BenWA's 2005+ Power Sliding Rear Window Quick Install Kit

From the looks of that if you lay out your parts how you would ship them to us, show a pregression of install, and overload them with pictures and details it should fly.

 

Could you possibly set up your own kickstarter type page? Hell, make it an even $200 so you don't need as many orders to get started if that what it takes.

I've been checking in all day long to see where I could pledge my support. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

I'm not sure how I would make that work. I don't feel good about the idea of collecting peoples pre-order payments piecemeal unless I'm certain that I can achieve the total amount that I need to fund the project. I don't want the potential of having to issue a bunch of refunds to people if my funding goal is not met. With paypal's transaction fees, that could add up to a lot of wasted money if the project doesn't get enough steam to move ahead. Having said that, I'm open to suggestions as to how to make it work.

 

Time for a list to start of people highly interested. Good starting point from here I think.

 

Just keep at kickstarter until you are out of options there. Kickstarter gives your customers piece of financial mind, if you don't meet your needs nobody looses.

 

Agree. Another member on here also informed me about a similar site called indiegogo if kickstarter doesn't pan out.

 

Haven't heard of it but

 

You weren't exaggerating:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/461687407/kickstarter-open-source-death-star

Wtf is right.

 

Did you include CAD drawings with your proposal. It seems like every tech gadget on there has a total digital breakdown of their product. I just spent too much time looking at other stuff on there and watching the videos. Have you checked out the videos? You should make one for marketing purposes or really just for kikstarter.

 

Ok Ben if you need to rip mine out for pics. Let me know.

 

I've dealt with kickstarter a bit and one thing that might be an issue is how you have your rewards set up. Go through a few successful projects that are for hardware, the almond router would be a good one. Make sure you let them know you have a proven design and just require funds to mass produce them. Be exact about where funds are going, how much is require for manufacturing, what you need for shipping and any other rewards you may offer. Reach out to the creators of successful projects for some help. There was a member a little while ago that said he'd done one.

 

I can't grasp how kickstarter expects/encourages people to put up such detail as CAD drawings and design specifics. They seem to have little regard for the concept of protecting intellectual property.

I suppose I could make a video. I don't have budget to have one professionally made like many of the videos on kickstarter are, and I don't really know if making a raggedy homemade video is going to add much, but perhaps I should.

 

Thanks Ron. I don't think it will be necessary. I can come up with a mock up that is close enough to the real thing.

 

Yeah, I dunno -- I feel like I was pretty damn clear in my Kickstarter about all the points you mentioned above, which is why I'm baffled by their rejection.

 

Here are a few projects for physical good where they started with a prototype and needed funding for mass production. As you can see they have quite detailed information about the current state of their item and why they need the funds. Take a look at the different rewards they offer to see how you should set yours up.

Almond+ Wifi Router
Lumio Lamp
Memoto Camera

Another avenue could be Christie Street, they are another crowdfunding site but one specifically designed for products in a similar stage of production as yours and they also offer technical assistance. The only problem with them is that they are a very small site so you would have to drive all the traffic to the campaign.

Another issue is are there enough buyers on TW and other such sites to meet your minimum order? Could you make the kit work in other double cabs like the Frontier or F-150?

 

X2, he makes a really good point.

 

Thanks for the advice, and heads up about Christie Street. I will have to check them out in more detail when I have some spare time.

I would have needed 125 backers to meet my goal of $22,500 on Kickstarter. Judging from posts in this thread, and PM's that I have received, it seems that TW has at least that level of interest in my hidden kit, but it's hard to say for sure. There are also a LOT of Tacoma owners outside of TW that could share potential interest.

I could not make this kit work in other trucks without significant research and modification to the design. It's not a universal bolt-on kit that will work with any truck out there.

For now, I'm focused on getting this kit for 2nd gen Tacoma double cabs available to the public. With two day jobs, I don't have the spare time to expand beyond that level of scope.

PS, the F-150 already has a similar setup for their Lariat edition trucks that can be relatively easily retrofitted to the lesser trim editions.

 

I am not sure you need to worry about intellectual property issues. I think the minute you sold one unit to the public, that ship sailed.

 

I posted a new poll in the 2nd gen forum to gauge interest. Please take a minute to respond.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...-interested-power-sliding-window-mod-kit.html

thanks,
Ben

 

Still waiting for Kickstarter to review my appeal. If it gets declined, we will move towards plan B which will probably involve one of the oter crowdfund sites.