The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
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Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#2That’s because it is useful. Unlike a lot of stuff on there.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#3Back in 2011 I thought Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general was so cool. I funded a maybe 20+ projects. I think I received 4-5 items and the products i did receive were very underwhelming. Probably half of the projects I never even heard from after the funding closed. Needless to say I haven't been on KS in a long, long time.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#4That’s because it is useful. Unlike a lot of stuff on there.
Or at least, it would be useful, if it had been manufactured and shipped to its purchasers at any point in the last 8 years.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#5Back in 2011 I thought Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general was so cool. I funded a maybe 20+ projects. I think I received 4-5 items and the products i did receive were very underwhelming. Probably half of the projects I never even heard from after the funding closed. Needless to say I haven't been on KS in a long, long time.
Might be a fun game to have each person pick a kickstarter, strip it down to the pitch, the goals and the backer options and have everyone guess if it was successful or not.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#6I think the "still going after 7 years" means "still hasn't been released after 7 years". It was supposed to be for sale in 2014 and still hasn't shipped yet (from what I can find in Google). The creators have been stringing along their backers for the better part of a decade.
As far as utility, it seems like more of a gimmick than something that would get regular use. I can't think of a time when I've been working on a project and wished I had a 1/2" drive ratchet, a short pry bar, and a hammer but only had space in the tool bag for one of them.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#7I think the "still going after 7 years" means "still hasn't been released after 7 years". It was supposed to be for sale in 2014 and still hasn't shipped yet (from what I can find in Google). The creators have been stringing along their backers for the better part of a decade. As far as utility, it seems like more of a gimmick than something that would get regular use. I can't think of a time when I've been working o…
Maybe they'll make it out of titanium and go after the ultralight tool enthusiast market? It'll never get used, but damn it's light!
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#8So much shilling and gaslighting in their KS's comments page.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#9I think the "still going after 7 years" means "still hasn't been released after 7 years". It was supposed to be for sale in 2014 and still hasn't shipped yet (from what I can find in Google). The creators have been stringing along their backers for the better part of a decade. As far as utility, it seems like more of a gimmick than something that would get regular use. I can't think of a time when I've been working o…
I think the king of stringing along backers is still Star Citizen who - 8+ years after the original Kickstarter[1] - are still taking crowdfunding money with no finished product in sight.
Re: The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going
#10Consumer crowdfunding websites like kickstarter and indiegogo have largely failed to live up to their early hype. Campaigns now fall into two categories: designer vaporware from people you've never heard of, and established companies that don't need crowdfunding but are using it anyway for marketing purposes.
On the other hand... niche crowdfunding websites like Crowd Supply seem to be doing better than ever. There are a few reasons for this:
1. A lot of campaigns are for open source hardware. These projects are developed in the open, and you can go to github and download schematics and look through prototype firmware to evaluate the project yourself, months before the campaign even starts.
2. Vetting seems to be better. There are almost always real prototypes floating around by the time a campaign goes live.
3. More modest goals. More often than not, the funding goals are right around some sensible volume buying / manufacturing threshold. The creators usually just want to be able to get a PCB with microvias, or buy parts by the reel rather than in single-unit quantities. You don't see as many creators trying to get rich quick or bootstrap a company.
In my view, this is more in line with what crowdfunding was supposed to be: Getting volume buying commitments for an already working design rather than speculative "investing." A lot of kickstarter/indiegogo "creators" should probably be in jail for fraud.