In this interview installment, we “speak” with Justin Lee, CEO of Mark One which makes the headline-grabbing Vessyl smart cup.

Prior to co-founding Mark One, Justin was the Director of Special Projects at the Human Media Lab, where he led the creation of an interactive beverage container. Here’s what he had to say…

How would you pitch your company? What’s your elevator pitch?

Our first product “Vessyl” knows what’s inside and tracks everything you drink automatically, empowering you to make healthier choices. Vessyl’s proprietary technology identifies the makeup of everything you drink. It helps you track calories, caffeine, sugars, proteins, fat, and sodium all automatically – no manual tracking or journaling required.

What sets you apart from competitors?

Right now, there aren’t any other devices that calculate nutrition automatically like Vessyl. At Mark One, we are trying to make a better and more practical alternative to common nutrition labels or manual tracking. Nutrition labels are a great source for tracking a set amount of servings per drink, but when it comes to aggregating consumption over time, consumers are left to do the math. That’s why we created Vessyl to seamlessly keep track of your personal consumption over time and provide deeper insights into your health and hydration needs.

What’s your business model?

We officially launched our pre-order campaign in June 2014, offering Vessyl to early backers at a 50% discount of $99. Vessyl now sells for $119, and after the pre-order period ends and it begins shipping, Vessyl will sell for $199 (MSRP).

Can you share some numbers? How many users do you have?

Vessyl officially launched on June 12, 2014 and hit its pre-sales campaign goal of $50,000 in just 100 minutes. Vessyl surpassed the milestone of $1 million in pre-order sales in just one month, making it the most successful connected nutrient tracker ever.

Where do you see the company going from here?

We are first and foremost focused on shipping out our first round of Vessyls to early backers this year, and perfecting the user experience. From there, we would like to get Vessyl into the hands of as many people as possible. Beyond that, Mark One has some really exciting projects in the pipeline, so there will definitely be more to come.

Where do you see the mHealth industry going?

At Mark One, we are extremely excited by the ever-expanding popularity of mainstream activity trackers – and we see this as a clear sign that consumers are very interested in merging health and technology in order to improve their personal health. Since the market is still relatively new, I think the future of mHealth technology hinges on data collected from early activity trackers and other mHealth devices such as these. We are extremely interested to see what type of quantifiable impact these devices will have on consumer health, and what this data means for the future of mHealth. With this information, the mHealth market will only continue to rapidly grow and improve based on consumer needs and new data on personal health devices.

How long are we from seeing modern mHealth technologies going mainstream?

mHealth technologies have already gone mainstream! Just look at fitness trackers like Fitbit and Jawbone, which have exploded in popularity over the last couple years. Nutritional tracking devices however, like Vessyl, are new to the market but from the early success of our pre-sales campaign, we know there is a huge market for this product. We think as soon as people start integrating Vessyl into their daily lives, they will realize the impact it can have on their health and this will become more mainstream.