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February 29 2012
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Kickstarter is seemingly a place where people go to make iDevice accessories. Some are hits, most are not. The Sonastand is clearly the former. Apple's Johnny Ives would probably even approve of this one. The story goes that the Sonastand's creators are, as one of them puts it on Reddit, two normal nerdy dudes trying to do their thing. To be honest their creation is not very novel but it's still rad as hell. All the Sonastand does is prop up the iPhone 4 in a way that connects the dock's passive speaker horn to the phone's tiny speaker. But it's not just empty claims compensated by sexy looks. The creators tested the Sonastand and found its passive horn significantly boost mid and high-end frequencies. TWiT will never sound the same.
February 10 2012
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They say when it rains, it pours. That's not usually a good thing, but when it's raining money, things are a little different. That was the case at Kickstarter yesterday, where they had their biggest day of funding ever, beating the record set... the day before yesterday. It was also the day that marked the first Kickstarter project to break $1,000,000 in funding. And the day that marked the second project to hit that number. And New York's city council endorsed the site as a way to highlight community projects that need funding. Oh, and they're on Portlandia. Definitely the biggest day in the site's history, then. They've commemorated it with a great blog post that might just make your Friday a little better. It also brings up a few new and interesting questions regarding how the site should or will be used.
February 03 2012
The Zen Table Practices Mindfulness So You Don’t Have To
Remember those little Zen rock gardens they used to sell for desks? So you could take a minute of your busy day to contemplate the void? Thanks to the magic of Kickstarter, you can build your own automatic, desktop-based Zen garden that will rake itself into endless patterns.
The toy is a little pricey – $999 for the “table” kit, half that for the desktop version – but the concept is pretty cool. It’s basically a robotic Etch-a-Sketch with a few tricks built in. To wit:
Hello? This is Zen Table?
The coffee table version is 56″ x 39″ x 19.5″ while the desktop version is 13″ x 9.5″ x 2 1/2″. Created by video game developer Simon Hallam, the Zen table lets you draw nearly anything into the silicone sand, allowing you to complete your mandala without having to get off from work. They’re about $4,000 below their funding goal, so get over there and get zenning!
January 20 2012
Marketing Genius: Two Twins Giggling As They Sell You Designer 3D Glasses
If you thought Apple’s marketing squad was genius, just wait until you watch this Kickstarter video from Ingri:Dahl. If you aren’t already familiar with the “company,” which you shouldn’t be, it’s basically two sisters named Kine and Einy, and they want to sell you a 3D clip-on for your glasses.
It’s actually rather clever. The girls market fashionable 3D eyewear, and this 3D clip-on is just the latest in their collection. But that isn’t really the point.
I’m more interested in how this set of twins is pitching their product. A glance at their website would lead you to believe that they’ve got a legit business (and I believe that’s the case), but the way they market themselves and their products on Kickstarter begs to differ.
The video goes a little something like this:
(giggle, giggle)
Whispered: “Let’s do that again.”
“Hey guys! How are you?”
“We’re going to show you how to use the 3D clip-on… You take off your prescription glasses, clip it on, and put your glasses back on… How cool is that?!?!”
The glasses-free twin then accuses the bespectacled twin of not having prescription glasses. And after some more synchronized giggling and what seems to be twin ESP, the duo shows off the t-shirt you’ll receive after pledging a $15 donation towards their project.
But the “commercial” can’t end before we venture back to the roots of Ingri:Dahl: the Popcorn model of fashionable 3D eyewear, and the company’s first design.
Sounds like a can’t-miss opportunity if I’ve ever heard one.
No, but seriously. I kid around, but this could actually work for the Paulsen twins, who are about $2,500 shy of their goal with ten days left to go. They’re real, fun young women who seem to really enjoy what they’re building.
If you think you might enjoy it too, just head over to Ingri:Dahl’s Kickstarter page and make a pledge. This giggling twosome deserves it.
