The document discusses issues that can arise with Kickstarter projects. It notes that of 192 analyzed Kickstarter projects, 81% were delivered late, 6% encountered acts of God or other issues outside of the creator's control, 9% delivered an acceptable product, and 2% each were outright scams or so late that better alternatives now exist. Common problems included underestimating shipping, costs, and the difficulty of manufacturing. The document also discusses strategies for developing new projects, such as waiting for enabling technologies to become better and cheaper, recombining existing parts in new ways, and developing new types of information displays not based on light.

1. New things
Dispatches from a map of stuff

6. 192 Kickstarter projects
2%
9%
2%
81%
6%
>1 year late
Received ok
Acts of God
Stupidity/useless
Scams

7. • Lied with no intention of delivering
• Intended to deliver, then overwhelmed, fled
• Personal tragedies/war/lied to by others
• Delivered product barely functional POS
• Took so long to deliver that better products now exist
• Underestimated:
• shipping
• supply chain
• costs
• ease of manufacturing
• Product not seamless enough for real life
• Product nice in theory, meh in practice
What can go wrong: Personal issues

8. • Lied with no intention of delivering
• Intended to deliver, then overwhelmed, fled
• Personal tragedies/war/lied to by others
• Delivered product barely functional POS
• Took so long to deliver that better products now exist
• Underestimated:
• shipping
• supply chain
• costs
• ease of manufacturing
• Product not seamless enough for real life
• Product nice in theory, meh in practice
What can go wrong:
Manufacturing and
planning issues

9. • Lied with no intention of delivering
• Intended to deliver, then overwhelmed, fled
• Personal tragedies/war/lied to by others
• Delivered product barely functional POS
• Took so long to deliver that better products now exist
• Underestimated:
• shipping
• supply chain
• costs
• ease of manufacturing
• Product not seamless enough for real life
• Product nice in theory, meh in practice
What can go wrong:
Landfill design

10. Is it seamless?
Does it earn its keep?
Does it become
a natural part
of your life?

11. At least leave a back door open for reuse
Kindle weather display hack by Matthew Petroff

13. “The possibilities are
limitless”

14. The possibilities are
limitless
The only limit
is your imagination!

15. Robot kit
of endless possibility

16. More parts = more
possibilities?

20. So many inputs!

21. Outputs
displays
LEDs
lasers
speakers
vibration
motors
muscle wire
relays
heat
color
printing
the web
Light Sound Movement Other

22. Bleating, blinking
attention-starved
power-drained
creatures

23. Barely
explored
everyone

24. Exploratory strategies

25. Wait for magic threshold of better
___________ are now so ______ that you can ________!
projectors
motors
sensors
ICs
cameras
voice APIs
WIFI chips
processors
small
cheap
efficient
fast
sturdy
powerful
accurate
stable
?

26. I find these interesting
tiny projectors tiny spectrometerscheaper
thermal
cameras

27. +
=
Recombine existing parts
+
I can show all my friends
frivolous discoveries
at any time

28. Button + GSM + LEDs + IFTTT = bt.tn

29. Find new applications for old parts
Cryoscope
haptic
weathervane
by
Robb Godshaw
Click & whistle
mobile voice control
GravityLight

30. Develop new parts

31. Disney Research

32. Info displays
not based on light
#Flock by Berg
Ugle by Voy

33. Bradley Tactile Watch by Eone

34. Info displays
not based on light
#Flock by Berg
Ugle by Voy
More human, tactile, polite
Fewer ready-made engineering
and code shortcuts available
Cryoscope
haptic
weathervane
by
Robb Godshaw
Click & whistle
mobile voice control
GravityLight

35. –Bret Victor, “The Humane Representation of Thought"
“Humane is never a default…If you just ride the
current wave of technology and let technology
lead wherever it leads you, it’s going to lead you
to a tighter and tighter cage.”

36. Tend to the areas beside the path

37. Thank you
Tina Aspiala
@spongefile