Re: Mila Production Update
over 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 04, 2020 at 01:23:23 AM

Dear fellow air breathers —

Thank you to those of you who have reached out expressing concern and sending well wishes to our team in China with the recent coronavirus outbreak.  We also wanted to take a moment to share what we know so far, and how it will impact Mila’s production schedule.  We expect that our originally anticipated ship-out date (2/24) will be pushed back by two weeks into March, and also recognize the variables that are part of this truly unprecedented situation. Here’s what we know so far:

• At this time, the health and safety of our team continue to be our top priority.  There are no immediate risks for our operations team in China right now, but we’re closely monitoring the situation.
   
• Although our manufacturing facilities are hundreds of miles from Wuhan (the virus’ epicenter), nation-wide travel restrictions and an extension of the Chinese New Year holiday through February 9 will add delays.   Originally, our manufacturing teams were scheduled to return to work this past Thursday (January 30).
   
• The biggest unknown at the moment is when our suppliers/partners will have all team members fully back.  While work is expected to resume on Monday, February 10, there is a chance that our partners will be short-staffed due to ongoing travel restrictions.
   
• We will send an updated timeline week of February 10 (the first day anyone is allowed back on the factory floors) and will continue to post weekly updates in the comments section.
   

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time, and know that we’re committed to keeping you posted with the same transparency that’s been a key tenet for Mila since the very beginning. We’ll be publishing an update about filters shortly (this will include information to help you decide which filter is best for you) followed by your Backerkit surveys.

The Mila Team

Backer Questionnaire, Fulfillment, and Production Update (plus a couple surprises) 🎉 🤫
over 4 years ago – Sat, Jan 11, 2020 at 07:56:40 PM

Dear fellow air breathers —

Happy 2020! We hope you enjoyed your time with family and friends, and are looking forward towards the new decade.

Last year was a big year for us at Mila, and because of you, 2020 promises to be even more exciting as we prepare to deliver your Milas. Santa's little elves have been working hard over the holidays and we wanted to share our progress as well as a few surprises.

First, here’s what you can expect in the coming weeks:

1. Backer Questionnaire 

Help us, help you! We’ve locked down all components and to help our logistics team, we have a preliminary questionnaire for you to take! This non-binding questionnaire will let you indicate your interest in a white or black Mila (this will help us determine how many black Milas we’ll make as part of our limited run) as well as which filter(s) you’re considering to get. Your quick responses would be a HUGE help to our small team! 

Take the questionnaire here.

 2. Fulfillment

In the next two weeks, you’ll receive an official fulfillment survey from our partners at Backerkit. This is what we’ll use to finalize your pledges, and give you an opportunity to fill out your shipping details, choose a color (we’ll be making a limited run of Mila in black in addition to the classic white), select your filter, upgrade your filter(s) and add any additional items (Milas and/or filters). We will send along more detailed instructions with the survey when it’s ready.

3. Production Update

We also wanted to share what we’ve been up to behind the scenes — particularly around production. In addition to all the thoughtful features we’ve planned, we’ve been able to make a couple of improvements thanks in no small part to your support. Over the last few weeks, we have:

•  Locked in orders for 5,000+ units, with an estimated shipment date out of our factories by the week of 2/24, if not earlier. This also takes into account the two-week shutdown at the end of January due to Chinese New Year.  

•  Upgraded Mila’s display to a higher quality IPS TFT (In-Plane Switching) from a TN TFT (Twisted Nematic). IPS is more expensive but produces much higher display quality, with better colors and much better viewing angles. Although TN displays are common in computer monitors and cell phones, they tend to lose color integrity at extreme viewing angles. We want Mila’s to be clear and stunning to view from any angle -- which our switch to an IPS display has allowed us to do (at no extra cost to you).
   

 4. Filter Update

We have been busy testing and tweaking our filters over the past few months and have some good news to share.

•  Our preliminary lifespan tests indicate we can push the filter change schedule up to 6-12 months, from our originally indicated 3-6 months. We will have more details in our next update but we wanted to share the good news. We know it's a question many of you asked during the campaign but we wanted to be conservative and under-promise and over-deliver. 

China's GB Standard has an ingenious device to benchmark filter life. It pumps cigarette smoke into a chamber until the filter degrades to 50% of its original efficiency. Based on the number of cigarettes you can estimate the weight of particle loading and the filters are then scored as "P1" (lowest life) to "P4" (longest life). Mila scored a P4. 

•  We finished testing the filters against a range of VOCs (Formaldehyde, Benzene, Ammonia, Styrene, Ethylbenzene, Butyl Acetate, etc) to quantify removal rates. We will be publishing the results in our next update.

•  We gave Mila washable socks! We want to credit backers Olivia V. and Abdelrahman E. for this idea. This will cut down on the risk of inhaling resuspended particles trying to vacuum a fixed mesh prefilter. You can just pull these off and wash them in the sink.
   

As a reminder, pledges placed before December 10 will ship in February, and all other pledges will ship in March. Have a friend who missed out on the Kickstarter campaign? They can still pre-order a Mila on Indiegogo InDemand for a number of select markets! Check it out here.

Here’s to wishing everyone all the best in breathing clean, healthy air — no matter where you are.

To cleaner air —

The Mila Team

p.s. Please help us take this super-short preliminary backer questionnaire! We mentioned it up top but it's important so we can plan out things such as Mila colors and filters. 