August 26 2011
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The perception of geeks used to be that we lived in darkened houses constantly hunched over computers, never seeing the light of day. To be honest, that was me for a bit in my younger years, but these days I've come to appreciate the outdoors a bit more. Still, my love for fresh air is only matched by my love of lazing about, and the Kammok sounds like a perfect fit for my ideal lifestyle.
July 29 2011
The Isostick Makes A Mockery Of Optical Disk Hegemony
In the old days, you used to have to put something called “optical media” into a “DVD drive” to install software and operating systems. Those days are long over thanks to an odd little USB key called the Isostick.
Although the project doesn’t officially exist – it’s almost funded on Kickstarter – the IsoStick promises to allow you to load any ISO disk image from any computer just as if it were loading it from an optical disk. Why would you want to do this? Well, some computers can’t boot directly from a USB thumbdrive and the IsoStick solves this by masquerading as an optical drive first and a thumb drive second. Almost any PC will boot from an optical disk, which makes the Isostick so useful.
You can write multiple ISOs onto the FAT32 drive and a special selector lets you pick which one to load. This means you could keep multiple install images on one USB drive and install them as needed.
Write the creators:
The isostick is targeted at IT people, computer technicians, and geeks in general that are sick and tired of carrying around lots of discs that always get lost, broken, scratched, or just stop working. Often times you’ll have to update your discs with the latest patches or virus definitions or what-have-you. With isostick it’s a breeze, just drop the new iso on the flash drive and you’re ready to go!
$225 gets you a 32GB stick and some stickers while the cheapest model costs $125 for 8GB. If you’re unsure what you’d do with this, you’re probably not the target market but they’ve had $21,000 in pledges (out of a target of $25,000) so far, so it’s likely this has always been an itch that needed scratching.
July 25 2011
The Astroclip Is An iPhone 4 Clip For Astrophotography
Amateur stargazers and peeping toms, this one is for you. The AstroClip promises to mount an iPhone 4 to any telescope with a 1.25-inch eyepiece for easy astrophotography. An iPhone 4 simply snaps into the injection molded case and then three set screws secures the case to most telescope eyepieces. This opens up all sorts of fun photography projects: shooting the moon and stars, the lady in the next building and so much more!
The project launched on Kickstarter last week and seems to be having a bit of trouble getting off the ground. This is the designer’s, Matthew Geyster, third Kickstarter project. His first project, Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3, was eventually funded, but his second, a dual-tipped capacitive stylus, didn’t raise enough funds. This time around Geyster is asking for a reasonable $15,000, which will cover all the costs while keeping the manufacturing in the US.
The minimum pledge is $1, but $25 comes with an AstroClip and worldwide shipping. Pledge $40 and Geyster will ship you a special edition red AstroClip along with a AstroClip t-shirt. The pledge levels continue up to $500 with each netting the backer more AstroClips. A telescope isn’t included at any level.
Say what you will about phones replacing conventional cameras. It’s happening as more and more accessory makers begin catering to that market. AstroClip is just one of the latest.
Similar mounts have been available for years; the idea isn’t anything new. But other mounts are generally expensive, specific for a certain camera, and require a sturdier telescope tripod depending on the weight of the attached camera. The AtroClip solves all those issues by working with the very popular and light iPhone 4. The project just needs a bit of kickstarting.
July 19 2011
Kickstarter Celebrates Its 10,000th Successful Project And $75M In Pledges
Crowd-funding website Kickstarter has put up an interesting retrospective post today in honor of their 10,000th successfully-funded project (an Ohio band putting together a 7″ if you’re curious). We were privy to some of these numbers (or their predecessors, anyway) when co-founder Yancey Stickler and some successful project creators took to the stage at Disrupt NYC, but now they’re here in graph and blog form for those who missed the panel.
The growth of the site is remarkable: it has funded the same number of projects in the last month as they did in their whole first year (1044). The trends seem to show some areas leveling out, but that may not be a bad thing.
We tend to look for the tech-related projects (today I posted the gorgeous Pen Type A) more than the far more popular media projects, so we have a bit of a skewed perspective on the site: the things we see are often on the more expensive and more rarely funded end of the scale, as they often require prototyping, manufacturing, and packaging. But a huge majority of the projects are in fact music and film. Fashion and games join tech at the bottom of the list, perhaps because those tend to find other avenues of bootstrapping.
