Interviews

Interview with Simon Lyons of Version22

Version22 recently completed their Kickstarter campaign for their second product Nimble. Nimble is clever little device that allows you to safely open tricky packaging.

The campaign was wildly successful – they exceeded 600% of their original funding target. Here at Ethos Disability, we’ve had relationship with Version22 going back to summer of last year – we helped beta test Nimble for them.

So naturally I was delighted to see their Kickstarter do so well. I caught up with Simon Lyons (director of Version22) as he basked in the glow of crowdfunding success to ask him about his future plans.

Nimble-Confetti-FUNDING-END

Version22 reached 695% over the funding target – what do you think the secret of your crowding funding success is?

We ended up raising over 600% of our goal on Kickstarter and if I had to pick two things that I think contributed the most to this success it would be these. Firstly, having a pre-existing audience of people interested in what you do is crucial. You need to have a community of people to send to your campaign page the instant it goes live to help get things off to a strong start. Secondly, the majority of the work involved in a Kickstarter campaign has to be carried out prior to launch. For example lining up blog reviews and features, connecting with power users of social media and having a clear plan of action as to what each day of your campaign is going to look like is crucially important. If you launch on Day 1 with no press agreed or at least in the works, you are going to struggle to get the strong start that is so important with crowdfunding.

Having surpassed your initial target by so much – where has that moved Version22’s goals to?

Surpassing our original goal for Nimble means that Version22 will now able to optimise the design of Nimble a little further through prototyping, and produce a larger quantity of Nimbles in our first production run. It also provides us with a safety net in case certain expenses end up being larger than anticipated (which is very likely).

What new developments for Nimble will we see from Version 22 as result of the extra funding?

New developments of Nimble aren’t something I can talk about now, but I will be revealing things through Kickstarter updates when we have more information and something to show everyone.

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/version22design/nimble-the-1-finger-wonder-tool

What advice would you give other product designers in this space?

If you’re a designer interested in bringing your own idea to market do research first. Make sure your idea hasn’t been done by someone else already. Once you’re sure it’s a unique idea, or at least a new take on existing technology, then work to prototype and optimise your design as much as possible yourself. There are great tools available to help with this such as free computer design software like Google Sketchup and low cost on-demand 3D printing using companies like Shapeways or 3D Hubs. Once you have a working prototype that looks the part try and get an idea of how much it’s going to cost by speaking with a number of different manufacturers both locally and abroad. If your design has new innovative developments consider getting these manufacturers to sign non-disclosure agreements first. If possible, also look to protect your idea legally using registered design rights, patents and/ or trademarks. Once you have a protected idea that works and can be produced at a reasonable price then you’re ready to go to Kickstarter. A good resources for the do’s and dont’t’s of running a crowdfunding campaign can by found on Stonemaier Games’s website, a company who has successfully and consistently run many large scale crowdfunding campaigns.

Has Version22 got any plans to develop more products in the future?

Yes I have plans to develop several accessories for Nimble, potentially different variants of Nimble, and new products entirely. I can’t say any more at this time but I will be sharing news with the Version 22 Community via email and Facebook when I know more.

Version22 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Version22Design/

Version22 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Version22Design

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Interview with Simon Lyons of Version22

Version22 recently completed their Kickstarter campaign for their second product Nimble. Nimble is clever little device that allows you to...

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