails regularly. 14% decorate at least once a day (2.1M girls). Nailbot’s most engaged evangelist and printer is a young woman aged 8-18. 

We have already completed revenue generating Nailbot experiences with our core engaged demographic of young women aged 8-18 through crowdfunding, activations at maker faires and girl scout events, tech camp presentations and an ambassador program. 

We have also deployed a number of Nailbot STEM Kits (Level 1 - Build your own Bot) to girls aged 10-15 and have recorded them building the kits an incorporated their feedback for product improvement.  Here are some of their reactions:

-----

REVIEW FROM A 12 YEAR OLD USER, KAYLIE

12 YEAR OLD USER RATING: 10/10

“I think it’s fun to build the Nailbot STEM kit yourself because you learn a bit more! Plus it’s fun to see what parts are used and how they work! I would definitely buy it! It’s a very good learning experience!”

-----

REVIEW FROM A 14 YEAR OLD USER, ROSIE

14 YEAR OLD USER RATING: 9/10

“I like the idea of building the Nailbot myself & I would TOTALLY buy it!”

-----

REVIEW FROM A STEM INSTRUCTOR, STEPHANIE

EDUCATOR RATING: 9/10

I supervised a 12 year old and 14 year old who built the Nailbot STEM Kit over a two hour period. They spent the first hour building the kit and the second hour testing and using the Nailbot. They had a great time building the kit! One of their favorite things about the kit was being able to see the different parts that make up the Nailbot machine. It was fun to watch them problem solve and collaborate together, and they were ultimately successful in assembling the kit! They loved using the Nailbot after building it and could have spent hours browsing and printing the nail designs. The Nailbot STEM Kit is an exciting product because I don’t know of many STEM kits that you can build and then use for a specific purpose afterwards. I’m looking forward to testing the Level 2 & 3 kits!

IDEAL AGE RANGE OF LEVEL 1 STEM NAILBOT KIT: 

12+ with adult supervision recommended

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE LIKE IT? 

The closest kits I’ve seen on the market are “build-your-own” computer kits like Piper and Kano, or various robotics & electronics kits that kids assemble then use. I haven’t seen anything like Nailbot that is specifically marketed towards girls!

PATH TO A RATING OF 10/10: 

Shorter length, simpler part names, information on the function of each part & multiple video angles for assembly guidance

We have 3 Full Time Employees, 3 Part Time Team Members and appropriate Third Party Contractors. Most importantly, we have both a USA and Asia hardware contract manufacturer that is ready to scale and that already built our pilot production builds.  We also have a local 3PL (Third Party Logistics Provider) that fulfills our orders and products for scalability. 

Key Members

• Pree Walia, CEO (FT). Hardware operator at connected device and building automation startups, former community organizer and champion of Gen Z girls. MBA from the University of Chicago

• Marcy Alstott, Operations (Contract). Leads hardware manufacturing execution. Former VP of Operations at Sun, Operations team at Adept Technology, and led HP Operations & Manufacturing 

• Marie Millan, Lead Project Manager & Mechanical Engineer. 

As we developed and prototyped Nailbot and other inventions since 2014, we has shared our product development process and mentored other young creators across STEM and STEAM focused schools, tech camps, troops and conventions. We've also used this opportunity to incorporate feedback from users and parents into the product development process.

Here's a short list of organizations we've been proud to support through our founder "prototype to product" presentations, mentorship, financial sponsorship or maker kits. 

• Women in Toy, Entertainment & Licensing

• MakerGirl

• Salvation Army (San Diego) Brave Event 

• Kode with Klossy

• Girl Scouts San Diego

• Del Norte High School | San Diego, CA

• Alexa Cafe by IDtech

• Made by Girls by Digital Media Academy

• Project Scientist

• Marlborough High School | Los Angeles, CA

• Francis Parker School | Chicago, IL

• Girl Scouts New Mexico Trails

• G.I.R.L. 2017 | Girl Scouts Convention

• FlatIron School

Milestones Achieved

Product & Platform

• Finished R&D and manufactured 900 Nailbot 1.0 Printers in early production runs. 

• Released iOS & Android Apps & created over 500+ unique designs ("nail art in the cloud")

• 20% spend 20+ minutes in app | 50% spend 2+ minutes in app | 56% print their own content

• Created STEM curriculum for Build a Bot Printer Series. Shipped Level 1 Build a Bot Kits to pilot users and educators. 

Community

• Shipped early drops to our crowdfunding backers and organic brand ambassadors. $122K in Nailbot 1.0 Shipped Revenue: Across Hardware, Consumables, & Crowdfunding Backers (We had a successful Kickstarter, Republic and Indiegogo Campaign along with a Waitlist on our own D2C website.)