One eloquent graph shows the decline in number of days required to achieve $5 million in pledges:
As you can see, it’s bottoming out. Steady growth in this display yields diminishing returns, as it will take quite a few people if they want to reduce that number from 23 to 20. And this graph shows a sudden peak in projects successfully funded (note that these graphs refer to different time periods, so don’t draw any conclusions by lining them up vertically):
That could be for a number of reasons, though Strickler and Benenson (who authored the post) offer no explanation. I would hazard a guess that they are reaching the efficiency ceiling for their staff and layout. With over 300 projects being submitted a day (according to Strickler in May), approving and monitoring them is more than a full-time job. It’s possible that the way the site is organized doesn’t scale effectively beyond this volume of projects (like app and grocery stores, where at some point the multiplicity of options makes finding what you want more difficult), but it could also be for another reason beyond the scope of the data they have revealed.
Whether Kickstarter attempts to resume that sharp growth it’s seen in the last year or whether it decides to streamline and make it a more curated experience is entirely up to them. I’d like it either way; I’m no fan of growth for growth’s sake. The next year should be an interesting one for them.
Lastly, check out this blink-inducing video of all 10,000 successful projects’ pages:
Kickstarter: Pen Type A, For The Minimalist Pen-Lover
I love me some writing implements. Not that I use them so much, but when I do use them, I don’t want some greasy Bic and a piece of copy paper. If I’m going to use my hand to control a marking instrument and scratch out glyphs on a piece of crushed tree flesh, by god I want to do it with dignity. I’ve been a big fan of Muji’s 0.38 ballpoint for years, but they actually just changed up the design recently, and I’m adrift. And then, along comes this Kickstarter. A pen I can love… forever.
The Pen Type A (suggestive of a type B, but that doesn’t exist yet) is a stainless steel pen that uses Hi-Tec-C cartridges, apparently well-respected in the pen world (not a small world, as it turns out). The body is a single piece of steel and the cap unscrews using a dime or similarly sized torquing device. It comes with a case that doubles as a ruler, also stainless steel. I have to tell you, this is my pen.
Unfortunately I have been robbed of the pleasure of helping these guys meet their funding level, since they’ve raised over five times their original $2500 goal. On the bright side, that means they’ll soon be available for purchase. And here comes the other shoe: this pen will cost $99 once it’s in the wild. I guess that’s why quite a few people (2/3rds of their funding, in fact) comes from the $50 level, at which point in addition to a warm fuzzy feeling, you get a pen!
There’s still time to “donate.” Head over to Kickstarter and check out the gear. Congrats to the Pen Type A crew, I look forward to seeing these things around.
July 12 2011
The Move Lets You Wear Your iPhone Sans Straps, Look Like Tony Stark
Three things come to mind when I look at the Move, a Kickstarter project that lets you attach an iPhone to your clothes without any sort of straps, velcro, or magnets:
- “We are the Borg. You will be assimilated.”
- “The Arc Reactor, from AT&T and Stark Technologies. Now with 3G support and streaming cat videos.”
- “… what are the chances I’m cool enough to pull that off?”
So, how does it work: Glue? Jet-packs? Sorcery? It’s actually a bit simpler than that: it’s just good ol’ fashion tension.
First, you hold the Move behind a layer of clothing wherever you want the iPhone to sit. Then you place your iPhone on top of both the layer of clothing and the Move and push it into place, allowing the tension of the Move and that layer of cloth to hold it in place.
We’ll just go ahead and say it: yeah, crammin’ your iPhone into your clothes will make you look like the mega-nerd of mega-nerds — but 10 years ago, so did just owning a smartphone. With short range wireless tech, battery, and display technology all getting harder/better/faster/stronger, wearables are going to be a big part of our future (if not as a primary device, then as a means of interacting with the primary device and your environment), and this is sort of a hacky way to make your iPhone into a sort of psuedo-wearable today. Today’s mega-nerd is tomorrow’s cool kid.
