

Ask HN: Should I try to get my product on Kickstarter? - matthaeus

Have been playing with the idea... Despite working in UX, I still have a passion for Industrial Design. Would be good to get my hands dirty again for a bit.<p>http://thingsfromthefuture.com/grow/<p>(clickable link fail)
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anthonycerra
We put a project up on Kickstarter back in February and got a ton of press,
but it failed. <http://kck.st/eSx2KR>

That being said, you should absolutely put your idea up on Kickstarter.

You'll never know someone's true opinions about your product until you ask
them to take out their credit card. And because you're so close to the work,
you have no idea what's actually important to customers. So at the very least
Kickstarter is a great way to get customer feedback. If it fails you can
always launch again at no cost to you or your backers.

My biggest piece of advice is to keep the pledge tiers simple. We threw in
other products because we couldn't offer a 'special edition' of the Classics.
Bad idea. A special edition isn't necessary and we just made it confusing for
potential backers.

We also priced the Classics way too high, but given our manufacturing
situation at the time that's what we had to do. So the con is our project
failed, but the silver lining is that people came out and told us what they
wanted the price to be. It also brought a bunch of manufacturers and
distributors directly to us.

Email me anthony[at]joystickers[dot]com if you have any specific questions
you'd like answered.

Good luck!

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charliepark
That's a lovely project.

Whether to put it on Kickstarter depends, I think, on what you're exactly
trying to get from your funding, but I could see your bookshelf doing well.
And is there a downside to trying with Kickstarter? Biggest one I can see is
that your project doesn't get produce en masse, or, perhaps, that someone else
sees it and copies it. But you can't live in fear of either of those. I'd say
go for it.

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shazow
Actual clickable link: <http://thingsfromthefuture.com/grow/>

P.S. I like it and my girlfriend likes it, we'd definitely buy a set if it's
priced within the IKEA range.

+2 to Kickstarting it!

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matthaeus
Thanks for the comments (and encouragement) everyone. I will start
investigating my options to see how this could be done in the SF area. The
thinking behind this design is to use ressources that are excessively locally
available (not a specific type of wood that needs to be shipped half around
the country) and local production facilities in order to minimize
environmental impact and help small businesses. It'll be interesting to see
whether this can be achieved while meeting an acceptable price point.

I'll follow up on this if I make any progress. M

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JoeCortopassi
You're first four reply's are about how great a design this is, and how we
would purchase this if available. You should get this going...

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tudorizer
I'd contribute to this project :)

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fractallyte
Excellent design!

Seems perfect for this site: <http://getitmade.com/>

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raquo
That's nice design. Seems like something well-suited for Kickstarter. I wish I
had an apartment to put that in.

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barrydahlberg
I love the concept. Are you trying to get funding to produce a decent volume
or for another reason?

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matthaeus
It's all about making things. As an Industrial Designer, you have so many
projects just sitting there, unable to share them with a bigger crowd because
your investment into production is not only your own opportunity cost but at
least materials, equipment and facilities as well. Funding on Kickstarter
would really just be about covering that cost so I could get one of my
products out there.

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Andrenid
I'd absolutely contribute to that, it's an awesome design.