• Soft launched D2C website supporting early customers and waitlist pre-orders

• Built community through crowdfunding, pilot activations, social media, & STEM partnerships

We are looking to access a network of resource partners to most effectively distribute our Nailbot STEM Kits and curriculum for maximum impact and adoption. We need the quick iterative feedback from educators, parents, school decision makers and students to bring these STEM Kits to girls across the country. While we have piloted efforts across local schools, troops, tech camps, deploying on a growth scale is the next step.

We'd like a hands on curriculum advisor in the industry to access our modules, video support and componentry. More specifically, we have Level 2 and Level 3 Build a Bot STEM kits in addition to virtual manicure coding curriculum and a robust digital design program that need review.

We'd like to use the financial grant (ideally $250,000+) from this Gender Equity Challenge to make, ship and support 500 Nailbot STEM Kits across Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum to tech camps, schools, libraries, makerspaces, coding and making clubs and for underprivileged girls and groups to apply for a free kit. 

In return, we can share our experiences raising pre-seed, seed capital for a hardware based business, going through various accelerators and bringing a product to life! We are champions of learning and sharing resources with our greater community and it would be a privilege to do so. 

Pree Walia is the founder and CEO of Preemadonna. She is the lead inventor of Preemadonna's creative devices including Nailbot and holds over 8 utility patents. 

Pree previously worked at high growth venture backed start-ups focused on connected devices and building automation services. Pree started her professional career working on progressive political campaigns as a political fundraiser and community organizer. She holds a MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Northwestern University. Pree is a native of Louisiana and Mississippi and is a Girl Scout Alumni.

She is passionate about causes that impact women and girls and consistently gives back to the communities that built her. Pree served on the Board of Directors for MakerGirl, a nonprofit that inspires girls to pursue STEM fields. Pree was named one of the top 25 Women in Robotics to know by Robohub. She is a recent EIR at Startup San Diego.

There are no other advanced interactive kits targeting young women that allow users to have a real, continued use after building the kit. The closest are computer kits like Piper or Kano. Those kits, however, are more focused on individual users and it's difficult for "groups" to use the experience. 

We are also providing educators , STEM groups, parents and other impact groups an accessible and affordable way to introduce a fun, playful but educational technology to girls and makers in core age range that even the adults will like. (33% of our overall users for Nailbot are moms that use the Nailbot themselves!). 

The aftermarket experience for the Nailbot printers after they are built up also allows for young women to open up their own Digital Nail Shops as entrepreneurs charging for each print at parties or events or even as Digital Nailbot artists who can advertise their digital art to other users on the platform and get a revenue share from Preemadonna.

If we prove our Nailbot Printer STEM Build a Bot Kits are successful, we will introduce STEM versions of all future connected creativity products including a Nailbot Nail Polish Maker, a Nail Dryer and other body art printers.

Our impact goals are to ship and support as many connected creativity experiences into the world as possible while being profitable and supporting and powering our most engaged creator community - pre-teen and teen girls. We envision being a $Billion public company and shipping millions of Nailbots to our creators with them being able to monetize their art and set up their own Nailbot shops along with teaching them the technology behind the product. 

We'd like to use the financial grant (ideally $250,000+) from this Gender Equity Challenge to make, ship and support 500 Nailbot STEM Kits across Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum to tech camps, schools, libraries, makerspaces, coding and making clubs and for underprivileged girls and groups to apply for a free kit. 

STEM Adoption and Target Indicators (5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women):

1. How easily and seamlessly users build and use the Nailbot STEM Kits

2. If users are able to progress to additional Levels (i.e. Level 2, build from components and not just subassemblies, Level 3, Take apart the Nailbot and build it back up). If users express written and verbal interest in our coding, digital art and industrial design challenges. 

3. Reviews from users, parents & educators

4. If multiple girls are able to use Nailbot STEM Kit during an initial session and are able to pass the kit down to additional troops, girls, younger users

5. We'd like to use the financial grant (ideally $250,000+) from this Gender Equity Challenge to make and ship 500 Nailbot STEM Kits across Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum to tech camps, schools, libraries, makerspaces, coding and making clubs and for underprivileged girls and groups to apply for a free kit. 

Immediate Outputs

Nailbot STEM Kits become the next generation computer for young women. Many attribute the inequity in engineering interest in the 1980s and 1990s with the advent of the personal home computer being in the "son's" room and advertisements targeting young boys as engineers and visionaries. 

Nailbot is an amazing beauty tool but it can also be a vehicle for STEM and STEAM engagement. Girls in our community can learn digital design, build their own Nailbots, and eventually code their own nail art. Our long-term perspective is that Preemadonna embodies smart beauty in both our products and our consumers - who are co-creators with us. This younger generation of girls and women are dynamic. They hack hardware and express themselves in creative ways. Being serious and being traditionally "feminine" are not mutually exclusive. We are powering a younger community - one that has been underserved and underrepresented by technology companies.

