A company that produces smartwatches with a week-long battery life just broke two of kickstarter’s records. According to CNN, during Pebble Time’s month-long driver for funding, it rose $1 million faster than any other company and it became the most-funded company a week later! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a global crowdfunding platform to help projects get funding. It has raised more than $1.5 billion in funding from 7.8 million people. Here are some tips we can learn from Pebble Time’s success:
1. Dedicate yourself to your product and dig your heels in for the long haul. Pebble Time has been around for a long time and they’ve been continually searching for funding. They never gave up.
2. Create a new and improved version of your product. Pebble’s second smartphone version was 20% thinner than it’s predecessor. It also contained an updated screen. Is there any way you can build on your current product and/or service? Do some market research and devise a strategy.
3. If you’re going to listen to just one of these tips, this is it: Build a solid community around your product and/or service. Pebble Time has an enormous following online and that following is why they were able to break Kickstarter records. If you haven’t already, create a Facebook Page, Twitter Account, Instagram Account, and any other relevant social network. Listen to what people are saying about your products online and join the conversation. Reward your followers. Ask them for help. You’d be surprised at how loyal they can be.
The days of searching high and low for investing are coming to an end. Even though you’ll always need to have a remarkable product to offer, cool sites like Kickstarter are able to offer small businesses a new way to gain capital. Pebble Time, a neat company that creates smartwatches, recently broke two Kickstarter records: they rose $1 million the fastest and they became funded by the most people. Pebble Time’s success can teach small businesses some very important lessons: 1) stick with your product and dig in your heels for the long haul 2) look for new ways to improve your product and 3) build a community around your product.
