Why you won’t see anything that cool at CES ‘13
There has been a lot of murmuring about how CES is starting to get a little stale. I was lucky enough to attend CES last year, but it was hard to get excited by the sea of seemingly identical mix of smart phones, TVs, and ultrabooks. It got me thinking: Why does it seem like nothing very interesting has come out of CES the past few years? In fact, the only thing I am actually excited about, is knowing that my Pebble watch gets shipped on January 23rd.
In 2012, if you were a small, independant maker with a cool consumer innovation, you went to Kickstarter. It gave you a place to get your idea out there, get some funding, and you didn’t have to compete with the rest of the fish in the CES sea. No longer do people need the media flurry of CES to get a bit of coverage; a Kickstarter page is all you need to reach those critical early adopters—some believe it should even be a requirement.
Tons of cool electronic gizmos were launched via crowdfunding in 2012. If the numbers for 2013 are to be believed, the amount of money that Kickstarter and crowdfunding produces is going to skyrockett. While we are still in the early days of crowdfunding, it’s safe to say that the great consumer electronics brand of this decade will be launched by crowdfunding. The next Apples and Hewlett Packards are returning to the garage with help from crowdfunding. And with the JOBS Act looming in the background, the pace of these new ventures pushing innovation forward will only increase.
In 2013, the next great consumer brand will be launched via crowdfunding. And In 2013, BackerKit will be the backbone of the next premier consumer brands of this decade.
At BackerKit, we are bullish on these new independent makers, and we want to help them focus on doing what they love: making. We know the unique issues that slow crowdfunding projects down because we have experienced it first-hand. We also know that these projects need help transitioning from crowdfunding darlings to industry powerhouses. In 2013, the next great consumer brand will be launched via crowdfunding. And In 2013, BackerKit will be the backbone of the next premier consumer brands of this decade. If you are one of these projects, and want to get a leg up turning your early supporters to lifelong fans, sign up for BackerKit beta today, or email us at hello@backerkit.com.