by digloo » Thu May 10, 2018 8:51 am
I've backed a few projects on both Kickstarter and IGG. It was either because I like their cause, or I thought they have a good chance of succeeding. In one case, I bought some stuff I wasn't even sure I wanted, just to support their efforts.
I have NOT backed several projects mostly because I felt they were highly likely to run into manufacturing problems.
I've invested in plenty of startups and watched many others that had working prototypes but couldn't get them built for whatever reason. Mostly this was because they were trying to head straight to China and get the lowest possible mfg cost, which is silly in my mind. Build your first 100 or 1000 here in the states, work out the bugs, reduce your costs, shake out usability issues, THEN ramp up production. Don't go straight to high-volume manufacturing out of the gate.
There was one situation where their "perk" was supposed to be mailed at some point, but they were never very clear when. I got an email saying they'd mailed something out, but the address I'd given them was no longer good and there was no way to reach anybody to get my address changed. I sent a few emails, but never got a reply. It wasn't that big a deal, but when projects stretch on for over 6 months, there definitely should be a way to communicate with somebody and especially to get your mailing address changed.