TL;DRMAGFAST survived the pitfalls that kill most hardware crowdfunding projects by choosing radical transparency over spin. Founder Seymour Segnit rebuilt manufacturing from scratch and kept communicating through every setback, and the result is a community where 75% of investors are also customers and top buyers average over $1,500 in lifetime value.
Picture Kevin. It’s 2014, and on Kickstarter he has just backed the Coolest Cooler, a portable cooler with a built-in blender, a Bluetooth speaker, and a USB charger.
Finally, an innovative product that lets him host the perfect beach party. To Kevin, it feels like he’s caught onto something unique, fresh, exciting, before everyone else. He eagerly tells his friends about it and checks his email for updates.
Then, he waits.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!The campaign has raised $13 million from over 62,000 backers and become one of the most-funded projects in Kickstarter history, which makes the silence that follows all the more confusing. News breaks that the company has started selling the product on Amazon while thousands of original backers still have nothing. The Coolest Cooler eventually collapses, and a third of its original backers, like Kevin, never received what they paid for.