2,056 backers, smart home integrations ... and our first stretch goal 🎉
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 10:40:55 PM

Hi fellow air breathers! 👋 THANK YOU to the 2,056 of you who have joined us in the past three weeks — we’ve been blown away by the support and feedback. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading all 1,098 survey responses you have shared with us detailing why you backed Mila and what features you want to see from us in the future.  Please keep it coming!

One of the most popular requests has been around smart home integration with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Homekit.  Homekit has probably come up in conversation the most, which was surprising for us considering the number of Amazon/Google-compatible devices vs. Homekit compatible ones. But we’ve heard you (more on that below).

We wanted to take this opportunity to share how we plan to tackle these as a part of our first stretch goal. 

Amazon Alexa & Google Home

If we reach $750,000 by the end of the campaign, we’ll expand our engineering resources to prioritize integrating Amazon Alexa and Google Home by the end of Q1 (March 2020). These will be delivered as over the air updates to your Milas — with no extra work or cost to you!

In terms of features, the first level of features that will be released by March 2020 are:

• Current air quality readings (temperature (C/F), humidity, PM1.0, PM2.5, PM10 (ug/m3), CO2 (low/high)
• Voice control of your Mila

Following this, we will be working on some more advanced features for Amazon Alexa/Google Home such as:

• Air quality alerts
• Seasonal pollen warnings
• Mold risk alerts
• Carbon monoxide alerts
• Daily sleep analysis
• Daily air quality report

Note that many of these will already be native to your Mila app.  If you have a suggestion, please let us know! You just might see it in a future over the air update :)

Apple Homekit

Due to the various conversations we've had on Homekit with some of you, this is something we have actively been looking into. Unfortunately, it’s way more complicated due to the WIFI certification and testing processes that are required by Apple. Because of this, we don’t want to give any firm dates as of yet, but we want to let you know the ball is rolling.  We’ve heard some people get it in as little as 30 days, and some people don’t. Their MFI program is a more complex/murky process that is not as developer-friendly ... but know that we're actively looking into this. 

We are also looking into any short-term workarounds before we get full native support. If you have any suggestions, DM us.

We’d love your feedback. Which of these smart home platforms are you most excited about. Let us know here! 

Woohoo! We surpassed 500 backers!!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 04:25:15 PM

These past two days have been so much fun for us at Mila. Everybody on the team has been working really hard to build a great product and customer experience for you -- and your feedback has been simply amazing. Since we don't know who some of you are yet, we wanted to share our responses here. You will know who you are when you read it, and just know that we're listening  🙂 

Below are some of our favorite answers to the survey question "why did you choose to back this campaign?". Our response follows. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a great need for an excellent air purifier.

And we have a great need to give you one!

Pretty much everything said in the campaign video

Chairman Meow salutes you. 🐱

I’ve been looking for a quality air purifier for months and this one blew me away with the combination of price & features.

Mila for the win!

As a cancer patient I need to make sure everything is sanitary. Honestly I love everything about it. Literally perfect. Lit perf. Lerf.

First, we are praying for your speedy recovery. Second, did you just invent the word...Lerf? Seriously, if so, we are totally trademarking it. Wait for a shout out in our next video :-) 

Ping us with your contact info so we can flag your account for a Mila Cares package. Get well soon. 

Very attractive air purifier and also dissatisfied with Dyson

Double score. 

Smart, stylish, and an app for it

Yup, Mila's like the B.L.T. of purifiers :-)

I saw myself on that couch of yours. 

We see you. 

I was already looking for an air purifier. My wife told me about Mila and I liked.

Happy wife, happy life! ❤️

Dissatisfied with Philips and Dyson air purifiers

Well its time we put a little love in the air. 

I had a previous version Mila and now decide to buy new one

You’ve been with us since the start. Thank you!!

Looking for a way to keep the air quality in my home better but be able to afford it.

You do now! 🙂

I have chronic sinusitis and a few of my main allergens are dust, dust mites, mold, and some pollens. The Allergy filter sounds like a godsend.

We've been waiting for you. 

I've been looking for an air purifier and didn’t like the other options I've found.

Neither did we. Hint: that's why we started the company. 

Looks and sounds neat!

We're totally using that for one of our ads :-)

Looking for a power air purifier with clear data and reporting.

You found it!

I’ve been thinking about investing in an air purifier for a long time. This sounds like what I need.

We’ve been thinking about you thinking about air purifiers. We're glad we met. 

Looking for purifier and its cheaper than Dyson.

Oh heck yea!

There’s nothing on the market like this product. It’s a much-needed advancement in air-cleaning tech.

Thank you!

My family is looking for better and cleaner air. Looks awesome, cannot wait to get one.

We can't wait to get one to you!

Am a bone marrow recipient and need excellent purifier. Current one is great, but too large.

Mila will be right beside you during your recovery❤️.  Ping us with your contact info so we can flag your account for a Mila Cares package. Get well soon! 

Loved the aesthetic and innovation behind the product.

We loved that you loved it!

Value for money, great design, and supporting entrepreneurs!

You are awesome.

Been looking for a good air purifier

You found one!

Clean air is good!

It is. It really is.

Got a Mila story of your own? Let us know in the campaign comments. ❤️