Updated Kickster Renders

Did you guys make sure that the cord wrap stand-off near the camera lens doesn’t interfere with the viewing angle? Just looks like it might interfere.

“RT @nikkilaffel: Happy 4 month birthday to @quirkyinc – 17 products in 4 months…not too shabby! # 2009/10/03″

Isn’t that tweet a bit misleading? By my count, it’s one product so far. A couple more are in production and the rest are just concepts with nice 3D renderings. That’s like me saying “9 symphonies in 4 months” when, in reality, I wrote one and just thought about the other 8.

@r, you’re here for a reason– you’re free to leave if you don’t like what we’re up to.. but we’re pretty proud of our collective work!

@nikki — You are right. I am here for a reason, which is probably the same reason almost everybody else is here, and the reason Quirky exists: just trying to cash in on other people’s ideas.

My apologies if some of my past comments have appeared critical but I am a strong proponent for such virtues as speaking the truth (especially in advertising), keeping one’s promises, and other moral, if not legal, obligations. I feel it is important that someone in this community acts as watchdog, questioning authority when necessary, and exposing the occasional BS.

However, if Quirky is looking to build a community composed entirely of sheep and lap dogs, then please, by all means, do what is necessary to revoke my membership.

Thanks for appointing yourself as our watchdog, r.

Pity we all didn’t get to vote you into that role, eh? But I guess community participation can only go so far.

And us sheep and lapdogs wouldn’t have voted for you anyway, I suppose. No, we would have just assumed you were some disgruntled namethiser or unsuccessful contributor with too much time on his/her hands, out to seek revenge by making as many negative comments as possible, however irrelevant.

B

(baaaa baaaa, woof woof)

@ Nikki / Ben

The renders look great.

The problem I see with pre-orders on this one is that anyone who wants a case for their shiny new Nano wants it NOW, not in an indefinite amount of time (i.e. when it meets the presale target).

Different for powercurls and digidudes, where the inconvenience can be put up with until the product arrives. But with a new Nano, people will want to protect the baby from day one. That’s how I and friends have always felt with iPods / iPhones in the past…

In the meantime our competitors will be getting their products out to the market. So we’ll miss the benefit of the initial desire to buy the brand new Nano, as well as, potentially, the forthcoming holiday season.

Surely, with the Quirky team’s experience selling iPod products, and links to distribution channels there, an initial batch of these could be ordered with everyone feeling quite comfortable that they will sell if they can be shipped within a few days?

The price and the product are great, after all!

@B — At first I thought I had received a response from Ben, but then I realized that it must just be from some fellow Quirky member named “B.” No community-driven company president could possibly be so unprofessional and condescending in a response to a member, regardless of the degree of disagreement. My apologies to Ben for my hasty assumption!

Nope, not Ben, same initial.

We could get into a debate around whether or not holding yourself out as the community’s needed watchdog is much more condescending than what I said.

But then that wouldn’t take the Kickster (what this thread was originally about) any further, so I don’t propose to go there.

@B – I think you make a really good point here, ultimately I think we would only be shooting ourselves in the foot by missing out on the holiday season because of waiting for pre sales.

I understand completely the reasoning for getting x number of orders in before spending money developing a new product but it would be really great to see Quirky show more faith in a products product life cycle by getting it to market as soon as possible. Not only this but it to me seems almost impossible to get any retailer to purchase any quantity of a product that doesn’t actually exist yet. Chances of getting a product bought and sold by another retailer rely heavily on them seeing the product first hand.

(my comments don’t seem to be submitting :S hope this one works)

M, B, R… it’s getting like a James Bond film round here.

Anyhow, yep I agree M. I’d sure be interested to hear Ben’s thoughts on going at this one a little differently.

Hah, yea it wouldn’t submit my comment with my full name so figured just use my initial since it had worked for you guys

Just did a quick Google search to check out the competition on this one. The Kickster really really is well priced and better than anything that I can see on the market. It needs to get out there!

Hey Ben & Nikki – what are your views about what we say above – about getting these out there?

I linked you to my
“wrap it up” post today on
Bright, Bold, and Beautiful

Laura Trevey

yeah – i mean i think the product looks awesome too! Id love to see it made. you know how it works, it’s up to you all to help us hit threshold so we can go make this thing. use your social sales links to earn more influence and spread the word so we can get this one to manufacturing. for those of you who have never used social sales before here is an explanatory page: http://www.quirky.com/home/social_sales

Trouble is, social sales might get us there in the end, but when that happens there will be more competition around, and we may miss the holiday season. Right now this is a killer product.