Longer Term Outcomes

Continuity in middle and high school for young women in engineering and technical creative fields. Young women having relevant mentors, sponsors and role models at a venture backed female run technology startup that invented the Nailbot mini printer that they built at 13 years old. 

Nailbot Printer System Competitive Advantages

8 granted utility patents. 8 more pending. 

• Utilize Smartphone Camera & Processing Power for Nailbot fingernail detection to reduce BOM (bill of materials). Prints in One Pass over Bluetooth. Over the Air Firmware Updates

• Robust Data and Analytics on Usage and Nailbot Hardware / Software Behavior

• Leverage Same Printing & Software Platform Architecture to Enter Body Art Printing 

• Prints Dry Instantly | No LED or UV Needed | Removal with an Alcohol Wipe | Last for Days 

• Use in Mani Recipe with Other Brand’s Polishes (Activates Fans of Cult Nail/Beauty Brands)

• 3 FT Employees
• 2 Contractors
• Full Contract Manufacturer
• Mobile App / Backend Software Team
• 3PL Onboarded for Fulfillment

We would like to hire a Curriculum & STEM Lead if we are awarded the grant from the MIT Solve Challenge. 

• Preemadonna Inc. incorporated March 12, 2013. 
• Our earliest patent filings date back to 2013 and 2014.
• We raised our official pre-seed round in January 2018. 
• We raised our overall seed in January 2021.
• We have been shipping our Nailbot 1.0 Printer Kits from Jan 2022 - today.
• We started shipping our official Nailbot STEM - Build Your Own Bot Kit in May 2023 

After a decade of devoting our lives to connected creativity experiences, we have deployed our devices into the field and are thrilled at the next stage of growth.  

Preemadonna is led by an Indian American first generation millennial woman (Pree Walia).

All three Preemadonna Board Members are female Jesse Draper, Halogen Ventures, Pree Walia, Preemadonna, and Angela Tran, Version One Ventures

Diversity, equity and inclusion are that the core of our culture. Our mission is to power the next generation of young makers and we have hired many of our creators as paid interns and paid employees.

Business Model

We are a for profit corporation. We make money from hardware, software, consumables and event experiences. Nailbot printing hardware is our moat to generate multiple recurring revenue streams. We have already generated revenue from our hardware, software, consumables and STEM kits. 

 Revenue Opportunities:

• Starter Nailbot Hardware Kits and Bundles: Starts at $129.99 
• B2C Software Subscription: $.99 day Rental  | $4.99 monthly VIP | $9.99 monthly Family 
• B2B Collabs: Revenue Share or Flat Fee with Brands & Artists
• DIY Nailbot STEM Kits - Build your own Bot - $199.99+ with advanced curriculum 
• Event Fandom Activations - Customized

Nailbot Printer System has three core market opportunities. The latter two opportunities fuel top of funnel activities to build our community, encourage waitlist signups, lower customer activation costs, provide trial experiences, and provide an authentic vehicle to engage our most engaged users (pre-teen and teen young women), influencers & fandom audiences. 

• Beauty Consumer Kit for at home DIY nail market, casual group printing parties. Multi-generational & family friendly (70% of opp) - this Nailbot is fully built/assembled. 

• STEM/EdTech Kits which allows users to build and/or code their own printer. Teaches engineering skills to young women aged 10-15, the most active printers (20% of opp) 

• Fandom Activation experiences for point of sale, festivals, events & celeb parties (10% of opp) 

We generate revenue from the sale of our hardware products, software as a service solutions & product consumables. 

We also secure funding from venture capital, venture debt providers and ideally sponsorship from larger corporations or grant providers for our STEM Kits, Workshops and offerings. 

We have a proven track record of raising strategic capital to reach product and market milestones. We have raised $6M in Equity Funding to date from Halogen VC, Version One Ventures, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Two Small Fish VC & angels Helen Greiner (inventor of the Roomba), the Spanx by Sara Blakely Fund, Charles Huang (inventor of Guitar Hero), Rebecca Minkoff, Tara Bosch (founder, SmartSweets), Markus Frind/Frind Enterprises, SOSV and other prominent angels and funds.

We have also won the following awards, pitch events, and accolades which have offered additional funding, networking, and/or access to capital.

• The Players Impact, 2023 Pitch Winner

• SXSW Finalist, Entertainment & Gaming Category

• CES Innovation Award Honoree, Home Appliances Category 

• TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield, Finalist

• Amazon Alexa Fund & All Raise Women Founders Represent, Winner

• FounderMade, Future of Beauty Winner

• Silicon Valley Robotics Launch, 1st Runner Up

• Best Product Using Computer Vision, Embedded Vision Alliance Audience Winner

• Silicon Valley Forum, Women in Tech Festival, Investor & Audience Winner

• Women Venture Summit, San Diego Winner