Proud to Stop - A daily reminder of your decision
A physical frame that turns a personal decision into something you can see and measure every day.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Project | Proud to Stop |
| Type | Internal product · hardware and software |
| Collaboration | Developed with an interior and product designer |
| Industry | Consumer products |
| Built | 2025 to 2026 |
| Timeline | Prototype started March 2025 · paused April 2025 · resumed June 2026 · manufacturing preparation completed August 2026 |
| Team | CTO and product initiator · hardware engineer · software engineer · product designer |
| Role | Product initiator, hands-on CTO |
| Status | Production-ready prototype · funding campaign planned |
| Under the hood | Raspberry Pi Zero · custom PCB · C++ firmware · Node.js · PostgreSQL · React · Next.js · Bluetooth · Wi-Fi |
The situation
Some decisions are important enough to remember.
You quit something. You change something. You decide that a particular day is going to be different from the days before it.
There are plenty of apps that can record moments like these. An app can send a notification, store a milestone, or show how much time has passed. But it still lives behind a screen.
Proud to Stop started with a simple question:
What if that milestone had a physical presence?
The idea came from a personal need. We wanted an object that could act as a permanent, visible reminder of a decision, and could not find one that did exactly that.
So we built it.
Proud to Stop is a framed counter. Behind the glass goes something connected to the decision: a pack of cigarettes, a bottle cork, a sugar packet, a photograph, a business name, a wedding photo, a screenshot, or another physical reminder of what the user has chosen to stop or start.
The counter measures the time from that decision in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
The object is not the point.
The point is that the decision becomes visible every day, in the physical space around you.
The physical product turns an invisible milestone into something visible.
The challenge
The product sounds simple: put something behind glass, start a timer, let it count.
Building a physical object that can be trusted to keep counting is a different matter.
The device combines electronics, firmware, connectivity, a cloud service, and a physical frame into one product that has to work reliably in someone's home.
The central engineering requirement was long-term timer reliability.
The device operates from USB-C power. If external power is lost, the LED displays continue operating for more than a week. After that, a backup battery preserves the timer state in memory for more than a year.
When power returns, the device can restore its state from the cloud and continue counting.
This was tested as part of the product development.
At the center of the system is one simple question:
How long has it been since the moment I started?
The engineering needed to make that answer reliable without making the product itself complicated.
Decisions before code
Several important decisions were made before building the complete system.
No mobile app
A mobile app was considered from the beginning.
We chose not to build one.
The physical object was the product. Adding a separate mobile application would introduce another interface and another layer of complexity without being necessary for the core experience.
The product needed to be simple enough to take out of the box, make a decision, set the counter, and leave it running.
Keep the timer state simple and secure
At the center of the system is one piece of information: the time elapsed since the user's decision.
We simplified the way that state is stored and synchronized so the system could maintain it across the device, backup power, and cloud connection.
The objective was not to create a complex tracking platform.
It was to make the core function dependable.
Make the frame part of the product
The first physical prototype used a wooden frame assembled from purchased wood components. It was sufficient to demonstrate the concept and present the product to a small audience.
The physical design then evolved through collaboration with the interior and product designer.
The final direction moved to an aluminium frame, improving the appearance, durability, manufacturing suitability, weight, and positioning of the product in the premium segment.
The frame was no longer simply a box around the electronics.
It became part of the product experience.
How it works
1. Choose the milestone
The user decides what they want to stop or start.
The product is designed to work with different kinds of personal milestones rather than a single use case.
2. Make it physical
The user places an object or image behind the glass using the double-magnet system.
The object represents what the milestone means to them.
3. Start the counter
The device is switched on at the moment of the decision.
The counter begins measuring elapsed time from that point.
4. Keep the proof visible
Four seven-segment LED displays show the elapsed time in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
The milestone is no longer a date stored inside an application.
It becomes an object in the room.
5. Keep the state reliable
The device communicates using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and synchronizes with the cloud.
If external power is interrupted, the system can continue operating on battery, preserve the timer state through the backup mechanism, and recover its state from the cloud when power is restored.
The goal is simple: the count should not disappear because the power did.
Three prototypes, one product
The product went through three physical stages.
Prototype one proved the basic timer and core functionality.
Prototype two introduced the physical frame and allowed the concept to be presented to a small audience.
Prototype three brought the electronics, firmware, and physical design together into the complete device.
The hardware was produced in-house in the Netherlands during prototyping. A custom PCB was developed specifically for Proud to Stop and integrated with a Raspberry Pi Zero.
The evolution was not simply about making each prototype look better.
The hardware and physical design changed as we moved from proving the concept toward building something suitable for manufacturing.
From the first timer prototype to the complete production-ready device.
The build
Prototype development started in March 2025.
The project was paused in April 2025 while other projects took priority.
Development resumed in June 2026.
Manufacturing preparation was completed in August 2026.
The team consisted of four people:
- CTO and product initiator
- hardware engineer
- software engineer
- interior and product designer
The designer worked on the frame and physical product design. The engineering team developed the electronics and software required to make the device operate as one system.
The hardware uses a Raspberry Pi Zero together with a custom PCB. The device firmware is written in C++. The cloud and web application provide the surrounding infrastructure for synchronization and interaction.
The result is a combined hardware and software product rather than an electronic component packaged inside a frame.
Testing and validation
The product was tested as a complete system rather than treating hardware and software as separate pieces.
Testing covered:
- hardware
- firmware
- software
- system behaviour
- unit-level functionality
- performance
- battery behaviour
- electronics
- physical durability
- user interaction
Long-term power behaviour was also tested. The LED displays continued operating for more than a week without external power, while the backup mechanism preserved the timer state for more than a year.
The product was also tested with a focus group of 10 non-technical people.
The purpose was to see whether the product and its interaction made sense to people who had not been involved in building it.
The feedback led to adjustments in the user interface and product design.
Outcome
Proud to Stop now exists as a working, production-ready prototype.
Three physical prototypes were developed during the process. The electronics, firmware, software, physical frame, connectivity, and power-management approach have been brought together into a complete working product.
Manufacturing preparation is complete, and production is ready to begin in Bali.
The planned first production run is 250 to 1,000 devices.
The product is now ready for its next stage: funding and market launch through Kickstarter.
The completed Proud to Stop device.
Why this is a techlead.fit case study
Proud to Stop is an example of what it takes to make hardware and software work as one product.
The starting point was not a technology stack.
It was a product question:
Could a personal milestone become a physical object?
From there, the decisions shaped the technology.
We chose not to build a mobile app. We simplified the timer-state architecture. We developed a custom PCB for the product. We designed the power and recovery system around long-term reliability. We tested the complete system rather than treating its individual parts as the finished product.
And we worked with a product designer to evolve the physical prototype into a product intended for manufacturing and the premium consumer market.
The result is a working physical product that is ready to move from development into production.
Start with the product.
Decide what actually needs to be built.
Keep the system as simple as the experience requires.
Validate the complete product.
Then prepare it for the market.
Building a physical product?
If you have an idea that combines hardware and software, the difficult part is often deciding what needs to exist before development starts.
At techlead.fit, we turn an early product idea into a technical and financial roadmap, define the system that needs to be built, and identify what has to be validated before significant development and production money is committed.
Relevant services: CTO Sprint · MVP Build