Wed, Jul 27 2011

Community Update #2: Earning Influence on Quirky

By shirley at 2:00 pm

So you found Quirky and you want to know how to earn influence. That’s great! Here’s a quick and easy guide to get you up to speed.

First, let’s make sure you know what influence means. Influence is our way of calculating the amount of royalties that each person gets for his/her role in developing a product. For as long as we’re making and selling a product, influencers of that product are getting a share of the revenue.

Now that you know what influence is, let’s break down how it translates into cold, hard cashola. Quirky reserves a portion of all product sales for the community: 30% of direct sales and 10% of indirect sales. Think of that reserved portion as the community “pot”. When you earn influence in a product, it means you’re entitled to part of that reserved portion. Or, if you’re picturing the community “pot,” how much delicious money soup goes to you.

Don’t get too bogged down in the percentage numbers. It’s what they’re applied to that matters. 1% of a million dollars is still a hefty chunka change! As Quirky grows, our distribution channels will grow too. If you have influence in a product, you will be earning royalties for as long as we’re selling that product. So we’re in it together for the long run.

Now for the fun part. You can jump in, help develop products, and accumulate influence in your own Quirky account. Here’s a breakdown of how to do that.

1. Submit a product idea.

If Quirky chooses it for development, you will be awarded a large chunk of influence, generally 35% or more. We’re focused on consumer products that would retail for $150 or less and do not require any integrated software or programming. Wondering how to make the most of your submissions? Visit our Learn section and click on the Best Practices tab for tips.

2. Vote for ideas you love.

Voting in Eval: If Quirky marks an idea you voted for as “under consideration,” you will be awarded influence. You have unlimited votes, but be aware that you will gain less influence if you voted for a huge number of submissions in the past 7 days. Treat voting like you’re shopping on a budget instead of going on a shopping spree. Would you really buy the product described?

Voting in a development project: If Quirky chooses a concept, design, name, tagline, etc. that you voted for, you will gain influence. You are helping us decide the best way to design that product!

3. Rate product ideas that are “under consideration”.

If you rate all four criteria (uniqueness, usefulness, wow factor, likeliness to purchase) for 75% or more of the ideas in a round, you will earn influence for that round. On our scale, 1 star = least and 5 stars = most.

4. Participate in surveys.

If you answer 75% or more of the questions in a research survey, you will earn influence for that product. Occasionally, the design team will post ethnographic surveys, where they ask you to post a picture or video of something. If you follow instructions, you will earn influence.

5. Submit designs, names, and taglines in development projects.

If Quirky chooses your idea as a winner, you will be awarded with influence for that product. Each product is different, so pay attention to instructions at the top of each project. That’ll give you a better chance of success.

6. Commit to products in presales.

We will email you to come back and complete your order when we’re ready to ship that product. If you complete your order before the presale cutoff (generally 2 weeks after we’ve emailed, we would include that info in the email), you will earn influence for every presale unit that you purchase.