This document summarizes lessons learned from 20 hardware crowdfunding campaigns run by startups accelerated by HAX. Some key findings include: 1) campaigns require extensive preparation and work post-launch to build momentum; 2) many projects underestimate costs and manufacturing difficulties, risking delays or inability to deliver; and 3) while crowdfunding can help launch products, successful campaigns do not guarantee a startup will be viable or attract venture funding. A failed crowdfunding campaign also does not necessarily mean the end for an idea or team.
Best practices for crowdfunding your hardware startup in 2017, collected from over 70 campaigns run by HAX portfolio companies, including 10 who raised over $1 million.
From Idea to Market. How to build a hardware startupAgnieszka Nazaruk
We are on the verge of hardware revolution. In this slideshare we share our journey from idea to the market, talk about how hardware is different from software, enablers of hardware revolution, stages of hardware development, prototyping, crowdfunding and manufacturing.
"Financing a hardware startup" is an intro presentation to the Hardware Kit, a tool kit for hardware startups giving all the info HW startups need to grow successfully.
We focus here on the financing strategy which is key for any hardware startup.
More than any other business, in hardware cash is king ! You need a lot of it to finance not only production but also marketing and distribution.
This presentation gives you the basics for your financing strategy from your pre-order campaign to VC funding.
More to come with The Hardware Kit soon.
Elephants&Ventures
Best practices for crowdfunding your hardware startup in 2017, collected from over 70 campaigns run by HAX portfolio companies, including 10 who raised over $1 million.
From Idea to Market. How to build a hardware startupAgnieszka Nazaruk
We are on the verge of hardware revolution. In this slideshare we share our journey from idea to the market, talk about how hardware is different from software, enablers of hardware revolution, stages of hardware development, prototyping, crowdfunding and manufacturing.
"Financing a hardware startup" is an intro presentation to the Hardware Kit, a tool kit for hardware startups giving all the info HW startups need to grow successfully.
We focus here on the financing strategy which is key for any hardware startup.
More than any other business, in hardware cash is king ! You need a lot of it to finance not only production but also marketing and distribution.
This presentation gives you the basics for your financing strategy from your pre-order campaign to VC funding.
More to come with The Hardware Kit soon.
Elephants&Ventures
This infographic from Zillable is about Innovation management. It discussses what are the things involved in the process of managing an organization's innovation procedure, starting at the initial phase of ideation, to its final phase of successful implementation.
What is Zillable?
Zillable™ is the world’s first team collaboration network for innovation-on-demand, where teams can make work and innovation happen. As a secured communication and collaboration hub, Zillable provides teams with an intelligent network that bridges minds and workflows. With Zillable, you can chat, get stuff done and remember everything. For more information, please visit www.Zillable.com. Try it for Free.
Turning Products into Companies – Case – Actuality SystemsMichael Skok
Through this case example, Actuality Systems Founder Gregg Favalora offers helpful insight into the path Actuality took from product design, to its acquisition by Optics for Hire in 2009 - and the ultimate patent sale (and exit) in 2011. Offering an insider’s view of building and commercializing 3D display products, Gregg offers his thoughts on some powerful lessons he learned as he grew his company.
Applying Innovation in Software DevelopmentAmish Gandhi
Sometimes the only difference between the winners and the losers is that the winners figure out how to innovate. Innovation is a broad term and this presentation outlines what it means for enterprises and companies involved in developing software. This presentation highlights how innovation can be applied at various stages of software product development and in different ways by applying special techniques, tools and frameworks.
Note: This was also a QCon Shanghai Keynote Talk. Full talk up at http://www.infoq.com/cn/presentations/business-innovation
Perpetual website: http://www.perpetualny.com
The Hardware Startup by Katherine Hague of The Blueprint from TechToronto Feb...TechTO
Interested in building a hardware startup this deck runs you through all you need to know and the entire hardware ecosystem. Loved this presentation? You should attend TechToronto meetups to see this and other Toronto tech founders present live. To find out about the next meetup check us out here: http://www.meetup.com/torontotech/
My invited talk at TCS AgileCafe, Bangalore on Sep 29. In this talk, I explore how large #enterprises are creating #innovative products using #leanstartups
The Innovation Engine, Andrew Breen, American ExpressLean Startup Co.
Large, established organizations fear disruption from big tech and startups. In trying to thwart that they have resorted to several approaches to innovation to scale such as labs, acquisitions and spin-outs. Most have not succeed often due to the impediments that corporate culture and organizational design bring. The Innovation Engine is a framework developed by Andrew Breen which addresses these issues. Andrew has built this not only from his experience building eight tech startups but also in his current role building a Lean startup at American Express.
