When I first met Alice at a networking event in New York City, I was blown away by the prototype of what is now a breakout Kickstarter success, SolarPuff, which has raised $363,508 thus far from more than 5,000 backers.
SolarPuff is “a little lantern with a HUGE impact.” It functions as a foldable solar-powered lantern that can be used to by backpackers, hikers, boating enthusiasts, and even to illuminate homes and gardens.
The great thing about this lantern is that it can expend as much light as it takes in. That means if you charge it for 8 hours in the sun, it will light a 10 x 10 room for 8-12 hours.
Not only does the lantern function as a great item to decorate your home, it’s also a great product for developing areas that may not have access to the traditional electrical grid.
“Globally there are at least 1.6 billion people without reliable access to electricity. This lack of access to efficient energy becomes even more apparent in rural areas of developing countries where most lighting is fueled by kerosene, which is not only toxic but extremely expensive, creating a vicious cycle of poverty.”
In this podcast interview, we talk about the extensive preparation that went into the launch of this campaign and how Alice and her partner Stacy Kelly had a dream, bootstrapped their business, and brought an amazing product into the world.
In this episode, you will learn:
- Why solar energy is superior to fossil fuels, particularly with regards to pollution.
- How Alice was able to create the first prototype of her product.
- What impact origami had on making the lantern compact.
- The importance of bringing renewable energy sources to developing nations.
- Where the pledges are coming from and which tiers are most popular.
- The division of labor for the marketing, management, and manufacturing needed to bring SolarPuff to Kickstarter.
Show Notes & Resources:
- This podcast episode is sponsored by The Gadget Flow: Use the
coupon code crowd20 for 20% OFF all of their services to promote your
tech/design-related project. Their product discovery platform has 3
million monthly visitors, 55,000 subscribers, and they have helped
over 2000 customers with promotion thus far. - Get the podcast episode on iTunes: Here.
- Free crowdfunding course: Click here.
- SolarPuff Links: Kickstarter. Company website. Twitter page.
- The video production company used: Fountain Head Productions.
- SolarPuff’s lantern can maintain its charge for years.
- You need to get the word out to as many people as possible and prepare as much as possible for the launch of your Kickstarter campaign. SolarPuff hit it’s goal in the first 3 days.
- It’s important to have partners that believe in the same vision you do and to have similar values.
- Kickstarter is a great way to prove proof of concept, to validate the need and to get the initial customers for your business.
- Out of 10 emails that you send out to a publication, 1 might respond. Find the publications that really believe in your dream and invest in that relationship.
- “If you believe that you can, you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt. Click to Tweet.