One thing the video doesn’t really touch on where it should have: just how snugly is this thing held in? It’s obviously snug enough for jogging (see 1:37 in the video below), but if my iPhone is going to get an untimely introduction to the cold, hard concrete just because I danced a bit too hard, the idea sort of falls apart.
The guys behind the project say they need $25k to get things moving, of which they’ve currently only raised about $250. As it’s a Kickstarter project, they’re looking to fund it all through pledges; $2 makes you a contributor, $25 gets you a Move, $45 gets you two, with other options available for those looking to kick down some more cash.
July 07 2011
Josh Harris Takes His Wired City To Kickstarter
For the past year, Josh Harris has been trying to get funding for his Wired City concept. It’s a crowdsourced Internet TV station where all the viewers are also the broadcasters, multicasting to each other and the World Wide Web.
If this sounds a little like the documentary movie We Live In Public that is because Harris was its subject. He also founded Jupiter Communications and Pseudo a decade ago, but he’s a little bit eccentric. His ultimate vision for Wired City is wild (check out my interview with him from last year below). Harris once told me that all he needed was $50 million to build it. I suggested he might want to start with a smaller, less expensive piece of it to prove it out.
Now he’s taken his idea to Kickstarter, where he is trying to raise $25,000 to build a “net television pilot.” That will probably be enough for the uniforms, and might help him secure some angel money to get a real production going. “More importantly,” he tells me, “it is a litmus of audience interest in the thing.”
In it’s first day, the project has already raised $2,108. I bet he could raise the entire $500,000 on Kickstarter if he wanted to. It’s perfect for Kickstarter because it’s kind of half-movie, half-Internet startup.
You won’t get any shares in Wired City for contributing, but you will get “privileges for being a founding member,” including a “day of cyber-living on the Wired City set (non-transferable)” and maybe even a “Wired City cadet bandana.” If you pledge $2,500 or more you get:
A Wired City Official dress uniform including jacket, pants, socks, underwear, collared shirt, t-shirt and formal hat. Seven days (for four) of cyber-living on The Wired City set (transferable). PLUS one year of VIP status (including prime capsule hotel living quarters), a personal video assistant and special powers/privileges. PLUS 20,000 BoWC credits.
Well, what are you waiting for?
May 25 2011
Since 2009 Kickstarter Funneled $60 Million To 24,000 Crowd-Funded Projects
Kickstarter started as a way for bands to fund projects without asking for money from Grandma. Now it’s the go-to site thousands any self-funded projects and the company recently surpassed the facilitating of $60 million in funding of random music albums, films, and gadgets created by ordinary people.
At TechCrunch Disrupt NYC John Biggs sat down with Kickstarter’s Yancey Stickler along with several successful Kickstarter gadget makers: Dan Provost from Glif and Cosmonaut, Rafael Atijas of the Loog, and Sean Bonner from Safecast. It was through the magic of Kickstarter that all these gadgets were funded and later created. It’s rather scary to think of a world without the Glif, right?
March 29 2011
Kickstarter: The Cosmonaut Stylus Treats Tablets Like Whiteboards, Not Paper (and that’s awesome)
Kickerstart is really the go-to place for all things iPad/iPhone. If you have a random case you wanna sell, put it up on Kickstarter. It’s kind of a running joke with us right now because of the sheer amount of iPad products on the site. But the Cosmonaut is different. It’s actually clever.
Tablet users should understand the benefit here. Writing on an iPad isn’t like writing on paper. It’s different and as the embedded Kickstarter video explains, the experience is more like using a white board and so this stylus was designed with that in mind. The kicker (get it? because it’s on Kickstarter? nvm) is that this project doesn’t have multiple tiers of funding. Pledge what you want. There’s only 3000 funding slots open and pledges start at just a $1. Clever.
