Right now, we expect that keyboards ordered on InDemand will be rolled into the same mass production run as the Kickstarter orders. If there are any unexpected supply shortages or delays, Kickstarter backers will get their keyboards first.
TL;DR: We're starting to order raw materials for manufacturing; Surveys to come; Post-campaign preorders are open on Indiegogo
Hello from Oakland!
Thank you all. It's been quite a month.
Last night, the Kickstarter campaign wrapped up. With less than 15 minutes to go, we ticked past $900,000 pledged. 2569 people pledged $901,653 for a total of 2750 keyboards, which we'll be shipping to 44 countries. About half of the keyboards are destined for the US.
What we're doing next
We're going to take a day or two to catch up on sleep and email and then get back to work getting your keyboards made.
Early next week, we should be able to show you photos of the first keycap samples sent over by the factory. They're absolutely not final yet, but we ought to be able to show you what the new keycaps look like with LEDs under them, as well as how the paint and laser alignment jigs work.
During the campaign, we've also been working hard to secure the components and raw materials we'll need to make your keyboards.
Yesterday morning, we wired an enormous sum of money to our wood supplier to pre-buy all the walnut and maple we'll need to mill your keyboards (along with another batch of Atreus palm rests). Late last night, they confirmed to us that they'd managed to buy the lumber from the importer before another client snapped it up and that it ought to be at their warehouse early next week.
Yesterday, we signed the manufacturing agreement for the Model 100 with our factory. As soon as that was done, we placed an order for the LED controller chips, premium USB C connectors and inter-hand RJ45 connectors. We're continuing to work with them to source microcontrollers and other hard-to-get chips. As we work through that process, we'll keep you updated.
Indiegogo InDemand
If you missed the Kickstarter campaign, it's still possible to preorder the Model 100. In the past, we've done post-campaign pre-sales on BackerKit and on our own website. This time around, we're trying out Indiegogo's "InDemand" program for post-campaign pre-sales. (Yes, the campaign currently on Indiegogo is really us this time.) The InDemand price is still a big discount off of our expected retail price, but isn't quite as good as the discount we were able to offer to Kickstarter backers.
And some thank yous
Thank you to our investors Blaine, Brady, Evan, Jared, Rob, Roy, and Russel; Adam and Richie at Friends 'n Allies (the delightful Oakland-based company behind our video), as well as Whitney and Frazier who helped them make us and our product look good, and the gracious team at Supermarché for their inspiring short film; algernon, Frank, and Ken for all the hard work and long hours bringing our keyboards into the world; Andre, Clarissa, Julio, Phil, Scott, and Zoelle for going above and beyond to help us get the campaign together; our families and friends for indulging us in our keyboard obsession all these years; and Ma, Penny, and Pickles for graciously agreeing to star in our video.
<3 Jesse + Kaia