Perhaps if they would have set more realistic Time scales and been better at communications then people would be so annoyed.
I still cannot see how they can make such a great product for a fraction of the price that Garmin/Stages etc charge
Anyone who crowdfunds, like myself, is totally aware of the risks of not receiving a perk. Shipping dates are never set in stone, Iām sure promises are given and they will do their best to stick to them, but that isnāt the real world, sh*t happens. From what Iāve seen recently they have been communicating, the only expectation by Indiegogo is a monthly update to backers. I believe they are doing more than the minimum?
I see so many people talking about crowd funding as if they have placed order. We are not customers, we are backers. We are backing an idea and should it come to blossom you may even get your perk, you might even get it around the expected delivery date. Iāve seen deadlines missed by years, my last perk arrived 6 months late, and I couldnāt be happier with it. Iād rather issues are sorted before trying to ship out to a deadline date. I canāt imagine for one moment they are laid back, feet up twiddling their thumbs, I would imagine they have been doing 7 day weeks for a long timeā¦ and if its 4-6 weeks late, wouldnāt you rather that than something rushedā¦
I think its the lack of communications that gets most people, especially since they have a Brand manager who does the social media from what I am aware of
Itās a delicate balance for both the company and the consumer. Company want to push to get to market and generate revenue as quickly as possible which is also good for consumers. If they adopted a ārealisticā timeline to include all the buffer for the issues they encounter then they miss a window or is so far out, no one is going to invest because they want it now (or at least soon) and the longer the cycle, the greater the risk as well as being more expensive.
For this and to reply to @FatherDamo2, I believe that people will put up with a fair amount of adversity if they are kept informed and have time to deal with it. Waiting until the last minute to have a bad surprise sprung on you is almost never well received. I do agree that a lot of people did have unrealistic expectations of a crowdfunded project, but would be happier if IQ2 would have been more up front as to what was going on.
@Charlotte_Louise Brand manager, CEO, Caretaker, Shippingā¦ guessing he might have lots of roles;) Just looking at the Indiegogo update page, IMO that seems like fairly good communication from a startup. Thatās just my opinion when comparing to some of the campaigns Iāve backed.
@ZeroGravity I do agree that this should all be communicated and what you have said, being kept informed and up to date, people are more accepting with delays.
Outside looking in, having 3,000 backers thereās will be a lot disappointed backers if they expect to receive them in March and April. To pack/ship that amount of orders would take a good two months alone, even if they were all made. I would expect a first batch run of around 200, send them out, get feedback, order next production run of 400 with any required fixes/firmware updatesā¦ and keep ramping it up. They want a successful release of units, not a sudden issue and need to recall thousands and have a disastrous roll out .
I would expect 3,000 backers satisfied over next 3-6 months. Reference investment, they already have a good slice, approx Ā£1.6 million. If its successful then Iām sure regardless of the last few months have gone, then theyāll be on a winner and get more investment.
Then again this is only my two pence worth and Iām probably wrong.
They did say they would be sending them out in batches, starting with the original KickStarter backers first then the IndieGoGo ones which is typical of crowdfunding but they havenāt given any details about how many per batch and of course, when. My IGG is somewhere around 3200 despite backing them in the early Fall.
I think youāre going in eyes open but I donāt think the risks are ever fully understood by the general public. Itās also not really in kickstarterās interest to make it really explicit otherwise their business model is stuffed. Iāve had some good experiences on Kickstarter but itās on the basis of caveat emptor (or investor) and backing small niche products where the idea is clever but the IP means the product is only ever going to be run by a couple of guys in a lockup or a one off production run.
This has echoes of a couple of drone projects I was following. The marketing, communications etc. are very similar. Something doesnāt quite pass the sniff test for me.
On their FB Page they talk about āFebruary deliveriesā. This means that the pms need to be delivered today or theyāll become āMarch deliveriesā.
ā¦
Hi everyone! Our first deliveries in February are still on track, weāll keep you posted as the specific dates grow nearer
In the meantime, weād like to take you behind the scenes to our awesome calibration machine, especially designed and produced for the iQsquare power meter. Read about its workings here kck.st/2GcIXHA.
If it was back in January and they said February is one thing but when it was just 6 days ago they said it will be February, itās pretty piss poor that they canāt project 1 week out. At least show shipping boxes, something, anything that they are preparing to ship. I can only guess the head is a stereotypical engineer who doesnāt want to look bad so avoids confrontation by not saying anything and avoiding.
I wish the best for all of the backers but at some point iQ2 needs to be held accountable for promises and predictions. The Kickstarter marketing model shouldnāt be an automatic excuse to not deliver.
At the very least, iQ2 should keep the consumers/backers frequently updated.
The other thing that a few have brought up is the IQ2 app isnāt available in either Apple or Google app stores yet. You might get the unit but not much use if you donāt have the app to go with it. Not sure how long it takes to get the app to show in the stores
I am an early backer, got an email to update my information last week. I live in the States and figure it will take a while to get products over. I backed zwatt, watteam, infinity seat and now this. May be slow getting products out but have received everything Iāve backed Iāve seen a lot of products fail, any success is great for consumers and backers alike. Life happens, missing a target date is WAY BETTER than MISSING PRODUCT delivery.
Oh man. I promise not to derail this discussion but on the subject of dramatic crowdfunding projects Iāve backed that one absolutely takes the cake. If I remember right; at one point the project went off the rails because the guyās son fell ill and nearly died.
Anyway, I hope you all get your meters eventually! A clubmate of mine (not on here - heās a Zwift loyalist) is down for a set and is getting a little annoyed himself.
TRUE TRUE TRUE, but the project got completed. !!! I honestly think, crowdfunding projects are like buying stocks ( maybe worse, day trading), the market can crush at anytime. Take the dive and donāt hold you breath too long.
not a huge fan that it pushes your pedals out wider, affecting your Q Factor First Look: The IQ2 149ā¬ Power Meter | DC Rainmaker
Yeah. Known since the debut and discussed at length above. It will not necessarily work for everyone.
Maybe āspeculative shoppingā describes what people are doing? Some strange cross between the āthrillā of gambling (if thatās your thing) mixed with the āthrillā of retail therapy, and maybe a sprinkling of āsticking it to the manā? Although the āpayoutā if a project succeeds and actually delivers is low and seems out of kilter with the risk undertaken.
Good luck to people if thatās what they want to do with their money; it makes the world go around and the economy keep turning, but count me out. Iāll stick to proven products thanks.
Come on guys - please no-one post again in here until they actually get one I keep seeing this thread pop up thinking is today the day?
Probably less time than it takes to ship the physical devices.
Depending of course whether they find things in their additional testing that require app changes?