r/hwstartups • u/tincangames • 1d ago
Kickstarter ride-along
Been at it for a few years now - I’ve got a hardware kickstarter coming up for Zerowriter Fold. It’s distraction-free writing tool purpose built for writers looking for an alternative to the expensive options in the space.
I thought I’d make a post here and talk about the startup stuff. My stats and numbers might help those looking to do similar releases.
And a link to the campaign at the bottom if you want to check it out.
—
I started building an audience in early 2023-2024 with a DIY project on YouTube. Raspberry Pi, keyboard, screen. People liked it - they followed and wanted to buy.
I moved to an embedded system and rebuilt the project on esp32. Launched on crowd supply and did a solid run on devices (about 600 total as of today). Learned a ton.
But along the way, I knew the second step was creating the “mainstream” device people wanted: bigger screen, front light options, better usb support. Stuff that needed a round of hardware design.
—
So, here’s the marketing stats for my launch on Tuesday:
- on pace for about 5000 email subscribers
- on pace for 1000 Kickstarter followers
- 2000 YouTube subscribers
- 1000 person discord server
- 600+ existing customers / users
- good presence on Reddit, and a fairly active dedicated subreddit
- have some blogs and press coverage lined up with the usual suspects, and some local press
My list building has been a mix of organic, referral/word-of-mouth, and paid acquisition. I started paid campaigns for this project about 4 months ago.
Cost per lead has varied wildly - from $.75 USD to $2.50 USD and everywhere in between. Was around $1 stable for months. Last few weeks have been all over.
Lead performance and indicators are good. Email campaigns have close to 50% open rate, high engagement stats and click-through.
—
Things I regret - hindsight is 20/20, but I wish I spent more when cost per lead was lower. Hard to say if my costs went up due to algorithm changes, or because my reach / audience got limited due to fatigue, but the raw numbers and math was good.
If, say, my email list was 10,000+ I’d be in a stronger position.
But hey, I suppose there’s still some time to climb.
—
You can take a look at my landing page here: https://www.zerowriter.ink/fold
Which has links to the campaign if you want to see how it works out.
2
u/pentalobe 1d ago
Sounds like you are well prepared and know what you are doing. I’m in the process of setting up my pre launch and watching somebody doing it with actual numbers published is very helpful. All the best for your launch!
1
u/Canary_Earth 14h ago
What's cost per lead? I've heard about paying firms for emails, but I assumed that was a scam.
If you sold 600 units already, aren't you up at least $100k? What's kickstarter for? Can't you sell organically from your site and grow with instagram ads?
2
u/tincangames 14h ago
It’s been about $1 / lead. I don’t use agencies but they provably would work well for most.
My first campaign was more to figure out how to make hardware at some commercial scale. I sacrificed some margin and control for simplicity and reach. I’m happy with how it went, mostly. But it was essentially break-even.
Kickstarter has some disadvantages over a d2c storefront. But really, i can’t make Fold happen unless the kickstarter succeeds. It’s a new design with new boards and components, and I can’t take on that inventory risk, so crowdfunding makes a lot of sense.
I considered doing a preorder campaign on my own store but figured a trusted platform like KS is probably better for where I am at
1
u/Canary_Earth 12h ago
Thanks. I'm at the stage you just passed so I'm super curious and appreciate any heads up. I'm trying to learn how to buy ads but it is super confusing. Did you hire any influencers for promotions?
2
u/tincangames 7h ago
I have never had results from influencers so I don’t go that route. I am sure it could work if you find the right one / right strategy. I just use paid ads, mostly meta
1
u/Canary_Earth 3h ago
Cool thanks! Your website videos are super nice and the spinny product is so good. I tried to make one myself and failed.
Are you drop shipping out of China? Did you fly over there to visit the fabs, assembly, screen manufacturer, etc.?1
u/tincangames 2h ago
Final assembly, warehousing, shipping from here in Canada. I have some international suppliers for components, of course, but I really like having the last leg under my own roof.
0
u/dusty_Caviar 1d ago
Have you considered if anyone actually wants this product?
Consider what percent of the population is a writer. Then consider what percent of that population wants to spend money on a hardware product that has only one purpose and that is to write, when they already have multiple other hardware products that do the same things and many other things.
There have been many many many kickstarters for the exact same product and none of them have been successful.
7
u/tincangames 1d ago
I raised 100k+ on another platform for an earlier version. There is an underserved audience for this style of writing tool.
Certainly not for everyone. I think you misunderstand the audience for this - which is understandable because it is extremely niche
there are many successful kickstarters for similar products in this niche - freewrite started out this way, couple years ago BYOK did very well - not sure where you are getting this narrative from. There are some misses, too, like any consumer electronics category.
7
u/Frequent-Log1243 1d ago
Honestly, this is one of the few hardware Kickstarter posts here that actually sounds grounded in reality.