Jolla Tablet and TOHKBD (The Other Half Keyboard) are interesting products that leveraged the Indiegogo and Kickstarter crowdfunding platforms. While both teams managed to raise 3x to 6x of the original goal, both product teams encountered significant technical challenges that affect eventual delivery. What they could have done to better improve the communications with contributors? How should the public realise their roles in the crowdfunding campaign and readjust their expectations? These slides were presented in BarCamp Hong Kong 2015 as one of the opening presentations.

1. Crowdfunding lessons learnt
from Jolla Tablet & TOHKBD
Amanda Lam
October 17, 2015

2. Who is Amanda?
• Product Owner, SEEK Asia (jobsDB + JobStreet)
• MSc (with Distinction) in Programmer and Project Management, University of
Warwick, UK
• Podcaster & Executive Committee at Hong Kong PDA User Group (HKPUG)
• Blooger, Youtuber, Gadget Review Writer
• Amateur Developer
▫ Contributor of the Dolphin Input Method engine for Jolla Sailfish OS
▫ Author of Maemo5 Traditional Chinese language pack & various Maemo/MeeGo apps
• Owner of 2 Jolla smartphones and numerous Maemo and MeeGo devices
• Backer of Jolla Tablet & TOHKBD
• Twitter: @amanda_lam
• DaDaBlog.net

3. About
• Established by ex-Nokia MeeGo team
members in 2011
• Launched first smartphone, “Jolla”, in
November 2013
▫ First smartphone shipped with Sailfish OS (based on
MeeGo / Nemo Mobile / Mer / Qt )
▫ 4.5 inch screen, gesture-based UI
▫ “The Other Half” (TOH) back cover
▫ Support Android apps
• Announced Jolla Tablet crowdfunding
campaign in November 2014
▫ First tablet shipped with Sailfish OS 2.0
▫ 7.85” 2048x1536 tablet, Quad-core Intel Atom CPU
▫ Support Android apps
• http://www.jolla.com/
Source: Jolla

4. About TOHKBD
• A hobbyist project created by Dirk van Leersum,
Kimmo Lindholm and Andrew Zhilin
• Make use of Jolla’s The Other Half to create a
hardware QWERTY keyboard (hence the name
“TOH” “KBD”)
• 3D printed cases
• 5-row customised keyboard layout
• Backlight and LEDs
• Magnetically attached, connected and powered by
the phone via I2C & NFC
• https://www.behance.net/gallery/27500387/TOHKBD-The-Other-
Half-Keyboard-for-Jolla-Smartphone
Andrew and Dirk at MWC 2015
Source: Review Jolla Sailfish OS Blog
Source: Behance.net

5. Jolla Tablet Indiegogo Campaign
• Period: Nov 19, 2014 to Dec 16, 2014; then Jan 30, 2015 to Sep 20, 2015
• Original goal: US$ 380,000, met within a few hours!
• Finally US$ 2,576,853 raised (678% of original goal) by 21,644 contributors
▫ “World’s first crowdsourced tablet”
▫ “The most funded Indiegogo campaign ever in Asia and Europe”
• Defined 3 “stretch goals”; 2 of them (128GB SDXC and Split Screen) were met
• Multiple price points at different time
• Options to purchase additional accessories
• Expected delivery: May 2015
• Actual delivery: August 2015 (developers); October to December 2015 (contributors)
• 14 Indiegogo updates from Jolla and many blog posts on Official Jolla Blog
• https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jolla-tablet-world-s-first-crowdsourced-tablet#/story

6. “The Best Tablet of MWC 2015” - Trusted Reviews
Source: Jolla

7. But… Jolla Tablet delivery kept postponed!
Jolla
Tablet
delays
Component
delivery
issues
Component
quality
issues
Missed
factory
timeslots
Sailfish OS
2.0 dev &
QA took
longer than
expected
Jolla
restructure
& exec
departure
Stretch
goals &
spec
changes
Over-
optimistic
initial
delivery
estimation

8. But… Jolla Tablet delivery kept postponed!
Jolla
Tablet
delays
Component
delivery
issues
Component
quality
issues
Missed
factory
timeslots
Sailfish OS
2.0 dev &
QA took
longer than
expected
Jolla
restructure
& exec
departure
Stretch
goals &
spec
changes
Over-
optimistic
initial
delivery
estimation
Murphy’s Law:
Anything that can go wrong
will go wrong!

