Day 1 Editions: Amazon Is Now Crowdfunding? – Stonemaier Games

Day 1 Editions: Amazon Is Now Crowdfunding?

When you think about crowdfunding, do you picture a sole creator cobbling together a passion project that wouldn’t exist without your support? Or do you picture one of the largest companies in the world?

I certainly didn’t expect Amazon to get into the crowdfunding game, but I don’t begrudge any creator–large or small–for leveraging the power of early adopters to bring something to life. Yes, Amazon has enough money to make a product that completely fails because no one wants it. But like larger companies that use Kickstarter, I think they also have the right to gauge demand and potentially improve a product before bringing it to life.

Let’s take a look at how Amazon is doing this in their “Day 1 Editions: Build It” initiative. Please note that I’m not endorsing Amazon, this program, or these products. I’m approaching this purely out of curiosity.

Here’s how Amazon presents the core concept of “Built It”:

“We’ll periodically present you with some of our favorite concepts, and you tell us which ones you want to see built by pre-ordering them. If a concept reaches its pre-order goal in 30 days, we’ll begin to build it—and supporters like you will be among the first to get their hands on it.”

Build It specifically seems to focus on product concepts for Alexa integration. Here are the first three products showcased on this platform:

For fun, care to guess how many of these products have reached their funding goal and will be made? Just 1 so far! (the Smart Sticky Note Printer) This goes back to what I mentioned about companies big and small using crowdfunding to see what people actually want.

Amazon doesn’t show how many supporters are necessary for them to justify bringing the product to life, just a status bar. I think this is mostly fine, though there’s a psychological impact in knowing that your pledge (and your social sharing) could actually make a difference when you can see how close they are to their funding goal.

All three of the products feature a discount of around $20, which is nice. And it’s neat to see pure concepts on a crowdfunding platform paired with reasonable schedules and the confidence that Amazon will successfully create these products. Kickstarter long ago started requiring creators to showcase functional prototypes, which is definitely good for Kickstarter. I have no doubts that Amazon’s engineers will figure out how to make smart sticky note printer.

However, there are a few elements of the Build It platform that need some work, in my opinion:

  • No way to offer feedback. One of the blessings (and sometimes curses) of crowdfunding is that you get a ton of feedback that–in the hands of a discerning creator–can result in the best version of the product. As far as I can see, there’s no way for people to offer their thoughts or even vote on design elements for these products. Perhaps Amazon just didn’t want to moderate thousands of comments, but there must be something they can do to make supporters feel more engaged in the process.
  • No way to subscribe. I may not be interested in these initial products, but I’m curious about Build It/Day 1 Editions and would like to know about future launches. But there’s no way to subscribe to notification emails or even a blog.
  • No organic sharing. For a while now I’ve declared that Kickstarter’s killer feature is the “your friend backed” notifications. While I’m not exactly sure how I’d want Amazon to integrate this, I think it would be a nice addition. Perhaps Amazon could let me pick a few “tastemakers” among my friends so I can follow the Built It products they support (with their permission).

Overall, though, at the very least I think it’s interesting that Amazon has ventured into crowdfunding territory, and in a way that doesn’t impede on any other crwodfunding platform. It’s their own thing, and I look forward to seeing how it grows and improves.

Thanks to Todd for sharing this program with me, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts!

Also read: Big Companies on Kickstarter

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4 Comments on “Day 1 Editions: Amazon Is Now Crowdfunding?

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  1. Very interesting! I’ve actually been thinking about crowdfunding performed by larger companies recently and am hoping you can shed some light on if my concerns are warranted.

    Let’s say a company needs capital in the immediate. They decide to start a crowdfunding project for product A. They then use the money raised for product A on their initial needs rather than towards product A. When it comes time to fulfill the promises for product A, they start a crowdfunding project for product B. They then use the money raised for product B to fulfill product A.

    Is this something that a company can do? If a company can do this, does it put consumers at risk in any way or is there nothing to worry about?

    Thank you again for another interesting read!

    -Justin Makak

    1. I think it depends on the company and their cash flow at any given time. There are definitely some Kickstarter creators who do what you described. Overall, when a company earns revenue for a specific product, it’s not like that revenue goes into an expense pool that can only be used for that product. So as long as they’re doing a good job of serving customers, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.

  2. maybe these products are just prototypes that amazon wants to make but need market research on whether or not they’ll be successful. sounds like a better idea than releasing a bunch of alexa related items only to discontinue them few years later like echo spot / echo look. this way they can prove that the demand exists before mass manufacturing

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