This article confuses success with raising money. Success will be raising money, and then manufacturing and shipping 70,000-odd coolers to the satisfaction of 60,000-odd people within the next 4 months.<p>Crowdfunding projects in general don't have a sterling record of actually fulfilling shipments on time and to spec.
Can you imagine going to the beach and hearing someone using a blender every 15 minutes!<p>I read about this sort of thing the other day. You always hear about the few successes and people who struck it rich. They kept trying and never gave up, but you never hear about the 10 million other failures. People ruin their lives trying to fulfill dreams or ideas that weren't worth pursuing from the beginning and pay dearly for it. Empty bank accounts, ruined credit, relationships, etc.
What a confusing product! Its like a swiss army knife in a cooler, as in it does many things you are likely to rarely use, except everything needs electricity.
Just saw the ks video, is just me or did anyone else get a big infomercial vibe from it? is like I was waiting for Billy Mays to show up and say <i>"Hi I'm Billy Mays and this is the Coolest!"</i><p>Aside from that it's a relatively simple product that harks back to the age of all-in-one solutions like Tvs with VCRs built-in, microwave ovens with toaster and coffeemaker, and who can forget that boombox with a Sega Genesis?
I'm surprised none of these break-out Kickstarters have sold their product to an established consumer products company, who would handle the Kickstarter fulfillment and then sell the product at retail<p>Because it's pretty clear that the people who run these products generally have no idea what they are doing when they get 100x the money they wanted.
I'm interested in finding out about how you get prototypes made. Do you need special training in some field? I take it there are several fields. At the moment I'm only implementing my software ideas. Have an EE degree though.