Advice From a Startup That Raised $2.5M on Kickstarter
Revols, a Montreal-based hardware startup that graduated from HAX Accelerator in Shenzhen, had one of the most exciting Kickstarter campaigns we’ve ever seen at SOSV. Their goal was to raise $100K in support of their bluetooth earphones that mold to the unique shape of your ears in 60 seconds through a one-time app-controlled process. Within five days of launching, the company raised 500% of its goal. At the end of the 60-day campaign in January, the pledges totaled over $2.5M.
The company’s campaign was covered in outlets like Fast Company, CNN and The Verge, to name a few. Revols was named in Thrillist’s Best Kickstarter Campaigns of 2015 and claimed the title as Canada’s top crowdfunding campaign of all time!
So how did Revols achieve such virality and off-the-charts success? Here’s an interview with the company’s Marketing Director, Tali Katz, who has key insights to share with the rest of the startup world:
As you started setting up your Kickstarter campaign, was there anything about the process that you did not expect?
Tali: In the hectic months leading up to launch it became clear that to our surprise, the planning phase of the campaign was by far the most critical and intense! The two months prior to hitting that neon Kickstarter green launch button consisted of immense planning, sleepless nights and endless cups of coffee. Everything from the video script, page content and layout, PR strategy and Social Media hype had to be carefully timed and strategically mapped out. Though we always knew that managing the campaign would be a full time job, we didn’t realize the most demanding part of that job really started before the campaign went live. In hindsight it makes complete sense. Once you hit that launch button the campaign takes on a life of its own, but before that moment, you’re the one that’s in the driver’s seat!
Revols’ Kickstarter was wildly popular and successful. Besides having an amazing product, what else did you do so well?
Tali: We received more support than we could have ever dreamed of! While we believe it was our awesome earphones that attracted people to our campaign, we do attribute a lot of our success to these few initiatives:
PR Tour & Press Embargo
Prior to launch, Daniel (Revols CEO) travelled across Canada and the U.S. and met with journalists from major tech and mainstream outlets to share the Revols story and demo our molding technology. These journalists agreed to respect our press embargo and release their stories about Revols and the custom-fit experience on the day of launch. As each article was released on November 9th, thousands of readers clicked on the live links that brought them to our Kickstarter page. The articles gave our technology credibility and drove traffic to our campaign page on that very critical first day of launch!
Friends & Family Soft Launch
Though we publicized our Kickstarter launch date, we intentionally kept the exact time of day somewhat under wraps. With the press embargo lifting at 10am on November 9th, we wanted to give our earliest supporters the opportunity to take advantage of our early bird specials. While the rest of the world would find out about Revols’ launch at 10am, we let our close friends, family and our early enthusiasts in on a little secret — we were going live at 8am! For two hours our campaign was the best kept secret known to only those who were “invited” to our exclusive pre-launch! The response was astonishing. People were honored to have been included in this soft launch and eager to snatch those early bird deals. By the time the masses were reading those articles and flooding to our page, we had already gained some serious traction and were well on our way to reaching our goal!
Ongoing Backer Engagement
We never took our backers’ support for granted and made a conscious effort to keep them engaged and up to date throughout the entire campaign. We regularly posted exciting updates, introduced enticing stretch goals and most importantly, tried our very best to quickly respond to all the public and private messages that came our way.
What are some of the main takeaways you have from your time in HAX Accelerator?
Tali: It might sound cliché, but HAX’s 4-month intensive program showed us just how much hard work could truly pay off. We credit HAX and our mentors for so much of our success to date and we know that the lessons learned will continue to pay off in the future. At HAX we learned how to pivot. How to take a step back, detach from our emotions and assess a situation from all angles. We learned how to listen as well as ask questions. To stand firm on what we believe, while opening our minds to new considerations. HAX helped us take our revolutionary idea and turn it into a fully functional, groundbreaking technology. We can confidently say that we would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for the 111 days spent in Shenzhen at HAX Accelerator.
What’s next for Revols?
Tali: With over 10,000 units ordered and a fall 2016 delivery date around the corner, our top priority is production! We have our engineers on the ground in China working closely with our contract manufacturers to ensure utmost quality and timely delivery. On the business side the fun has just begun! We recently launched our e-commerce site and are now focusing on brand building and solidifying our retail and distribution strategy for 2017… stay tuned!
Follow Revols at @Revolsound and www.revols.com.
Originally published at sosv.com on June 21, 2016.
