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When hardware Kickstarters ship

engineering.koalasafe.com

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Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#81

Post by Taniwha »

lindseya wrote: post #76
Taniwha wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I've shipped a hardware project on kickstarter, and (just) on time - the original article is a tad unfair, as if they were the only ones to ever ship. And I designed my own hardware ..... the trick is to design your hardware BEFORE you announce your kickstarter, not after ....

What level of fidelity (e.g. self-made prototype, small batch of manufactured prototypes, etc.) would you recommend before going on kickstarter?

it really depends, I have my own pick&place and can do small production runs at home. Before I announced my kickstarter I'd run ~50 prototypes and was running a (free) beta test with a small interested group

I think you need to have something real to show people, absolutely NO handwaving.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#82

Post by qq66 »

polar8 wrote: post #39
qq66 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Rideye looks great. Is that based off the keychain cams widely used in R/C video? Like the 808 #16 or the Möbius?

That was the original design intent, since the 808 camera provided all the video recording functions I needed. I thought I would just buy a bunch of cameras and make some carrier boards for them. I was just out of college at the time, and my coworkers recognized my naivety. They suggested I contact the 808 manufacturer for a custom board spin, and that opened my eyes to the world of mass manufacturing in China. To ma…

Oh, your first plan was to actually build a board to frob the buttons on the 808? If so, it was a good idea not to do that. I've used 808s in R/C and they're very finicky, they will just error out for no reason sometimes. The Mobius is more robust but throws off a lot of heat.

So did you end up using the 808/Mobius manufacturer in the process at all, or completely do everything from scratch? Is at least the lens module + camera controller chip a self-contained module? Would be interested to hear which vendors you used.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#83

Post by boundlessdreamz »

Vendan wrote: post #66
boundlessdreamz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have used your app on HTC One. Liked it but unlocking the phone to use a remote app was more cumbersome than just grabbing the remote. I like the approach Peel is taking. Show what's currently on TV and click on what you want to watch and it automatically switches the channel to that show. That's a real good use of the smartphone app, since flicking through channels on TV is really inefficient

Personally, the approach Peel is taking irritates me. Forces me to select a tv antenna/cable profile thing, when that's useless to me. I have no antenna, I have no cable, I just use a roku with netflix. Why does it have to be so complicated when all I need is a power button and volume control?

If all you want is a remote then SmartRemote is pretty good.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#84

Post by listic »

stephen_g wrote: post #64
listic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading a postmortem about a failed hardware Kickstarter campaign (some photographic accessory: a flash remote?) and they said they contacted a professional manager from the industry who told them he wouldn't even try developing new hardware without a few million in funding, tens of millions being more common. So there, turns out making new hardware is really expensive.

Wow, pretty bad advice they got... The little company I work for does high end microwave equipment (satellite terminals, RF conversion equipment, 5Gbps ultra-low-latency terrestrial links used for high frequency trading, etc.) and only turns over a few million dollars per year... I would be surprised if a flash remote cost more than two or three hundred thousand to develop and productise, tool up and do a small produ…

As I understood the advice, that's what kind of budget it usually takes, at least in the industry of photography, to reliably create a new hardware product with the level of polish that the market is used to.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#85

Post by divisionfurtive »

bsbechtel wrote: post #62
divisionfurtive wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 2-step process. 1 - Are communications easy, fast and meaningful? That's the first step. Contact more than one supplier (on a initial round, think 10 to 20). Make small challenges like posting design files on a secure site that requires the supplier to create an account...you'll get rid of a lot of unworthy suppliers that won't bother and therefore are not going to be proactive in the future. 2 - Invest in r…

This sounds more or less like the process I've gone through. I have yet to explore the option of manufacturing in China....have you done this? Is the process more or less the same?

IMO, this process is universal and particularly effective if you are seeking suppliers on a big platform with a lot of offering like Alibaba.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#86

Post by jkestner »

rebootthesystem wrote: post #79
jkestner wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem rational, but it's a real effect. The theory is that people don't want to back a loser, and perhaps that they are psychologically purchasing the product at the point they make a pledge.

I wonder if anyone has looked at the idea of not showing the funding goal at all until it is funded (or not) or some other metric. For example, show it during the last week of the campaign. I am trying to think of a way to allow project originators the freedom to set reasonable goals (a million, whatever) without fear of this one number becoming a drag on their campaign despite the fact that they are actually being h…

I think that'd be worse because a goal does create a rallying point, and is also used as a signal for how realistic funding this project is (keeping in mind that people irrationally want to back a sure thing).

Yes, it's a problem, though not like IndieGoGo's flexible funding. But I don't take it in isolation - determined creators can make a lot happen with a little money, I know.

I look more closely at the level of detail of what has been done and what needs to be done, and judge whether I think these people have few enough unknowns to complete it. But that's not a metric that most people are able to judge themselves, which is why it's a problem, and also where the Kickstarter community of other backers should kick in.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#87

Post by steven_pack »

nootropicdesign wrote: post #68
Taniwha wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I've shipped a hardware project on kickstarter, and (just) on time - the original article is a tad unfair, as if they were the only ones to ever ship. And I designed my own hardware ..... the trick is to design your hardware BEFORE you announce your kickstarter, not after ....

Yeah, I thought the title was a little exaggerated, too. They aren't the only Kickstarter to ship hardware on time. I shipped my hardware Kickstarter on time, and I did all the hardware and software design, and made the product in the US. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/synthino/synthino-xm-po...

Hehehe, yeah admittedly the "actually" part was exaggerated, but it definitely hit a nerve. There is this sort of tacit understanding hardware kickstarters are often late, but obviously not all, as all the good folk who have posted their own on here have shown.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#88

Post by akgerber »

polar8 wrote: post #41
proee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you finding any significant amount of "post kickstarter" orders?

Yes. Ideally, Kickstarter orders should be the tip of the iceberg for you. The number of people who will pledge real money for an in-development product on Kickstarter is a tiny subset of those who will buy it once it's available for next-day shipping on your website.

I'm in that boat— I've been watching RidEye since early in the Kickstarter, but don't really count on hardware Kickstarters until V1 is shipped and reviewed, especially after hearing about the infamous espresso machine Kickstarter, which was run by some of my girlfriend's classmates.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#89

Post by Vendan »

boundlessdreamz wrote: post #83
Vendan wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, the approach Peel is taking irritates me. Forces me to select a tv antenna/cable profile thing, when that's useless to me. I have no antenna, I have no cable, I just use a roku with netflix. Why does it have to be so complicated when all I need is a power button and volume control?

If all you want is a remote then SmartRemote is pretty good.

Still asks for a tv channel list, and that's the default page of the app.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#90

Post by zrgiu_ »

Vendan wrote: post #89
boundlessdreamz wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all you want is a remote then SmartRemote is pretty good.

Still asks for a tv channel list, and that's the default page of the app.

I believe boundlessdreamz is talking about Smart IR Remote [1]. We named our app "Smart Remote" 2+ years ago, and after a month, Peel (the preloaded app) also renamed itself to Smart Remote (from Peel). We've held on to our name, and they've held on to theirs, which has caused a lot of confusion.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remotefair...

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