When he went on Kickstarter in 2012 to raise funds for the company’s first Elevation Dock, “things just exploded,” he recalls. Why it’s successful: Casey Hopkins, who has a background in product design, founded Portland-based Elevation Lab eight years ago with the idea of making a beautiful iPhone dock. Product: docks and other accessories for Apple productsĪmount raised: $1.6 million in two campaigns The question now for the company is whether it can move beyond crowdfunding and a direct-to-consumer model to develop a bigger audience for its castles and caverns at retail. Last year, helped by its most recent crowdfunding campaign for its modular city building system, Dwarven Forge’s revenues topped $3 million. It also worked as a way to sell its products to its loyal fans beyond relying just on its website. The Kickstarter campaigns – with their pre-orders and extensive feedback from backers – allowed Dwarven Forge to develop a greater variety of product than would have otherwise been possible. Inventory costs are a huge thing for any gaming company, and for a company that produces lots of little, handpainted pieces, they could be a nightmare. But it was only with Kickstarter that the business was able to become more than just a labor of love. So, in 1996, he founded Dwarven Forge to create miniature handpainted dragon terrain. Why it’s successful: As a kid, artist Stefan Pokorny was obsessed with fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons. It will be in a contact lens.”Īmount raised: $8.2 million in four campaigns “Eventually,” he says, “the screen will not be in your hand. The Danish-born entrepreneur’s vision for wearables, however, goes far beyond earbuds to a view of how tinier and tinier products will make smartphones and other devices go by the wayside. Now, Bragi is on track to sell 600,000 units by yearend, and has another wearable in the works (that Hviid isn’t ready to talk about yet), that should push its revenues to $100 million. “It has been the toughest thing I’ve ever done.” With the Kickstarter campaign and subsequent venture capital funding, Munich-based Bragi developed the buzzy earbuds – garnering 30 patents with another 150 in application – and sorted through the tricky issues of producing them in quantity and shipping them to more than 100 countries. “I’ve made way beyond 100 products in my lifetime, so I thought I had a good understanding of what it took to make these things,” says Hviid, the former manager of Designit Munich and head of design at Harman, the well-known audio company. The Dash can play music, track steps and act as a Bluetooth headset. Why it’s successful: Bragi founder Nikolaj Hviid may have created the holy grail of wireless headphones with the Dash, an unobtrusive computer in your ear that sells for $299.
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