The Gadget That's Better in Crowds Than Your Phone + Ring’s Founder Before Amazon Bought It | E2349

Totem's offline mesh-network device strengthens with crowd density, raising more from customer crowdfunding than venture capital at 58% gross margin.

• Totem's crowd-based mesh network: Totem Compass, an $88 screen-free pendant, gets more accurate as more units join a crowd—opposite of cell towers, which degrade.
• Lost Lands deployment stats: At a 50,000-person festival, 5,000+ Totem users hit 35 mesh hops, 330,000 messages, and 1.5km range fully offline.

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