Going to launch my own campaign soon, and remembered this thread and the impressive success you had.
Reading through the comments on your Kickstarter now though, it seems like the backers after you with pitchforks. Is that just a loud minority?
Feel free to ask any questions and I can try to help
Yeah a few of the Kickstarter backers are upset because even though they got their StayblCam AND some of the rewards - we were still not able to ship some of the other rewards yet. And yes, supplier issues were one of the problems causing this. I do take blame too, and I have learned a TON from this experience, but all in all it will be all good in the end.
And actually, some of those "angry" commenters have since came to us in private and been more supportive. I have also apologized both publically and direct with people and ensured that we WILL take care of every single delayed item, and I mean that. Honesty and integrity comes above all when you're dealing with customers.
Which is also why I decided to compensate $$$ to every customer who have not yet received their StayblCam since ordering after our last production run. We had huge manufacturer delays too this summer (which was out of my control). But... I wanted to make it good with everyone, and posted this;
Compensation for delayed orders! – StayblCam
When my old manufacturer told me we might have to wait "another 8-10 weeks..." well that was the last straw for me.
But I'm super excited about our new manufacturer here in Phoenix (moving to them this week)
- They are just 25 mins from my house! I can stop by whenever I want to and talk to them, check on things, etc.
- They can match / lower our current price per unit
- They can do lower quantities of new color runs
- They can accept blanket orders, allowing us even more flexibility to scale and have inventory at the ready
- They allow random pickup of any number of units we would need on the whim from already produced stock, still with generous Net terms
- They treat every client the same, no matter if you're big or small (not the case with my current mfg. as it is pretty obvious that their "bigger fish" clients always get priority in scheduling
- They can do all the same stuff our guys in California did, and if there is something they don't do, they can outsource it locally to one of their many partners.
We've also signed a deal with Amazon (they actually reached out to us) which gives us access to have what they call "A+ Content" listings (including videos and images in description) + dedicated reps there and them campaigning the product. Cannot wait to get into production again now with this.
The DSLR addon / capability is also coming along nicely in design, soon ready for prototype models we can show off and then produce shortly after. These will open up to additional customers in the market who are using heavier cameras but want a light-weight and compact stabilizer.
Last but not least, we were able to land another 6-figure investment, non-equity based. Instead, it's a royalty-based investment which I think is really a win-win for both me and the investor. The funds will go to scaling up both production and the marketing side of things, and I am more excited than ever!
