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Hey all. Apologies in advance for any vagueness, but I'm shelling out a bit of money for IP searches so can't really disclose much until I decide whether or not to try patent this gadget I've made.

It's something I've been developing for several years now and it's gone from being a fairly crude solution to high tech (microcontroller, extreme battery life etc).

I'm a bit caught up on branding and making it look the as good it can(not a visual designer), which is a bit of a barrier. To explain it better, one of the main reasons for the kickstarter is as much to manufacture the circuitry as it is to pay for the reasonably steep cost of making a tool to inject the plastic for the enclosure. At the moment the 3d printed case doesn't look amazing or anything. I worry a bit about how this might come across.

Would there happen to be anyone that has any crowd sourcing experiences they can share?

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts about ways to not completely bomb. They often come back to the idea of being a part of the online community, which made me wonder how someone could have time to invent stuff and also maintain some kind of online presence. But then this turned into fear that I've become totally out of touch with what pedal geeks might think is cool. Has anyone seen that episode of Adventure Time with "The Fear"? That's basically what I've god nagging at me.

Looking cool is always good, but that can mean all sorts of things. Like a raptio looks amazing in it's simplicity. I would definitely just go super clean and minimal design unless you have a killer artist friend. Even then id be careful.
A successful launch is definitely tricky. Doing something useful/inventive/simple all help. I attempted to crowd source a skateboard wheel a few years ago. Ended up scrapping the idea because I didn't want to launch the kickstarter until everything was perfect, but I kept running into things and I grew tired of it. The plus side is that there are a lot more musicians with disposable income than skateboarders.
Sorry this isn't super helpful. It's all I've got. Sounds like I made it to the same spot you're in and then sold my soul to corporate America.

The look and presentation will be super important. It will differentiate your project from a serious effort or a pie in the sky.

Find a art person. That part is going to be tricky because you'll need confidentiality so perhaps a non disclosure agreement.

I was looking to invent something for car audio and lucked out as I was my own art person but never got past rough prototyping...

Can't help with the kickstarter but can help with tooling,
where are you getting the plastic tooled?
Is it a molded piece that could be easily made?

Have a drawing for it?

We have tons of custom molded pieces, hit me up with some info.
Can source US and CN

Thanks for the input!

I'm from a small-ish city, so with getting someone on board for art, confidentially isn't too tricky, but getting someone who is right for the job is a bit trickier. I'm more or less restricted to two people I know of and unfortunately they are really busy with full time jobs. I'll work on it Minimalistic is the plan. I'm hoping the device will be practically incognito while inactive.

In regards to plastic molding, there is a chap in a nearby town who has sort of helped me brainstorm over the past few years with the assembly. That job has been quoted as up to 10k NZD, but I'd feel rude to bail and go elsewhere at this stage. I don't think I can post too much of the enclosure at this stage as it clips together and might be something that goes on a patent application.

I might be able to post more info in the coming weeks.. Thanks again, dudes.

PeteeBee wrote:Sounds like I made it to the same spot you're in and then sold my soul to corporate America.

Corporate NZ is like that weird uncle that makes inappropriate jokes. They think the future of our economy comes out of a cow. I might steer clear <-- the closest smiley to that guy from CSI.

very cool. good luck with the project.

sounds like it will be pretty sweet