As someone who's now shipped 2 hardware KickStarters on time (both of which were bigger than KoalaSafe), I find it a frustrating when people post up 'hardware KickStarters never ship'. It's just not true.<p>It's definitely 'buyer beware', and if you back a KickStarter that shows loads of renderings and no working finished product then you may hit trouble - but many people come to KickStarter with a working product, having already done their homework and made arrangements with a manufacturer. Those people will almost certainly ship, and it's a shame that other failed KickStarter projects make them look less legitimate.<p>But I totally agree with polar8 on this...<p>1. Design with the factory has been true for me. I did one KS in China, one in the UK - and the factories work totally differently. The time it takes to get things arranged is insane, and you absolutely need to not only have a manufacturer, but to have a design that they're happy with and can source parts for before you KickStart if you plan to ship on time (even if you plan on tweaking the design a bit later).<p>2. Sourcing - When you order 1000s of something, suddenly lead times matter. Generally you can't just go to Farnell and get things next-day, if they're not in stock, 13 week lead times are not uncommon - and a company can have 4000 items in stock one day, and they'll be gone the next (so checking stock levels is not enough!).<p>3. Features - definitely be sensible. Listen to your backers but be very careful about adding their suggestions. Changes really set you back, and the most vocal backers views are almost certainly not those of the majority. Adding features in software after the ship date is easy and people like it, but delaying the ship date for features would rarely be appreciated.<p>4. Margins. I think people feel bad about adding a big margin, but you've got to. There are loads of hidden costs, and most backers would prefer to pay a bit extra and have you still making and supporting devices 2 years from now.