Unable to ship a product nearly a year and a half after exceeding its Kickstarter goals, LIFX is in trouble and taking the crowdfunding market with it.
- WiFi LED lighting product idea? Check.
- Crowdfunding campaign? Check.
- Celebration for raising 10X funds via Kickstarter? Check.
- Delivering product to backers? Um...
- Delivering product for public sale. Er, um, can we get back to you on that?
Because LIFX showed up as one of the top 10 crowdfunded projects of 2012, we've been keeping an eye on it. We've also looked at the crowdfunding campaigns that brought us the Frankenbulb and lights for developing countries.
You'll see variations in the capitalization of LIFX and its product. The company seems to have settled on all caps.
Here, have my money
The pricey WiFi-enabled LED bulb ($89, up from $49 at the outset) raised $4.6 million from Australian investors before the Kickstarter campaign got the juices flowing in the US. LIFX sold out all but one of its Kickstarter pledge levels on its way to raising $1.3 million against its $100,000 goal. It was also the poster child for a practice Kickstarter has since banned by: using simulations and illustrations, rather than photos of actual products, in its promotions.
In the fall of 2012, Felix Salmon, who coined the term "Skymall for Vaporware," noted in a blog post the troubles the company would face with the heat sink, the quality of light, and overheating electronics. "If the LIFX bulb ever ships, it's going to be a gimmicky disappointment at best."
We'll show you
"My attitude was 'You don't think we can do it? We'll show you.'" CEO Phil Bosua told Forbes last month.
Last week on LIFX's Kickstarter page, one backer replied, "I'm renting a sign truck to drive around CES. It will say -- LIFX ripped me off."
Backers learned that LIFX would ship its bulbs by UPS, with backers paying the freight. (For most Kickstarter campaigns now, shipping to backers is included.) One Canadian supporter learned that the shipping charges were $116 for four bulbs (for which he'd initially contributed $176). DHL shipping charges were similarly high.
As they've arrived, the bulbs are helping the company win back its reputation -- somewhat. The few comments on Twitter from people who have received the bulbs are positive.
The LIFX Twitter account is mostly fielding specific questions from backers who are wondering when they can expect their bulbs. Information about shipments is, shall we say, nuanced (see screen shot). Orders ship in the order that they're received, depending on what you ordered and what's in stock.
Retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy received allotments, irking many of the backers. The retail channels are also waiting for more bulbs.
LIFX ships with Android and iOS apps, and it says an API is coming real soon now. The apps are getting mixed reviews because of installation troubles and quirky behavior.
The company's Facebook page is a jumble of raves about and raves against the bulb and apps. Several folks report buzzing when the bulb is on a dimmer switch, even when the dimmer is fully on.
Which big thing is stumbling: crowdfunding or home automation?
Google's $3.2 billion deal for Nest has sparked speculation that home automation is the next great market. Networked LED bulbs should be in the middle of it all. They might be if suppliers can get them to customers and have the bulbs work well.
One of the troubles with crowdfunding is that many backers think that it's a store. When you contribute to a campaign, you're not buying a product. You're making an investment (often unsecured), much as if you'd bought a share of stock. You might get a good product. You might get a marginal product. You might get nothing.
We all know that shipping a product is hard, and shipping a good product is orders of magnitude harder. We're also seeing that money doesn't necessarily make all these problems go away.
Related posts:
- Wake Up & Smell the Tulips – a Tale of 2 Startups
- Kickstarting LED Projects
- 3 Routes to Color-Adjustable Home Lighting
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