Startup Science vs Thin iPhone Cases by Totallee

Giving founders an unfair advantage

To help startups design their success, 1 founder at a time.

Why? Because wealth inequality is directly tied to entrepreneurship. 95% of people who get out of check-to-check living do so by selling a business.

It started with researching why, how, and when startups fail. We did 1,200 interviews and spent months reading the research to understand the 90% failure rate. We learned that founders keep making the same mistakes and these mistakes can be avoided. And the problems that lead to these mistakes center around people, knowledge, and financial resources.

Accelerators are designed to help startups solve these problems. But only 2% of startups who apply, are accepted into accelerators. 60% of rejected founders “failed to complete the application due to lack of knowledge.” And 70% of those startups who are accepted, came through a referral. So if you don’t know the language or are not connected into the ecosystem already your chances are slim.

Location: Santa Cruz, United States

Super thin and almost invisible phone cases.

Matthias' goal was to create and grow a portfolio of e-commerce consumer product brands that put great care into the products they sell and the people they sell them to. He realized that the Internet allows for new companies to create higher quality products at lower prices and offer better service by selling directly to customers. For the first brand, totallee, he was looking for a way to elevate a boring but popular consumer product. When totallee started in 2013 most iPhone cases were very bulky, cheaply made or poorly designed. Most companies catered to people looking for extreme protection or cases with fun designs. Matthias identified a market gap for more refined and stylistically discrete cases. So totallee was built around the idea of creating a product for people looking for an understated, no-nonsense, quality phone case. A simple and well-made product. Nothing more and nothing less.
Specifically, our cases help with:
- adding grip to your phone to make it less slippery
- adding extra scratch and bump protection without adding bulk
- adding a touch of understated color to personalize your device