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www.gest.co A better designed device that does not require you to learn novel patterns and can do much more

jm_l 10y ago
Looks like they were unable to continue funding and shut down in April 2016. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asdffilms/gest-work-with-your-hands/posts/1546116 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asdffilms/gest-work-wit...
- smt88 10y ago
  I am constantly amazed at how crappy Kickstarter is. Almost everything is vaporware, and the things that do actually launch usually turn out to be garbage.
  - codinghorror 10y ago
    I don't think that is Kickstarter's fault -- the fact is that building stuff (particularly real, physical stuff) is hard.
    - smt88 10y ago
      I agree and disagree. No, Kickstarter couldn't be a neutral platform and also do things to ensure that projects panned out. But Kickstarter could certainly be more transparent. They (and their crowdfunders) intentionally foster the idea that consumers are just pre-ordering real products. There isn't any large disclaimer that says, "Hey, your money might just be going down a toilet! Do your homework and make sure these people are legit!!" Kickstarter wants to (and does) feel like Amazon of the future, which is cool until you realize you're buying a future that will never exist. In the end, it's really Kickstarter that suffers the most. I'd be willing to bet that having fewer projects (through vetting, curation, or whatever) with higher consumer trust would be more profitable in the long run.
      - machinelearning 10y ago
        Some companies use a successful Kickstarter campaign as a positive signal to attract investment. If they set a low but reasonable goal and achieve it, it is ostensibly a positive signal that a market exists for whatever niche product they are building. While the capital acquired through is almost always not sufficient to fulfil the orders, investment helps to. This model fails when investment dries up and the second part of the plan does not work out. This is probably what happened to gest. They had most certainly had a working prototype and were definitely not vaporware in the true sense of the word. It could be that the only way to create a market for such a product is through an inferior product and less creative founders who have had successful exits in the past and can self fund.

jm_l 10y ago

Looks like they were unable to continue funding and shut down in April 2016. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asdffilms/gest-work-with-your-hands/posts/1546116 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asdffilms/gest-work-wit...

smt88 10y ago
I am constantly amazed at how crappy Kickstarter is. Almost everything is vaporware, and the things that do actually launch usually turn out to be garbage.
- codinghorror 10y ago
  I don't think that is Kickstarter's fault -- the fact is that building stuff (particularly real, physical stuff) is hard.
  - smt88 10y ago
    I agree and disagree. No, Kickstarter couldn't be a neutral platform and also do things to ensure that projects panned out. But Kickstarter could certainly be more transparent. They (and their crowdfunders) intentionally foster the idea that consumers are just pre-ordering real products. There isn't any large disclaimer that says, "Hey, your money might just be going down a toilet! Do your homework and make sure these people are legit!!" Kickstarter wants to (and does) feel like Amazon of the future, which is cool until you realize you're buying a future that will never exist. In the end, it's really Kickstarter that suffers the most. I'd be willing to bet that having fewer projects (through vetting, curation, or whatever) with higher consumer trust would be more profitable in the long run.
    - machinelearning 10y ago
      Some companies use a successful Kickstarter campaign as a positive signal to attract investment. If they set a low but reasonable goal and achieve it, it is ostensibly a positive signal that a market exists for whatever niche product they are building. While the capital acquired through is almost always not sufficient to fulfil the orders, investment helps to. This model fails when investment dries up and the second part of the plan does not work out. This is probably what happened to gest. They had most certainly had a working prototype and were definitely not vaporware in the true sense of the word. It could be that the only way to create a market for such a product is through an inferior product and less creative founders who have had successful exits in the past and can self fund.