March 10 2011
Wanna Be A Movie Producer? Just Give $250 To Jon Heder & Nick Peterson On Kickstarter
A couple weeks ago, we noted an interesting new project that had popped up on Kickstarter: an animated short film by Nick Peterson and Jon Heder. Heder, of course, is an actor known for his roles in Blades of Glory, Mama’s Boy, and yes, Napoleon Dynamite. He clearly could have funded this project himself, but he and Peterson decided to give Kickstarter a try to raise the $27,000 required to make the film.
I got the chance to talk with both Heder and Peterson the other day to ask them about the experience so far. The project still has 16 days of fundraising to go, and so far they’ve gotten about $4,000 in pledges, so they have a ways to go yet. But the two have good insight as to how exactly the process works for this type of project — and it’s clearly very much an experiment for them. If it works, they envision doing other movie projects this way — Heder even has some thoughts on if it could work for larger-scale projects.
So far, the $25 donation options for the film is the most popular one. But the $250 gets you an associate producer credit, and $1,000 gets you a co-producer credit. So if you ever wanted to be on IMDb, here’s your shot. Watch the full interview above — you can donate to the film on Kickstarter here.
February 11 2011
Detroit Needs A Statue of RoboCop! Best Kickstarter Project Yet.
When it comes to things the city of Detroit needs, there’s undoubtely a pretty long list. And if there is an official version of such a list, I’m pretty sure that a statue of RoboCop isn’t on it. But that’s dumb. It totally should be. And that’s exactly why God invented the Internet.
How is this tech-related? First of all, RoboCop is tech. He’s probably the most badass tech ever created in a fictional Detroit future. Secondly, there is actually a campaign underway right now on the crowdsource funding startup Kickstarter to get this statue built.
Yes, it may be the best Kickstarter project yet. It easily surpasses the iPod nano watch with raised a mere $940,000+ from over 13,000 backers this past December. I mean, iPod nano watches are cool and all — but freakin RoboCop!
So far, over 250 people have committed just under $6,000 to the project. They hope to raise $50,000 and they’re definitely going to get there as they still have 43 days to go. And when they do, the RoboCop statue go into product to eventually reside on a piece of property on Roosevelt Park facing Michigan Central Station in Detroit.
The backstory for all of this is arguably the best part. Apparently it’s all because some random guy in Massachusetts tweeted to Detroit’s Mayor Bing that the city should have a RoboCop statue similar to the Rocky one that Philadelphia has. And Mayor Bing actually responded, saying, “There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.”
And so off to the Internet it was.
A Facebook event popped up (with over 4,500 people RSVP’d), Reddit had some fun, and then everyone got down to actual business — on Kickstarter.
Let’s get this RoboCop statue funded! Detroit absolutely needs a RoboCop statue. And RoboCop would totally kick Rocky’s butt.
@MT@MT
@mayordavebingMayor Dave Bing
February 08 2011
Kickstarter: Wüdskins – Protective Bamboo & Aluminum iPad Case
On the look out for some easy karma? Head over to Kickstarter and help make four woman’s bamboo iPad case a reality. The group is looking for $10,000 to bring their actually clever case to the market.
The Wüdskins case use bamboo and aluminum to encase a first-gen iPad in a solid and functional case. Sure, it’s a bit bulky and probably somewhat heavy, but you can’t argue against the protection it provides because bamboo is, you know, the Iron Man of wood.
February 01 2011
33Needs Brings Crowdsourced Funding To Social Startups
The crowdsourced funding craze is picking up steam. Tonight we see the launch of 33needs, a site where socially-minded startups can raise initial seed funding from individual contributors on the Web. It is Kiva meets Kickstarter.
Social startups post their “needs” in terms of how much money they are looking to raise, what problems they are going to solve and how they are going to do it, along with a video to help spread the word virally. People can invest $10, $100, $1,000 or more, and in return instead of getting shares in the company, they get a promised percentage of revenues for a specified period of time like 5 percent of revenues for three years.
The startups seeking funds are for-profit ventures, as is 33needs. Some of the launch startups include Emergent Energy Group, which wants to bring renewable energy projects to different communities in the U.S., and HalfUnited, a new clothing company which feeds hungry children with part of its profits (see video below).
