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Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

amandapeyton.com

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Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#11

Post by mechanical_fish »

ansible wrote: post #5

I diagree with the thesis. An art project like the one mentioned is relatively small. CE projects, which want to ship millions of units is an entirely different affair, usually costing millions of dollars and large teams composed of many different specialities. Even if you did raise $5 million USD you still need a design team and manufacturing. And there's no guarantee of success either. I just don't see Kickstarter…

Perhaps we merely need to modify the thesis: Kickstarter is the user interface by which independent designers connect a thoroughly mature, ever-improving ecosystem of OEMs and prototyping shops to consumers, thereby potentially disrupting consumer electronics.

The real force here is small-batch manufacturing, which has been a long time in coming. Laser cutters, water-jet cutters, 3D printers, and - perhaps more importantly - the technology to enter a credit card number, press a button, and ship your CAD drawings around the world to a shop in some Chinese city where a team of machinists can whip up a thousand units for small amounts of money.

But the way this technology manifests to US consumers is via Kickstarter campaigns.

And, sure, if you want to scale any of these Kickstarters up to millions of units you'll need a real manufacturing team and capital. But, as with software startups, it's easier to raise capital once you've found product/market fit. And here we have the other advantage of Kickstarter: It makes it easier than ever to find and energize a collection of early customers.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#12

Post by nostromo »

I wonder if KickStarter and similar projects could disrupt YC and TechStars.

For example, I could see DropBox raising a sizable seed round on KickStarter if it was an option when they launched. (Free 250gb plan for a year with a donation of $50.)

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#13

Post by jerf »

benologist wrote: post #10

Where disrupting means tiny, tiny, tiny niche with a disproportionate amount of hype. Games are another example eridius pointed out, showing 6 successful projects out of the 10000s of games that will be produced outside of Kickstarter this year! What's happening is in some cases awesome but it's not disruption.

The timeline is never:

   Day 1: Disruptive company is formed.
   Day 2: Disrupted industry in flames, disruptive company wins!
It's a cowpath today, but I think there's every reason to believe this one can and will be paved.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#14

Post by th0ma5 »

ansible wrote: post #5

I diagree with the thesis. An art project like the one mentioned is relatively small. CE projects, which want to ship millions of units is an entirely different affair, usually costing millions of dollars and large teams composed of many different specialities. Even if you did raise $5 million USD you still need a design team and manufacturing. And there's no guarantee of success either. I just don't see Kickstarter…

I think we see a little of what your talking about with Shapeoko ... awesome idea, execution, community... but the guy hit a scaling hurdle and put maybe a tad too much on himself, but now it is being handled by others, so the whole thing worked out. Other projects will have other experiences, and his situation is unique in most other ways, but it does coincide a little bit with what you're saying.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#15

Post by colonel_panic »

ansible wrote: post #5

I diagree with the thesis. An art project like the one mentioned is relatively small. CE projects, which want to ship millions of units is an entirely different affair, usually costing millions of dollars and large teams composed of many different specialities. Even if you did raise $5 million USD you still need a design team and manufacturing. And there's no guarantee of success either. I just don't see Kickstarter…

I've been wondering how easily a situation could arise in which an underdog could try something like this on Kickstarter and give up, and end up having done nothing but provide free research into market demand that a bigger player with more resources can then take advantage of.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#16

Post by stevengg »

tectonic wrote: post #6

I'd like to see a graphical Dwarf Fortress funded through Kickstarter.

you can already get pretty nice 3Dish plugins for dwarf fortress the lazynewb pack even comes with stonesense http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5143/screenshotlv.png also http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63484 and http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=70700.0

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#17

Post by AdamTReineke »

jedberg wrote: post #2

FWIW, I use Kickstarter solely as a way to fund art projects, a sort of modern art patronage system if you will. I've never even considered that the consumer electronics projects are art in their own right.

Is only funding art intentional or haven't you seen anything in different categories that you wanted (and were willing to spend $X for)?

I've only funded a CD for my friends' band, but if I wasn't a student (aka, had disposable income), there are quite a few things in the consumer electronics space that I would have loved to pick up.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#18

Post by zrgiu_ »

For me it was surprising at first that Kickstarter even worked. It pulled out a better part of people that I really didn't hope that it exists on such a level. People are basically paying for stuff without the 100% guarantee that they'll get it, without previous reviews and opinions about those products, and while knowingly being the first batch of users which will collide head-first with all first bugs and issues.

And most importantly, people are doing this all with an open heart, actually being happy to encourage and assist innovation and creation of new products. I would say that kickstarter is one of the coolest and world-changing website (more than a website.. product, idea) of this decade.

Consumer electronics is just one of the areas KS is disrupting. Software and games are another one. But there are basically no limits! I wholeheartedly believe that once KS is popular enough if someone came with a project to send a video camera to the moon (on which you can buy video time to simply rotate it and look around) it would get funded right away.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#19

Post by pkh80 »

nostromo wrote: post #12

I wonder if KickStarter and similar projects could disrupt YC and TechStars. For example, I could see DropBox raising a sizable seed round on KickStarter if it was an option when they launched. (Free 250gb plan for a year with a donation of $50.)

Definitely! Why can't I buy $100 worth of stock in a startup along with 1000's of other people?

Some SEC rules or something?

EDIT: Then imagine how motivated those 1000's of others would be to promote a startup they owned a stake in.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#20

Post by unimpressive »

pkh80 wrote: post #19
nostromo wrote: post #12

I wonder if KickStarter and similar projects could disrupt YC and TechStars. For example, I could see DropBox raising a sizable seed round on KickStarter if it was an option when they launched. (Free 250gb plan for a year with a donation of $50.)

Definitely! Why can't I buy $100 worth of stock in a startup along with 1000's of other people? Some SEC rules or something? EDIT: Then imagine how motivated those 1000's of others would be to promote a startup they owned a stake in.

Not sure if that's tongue in cheek or not...

But that was part of the recent JOBS act. You'll be able to do that soon for good or ill.

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