While creating your campaign, consider this outcome:

You had a successful Kickstarter campaign, delivered your product, and you broke even, now what?

If you plan on continuing with your product or creating a brand, this is a situation you don’t want to be in. While this may seem like it should be the last installment of this 3 part series, it is important to think about early on. Breaking even means there is no capital left-over to make a second run of products. If personal funds or a loan of some sort are not available, there is a way to safe-guard against this happening, which I will describe below.

In my campaign there was a minimum number of units I would want to order for a run of products to be cost effective. Too few ordered, and the unit price would be very high and reduce profits, making future orders impossible. First you need to find that minimum order. Sometimes a supplier will only sell, say, 500 units as a minimum. Other times they will sell fewer units at an increased price per unit, in which case you need to decide at what volume is the price acceptable.

After you find your minimum unit quantity, you can integrate it into your Kickstarter goal to be sure that if successful, you will be able to stay in business by being able to order a second run of products. Here is a quick way to estimate the increase in your goal beyond your break-even level:

Minimum Units X Unit Cost to You = Total Mfg Cost       Ex:  500 X $10 = $5,000

Then find the increase in your goal by dividing Total Mfg Cost by your Profit Margin per Unit (Retail price – Unit Cost to You):

          Total Mfg Cost / Profit Margin per Unit = Units to Pay for Minimum Order

Ex: $5,000 / ($15-$10) = 1,000

Multiply this number by your Retail Price to find the increase in Kickstarter goal:

   Minimum Units X Retail Price = Increase            1,000 X $15 = $15,000 increase

Increasing your goal may sound counter-intuitive at first, in fact some campaigns actually ask for less than they need so they have a higher chance of being “over-funded” and featured on Kickstarter’s front page. I would rather be prepared for the event of being just barely funded, as I was in my last campaign for the Stow-Away cap holder, so that I will be able to deliver to my backers. Please note that once the campaign has started, you cannot change your goal, so choosing the appropriate goal is very important.

I will soon be posting the last part of this series on how to create a strong Kickstarter project, and I hope this has helped if you are thinking about crafting a campaign!

Designing and working through the development of a hardware product, then moving forward with it and crafting a Kickstarter campaign to produce it is a huge hands-on learning experience. To insure you will be able deliver a quality product, you must iterate until you and your potential customer are satisfied and the design is manufacturable. After this, you must quote out every part of the product so that you are right up to the point of manufacturing the product, then use the information you gathered to create a campaign and go for funding. The funding goal is an important issue for products requiring injection molding, which is a big upfront investment allowing many products to be made later on. The following are several important steps to insuring that your Kickstarter goal is accurate, after you have finished some initial engineering work on the product’s design:

1. Find the cost of the injection mold and a manufacturing partner. I would recommend quoting with many different manufacturers, but first be sure to have your design checked for mold-ability with an engineer. Beware when quoting that there are some manufacturers who will take a job, some even knowing a part is not moldable, take the 50% down payment and create the mold, but when the part does not come out correctly abandon you and move on to the next customer. When finding a manufacturer, look for a knowledgeable, experienced partner who will work with you on the design. For the Stow-Away, I worked with Protomold, who were very helpful in making sure parts could be made and delivered on time. They are a bit more expensive per unit, but a good resource to work with for a new venture.
2. Find your complete price per unit. If you have not already, find manufacturers who make the parts you need and get quotes at different unit volumes and get samples. Samples sometimes cost a bit of money, but it pays off many times over when you can compare quality between different manufacturers and price points. This was one of my favorite parts of development, because you begin getting real parts and can visualize how your product will look.
3. Find how much profit you will make from each unit. This is important because your minimum goal will be affected greatly by how many units it will take to pay off the mold. Be sure not to charge too much, because it is important your backers are getting a good price. Many backers come to Kickstarter to be the first with a new product at a good price.
4. Find how many units it will take to pay for your mold. This can be done with this simple equation: (Price to Backers – Cost to You) X Units = Cost of Mold . Once you find your number of units, you can move to step 4. It can be beneficial to include (domestic) shipping costs in your cost, and it makes for happier backers if shipping is included in the pledge. International shipping is alright to have added onto the pledge by backers as it is more expensive.
5. Multiply the number of units needed to afford the mold by the price to the backers, and you will have a rough goal estimate. Factor into this that Kickstarter/Amazon take about 9% as a processing fee, and then add on to this maybe $1,000 or $2,000 (depending on your product) to cover shipping to you or your assembler and setup costs at the manufacturing plants. If possible and you need to save money, it can help to assemble the products yourself, although it can be quite time consuming as I found out when assembling and shipping 500 lens cap holders.
6. Similar steps can be taken for machined pieces, except that there is no (large) upfront one time cost, but unit price decreases with volume. In this case, you would want to see how many need to be made so that your unit cost is what you desire, then multiply units by sales price to get your approximate goal, before adding in some safety for unforeseen fees and Kickstarter/Amazon’s fees.

