Wireless headphones pay off for pioneering tech company

Wireless headphones pay off for pioneering tech company

Disrupting and challenging the market has been key to Australian businessman Judd Armstrong’s ability to turn a start-up into one of the world’s largest sellers of sport headphones.

Armstrong, 42, is in Auckland on October 4 and 5 to support the New Zealand rollout of Jaybird, the company he founded in the United States in 2006 to pioneer wireless headphones. His visit coincides with the local launch of Jaybird’s Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Buds, the ultimate hands-free headphones that are blurring the line between sport and fashion.

When the work desk started going wireless, Armstrong, a Griffith Business School graduate who grew up surfing and enjoying the outdoor life in Queensland, thought the technology would be even more valuable to people on the move. “I was running and I thought the floppy cord was just silly. I decided it had to go,” he says.

Jaybird was launched in Salt Lake City at a time when the main players in the market had not even considered Bluetooth functionality for headphone devices. Armstrong was living in Utah because he’d followed his wife, who he met in Australia, home.

“I sold a business in 2006 and used the proceeds to start Jaybird.” He describes the company as a bootstrap enterprise, never getting funds from any other source, but says Jaybird has been profitable since it took wireless earbuds to the market in 2008.

In the past eight years, Jaybird has launched 12 wireless earbuds and taken over some of the biggest names in the electronics world to become the third most premium sport headphone brand in the US behind Beats and Bose.

“Mega brands are typically slow, disconnected, lacking passion, and try to reach too broad of an audience to speak deeply to any vertical audience. That was a huge competitive advantage for Jaybird,” Armstrong says.

“Disruption is the opposite of safety and security. Large companies, more often than not, attract people who value safety and security and are, therefore, less likely to challenge and disrupt. The challengers, pioneers, movers and shakers of this life are more commonly found in small start-ups.

“Our small team was able to cut through the clutter with product designed specifically for sports. We were the target audience so we had customer insight. We only make a product we want to use and we nail all the pain points for the customer who is active.

“Our product, packaging, messaging and branding all spoke to and resonated with our audience. If the product resonates with someone, and the brand resonates, they can’t help but rave about it to their friends.”

Earlier this year Armstrong sold Jaybird to tech giant Logitech in a deal worth $US95 million.

Today the Jaybird team comprises of about 100 people, split between Utah and Australia after Armstrong and his wife decided to move back in 2007.

“I've used Skype for years to work with my key people. I like small teams of talented committed people, who are engaged with the product and have ownership of what they do. Everyone is CEO of their own area,” says Armstrong, who sees his role as empowering people, not managing every aspect of the production process.

Armstrong says he waited to get the right strategic partner before launching Jaybird products in the local market.

“Every year we looked for the right local distributor. Our goal was to get an anchor retail partner.”

As well as allowing customers hands-on experience with product, which online sales would not, a bricks and mortar store gives credibility, he says.

“Logitech really helped with those conversations.”

Jaybirds, available at leading New Zealand retailers, are the smallest, most advanced wireless earbuds ever designed, Armstrong says.

“This latest generation of Freedom liberates our lives like never before. These micro-sized tapered buds deliver our best sound ever while featuring a reduced size that fits all ears.”

They are also rugged enough to allow customers to take their music anywhere, from mountain to motorcycle, thanks to the buds’ helmet-friendly form.

A lightweight charging clip provides eight hours of playtime, there are four different colour options to choose from and the accessories included provide more than 12 different ways to customise your buds for a fit and style you love.

“Jaybird is obsessed with delivering insanely great sound that goes with you throughout your day,” Armstrong says.

The company is now looking at producing “special use” headphones, targeting products at the different kinds of active living that its customers are passionate about, whether that’s running, hiking, going to the gym or heading out on a mountain bike.

Jaybird is also exploring the social aspect of music. “Other speakers provide a sharing experience and headphones are a personal, more introspective thing. I think there is a beautiful spot in between the two,” says Armstrong.

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