Value Proposition – Case – Diagnostics for AllMichael Skok
This case example provides an overview of DFA’s approach to defining its value proposition, as well as its ability to address qualitative evaluation and gain/pain ratio requirements.
This is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Scaling Agile is not the Path to Business Agility - CIO EDGEInês Almeida
I spoke to Australia’s top technology leaders at Adapt's #CIOEDGE event challenging them to review the focus of their current Agile Transformation initiatives and take a design-led approach to Business Digital Transformation.
Turning Products into Companies - Case - SolidWorksMichael Skok
John McEleney, former CEO of SolidWorks, discusses how the 3D design company became a market leader. He reviews how it is easy to start a company but hard to build a business, offering an instructive view of the approaches he took that led to his success and the company’s ultimate acquisition by Dassault Systems.
Slash | The Age of Acceleration and the Great Societal ShiftSlash
In this internal Slash talk (2019) we covered:
1) the underlying dynamics that accelerate the exponential change we're seeing across society, tech and climate.
2) We summarized 2 books and highlighed key ideas:
- Thank you for being late (Thomas Friedman)
- Homo Deus (Yuval Noah Harari)
3) the implication for Slash
Crowdfunding lessons learnt from Jolla Tablet & TOHKBDAmanda Lam
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.
This infographic from Zillable is about Innovation management. It discussses what are the things involved in the process of managing an organization's innovation procedure, starting at the initial phase of ideation, to its final phase of successful implementation.
What is Zillable?
Zillable™ is the world’s first team collaboration network for innovation-on-demand, where teams can make work and innovation happen. As a secured communication and collaboration hub, Zillable provides teams with an intelligent network that bridges minds and workflows. With Zillable, you can chat, get stuff done and remember everything. For more information, please visit www.Zillable.com. Try it for Free.
Turning Products into Companies – Case – Actuality SystemsMichael Skok
Through this case example, Actuality Systems Founder Gregg Favalora offers helpful insight into the path Actuality took from product design, to its acquisition by Optics for Hire in 2009 - and the ultimate patent sale (and exit) in 2011. Offering an insider’s view of building and commercializing 3D display products, Gregg offers his thoughts on some powerful lessons he learned as he grew his company.
Applying Innovation in Software DevelopmentAmish Gandhi
Sometimes the only difference between the winners and the losers is that the winners figure out how to innovate. Innovation is a broad term and this presentation outlines what it means for enterprises and companies involved in developing software. This presentation highlights how innovation can be applied at various stages of software product development and in different ways by applying special techniques, tools and frameworks.
Note: This was also a QCon Shanghai Keynote Talk. Full talk up at http://www.infoq.com/cn/presentations/business-innovation
Perpetual website: http://www.perpetualny.com
The Hardware Startup by Katherine Hague of The Blueprint from TechToronto Feb...TechTO
Interested in building a hardware startup this deck runs you through all you need to know and the entire hardware ecosystem. Loved this presentation? You should attend TechToronto meetups to see this and other Toronto tech founders present live. To find out about the next meetup check us out here: http://www.meetup.com/torontotech/
My invited talk at TCS AgileCafe, Bangalore on Sep 29. In this talk, I explore how large #enterprises are creating #innovative products using #leanstartups
The Innovation Engine, Andrew Breen, American ExpressLean Startup Co.
Large, established organizations fear disruption from big tech and startups. In trying to thwart that they have resorted to several approaches to innovation to scale such as labs, acquisitions and spin-outs. Most have not succeed often due to the impediments that corporate culture and organizational design bring. The Innovation Engine is a framework developed by Andrew Breen which addresses these issues. Andrew has built this not only from his experience building eight tech startups but also in his current role building a Lean startup at American Express.
Value Proposition – Case – Diagnostics for AllMichael Skok
This case example provides an overview of DFA’s approach to defining its value proposition, as well as its ability to address qualitative evaluation and gain/pain ratio requirements.
This is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Scaling Agile is not the Path to Business Agility - CIO EDGEInês Almeida
I spoke to Australia’s top technology leaders at Adapt's #CIOEDGE event challenging them to review the focus of their current Agile Transformation initiatives and take a design-led approach to Business Digital Transformation.
Turning Products into Companies - Case - SolidWorksMichael Skok
John McEleney, former CEO of SolidWorks, discusses how the 3D design company became a market leader. He reviews how it is easy to start a company but hard to build a business, offering an instructive view of the approaches he took that led to his success and the company’s ultimate acquisition by Dassault Systems.
Slash | The Age of Acceleration and the Great Societal ShiftSlash
In this internal Slash talk (2019) we covered:
1) the underlying dynamics that accelerate the exponential change we're seeing across society, tech and climate.