Today I received sample parts of the Stow-Away cap holder; a product I have been working on that was recently funded on Kickstarter . It has truly been a dream come true, and today holding in my hand a product that was a design I thought of and made possible by many, many people is a wonderful feeling.

I know it has been a while since I have posted here, and I need to stay more regular about that despite being very busy recently. I wanted to write, though, to share how great it feels to have created something like that. I feel that creation, which comes in many forms, is one of the most rewarding things. There have been many ups and downs in this product development, and still there are challenges to come, but these are to be taken in stride and are actually part of the learning and enjoyment of the process.

I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about a product or service to get started today, because you never know where it will lead and it may just end up making some people happy, including yourself. And even if the idea does not work out, it is not a loss because you will gain experience and be more prepared for the next idea and be able to work more effectively when it comes. I could not be happier with where I am on this product, it took lots of revisions and learning, but I would not have it any other way. It has been a wonderful experience, and I cannot wait to ship these cap holders out and also work on the next big idea.

The Stow-Away camera cap holder is halfway through funding! I have learned so much and had so much fun so far on Kickstarter, it really is a great resource. It is looking like the project will be funded and we can get to work on making this idea a reality!

I am so happy to say that today I launched my project on Kickstarter for a camera lens cap holder! I have been working on it for a while; getting all my design, manufacturers, and price per unit set up. I am very excited about it, and would love if you would take a look here !

The Leica IIIf is a very high quality rangefinder camera made by Leica in Wetzlar, Germany in around 1953. True to Oscar Barnak’s original Leica design, it has a collapsible lens and takes 35mm film. The construction of the camera is very strong and beautiful. The top and bottom sections as well as the frame of the camera are made out of solid brass. All exterior metals are brass and plated in chrome. The middle section of the camera is a black, hard plastic that feels good in the hands but is not overwhelmingly grippy. There are a lot of knobs and buttons on the camera, but everything serves a purpose. (Below I will include a picture with an explanation of everything). A unique characteristic of this camera is the way it focuses and frames. It has two separate windows for focusing and framing. The window on the right is for framing, and the one on the left is for focusing. Because they are separate, this camera is not very good for sports or action that requires quick focusing. If you need them combined, a M Leica (or IIIg) would be better for you as the focusing and framing are in one window. Because of the camera’s fully mechanical nature, you will either need to have a meter or be good at exposure guessing. I use the Voigtlander VC meter that I bought used. After the cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting I had done at DAG the camera has been great, no complaints mechanically. In summary, if you are looking for Leica quality in a rangefinder and do not want to pay the price for a Leica M, this is a great camera for you. It is the most advanced rangefinder before the M series with exclusion to the IIIg, which is rare and commands a higher price.

I was very lucky to get this camera, as it was in a bin of spare parts in the rear of my art room in high school destined to become part of a sculpture. Luckily though before that I found it, recognized what it was and brought it to my teacher telling him about what a special camera it was and that it should be restored or at least saved from being scrapped. He thought about it briefly, and then told me that he didn’t have time for something like that and that I could have it (!!!).

After excitedly bringing it home, I researched a place to have it restored and settled on DAG camera. Several weeks later it returned, mechanically and cosmetically beautiful. After its return I began the journey of discovering film, as this was my first film camera. And wow, what a great place to start learning about film. In addition to Leica’s legendary quality, the iiif is a completely manual camera. I started out knowing absolutely nothing about how film worked, but the iiif forced me to learn how aperture, shutter speed, and ASA (ISO) rating are mathematically related to each other for proper exposure. It taught me to see how aperture affects depth of field, and how shutter speed affects an image.

There are several pros of this camera:

Quality – the camera is really well made, and the lenses available for it are very nice. It has true Leica quality, and a piece of history.

Size – The IIIf is very small compared to many new and old cameras. It is very easily portable, and not very noticeable as it just looks like an antique camera.

Price: Screw Mount Leicas are less expensive than later M cameras, but still deliver wonderful results. Also, if you ever decide later to change over to the Leica M system, Screw Mount lenses can be used with adapters on M bodies, so your lens investment can definitely pay off.

There are also a couple cons that must be considered if you are thinking of using this as a main camera:

Viewfinder: The viewfinder is in two parts, one for focusing and one for framing. This makes preparing for a shot take about 4 seconds longer than it needs to. The viewfinder is also set at 50mm, so any other focal length will need an external framing viewfinder.

Lack of Meter: I love the Leica for being purely mechanical, but an external meter in addition to the slow viewfinder can really slow things down. But, speed isn’t really all this camera is about, and most good photographs are thought about before hand so setting the exposure and focus can actually make things simpler when ‘that moment’ happens.

