it all started in the innovative and thrilling iPod accessory industry (ok, we'll stop with the sarcasm). before the release of kluster in january 2008, our team built a brand called mophie. beginning in 2005, with a single product, mophie quickly established itself as a power house of product development. with venture backing secured, mophie was able to build a complete line of iPod awesomeness, distributed in 28 countries, and available in over 1000 retail outlets.

however, with the industry becoming increasingly overcrowded we embarked on a new approach to product development. At MacWorld 2007, one year after a Best of Show win, we decided that rather than show users what was new, we would ask them what was next. using a process dubbed "the illuminator project," we handed out sketch pads and invited show attendees, and the world via our website, to design a new product for mophie. the response was overwhelming. in 72 hours we had three new products fully developed, and we released one of them just eight weeks later.

back in our burlington, vermont headquarters we knew we had to pursue this as our new business model. but not just for iPod accessories. we wanted to facilitate consumer influence across organizations worldwide. eventually everyone agreed that pursuing this "wildly ambitious" concept was "worth betting the firm on" (yes, those are actual quotes). iPod accessories were not nearly as exciting of an opportunity as bringing the minds of the world together to get stuff done.

we sold the mophie brand in August 2007 to focus on our new direction. many Thai lunches later, we launched kluster.