Recently, I sat down with Kellan O’Connor co-founder and president of Tethercell, overall winner of last year’s Bluetooth® Breakthrough Awards, to talk about how entering the awards helped the company.

Nanci: So Kellan, why did you want to develop this type of product in the first place? Was there a problem you were trying to solve?

Kellan: We developed Tethercell to address some of the common frustrations people have with batteries and battery-operated devices. Batteries and battery-operated devices, in most cases, don’t advertise their remaining power levels, nor do they allow for any sort of remote control. It started very simply with a desire to solve these problems. We played around with the initial concept and it eventually morphed into our first prototype. After showing the prototype to a number of people, we realized we might have something worth building out in a serious way. Now we’re really excited to have a product that serves as a paradigm shift in the way people view the capabilities of their batteries. With Tethercell, not only can you view batteries as power sources, but you can view them as points of connectivity.

Nanci: Why did Tethercell ultimately choose Bluetooth Smart technology for the Tethercell?

Kellan: Bluetooth Smart technology allowed us to build a system with very low power requirements. The technology is actually very critical to our design — we simply could not have built Tethercell without Bluetooth Smart. Devices using other wireless technologies usually require a lot of power or need big, rechargeable batteries to power them off the grid. Bluetooth Smart allowed us to deviate from this norm. Bluetooth Smart has been the enabling technology for Tethercell as well as many other devices that are coming to the market.

Nanci: How has entering the Breakthrough Awards helped your company? What are the benefits you’ve seen?

Kellan: Entering the Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards last year, being named finalist, and in the end, named the overall winner of the program was a huge boost for our product line and our company. The publicity we gained throughout the experience pushed us through our initial round of crowdfunding and introduced us to media and companies we would not have been exposed to otherwise.

Nanci: How is it working with the SIG?

Kellan: Working with Bluetooth SIG is great. We’ve enjoyed the networking immensely. From the information exchange and product development guidance to strategy and marketing, the SIG helped us gain valuable industry insight. As a start-up, it was helpful to have instant credibility through our association with the organization. We are excited to continue our collaboration with them.

(Credit: Nanci Taplett)