
Dissecting the Massively Over-Subscribed Lockitron Launch - danielodio
http://danielodio.com/dissecting-the-massively-over-subscribed-lockitron-launch
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kylec
Regarding the 'Kickstarter style', I think it's a bit disingenuous to refer to
the people that preordered as 'backers'. The term connotes an investment, when
this seems to be a cut-and-dried preorder - the production run is certain, and
there is no risk of the project failing and taking all the money with it like
there can be with Kickstarter.

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danielodio
I disagree. On a first production run of a new product, there's the very real
possibility it won't work out. Now that they have over 1,000 pre-orders it's
obvious that it's a hit, but if you're "backer" #1 you have no idea if it'll
come to fruition or not.

What I would agree with is that since they're not collecting $$$ until they
ship, there's no risk. But that doesn't mean the term "backer" is misleading.
Any early adopter of a new product would be a "backer" of its adoption.

DROdio

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joelrunyon
I thought this was going to be a rant but was pleasantly surprised.

I really liked the product page breakdown – sort of rudimentary, but pretty
helpful. I'd be really interested in seeing more launches/product pages
dissected like this.

Anyone know of a blog/site/resource that does this type of thing on the
regular?

~~~
danielodio
Hey @joelrunyon, agreed that it'd be great to see this done on a more detailed
basis. I just threw this one together because I was impressed with how they
copied the Kickstarter approach, which I hadn't seen done in exactly this way
before for a launch (an obvious approach, but effective).

If you want to add more detailed feedback in the comments section on my post
(or here) I'll be happy to dig into it more.

Has anyone actually pre-ordered that might have more feedback?

DROdio

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saddino
Most interesting indeed is the Kickstarter approach outside of Kickstarter.
Someone should launch a Kickstarter-as-a-Service startup.

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tinco
Hey I know a great business plan for a kickstarter-as-a-service, you let
businesses create campaigns using the service in trade for a percentage of
their revenue. You could call it.. Kickstarter!

~~~
malandrew
Yeah, but you need to remember that the new "Kickstarter is not a store" rule
means that companies/projects need to host their own page like Lockitron.
Basically the rule created a market opportunity.

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smarx
I'm interested in the "white-labeled Kickstarter" style approach. As I recall,
app.net did the same thing. Are there services out there that help do this?

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lukeholder
yes its called a webpage with a payment processor like stripe.

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DanielRibeiro
It is nice to see that they've come so far from the days of _"Lockitron (YC
S09) Lets You Unlock Your Door With Your Phone"_

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2546752>

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EGreg
But how did they get oversubscribed in the first place?

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retube
Indeed. This is the most interestng question here.

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danielodio
BTW some great feedback in the post comments from Lockitron co-founder Paul
with more detail on how & why they took this approach:
[http://danielodio.com/dissecting-the-massively-over-
subscrib...](http://danielodio.com/dissecting-the-massively-over-subscribed-
lockitron-launch)

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maegget
I heard about Lockitron via an email from a friend before I saw the article on
HN. Perhaps the huge interest is due to the concept going viral?

Most of the techy articles I read on HN I wouldn't bother forwarding to my
non-techy friends or family; this however I would share for the "Wow! The
geeky future!" factor.

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seltzered_
somewhat OT, but for those curious the blogging engine this guy is using is
tynan's sett.com

~~~
danielodio
Yeah I wrote a post about it and did a Skype interview with @tynan about SETT:
[http://danielodio.com/moving-from-wordpress-to-sett-a-
social...](http://danielodio.com/moving-from-wordpress-to-sett-a-social-
blogging-platform)

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polshaw
This is more 'dissecting the landing page'. Paul's comment there was by far
the most interesting part.

I was looking for more of a how people got to the site etc.. but i suppose it
was mostly just [YC] > [HN/Reddit] > [TechCrunch] > [Twitter].

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treelovinhippie
After I saw the white-label Kickstarter thing on app.net I wondered if there
was anyone out there offering an embedded service. Doesn't look like there is.

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iamjason89
hey danielodio,

please stop removing my comment on your blog. im trying to ask a question and
you keep deleting it.

thanks

~~~
danielodio
Hey @iamjason89, I'm not removing anything -- although I am using a new
blogging platform that's still in beta. So maybe that's why it's not working
for you. I'll ask @Tynan to reach out to you; he's the creator of the
platform.

Sorry for the trouble. Bleeding edge :-/

