Coolest Cooler arrived on Kickstarter in 2014, becoming one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns of all time.
The “21st Century Cooler that’s Actually Cooler” received over 62,000 backers, and raised over $13.2 million—making it the second-highest funded campaign of all-time on the platform, second only to the Pebble Time Smartwatch.
With so much promise in the early stages, it appeared that the Coolest Cooler was primed to make its mark on the cooler industry for years to come.
Unfortunately for creator Ryan Grepper, this didn’t end up to be the case.
The Coolest Cooler has a long, complicated story—one that started that with great hope and excitement and ended with the company officially going out of business in 2019.
In this post, we are going to relive the harrowing saga that was Coolest Cooler, and talk about some of the things that led to it’s ultimate demise.
Let’s dig in.
What is the Coolest Cooler?
Upon the campaigns launching in 2014, Coolest Cooler billed itself as “a portable party disguised as a cooler, bringing blended drinks, music and fun to any outdoor occasion.”
Some of the 21st-century product features included:
- Rechargeable blender
- Waterproof bluetooth speaker
- USB Charging Port
- LED Light
- Gear Tie-down
- Cutting board
- Extra wide rolling tires
- Integrated Storage
- Bottle Opener
With all these features, most of which were targeted at younger individuals, it’s no wonder that the product took off.
Combining all the elements of a great outdoor party into one portable cooling product revolutionized the way millennials could participate in outdoor recreation (and partying).
The Coolest Cooler capitalized on cultural trends and consumer needs, making the cooler much more than a way to transport ice.
A Turn for the Worst
After delivering thousands of coolers to modern partiers across the world, a devastating turn made the Coolest Cooler the largest, most infamous failure in the history of crowdfunding.
So where did it all go wrong?
The company’s CEO Ryan Grepper attributed the end of company operations to a tariff increase on Chinese imports.
The tariff, which was raised to 25%, was said to have affected the entire Coolest Cooler product line, devastating the business.
Although the tariffs were certainly a real issue that contributed to the ultimate demise of the company’s product line, experts note that Grepper and his team may have been too ambitious in their promises.
For example, the Coolest Cooler was available for sale on Amazon before the company had fulfilled promised rewards to all of its backers on Kickstarter.
In hindsight, it seems pretty clear that Grepper was in over his head, and may have gotten caught up in the excitement of the original product boom.
By the time the company shut down, it had shipped roughly two-thirds of the coolers that were originally owed to individuals and small businesses everywhere.
That means that over one-third of backers never received their reward, leaving in excess of 20,000 coolers unshipped.
Backers who supported the product were not able to get their money back.
Indeed, that’s why Kickstarter is careful to list those who pledge money towards products as “backers” instead of “customers.”
Coolest Cooler Serves as a Valuable Warning
It’s no secret—Coolest Cooler ended up as the largest failure in Kickstarter’s short history.
And it was far and away the most tragic story in the platform’s history.
While other projects didn’t quite come close to the magnitude of failure that Coolest Cooler and it’s backers experienced, the company serves an important warning that crowdfunding projects can fail.
Kickstarter boasts itself as a home for creative projects—and it is also careful to acknowledge risks associated with the platform.
With one-third of backers infuriated to not receive their rewards, Kickstarter received some significant backlash.
But what that backlash grounded?
Kickstarter has worked especially hard over the years to make it clear that the platform is not a store, but rather a place where people can support potential products and businesses.
In the years since the Coolest Cooler debacle, Kickstarter has increased its efforts to educate potential backers and creators about the risks associated with the platform.
Ultimately, it’s important for backers to and creators alike to note that risk will never be fully eliminated.
As with any start-up, they are prone to fail.
Even with built-in protections like all-or-nothing funding to weed out less successful campaigns, things can always go wrong: as was the case in the fulfillment stage for Coolest Cooler.
Takeaways
Coolest Cooler was a pretty awesome idea, and showed a lot of promise.
However, on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, things can always go wrong.
For the 40,000 backers that received their Coolest Cooler, they probably came away feeling pretty satisfied with what CEO Ryan Grepper called a “dream product.” Who knows—you might still be able to find the Coolest Cooler at parks and beaches near you.
But for the 20,000 backers who didn’t receive their rewards as promised, they probably came away highly frustrated and feeling cheated.
Running a Kickstarter campaign isn’t easy.
That’s why I put out a ton of content on my Youtube Channel and blog for creators to ensure that their campaign launch goes smoothly from start to finish—including fulfillment best practice!
