How We Raised $1M in 7 Minutes
This piece was originally published by David Chen in Product Hunt Maker Stories.
We didn’t see our Kickstarter campaign reach its $100,000 goal — it happened too fast. From what we could tell, the page briefly crashed from the flurry of backers. It was midnight here in Shenzhen, and we were eagerly watching the visitor data in Google Analytics. Within minutes — seven, to be exact — we had blown past $1 million, setting a new Kickstarter record. As we’re writing this, we’re well past $4 million, and getting back to building the 2.0 version of the three-in-one 3D printer, CNC, and laser cutter that won us this devoted fan base.
Keeping promises before adding features
This isn’t our first success. Our original model also reached its funding goal in just a few minutes back in 2017. Our standout innovation then was quality all-metal construction that combines three essential maker tools. As impressive as that was, our backers still asked if we could add more features as our funding ballooned beyond our initial ask. Many crowdfunding projects do this, but we decided modification at that stage would introduce too many variables that might impact product stability and quality.
So we listened to the community as much as we could but mitigated the risks of feature creep.
