Even though Kickstarter collects over 50 million yen in investment, what is the team learning the project canceled and refunded measures?

A tool that allows you to freely shut down the camera using a smartphone "Triggertrap Ada"Is a cloud funding siteKickstarterI succeeded in gathering about 6 times the target amount of funds, but as a result I could not realize productization and I got the funds gathered back to the investors, and the project ended in a great failure. Why, despite collecting overwhelming support, the Hajje Jean Campus representative from Triggertrap has summarized the lessons learned from the project failure, as to whether the project failed and how the project can be made successful. Everyone who launches the project with Kickstarter and who makes the investment have revealed many lessons to know.

How a half-million dollar Kickstarter project can crash and burn - Medium
https://medium.com/@Haje/how-a-half-million-dollar-kickstarter-project-can-crash-and-burn-5482d7d33ee1

When the team of Triggertrap started the "Ada" Kickstarter campaign, it became a big hit project to collect 290,000 pounds (about 53 million yen) for the target amount of 50,000 pounds (about 9.2 million yen) . After the campaign ended, the team who got the ample fund started full-scale production of products with great delight, but Campus looked back that the road of unexpected suffering spread out there I will.


Firstly, on the day we started the Kickstarter campaign, we received a warning from the Legal Department of a major camera manufacturer that the original product name is a trademark violation. The Triggertrap team changed the product name to "Ada" the next day to avoid unnecessary court battle. Since it had already reached twice the target amount at the time of change, it seems that it seems that the project is sailing smoothly as it is likely to be able to sufficiently create the trademark registration expenses of the product name.

However, it turned out that the microprocessor which was planned to be adopted by Ada after the project start can not be procured due to shortage of inventory. Therefore, it was necessary to change the design and procure alternative microprocessors. In addition, it is necessary to change the exterior parts in accordance with the chip change, and expensive is increased by repeated prototyping with a high-quality 3D printer. The cost of redesign due to unexpected specification change was higher than expected, and at this point it was 9.4 times the cost of the original project budget was needed.


And it turned out after the project was that the procurement cost of the parts necessary for manufacturing would be higher than expected. The unit price in the case of not mass production is 3 times as much as the forecast, and it was found that as a result of the estimation it costed 350 dollars (about 42,000 yen) per Ada. As a result, the plan that I was going to produce at $ 99 per car (about 12,000 yen) was shattered by the tree end.


The graph on the left shows the exterior parts cost of the prototype for the Ada project and the graph on the right shows the cost of the Ada electronic parts and software development. The forecast (budget) before the start of the project is blue, and the estimate which was found by actually placing orders is shown in red.


It was a Triggertrap team that calculated the cost of hardware production prior to the start of the project and set the target amount accordingly, but as it is clear from the graph, the estimate from the information gathered in advance , There was a big difference between the amount actually issued and the amount of money issued.

Although it was an Ada project falling into a state of darkness ahead, after receiving the deadline of Kickstarter's investment, we received a large amount of unexpected e-mail saying "I could not make it in time for the deadline, will you accept the reservation?" Since it was obvious that the mass production cost could be drastically reduced per unit, we decided to accept Ada's "reservation sale" on the official website. At this time, while accepting reservation sales requests from 4,000 people, the Triggertrap team has the expectation that "20% will actually purchase", "Maybe half will purchase ... ..." He said that.


It was a Triggertrap team who earned a unit in booking sales and tried to make production cost for orders of Kickstarter but when opening the lid only fewer than 1.5% of those who made a reservation request based on the high product price of Ada It seems that he actually did not indicate the purchase intention. Camps delegation of reserved sale was requested by banks and investors but from the fact that most people dropped out at reserved sale, I was questioned on the profitability of the Ada project and "Triggertrap Team We evaluate the future's prospects, but the talk about the product Ada is different, "the final hope is also cut off.

It is obvious that Triggertrap will collapse if it forces production of Ada. It was obvious that Ada could not let the staff of Triggertrap get lost in the streets, and that if Triggertrap itself disappeared it will betray the expectations of many who supported Kickstarter. As a result, the Campus delegation finally acknowledged the failure of the Ada project and decided to return all funds to Kickstarter's investors. For Campus representative Kickstarter's investor was not just a customer, he was a big supporter and friend who enthusiastically entered the Ada and Triggertrap teams, so he felt that he was not able to commercialize Ada because he was extremely disgusted. is.


Thus the Ada project has failed, but the Campus representatives learned the following six lessons.

◆ 1: Fail quickly
Camps is keenly aware of the Ada project and it is a lot of failures that came back. In addition, it was said that the fact that it was impossible to recover quickly when noticing the failure expands the wound. In other words, in the Ada project, it is "failed to fail", and Campus believes that there was a possibility that the results had changed if there was a quick recovery.

◆ 2: Do not cover up the problem with money
After the Kickstarter project, the Campus representatives got the investment far exceeding the expectation and confirmed that the money was actually transferred to the account, and he said that he became completely impressed. It seems to have felt "Any problems will not be a big problem if there is so much money, but the reality was not so. What I can say even before the start of the project is to abandon the idea that "money can solve problems".

◆ 3: Project plan is tight
The biggest reason for failure of Ada project was that careful project management could not be done. Not only the sweetness of the estimate of manufacturing cost, but also a mistake that prevented mistakes occurred if the project plan was set firmly, such as sudden microchip and design change.

◆ 4: Avoid scope creep
The fact that software development cost increased as a result of pursuing better UI design in the event of a design change of software etc. due to the change of microprocessor was a big failure. As the project progresses, the plans grow bigger and biggerScope CreekThe Campus representative thinks that it should by all means avoid it.

◆ 5: Appropriate skills
When he launched the Ada project, the Campus representative thought that he had all the skills necessary to make the project successful, but in reality he said that he made an incredible mistake. In the case of teams with poor product development experience, Campus representatives think that it is necessary in some cases to invite staff with product management experience.

◆ 6: It does not turn inward
As the project progresses, it tends to be impossible to see things objectively every time a number of big problems arise. However, it is always required that the entire project objectively be calmly asked.

The success or failure of the Kickstarter project is not determined by whether or not the contribution of the target amount is gathered, rather it is the actual time after getting the money to finish, whether or not it can go beyond a big mountain is whether to decide the true success or failure of the project is the Ada project It is clear from the case of. It goes without saying that Ada's lessons will be useful for developers who wish to raise funds through crowdfunding, but those who think that they are going to acquire goods by investing will also strictly check on "Will the project really succeed?" The Ada project seems to tell me that it is necessary.