2) We summarized 2 books and highlighed key ideas:
- Thank you for being late (Thomas Friedman)
- Homo Deus (Yuval Noah Harari)
3) the implication for Slash
Crowdfunding lessons learnt from Jolla Tablet & TOHKBDAmanda Lam
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.
In this talk, we introduce the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework as well as the DE canvas. We end with a challenge to the founding team: "Why are you in business?"
Pivot to the only people worth listing to 3 31-2020Patrick Hogan
Introduction to the Gateway Adopter psychographic segment at the Seattle Angel Conference 3-31-2020. Know how to find and engage the small key set of people that are the leaders in your market.
Now is the best time to start a company… Now what?Brian Kelly
It used to take years to launch a new software product. Now you can create, launch, and have paying customers getting value from your product in just a few months. This presentation explains why it's never been a better time to start a software company and what you need to consider to make it a reality.
Should you start with a side gig? Should you raise venture capital? How should you think about your cap table and employee options? What's your exit strategy? This presentation tackles these questions.
David Corcoran, cofounder at Third Rail Group, gave this talk at Do it Best Corp.'s annual Techapalooza on March 14, 2017.
DAN Brand Accelerator: Client Pitch KeynoteJason Newport
Here is the Brand Accelerator pitch deck I began using to pitch current clients more than two years ago. I refined as we advanced through each phase once clients had signed on and we adjusted as necessary. I pitched this to more than twenty clients, all household brand names -- an converted each of them. Not a single brand declined to move forward.
More than half of Kickstarter campaigns fail to reach their crowdfunding goal. The presentation examines the reasons for that and suggest the steps to be taken to improve your chances to succeed.
We're on the precipice of unprecedented value chain disruption. Lower barriers to entry (Internet everywhere, cheap connected hardware, easy to learn programming languages, data driven brand experiences, crowd funding and social validation) multiplied by an African population hungry for connection, for solutions, for invention and we're faced an unknown quantity of inventiveness - the invention economy.
This presentation aims to introduce the concept of disruption, build a rationale as to why it's coming, and how to deal with it NOW.
Audience: Corporates, large businesses, businesses ruled by legacy culture.
RiseUp redefines the way parents & coaches interact and prepare, develop and promote our youth for tomorrow's challenges. With our innovative use of cognitive, semantic and web technologies we provide the best available tools for personal development, coaching and recruiting anywhere.
RiseUp is currently in the process of raising it's seed round to complete its product development, launch program and a series of field marketing events.
Presented for the first time at IDEAS Show in Taiwan, HAX goes through what it takes for hardware startups to be lean. Learn the easy way: join Hardvard!
What is 'deep tech' and what is unique about it from an investment perspective? SOSV shares the lessons learned from investing in over 800 startups, many in robotics, IoT, medtech, synthetic biology and more.
What is 'deep tech' and what is unique about it from an investment perspective? SOSV shares the lessons learned from investing in over 800 startups, many in robotics, IoT, medtech, synthetic biology and more.
What is 'deep tech' and what is unique about it from an investment perspective? SOSV shares the lessons learned from investing in over 800 startups, many in robotics, IoT, medtech, synthetic biology and more.
Building Deep Tech Startups Outside Silicon ValleyHAX
The resources you need can be distributed: for R&D, prototyping, production, financing and customers. Silicon Valley is an expensive option in most cases!
What Every Startup And Corporate Should Know About ExitsHAX
Startups: prepare -- Corporates: build your playbook!
Talk given at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in Paris in March 2019, inspired by the 50 speakers of the "Exit Masterclass" series we ran in 2018 in SF, NYC, London and Paris.
HAX Hardware Review - 1H 2018 Trends and OutlookHAX
The past year has been very active for hardware. IPOs, acquisitions (and some spectacular failures) have made the news. With advancements in deep tech and automation, connected technology in healthcare, homes and offices, hardware is changing the way people experience and improve life and the world around them.
This report is a summary of news from the hardware tech world; new movements we saw through working with startups, and some of our thoughts on the year ahead. A full copy of the report is available for download at: hax.co/hax-hardware-review-1H2018
Crazy cool or boring - what good hardware startups look likeHAX
The most spectacular or high tech might not be the best business. Boring and B2B is more often solving a real problem. We share a few examples from our robotics portfolio of startup trajectories.
The future will not look like the future of old - flying cars, jet packs and humanoid robots. Boring and invisible disruptions are on the way. Examples from the hardware world show that soon "A.I.-powered" will sound like "electric".