I had never taken a class in photography, so prior to using this camera much of my photography was done in automatic mode on digital cameras. Although learning to shoot with this camera was not easy, it was extremely rewarding with not only high quality images, but also skills in photography that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.

Before I knew it, the Demo-Day had arrived. I was busy preparing everything to make a great appearance, for example picking up business cards and making info sheets. With all these things prepared, I went over to the student center, set up my booth and waited.

It started out slowly, pitching my idea to the occasional person, but eventually I was pitching non-stop to several people at a time, demonstrating the product and answering the tough questions. The experience was fantastic; I loved explaining my idea to others and see how they felt about it. I was having so much fun that I was actually pretty sad when the pitching was over and judging began. Despite this, excitement grew as the awards were given for people’s choice, 3^rd place, 2^nd place…. 1^st place prize was next… To my near disbelief, they called out my name as a winner! I could not have been happier, I felt on top of the world being given such an honor. To this day it is one of my fondest memories and favorite achievements.

My main take away and the HSC experience: Get started! You have nothing to lose by trying! This is especially true in college, where you are on track to a degree, so if you fail you have that to fall back on, but if you succeed the rewards are very worth the effort. The sooner you start, the sooner you will find out if you should continue to pursue the project, or move on to the next one. Because of how great I feel this experience is, I am volunteering to be a coach to others who are starting ventures this semester and am very much looking forward to it. I am still working to bring my product to market as well as developing others, and so far it continue to be an incredibly rewarding and educating experience that I could not recommend more!

After my awesome experience seeing the Fall Husky Start-up Challenge, I knew I had to participate in the Spring Challenge. I decided to go with a product that I had thought up earlier in the semester that made it very easy for photographers like myself to carry and change lenses. I began to make some calls to a prototype company in California called Proof of Concept, LLC. This company works with California Polytechnic University and hires engineering students to do prototyping work. After describing to them what needed to be made and having an engineer assigned, work began on the prototype.

It was several weeks after this that we had the first Husky Challenge workshop in Dodge Hall. Let me tell you, the energy in that room was amazing. Out of ~80 applicants, 40 people had been selected. Everyone was very excited about their ventures, and those without ventures were looking forward to meeting the team they would be on to help out. The first workshop was made so people could pitch their ideas and find others who would like to join their team. It was a great day to meet people and get a feel for this semester’s challenge.

The following workshops included having different speakers come and talk to the workshop about their experiences, sharing tips and stories to help us as we built our companies. I find that speakers and mentors are incredibly helpful, as they share wisdom that can help you either not make a similar mistake, or do something more efficiently than you might have before.

Each semester, Northeastern’s Entrepreneurs Club hosts an innovation competition for students to show off the ideas they have been cultivating into proposed businesses in the preceding weeks. The ‘Husky Start-up Challenge” is set up like an expo with many booths where students pitch their ideas, and the attendees are given a ticket to be given to their favorite new venture. In the end, the one with the most tickets wins an audience favorite award, and unannounced venture capitalists in attendance give their opinions on who should place 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd.

The first time I experienced the Husky Challenge was my fall semester of freshman year. I had been convinced by a friend to stop by and see what it was all about. At the time, I had been throwing around a couple product ideas in my head, deciding if I wanted to take a shot at starting my own venture. When I walked into the room, voting ticket in hand, I was overwhelmed by the excitement in the air! The room was filled with chatter of entrepreneurs pitching their ideas, and attendees asking questions to learn more before deciding on their favorite. I could feel the energy in the room, and was inspired. I said to myself, “I’ve got to be here next semester.” From there, I was inspired to start working on a prototype and get everything in order to make a great showing at the next Husky Start-up Challenge.

Next post… my experience participating in the Northeastern Husky Start-up challenge!

Welcome to my blog and personal site! This being my first post, I thought I’d introduce myself. My name is Preston Turk; I am a 20-year-old entrepreneur and student at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. Mechanical things fascinate me; I love mechanical watches, vintage cameras, and also sports cars. In my free time I also enjoy shooting with my Leica III in the streets of Boston, longboarding, rock climbing, and cycling.

Since I was young, I have always loved tinkering with things and coming up with innovative solutions to problems. In 5^th grade I started to repair watches for friends and family, and later in high school I began to replace shattered cell phone screens.  Tinkering and innovating has always been something that I love.

Recently I have been developing several photography accessories that I believe are great innovations that will make taking photos easier and faster. I am very excited about these products, and they will be out as soon as possible! Until then, I will be writing about my experiences both here at Northeastern and in other areas of my life that have made me who I am today. I hope that you enjoy my posts and stop by again!