So, if it’s totally up to the community to sell them, any of you Quirksters feel like buying a couple of hundred which you can then sell on at a profit??! eBay quirky product reseller anyone?

You know what B I have seriously considered buying the rest of them to get us to 300, not sure how much influence I’d gain for it though

Just seems a shame to let the product miss the holiday season really, add 2 months production time onto it and the pre sale orders will be the only ones delivered around Christmas.

@Nikki, I’ve really tried to push the social sales, honestly I have, over 2000 referrals, 10 sales. Was difficult getting it onto the tech blogs. A lot of forums don’t like people “advertising” even if you make it look like you are just sharing a cool product you have found.

@all of the above who have chosen to use their first initial…

there is an in depth plan in place to get these products out and commercialized once they hit pre-sale threshold. A plan which includes big box retailers, aggressive advertising spends, an extensive PR campaign, and much more.

With all that said, it is important to remember why pre-sales is there. Its our final check/balance before we go ahead an invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into producing a product. It is up to you, as Quirks to get this thing to threshold if you want to see it become a reality.

We provide you with many tools to make that easy, including social sales, etc. Presale commitments do not charge your card, they simply authorize until the product is ready to ship.

Beyond that, there is much incentive offered to all pre-sale committers through the ability to gain a perpetual royalty on the product. When was the last time you walked into a store, bought something, and then benefited from all the people who bought it after you?

You guys are visionaries, early adopters…. influencers– in the true sense of the word.

If you want something to happen, if you want to get a product made– you know how, spread the good word, throw down that credit card. convince your fellow community members that a product is a good one and worth the investment.

We are ready to sell, market, commercialize, and collectively profit from the ideas that hit threshold. But we can’t do that until you guys pull your weight.

And thats what makes quirky great.

-Ben Kaufman

Wow. I felt really sad to learn that you believe the user community isn’t doing its share, Ben!

And I was kind of confused by your assertion that what makes Quirky great is that you “can’t [sell, market...] until [we] pull [our] weight.” If Quirky achieves greatness, it will be because you guys have found a way to create a community, harness its creativity, and turn it into products people want. The requirement that this same community buy the products before you commit to marketing them is one way to skin the cat, and it may be “great” for you, but I was truly shocked when I found out. I thought I was investing intellectual capital and didn’t know my $$ was part of the equation. I guess it’s partly a communication problem: Somehow the way the site presents everything made me think you guys were aggressively, publicly marketing the products from the get-go.

I hope you don’t think Quirky fans are disingenuous, Ben. I can love a product but not need it (just because I see a market for a product doesn’t mean I AM that market). Lots of people, out of concern for the economy or the environment or feng shui, do their best to buy only what they need or can at least really use. (Frankly, given my predilection for NOT spending, it’s amazing I’ve been wowed enough to pre-order three Quirky items!)

And with all due respect for the popularity of viral marketing, I have always found it offensive when friends with something to gain try to get me to buy something. (It’s nothing to do with the level of commitment to Quirky; I wouldn’t even let my daughter sell Girl Scout cookies!) I would never presume to tell a friend about a product unless I were truly sure it was something that would be of interest to her. Given that most of my friends are middle-aged women, the tech/hip nature of lots of these products does not make for a natural fit. It’s also hard to “sell” products that in reality may not ever become available. If someone needs something (a mouse pad, for example), they’re likely to find another one before the threshold is met.

I value transparency, clarity, reciprocity, and choice, and I hope you’ll be willing to entertain the notion that for some of us, the idea of perpetual royalty (while really, really appealing!) doesn’t always dovetail with the integrity with which we’ve chosen to spend and recommend.

Lots of hugs (they’re free!),
Stacy

Stacy, i totally appreciate and agree with all of your comments.

I certainly do not think the quirky community has not pulled its weight. I could not me more ecstatic with the fact that we’ve got 4 products through to production in less then 4 months. We’ve gone way beyond my expectations. And I am grateful.

My comment was meant to simply point out– that what is fantastic about the quirky model is that not everything gets made, but it takes a lot of pieces coming together, a lot of stars aligning, etc– to make a product real… just like in a real product development setting.

As it is said– necessity is the mother of invention. If something is not needed, and people don’t buy it there is no reason to make it/produce it.

My point in my previous comment was simply that, if it is needed– people will buy it– and it will get made. If its not, sobeit. That is what makes quirky great.

I apologies to any who misinterpreted the above.

Hugs Back (Your credit card will only be charged once your hug ships),
Ben

@Ben – how ecstatic are you that your first product is being bashed on this site by community members as a shoddy piece of Chinese made plastic ca-ca?

Please pay what is owed to the namethis.com community before you fck over the quirky too.