Yes, we would use Kickstarter again. It drove a lot of our traffic and the community of backers seems to have a unique cohesion. People on KS know what they are getting in to, and are there to help. It has it's downsides, but in my opinion the pros outweigh the cons.
I think each company is different though, and you have to consider your strengths, as in do you have a strong online acquisition strategy/team, in which case a campaign on your own site may make more sense.
Now that our campaign is over we use Celery for pre-orders on nebia.com
It's really important to have a plan for this. We were not prepared and got blindsided and it took basically the whole teams effort for a couple of days before we systematized it.
Here is a direct quote from the guy who set up and manages our customer service system "be meticulous but also efficient".
The best platform we've used is "Front" also a YC company. Clean and super fast interface.
This is a common concern amongst all founders I'm pretty sure. It certainly was for us at first. But it shouldn't be. Most people have their own problems to worry about. Obviously it depends on what stage you're at. If you are "pre-market", that is, if you haven't shipped yet. I wouldn't worry to much about it. Just focus on making it better than anyone else and understanding what your customers or potential customers actually want, from an end-to-end experience. It's unlikely that someone with better tools and more machines will ALSO be scrappier and learn to understand their user better and execute on all of those fronts better (I'm thinking customer service and e-commerce for example).
I would focus less on being replicated, and focus more on handling your own issues. Another way to think about it is if you get to the point where you product is good enough and with enough attention that it gets copied in a serious way, you've clearly achieved something.
Cover your bases with IP and be smart, but just focus on getting the best product to market fastest and delivering a great customer experience.
Great question. Fortunately showerheads are often something that people need more than one of for different bathrooms in their home. So if they like one, hopefully they will buy more.
Further to that we have plans for making the Nebia experience more customizable. And so in future versions there will be features that allow you to make the experience even more personal, and these will allow for repeated brand interactions with the customer.
Build a really great product! We envision improved versions of the shower, and after that other products that use water in the home. The product development cycle is realistically 18-24 before you get something to market, so it is a long timeline.
Good question. I'll take this one since we are trying to do all of our manufacturing in the US. I do not think companies have an ethical obligation to manufacture in the US at all. Make the product where you can make it BEST. And you have to self-define what BEST is. In our case we care a lot about high quality and cosmetics. So it made sense to focus on the US, where you can have more oversight and be on the line.
As for marketing value of "American Made" I think it can be very helpful, but you have to make that a part of your brand. Otherwise it won't make much of a difference.
We built up a big email list. Starting with the team we had ~12k emails collectively (team of 6 people). Everyone we had ever emailed. And tiered the emails/frequency. We also did a lot of pilots beforehand and gathered interest from people who had ACTUALLY interacted with the product. And in our case had showered with Nebia!
We made our own storyboard, Carlos, my co-founder is very creative and a good storyteller so he crafted the arch of the video. We studied Nancy Duarte's stuff. We worked very closely with our videographer who also put his heart and soul into it. In short, storyboard/script in-house, filming/editing outsourced.
I think it depends a lot on the product. If you ask @liseman or Kevin Hale they'll say launch NOW! That was the advice we got. :) In all seriousness I think you obviously need a working prototype, and clear validation that people like your product! Most importantly you should know what it's going to entail to deliver on your promise.
dan and snake, thanks for your comments. We decided to launch on Kickstarter because we wanted to gauge what the interest level among consumers would be. Furthermore, KS is the best place to gather significant quantities of feedback on product features and finishing touches before going to mass production. Our decision to raise funds on KS is more about learning from our backers and gauging initial interest than anything else.
We have added in a secondary mode which does exactly this, offers a more traditional, even forceful feel, yet still uses about 60% less water than a regular shower.
I think each company is different though, and you have to consider your strengths, as in do you have a strong online acquisition strategy/team, in which case a campaign on your own site may make more sense.
Now that our campaign is over we use Celery for pre-orders on nebia.com