A Brief History of Venture Capital Innovation from 1946 to Today, from Sand Hill Rd to Startup Studios, Accelerators, Crowdfunding, AngelList and ICOs.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
1. 8 THINGS ABOUT
HARDWARE CROWDFUNDING
WE LEARNED FROM
20 CAMPAIGNS
LEAN HARDWARE SERIES
BY HAXLR8R
2. HI ! WE’RE HAX
• Startup accelerator for hardware
– Most Prolific Investor in Hardware Crowdfunding
– The “Lean Hardware” and “12 Wares” guys
• We researched and practiced crowdfunding
– 20 successful campaigns run by HAX startups
– Studied many others
– Found false positives, false negatives
– Discovered warning signs, broken hearts
– And some glorious successes
4. 8 THINGS ABOUT CROWDFUNDING
THE BETTER MOUSETRAP MYTH
CAMPAIGNS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL
CAMPAIGNS DON’T RUN THEMSELVES
IT MIGHT NOT SHIP
FUNDED != PROFITS
PROJECTS ARE NOT ALL ORIGINAL
FUNDED DOES NOT MEAN STARTUP
A FAILED FUNDING IS NOT THE END
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
5. THE BETTER MOUSETRAP MYTH
• The world won’t beat a path to your door…
• Be MUCH better (10x) or DIFFERENT
• Might work for highly fragmented markets
• Don’t forget your margins!
1
The problem with mousetraps
• 4,400 patents since 1879
• 400 new applicants per year
• “most frequently invented
device in U.S. history”
6. SLIM WALLETS
Niche, but margins make
sense, and products are
more likely to ship.
Slimmest, minimalist, elegant, intuitive,
colorful, RFID-compliant, RFDI-resistant,
expandable, eco-friendly, machined,
Made in USA, Italian leather, laser-cut
wood, carbon-fiber, aluminum, with
battery pack…
Pick your story!
7. HOW ABOUT TECH PRODUCTS?
– Smartwatches, 3D printers, drones… the first generation
is probably over. Are those commodities already?
– Many creators underestimate costs and delays and
miscalculate margins.
47 companies launched 3D printers
and raised $100K+ or more in crowdfunding
Source: Flybridge Capital Partners, 2014.6
8. CAMPAIGNS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL
• Most figure it out manufacturability late
– This is the riskiest approach!
– Might cost lots, be unfeasible or lead to manufacturing issues
• Some have funding
– Can spend on video, ads, social media
– They still need to make their products
• Some have experience in manufacturing
– A small minority
• Some have experienced support
– HAX offers support and investment
– Agents charge you for support
– Corporate partners have their own targets
2
9. KICKSTARTER STATISTICS
• Technology & Design are the “Hardware” categories
• They represent 30% of backers dollars ($350M)
• Reaching $1m is (very) rare (0.7%)
TECHNOLOGY & DESIGN
5,368 funded projects
>$100k
731 funded projects (13%)
HAX
16 projects over $100k
>$1M
37 funded projects (0.7%)
10. $13.3M $10.3M $8.6M $6.2M $3.4M
COOLEST
COOLER
Failed its first
campaign
PEBBLE
Sold 10,000 units
of another watch
and raised $375k
pre-campaign
OUYA
Designed by
Yves Behar
PONO
Co-founded by
Neil Young
MICRO
$3.4M $2.9M $2.8M $2.4M $2.4M
DASH FORM 1
Raised $500k
pre-campaign
SCIO
Raised $1.9M
pre-campaign
OCULUS SENSE
Raised $10.5M
pre-campaign
11. $2.3M $2.2M $2M $2M $1.7M
JIBO
Raised $5.6m
pre-campaign
SOLAR
ROADWAYS
Feasibility in
question
SKULLY SCANADU
Raised $2m
pre-campaign
CANARY
Raised $1.2m
pre-campaign
$1.5M $1.4M $1.3M $1.3M $1.3M
KREYOS
Product issues
RITOT
Feasibility in question
GEEK WAVE AIR TAME TRACKR
12. CAMPAIGNS DON’T RUN THEMSELVES
• Preparation is key
– Line up backers
– Line up media
– Timing
• Post-launch, build momentum
– It can be a full time job!
3
13. SOME CAMPAIGN TIPS
Leverage campaign
inertia and capture
orders post-funding
Stretch goals are important
but pitch a complete product.
Core features in stretch goals
might turn off backers
Plan your pledges carefully and
pick the right providers to automate
BUNNIE HUANG
what you can.
MIT PhD, Hardware Hacker (first Xbox hacker)
Creator of Novena open source laptop ($700k on CrowdSupply)
14. IT MIGHT NOT SHIP
• Did creators figure out manufacturing?
