It bears repeating: Drones Are Hard. Above are some stats on the projects I've backed. I don't regret funding any of them, since I like encouraging these sorts of projects and I learn a lot from their updates. When a crowdfunding project I've backed actually shows up, I'm amazed (I call this being "Kickstartled") and then usually a bit disappointed that it isn't as cool or useful as I'd hoped. But I admire the work that it took into getting that far, and I'll keep backing them. This is my charity work ;-)
It's worth noting that none of these have arrived yet (with the exception of the disastrous Pockedrone, the less said about the better), so these bars will rise.
I've created a public spreadsheet here if you want to add to it. Screenshot from it below:
Comments
Well, congrats to them for delivering!
As a side note, according to that post they've also apparently "developed the first autonomous drone" :-).
Hexo+ starts shipping (reportedly).
https://hexoplus.com/blog/shipping-hexo
Does this count as a hoverboard. LINK .... Oh it's not "delivered" , though.
great proof of Hosftadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."
Sometimes it feels like "back to the future" when i read some of those great advertising promises and still no one delivered a hoverboard yet :)
@Charles I think you have to promise what you intend to deliver at a fair price. Over promising is a path to failure. If you have a good product and it's well thought out people will recognize that. Just think of the Flow Beehive a simple idea that a lot of people agreed with.
Kickstarter is actually a great thing, but it does require you to do your own investigation. Also watch out for the outrageous claims some offer. When it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. I haven't funded any drones myself because I haven't seen anything where I believe they have a leg up on what is being developed already. That could change one day. I have funded a few campaigns in other areas and so far haven't been let down. One has been going on a bit long, but the team has kept us informed of the development or should I say failures from offshore manufacturers.
I had an idea I knew I could properly develop Kickstarter would be my funding choice. Because if no one else believes in the idea enough to invest it may just be the wrong idea. It's a lot better than the old way of developing something only to find out there isn't a market for left handed soup spoons and you now have a garage full.
@Joe - I like the sentiment in your post and you are absolutely correct of course. There is a huge difference between standing on the sidelines and complaining when the team you've backed doesn't win and being in the game trying to win it yourself :).
We considered crowfunding for a simplified, cheaper version of our dynamometer. One of the problem with crowfunding I think is that you need a lot of hype and you have to promise a lot. Obviously, it makes it harder to fulfill those promises.
Why cry about it? You were brave enough to take a chance on something that could have been amazing! Everyone else was afraid, but you took a stand to fuel innovation and foster entrepreneurship! These actions are badges of honor, and you are stripped of them the second you start whining over a few hundred dollars. If you are mad because your item is late, or never coming, you just don't get it, and you don't deserve your item.
Where would we be if past and present innovators had been unwilling to take a risk, or cried when an initial prototype wasn't perfect.
Some give their lives, and every penny they have for that one in a million shot. And fail. And don't regret a second of it.
So you lost a few dollars, get over it. Better yet, do it again!
Very timely Chris, as we are getting ready to go to Kickstarter with BoxBotix. But we have already completed the design/engineering for v1.0 and are not looking to scale. Our goal will be to award kits of various flavors to fund building/supporting an open source community -- In award quantities our small team and 3D printer farm can handle in a reasonable amount of time. I think the drive to try to scale is what kills most of these projects. Yes, it gets the price per unit down, but there is a lot of expensive setup and tooling required to enable scale. And then someone has to support them all. We prefer to do a few small campaigns rather than one big one, but let's see how the first one goes...
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next