Cancelling the crowdfunding campaign

Last Monday, I made one of the most difficult decisions in my life: cancel the crowdfunding or leave it running. The crowdfunding actually did great in the beginning and I’m proud of the amount I gathered and happy with all the support I got from a lot of people.

On Monday however, with still 3 days to go, I was at 68%. Raising €9000,- in 3 days was, end sprint or not, impossible. Especially considering I only got one backer in the 2 days before.

Although I’m a little bit sad that it didn’t work out, I’m mostly optimistic that I can improve the KNTRL9 using everything I’ve learnt and all the feedback I got.

So, I decided to pull the plug and spend my time in doing research on why the project failed. I had some suspicions, but I wanted to be sure. Besides changes in marketing, I wanted to know how I can make the controller better.

So, I set out a survey to my backers and published it on all channels I used before to communicate. Within a few days, the survey had 119 respondents, which gives me enough data to work with.

I’m still trying to gain some more data but there’s a few things I can take away from this already. One of the things is, that 21% of people that didn’t back the project, did so because they didn’t have the money (or the need) for a controller due to Corona. Not really a surprise but it somehow still shocked me.

People who backed the project did this because they liked:

  • The quality build and materials
  • The design
  • The functionality
  • The haptics

Two important take-aways from the survey are:

  • The KNTRL9 was considered too expensive
  • Most people don’t mind when parts are made in China to lower cost

I will evaluate the survey results, improve the KNTRL9 and try to lower cost, without comprimising on quality. I hope to have a new and improved version of the KNTRL9 in a few months!

Thanks everyone for your support. If you want to help me by filling out the survey, you can find it here.