Welcome to Roast my Kickstarter

Almost a decade ago I wrote a blog post about products being crap. Not all products, but there just seemed to be some types of products that consistently disappointed me.

One observation I mentioned specifically was about the inverse correlation between price and beauty of high-end watches and Hi-Fi equipment. Another was about razors. Specifically ugly, over-engineered cartridge razors.

Disassembled Gillette Fusion cartridge razor

I decided I might be able to do something about the razor problem. I thought I could make a better razor.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that thought was the opening move that ended up bringing me here.

Back then Kickstarter was something I was just starting to hear about and a couple of friends in London had recently been part of projects on the platform. So I decided to give it a go myself.

It was the perfect opportunity to try something without too much risk. To manufacture my razors at scale I would need to spend quite a bit of money up front on tooling. A Kickstarter project would make sure I knew people wanted the product before having to spend that money. Not only that, I'd get all the capital up front and could crack on with production.

My first Kickstarter product - the Ockham Razor

I'll share more details about that project in another post, but that was 2015 and my first crowdfunding experience. I’ve since raised over $200k on Kickstarter and I'm currently working on my seventh project.

And that's why I'm here. As well as my experiences running my own projects, I’ve helped out on many others and have now made my advisory services available through Roast my Kickstarter.

You’ll find me listed here too: www.kickstarter.com/experts

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One of my favourite terms is constructive discontent. We all get frustrated sometimes with the products we use everyday, whether they're physical or digital. Or maybe there just isn’t a product that fits a particular need we have.

Often there's not much we can do about this discontent. But sometimes we can decide that it's a creative opportunity. Crowdfunding can be the perfect outlet for that constructive discontent.

If you have an idea you think could be a Kickstarter project, or are already planning one, feel free to get in touch.