A new startup called Hemingwrite is working to build a word processor that looks like a typewriter, works like a computer, and limits potential distractions.
The downtown Detroit-based company is well on its way to raising enough money to pull it off.
Hemingwrite has already raised $322,701 in a
crowd funding campaign as of Monday night with 10 days left to go. Hemingwrite has already surpassed its goal of $250,000, which it met within 36 hours.
Patrick Paul and Adam Leeb first started developing Hemingwrite last May. Previously, Leeb worked in e-commerce and investment banking and Paul worked in software and rooftop solar systems. Both saw an opportunity in simplifying the process of writing in the distraction-filled world of the 21st century.
"I've used distraction-free software before and it’s too easy to minimize and get on Facebook or Twitter," Paul says. "Adam came back to me and said let's make a piece of hardware."
The partners developed a prototype while working in a Detroit-based co-working space over the last six months. They are now entering the final design phase over the next two months and hope to start moving units later this year.
The current design features a normal-sized keyboard and a small screen for the manuscript. The machine automatically saves and syncs its work. It also can’t facilitate other things that are common distractions to writers, such as social media. Paul points out the startup choose the small screen because its already commercially available, and making a custom-sized screen is too costly.
"It also fits into our philosophy of always writing forward and completing a first draft," Paul says.
Source: Patrick Paul, co-founder of Hemingwrite
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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