9. How Jolla managed delays
• Announced in numerous blog posts via Official Jolla Blog (blog.jolla.com)
▫ Apr 23, 2015 Jolla iteration 4: news about Jolla Tablet shipping schedule and more
▫ Jul 6, 2015 July is here, time for a Jolla Tablet update
▫ Jul 23, 2015 Jolla Tablet display and shipping update
▫ Jul 27, 2015 Jolla Tablet Hardware Update
▫ Aug 5, 2015 First batch of Jolla Tablets completed – a factory report
▫ Aug 7, 2015 Jolla Tablet Developer Loan devices shipped! What’s next?
▫ Sep 22, 2015 And we’re sailing! News from Jolla Tablet operations team
▫ Oct 8, 2015 Jolla Tablet: important news from the helm
▫ Oct 13, 2015 Jolla Tablet: frequently asked questions (and answers)
• Jolla staff actively answered questions at first; but in later posts, complaint comments are
just too many and most of them left unanswered.
• Indiegogo updates are not in sync, and most updates are not related to shipment schedules!

10. Complaints, complaints, complaints…

11. Complaints, complaints, complaints…
Order / Purchase vs Invest / Contribute?
Customers / Boss vs Backers /
Contributors?

12. Apology from the Chairman & the newest shipment schedule
“On behalf of my team and myself, I would like to apologize for this. This is not a formal apology on paper –
this is a deep, sincere apology combined with a Japanese style bow with my forehead touching the floor. ”
– Antti Saarnio, Chairman of Jolla

13. TOHKBD Kickstarter Campaign
• Period: Nov 6, 2014 to Dec 7, 2014
• Expected delivery: April 2015
• Actual delivery: June to September 2015
• Original Goal: €55,000, met in <7 hours!
• €166,841 raised (303% of original goal), by 1,217
backers
• Multiple price points with different contents
• Customisable backplate and keyboard colours
• 16 updates from TOHKBD team, mostly done
through Kickstarter & FunkyOtherHalf.com
• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2028347278/tohkbd-the-other-half-keyboard-for-
your-jolla/description

14. Showcased in MWC 2015
Source: Behance.net
Backplate & keyboard
custom colour picker
Source: Behance.net

15. Risks and challenges declared by the TOHKBD team on the
Kickstarter project page
Source: TOHKBD project page at Kickstarter.com
Couldn’t find a similar section
in Jolla Tablet’s Indiegogo
project page?

16. But… TOHKBD delivery also got postponed!
TOHKBD
delays
Component
delivery issues
Over-
optimistic
initial delivery
estimation
Component
quality issues
Manufacturing
process
mistakes
Driver
software
development
challenges
Spec changes
App publish
issues on Jolla
Store

17. But… TOHKBD delivery also got postponed!
TOHKBD
delays
Component
delivery issues
Over-
optimistic
initial delivery
estimation
Component
quality issues
Manufacturing
process
mistakes
Driver
software
development
challenges
Spec changes
App publish
issues on Jolla
Store
Again! Murphy’s Law:
Anything that can go wrong
will go wrong!

18. How TOHKBD team managed delays
• 16 (nearly monthly) progress updates sent through
Kickstarter Updates channel
▫ backers receive emails of every single of them
▫ In the updates, TOHKBD has been absolutely honest
to their challenges they’re facing
▫ nearly all backers are Jolla smartphone owners
 they are early adopters of new technologies
 they have higher tolerance of quality and delivery timeline
 they understand the challenges of how a 3-man team can
work on such a complicated project, and generally
appreciate the team’s efforts
• The team did extra effort to deal with every
personal enquiries, where possible.

19. Lessons learnt (for product/project owners)
Identify and stick with your target audience throughout:
Are they geeks? Early adopters? Or just typical customers?
When estimating delivery timeline, be realistic
(and have enough buffer for Murphy! Maybe 2x of what you calculated?)
Clearly declare the REAL risks of your project, and try to make sure people
understand they are INVESTORS not CUSTOMERS.
Keep bugging your investors / contributors with project progress updates;
honestly describe the challenges you face and your actions and commitment to
tackle them; messages should be in sync across all channels
Dedicate time and resources to answer questions individually, either via the
crowdfunding platform or social media; you may also consider preparing a FAQ

20. Lessons learnt (for investors/contributors)
Search if the product/project owners have managed other
crowdfunding projects before; if they do, read the comments
from investors/contributors of those projects
Read through the Risks and Challenges declared by the
product/project owners and the terms & conditions of the
crowdfunding platform
Do some research on the product details and evaluate whether
the mentioned deliverables and delivery timeline are realistic
You’re NOT a customer but an investor/contributor!
Be prepared to lose all your investment, and should expect
product delivery will always be late (startups need to learn!)
Appreciate the innovative efforts and encourage the
product/project owners if they have done a good job!

21. Questions?