How much of their $$$ did they spend on Wink and related stuff? I'd love to see the economics of that one product. I'll bet it was a major driver of their problems! I experienced poor software, many support related calls required and then a recall because of a broken software update process!
Why Quirky Failed
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Re: Why Quirky Failed
#12For those interested, here's their sale motion ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5k5SQee7k5pT0hrMTNqVC0ybFU... ).
09/22/2015 | #17 | Motion to Approve (Debtors' Motion for Entry of (i) an Order (A) Approving Bidding Procedures and Bid Protections in Connection with the Sale of Certain Assets Related to the Wink Business, (B) Approving Procedures for Assumption and Assignment of Executory Contracts, (C) Approving the Form and Manner of Notice, and (D) Scheduling an Auction and a Sale Hearing, and (ii) an Order Authorizing and Approving the Sale of Certain Assets Related to the Wink Business)filed by Jeffrey L. Cohen on behalf of Quirky, Inc.. (Cohen, Jeffrey) (Entered: 09/22/2015)
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#13Why quirky failed, kickstarter. It was an awesome idea, but kickstarter handles the long tail, shards and distributes the workload, and is universal. That is why Quirky failed.
I think the Kickstarter model also massively de-risked the process by introducing a pre-order model that gave you a sense of the potential revenue ahead of time before you went an invested $100k on tooling.
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#14With all due respect to the author, Quirky failed because they didnt care about their community and users. It was a predatory business, like Davison and other companies that prey on the ignorance of their customers.
Quirky failed because a business that exploits their users cannot succeed long term in an interconnectred world.
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#15This may sound like a very shallow comment, but what happens to the Wink stuff? I just bought one of the GE Wink light kits & the Wink hub is a "Quirky" product. It's already been a little buggy, but I figured it'd improve over time. Does GE pick up development/support work going forward?
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#16> Visionary founder with the perfect background...
> Disrupting the incredibly horrible experience of inventing a physical product...
> Top-tier investors...
> Board of directors stacked...
> Crazy high community engagement...
> ...an exceptional team of engineers, designers, marketers...
> So if everything was so good, how did the company spend $180M of investors’ money, sell very little product, replace the founder/CEO, layoff nearly the entire company, and file for bankruptcy?
How about, just for one second, that we pretend that all of these characteristics don't necessarily prescribe a successful outcome?
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#17This may sound like a very shallow comment, but what happens to the Wink stuff? I just bought one of the GE Wink light kits & the Wink hub is a "Quirky" product. It's already been a little buggy, but I figured it'd improve over time. Does GE pick up development/support work going forward?
Wink Inc is up for sale separately from the rest of the Quirky business. There are already offers on the table, and their press releases thus far have said they don't anticipate any interruption to that part of the business -- the team's still in place, maintaining the services and working on improvements. There are so many "Works with Wink" products on the shelves -- not just GE, but Cree, Leviton, Lutron, Chamberlain, etc -- that I'm sure that brand will land a home with a future.
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#18This may sound like a very shallow comment, but what happens to the Wink stuff? I just bought one of the GE Wink light kits & the Wink hub is a "Quirky" product. It's already been a little buggy, but I figured it'd improve over time. Does GE pick up development/support work going forward?
Wink business is being sold. See my comment above.
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#19I agree very much with this article. Kaufman is a very cool, stand-up guy; everyone I met at Quirky was smart and nimble and on board with the vision. The products ranged from naïf (hence "Quirky") to straight up brilliant. It makes sense to me that they simply took on too much, and should have focused and iterated on their better products.
Re: Why Quirky Failed
#20Why quirky failed, kickstarter. It was an awesome idea, but kickstarter handles the long tail, shards and distributes the workload, and is universal. That is why Quirky failed.
I think the Kickstarter model also massively de-risked the process by introducing a pre-order model that gave you a sense of the potential revenue ahead of time before you went an invested $100k on tooling.
Quirky also derisked the process and took preorders.