A hardware crowdfunding playbook

We paused our planned Indiegogo launch in mid-2024. We're not running a crowdfunding campaign in 2025. We're now structuring one for late 2026.

Here's the framework we use to think about it — and why we think most hardware startups crowdfund too early.

What crowdfunding actually is

Crowdfunding is leverage. It takes a known funnel — your existing audience, paid traffic, press — and amplifies the pre-orders you'd be doing anyway. If you crowdfund without an audience and without confidence in your build process, you're not leveraging anything. You're gambling.

The three preconditions

We won't launch until we hit all three.

1. The product works. Not "it works in a demo." Not "it works for 30 minutes." It works boringly. Every unit. Every session. You can hand it to a stranger and walk away.

2. The unit economics work. Your COGS, at the volume the campaign will commit you to, leaves enough margin to cover Stripe fees, returns, customer support, and the inevitable post-campaign units you ship at a loss because something changed.

3. The build process is boring. If you can't produce 100 units in a month today, you can't promise 1,000 in 90 days after a successful campaign. Backers are reasonable about timelines if you set them honestly; they are unforgiving about silence and surprises.

The campaign mechanics we plan to use

Indiegogo for the early-bird phase (smaller community, more forgiving). Then a Kickstarter follow-up four to six weeks later if Indiegogo validates demand. Tiered pricing: $499 early bird (limited quantity), $549 mid-tier, $599 retail. Free shipping in Canada and the US. International add-on.

We will not promise rewards we haven't already shipped at small scale. We will not offer engraving or custom colours (it triples manufacturing complexity and delays everyone). We will publish a detailed unit-economics breakdown on day one of the campaign — people are smart, and we'd rather have skeptical-but-informed backers than naive ones.

Why we're waiting

Our direct sales are paying our lab rent. We don't need the cash injection. What we need is more production capacity and a more mature supplier base. Crowdfunding without those is a recipe for a 6-month delay and a refund hotline.

Late 2026. Watch this space.

— Behzad