33needs itself takes a 5 percent cut of any money raised, and nothing if the goal is not met. Generally, thee social startups are trying to raise anywhere from $50,000 or more get their businesses off the ground. They all try to mix profits with creating social good, which increasingly also resonates as a marketing strategy to consumers who want to feel like they are making a difference in the world. Whether or not they actually are is a different matter, but the most enduring social startups will end up being those who create a measurable impact.
The company was founded by Josh Tetrick, a social entrepreneur and former Fulbright Scholar who worked in Africa and for President Clinton. He doesn’t see 33needs as a replacement for angel or seed capital, but rather as a launching pad for ideas that may otherwise never have made it beyond a dinner conversation. “It’s a launching pad that builds fans, breeds a loyal base of people who’ll buy your stuff and use your product,” he argues. “There is so much pent up demand to invest in this stuff—not donate, but invest.”
But using crowdfunding to help start companies, as opposed to microloans for projects (Kickstarter) or people (Kiva), sets a higher bar. These require more money than a simple project. One of the key learnings from Kickstarter, for instance, is that small projects can grow into full-blown startups, but they don’t have to (watch this interview with Kickstarter founder Perry Chen). With 33needs it will be all or nothing. So the startups better make their pitches really good.
January 28 2011
Kickstarter: The Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3 Is A Handmade Must-Have
Show me a handmade device case like this one from Kickstarter, and I’ll show you the money. I love ‘em. The DODOcase is a prime example. High-quality material, a SanFran-based labor force, and honest marketing. Btw, we have a big DODOcase giveaway coming next week for Valentine’s Day. You’re going to love it.
The Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3 is from the same thread. This mostly wool sleeve is just that, a sleeve to hold your precious slate. But the handsome look, top-shelf materials and fair price ultimately sells the case. But there’s a catch. They need help. That’s where you and Kickstarter comes in.
January 14 2011
Kickstarter: The PadPivot Might Be The First True Universal, Multi-Function Tablet Stand
That about does it. The PadPivot must be the last novel idea in tablet stands. Shut down the Chinese design factories. This seems to address the entire market’s needs and more.
Not only does the PadPivot do multi-angle, table-top tablet mounting and holding, but the contoured shape is designed for legs, too. Most tablet users can attest, this is the most common usage location anyway. The Kickstarter demo video embedded in this post shows why. You sit down, put the tablet on your thigh and then do a little balancing routine to keep it in place. With the PadPivot, you simply rest the backside of the iPad or any other slate device on the PadPivot’s pad while the rounded shape holds to your leg. Oh, and it folds up nicely, too. I’m sold.
January 10 2011
Startup Sherpa (Kickstarter): Going Direct To The Audience For Crowdsourced Funding
If you want to crowdsource the funding for a project—whether it is a product, album, or a film—one of the best places to find both patrons and early customers is Kickstarter. In this week’s episode of Startup Sherpa, host Chris Dixon dives deep into the crowdsourced-funding phenomenon with Kickstarter founder Perry Chen.
The majority of projects on Kickstarter are creative ones involving film, art, or music. But product design and startups can be just as creative. Chen describes the funding model on Kickstarter as “somewhere between commerce and patronage.” And some of the most notable projects are technology products, including open social network Diaspora and the TikTok iPod Nano watch that raised almost $1 million.
In the videos below, Dixon and Chen discuss what made those two projects take off. Chen also offers advice for how to kickstart your own project on his site.
Rule No.1: Think what you can give your audience that is of value, whether that is early access to your project or a discount. “This is not about extracting value,” he advises. It’s a two-way street.
Rule No. 2: Promote the hell out of your project. “You have to be willing to market it to your audience,” says Chen. “You have to get the ball going. The Internet is not just going to find you.”
Startup Sherpa is a new series on TCTV where founder and angel investor Chris Dixon talks about startups with other founders and investors. Please let us know in comments who else you’d like to see Chris talk to in future episodes.
Startup Sherpa (Kickstarter): How To Get Successful Projects Going
Startup Sherpa (Kickstarter): “You Really Gotta Want It.”
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