Two New York designers, Dan Provost & Tom Gerhardt one day came up with an idea, a tripod mount for the iPhone, 'a cleverly shaped accessory that lets you screw the phone into a standard camera tripod and doubles as a handy desk stand'. They had the idea and design but they lacked the know-how.
How do they go about building prototypes, finding manufacturers, getting retail contracts? Without the time and the money they gave up on their idea...
That is until they came across Kickstarter. A website which brings together creators and potential investors. Investors being anyone, you, me anyone; with access to the internet. The designers managed to get a prototype built and did a bit of promotion sending a link to their site to John Gruber, who runs the popular Apple-following blog Daring Fireball.
One hour after posting their project received the $10,000 they asked for. By the end of the month they managed to get $137,417 from 5,273 donors after other tech blogs heard about their first hour success.
Soon the product called the Glif was available to buy at $20 a piece. You would of got one for free if you had made a $20 pledge when the product was taking investments. A $50 pledge would of got you a 3D printed version for $250 you could have dinner with the two inventors. Even then you would probaly have to live in and around New York to get that.
Check out their promotional video below:
Glif Montage from Glif on Vimeo.
Kickstarter is a great way of getting a product out to market and also great for people to get involved. Funding is only taken if the full amount needed is met, so that creators are not left short meaning the product may not make production. This way investors can be sure they will have the chance to get their hands on the product they want to see.
Surprisingly many people warmed to this idea quickly. Giving funding to other peoples ideas doesn't strike you as something that would take off in such away, but it has and gained huge popularity over the last year along with a similar company, Quirky, founded by 23 year old Ben Kaufman.
Last year saw Kickstarter, 'kick-start' 4,000 successful projects. To be apart of it you can visit the Kickstarter website and maybe post your own creative idea.