– Many have zero experience
– “We will select our manufacturing partners
as soon as we receive the funds”
might not work
– “Parachute manufacturing” often fails
(like a week in Shenzhen)
• Late… or never
– Some projects can’t be made
– Some might disappoint
– Some are downright scams
4
Where are the goods?
15. LATEWARE, LAMEWARE, SCAMWARE…
“I really hope to get mine before I am too old to use it”
A backer for a project 15 months late
16. THE RISE AND FALL OF KREYOS
2013.8 Raises $1.5 million on Indiegogo
2013.11 Planned delivery. Multiple delays.
2014.8 Poor product shipped. Complains.
2014.9 Post by founder reveals Kreyos a naïve
marketing front for a Chinese ODM
17. CAVEAT BACKERS
Do creators fully
comprehend what
they signed up for?
Backers should research
the backgrounds of
creators and their teams
There is a stark difference between
industry veterans and fresh grads.
The latter are rarely capable of due diligence
EVGENY LAZARENKO
Doctor of Engineering, Startup Geek
18. FUNDED != PROFITS
• Not if they sell at cost (LOSSware)
– Know your costs (incl. certification, molds, etc.)
– Charge 3-4x if pricing bottom-up
5
“You will be
receiving Shru
at cost price.”
19. ANATOMY OF A $100K PROJECT
$100k
- $30k BOM (1/3 of Sales)
- $20k tooling
= $50k for a team for a year
How much ramen
can you eat?
20. PROJECTS ARE NOT ALL ORIGINAL
• It used to be
• But some found Alibaba.com
– We call those “ALIware”
6
21. FUNDED DOES NOT MEAN STARTUP
• Can it cross the chasm?
– Backers are “Innovators” and “early adopters”
– Product might not have mass market appeal
– It might also be NICHEware or FUTUREware
• Are there barriers to entry?
– Investors prefer those
– EASYware can be copied
– Software, algorithms, community can be strong IP
– Crowdfunding can kickstart your community!
7
22. FROM CROWDFUNDED TO FREE
$695,138 $34,000
2013.10
PRESSY
$27
2014.1
SPEED BUTTON
$3
2014.4
MIKEY
by Xiaomi
$1
2014.8
SMART BUTTON
by Qihoo
FREE
Qihoo gave away 1m smart buttons to college students since mid-August 2014
It uses the smart button to acquire users for its services Source: TechInAsia, 2014.9.4
23. STARTUP OR NOT STARTUP?
Even a massive crowdfunding success does
not mean a company is a fit for venture funding.
MATTHEW WITHEILER
General Partner, Flybridge
Capital
Backers are
buying a product.
Investors are
buying a vision.
Some products may
generate tons of demand
(like Coolest Cooler) but
may not be great venture
investments.
24. STARTUP OR NOT STARTUP?
Most campaigns are products, not startups.
Most companies that launch a
crowdfunding campaign don’t
have a plan to go from a single
product to a huge empire, and
that keeps them from being VC
investable startups.
ZACH SUPALLA
If you make a kitchen
scale, it can be
a viable business
but it’s not clear
how that becomes
a $1B empire.
Founder & CEO, Spark (HAX 2)
25. A FAILED FUNDING IS NOT THE END
• COOLEST COOLER failed the first time
FAILED $100k Dec. 2013
FUNDED $11M Aug. 2014
• Why it succeeded later?
– Maybe more advanced project, timing
(Summer vs. Winter), “restart boost”, other?
8
Which
would you
back?
26. FROM OUR FILES: SPARK
FAILED $125k Dec. 2012 (pre-HAX)
FUNDED $567k Jun. 2013 (post-HAX)
– Repositioning of both problem & solution with HAX
– Went on to raised $4.9M with VCs a year later
Spark Core: Wi-Fi for
Everything (Arduino
BEFORE AFTER
Spark: Upgrade your lights
with Wi-Fi and apps
27. LIKE THE LEGEND OF THE PHOENIX
• Some failed campaigns are run by strong teams
who built significant technology
• Campaigns might fail because
– You’re building the wrong solution
– You’re working on the wrong problem
– You are bad at marketing or with bad timing
– Your customers are not backers
• With “pivot” or “repositioning”
they might come back as
“phoenix campaigns”
28. ABOUT HAX
Because ATOMS are not like BITS
and creators learn with their TOOLS
we are in the ‘SILICON VALLEY for HARDWARE’ for
Prototyping & sourcing
Tools & factories
Know-how
to help create your LEAN HARDWARE STARTUP
Build the right thing
Build things right
Ship fast
29. BUILD THE FUTURE WITH US
HAXLR8R.COM
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