A CEO of a startup with just over 100 employees had a great answer for how he plans to go to war with Apple

Advertisement

eric migicovsky pebble ceo

Pebble

Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky.

Pebble, the startup credited for kicking off the world's interest in smartwatches, has a new model launching in a few months called the Pebble Time.

Advertisement

Even though Pebble had about a two-year head start, it faces a lot of competition this year when the Apple Watch launches in April.

Pebble is tiny company compared to Apple. The startup has about 130 employees, according to its CEO Eric Migicovsky.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Apple will likely put a lot of money and marketing muscle behind the Apple Watch, so Migicovsky decided to go back to the community that originally supported Pebble: Kickstarter.

On Tuesday, Pebble launched a new Kickstarter page for the Pebble Time, which launches in May. Early backers can get the watch for $159, but it will retail for $199. (Of course, backers are free to donate more to the company.)

Advertisement

So, why go to Kickstarter instead of raising money from VCs like most startups do?

In an interview with Business Insider, Migicovsky explained why:

"It's not that big of an assumption to say Apple is putting a lot of effort into the space," Migicovsky said. "One of the reasons why is people who backed us on Kickstarter demonstrated there's a market for it. We still need people's support. We're a small company battling the largest company in the world. One of the ways we think we can do that is taking the fight to the users that actually matter. If you support us, we'll continue."

NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do