24 Year Old Makes $345,000 in 2 Months..

[Ninjakid]

They are sucking out as much cash as they can from Amazon so they can focus on building a real brand.

That sounds completely ridiculous, and completely delusional

 

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[MoneyDoc]

That sounds completely ridiculous, and completely delusional

Doesn't apply to all sellers, just like anything else. But there are those there purely for fast cash flow. The three big players I know are doing just that. Building real brands on the side while they make $100k a month on Amazon.

Again, this is another topic of discussion. The reason I mentioned that was because people think making a quick $300k is wrong.

 

[Ninjakid]

Doesn't apply to all sellers, just like anything else. But there are those there purely for fast cash flow. The three big players I know are doing just that. Building real brands on the side while they make $100k a month on Amazon.

Again, this is another topic of discussion. The reason I mentioned that was because people think making a quick $300k is wrong.

But

Doesn't apply to all sellers, just like anything else. But there are those there purely for fast cash flow. The three big players I know are doing just that. Building real brands on the side while they make $100k a month on Amazon.

Again, this is another topic of discussion. The reason I mentioned that was because people think making a quick $300k is wrong.

In other words, with your logic there's "real businesses" and other cash flows that people use to fund their "real business" and it's totally cool to rip off another person's business because it will fund your own (which may or may not turn into anything).

 

[MoneyDoc]

But

In other words, with your logic there's "real businesses" and other cash flows that people use to fund their "real business" and it's totally cool to rip off another person's business because it will fund your own (which may or may not turn into anything).

So who's business did he rip off? Was there a business to begin with? A kickstarter page with a generic product is a business?

People are acting as if the kickstarter guys invented that cube. They did not. So how did this 24 year old rip them off?

 

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[MidwestLandlord]

I think there are 2 lessons to be learned from this guy, and this thread:

1) We have choices to make. We choose how we go about building our business. We could operate like this guy, and execute these ideas faster, and in my opinion...steal them. Or we could come up with our own ideas and sell those. That depends on our moral compass I suppose.

2) Someone is always there to execute better or more quickly than us. So we need to protect our ideas, be selective in who we bring on board with us, and never get complacent.

 

[hughjasle]

Joining this convo late, but this is the space I live in and deal with all day. What most of you glossed over (or if it wasn't in the article I don't remember as I read it the day it came out).

• this is NOT the only guy doing it. There are thousands of guys doing this.
• They 100% steal not just the idea - but the actual marketing. They rip off the videos straight from kickstarter and youtube etc.
• The products often are NOT already made. They get manufacturers to replicate them or find manufactuers who know about this "game" who sit and watch Facebook/Kickstarter/indiegogo/etc. for hot selling products to replicate then post them online for others to buy from them.
• The products are always inferior since nobody in that supply chain cares about the product at all
• It ruins the credibility of the quaility product.
• It take a LONG time to get a patent. The Fidget cube IS PATENT PENDING. They paid out the nose to have it speed up to stop these guys from ripping them off with crappier products.
• Because it is patent pending and not granted, what is being done (minus using the original creators videos and marketing materials) is 100% legal.
• Legal isn't always right.
• These examples of apple copying microsoft being the same thing is way off. They took the "idea" and made it better/their own version of it.
• The kickstarter campaign did $6.5m in 30 days, people saying this guy who made $300k is *smarter* have no clue what they are talking about.
• Everyone here would change their tunes really quickly if they went out and built a product of their own (ie if they were the original owner of the fidget cube)

HERE is the PROPER WAY TO DO IT IF THIS IS THE PATH YOU WANT: All these guys are cutting a corner for the sake of 1 weeks time. DONT. Let's use the cube as an example: Build relationships with quality manufacturers ahead of time. See that this cube is getting lots of attention on kickstarter. Realize people want something similar but instead of a cube shape, they want it as a ring so they can wear it, and they want different fidget options than what comes with the cube. Make it your own. Make it better. Own it. Be proud of it. Take that to market. Sell MILLIONS instead of thousands.

I don't understand why everyone is always taking the short cuts when doing it right takes almost no extra work and instead of working with shady manufacturers, you get to build relationships with quality ones that wish you freaking happy birthday and Merry Christmas because they actually care about you.

 

[oimate]

I think half the talk on here is merely down to a little bit of jealously and regretthat they havent thought of the 'ripping off' first.

Yes I get the inventor deserves the credit are you not all missing the point of competition and the key in business ie make sure your product stands out and if the product doesnt stand out make sure if your customer service or basically ensure you stand out and are offering the customer what they want.

The way i see it is this dude saw the demand and was the first to supply it.

end off-fair play to him

 

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[hughjasle]

The way i see it is this dude saw the demand and was the first to supply it.

yup. He capitalized on the original creators slow manufacturing. IDK why they got caught up in manufacturing for so long. Inexperience I guess. None of the articles ever mentioned why.

IF the fidget cube had the experience or right ppl on his team, they could have dominated and kicked all these copy cats to the curb. Doesn't really matter in the long term. That guy is a winner. He knows how to build something from scratch and is complete control of his destiny. He doesn't need to wait on other people's successes to leach a living off of. That's what we should all be aiming for. The long term play.

 

[GPM]

I like the direction a lot of the moral compasses point in this thread. If only the rest of the world had such a high rate of people who believe in doing the right thing! Money is not everything, and it is definitely not worth having if it takes stepping on people to get it.

Everyone can have a piece of the pie. There isn't just one, there are pies everywhere! No need to bash someone to the ground just to get their pie. You can turn around and get a whole other pie that everyone else is ignoring.

 

[wbrett1027]

Lesson to be learned here fellas
Patent is a must, if not have a damn good plan on how you will target your competition

Sharks are out to eat the fish!

American manufacturers may be safer with designs, you can even have them sign a discloser saying not to release any information.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

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[MakeMoreMoves]

Have you guys seen the Mokuru Desk Toy on Kickstarter. The stuff is on Alibaba already. Don't know if these guys have a patent, but history could repeat itself again...

 

[B. Cole]

Not to dig up a resting body, but I did see the fidget clicker thingy in JC Penny the other day, and remembered this thread.

I have mixed feelings about whether the German guy in the article is wrong, or if he’s no different than most entrepreneurs, albeit much more aggressive and absolutely without remorse. Props to the guy for being a badass executioner, probably nobody on this forum that has the balls to hunt down a company, race them to a pre-verified market, start binge hiring and reserving warehouse space overseas and publicly berating their staff into performing at insane levels. He’s a Donald Trump. He’s tactless but in the end, he has the resources and wins. He’s doing the same thing that all of you ecommerce folks are doing - finding something proven, taking the junk out of the process and capturing a meaningful market elsewhere. It just sucks to see it as cold as that.

By the article’s description, he seems to have a Hitler like personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a mental issue that contributes to that level of intensity. The contention lies in his unapologetic method of directly copying. He’s very dangerous to businesses, he sees creativity as a time waster that other businesses can do for him for free.

Definitely shows the vulnerabilities of crowdfunding. Great place to find awesome ideas by people who don’t have the resources to execute. I had this very talk with an attorney about identifying meaningful markets and protecting yourself in them before you go out with your product.

 

[LeoistheSun]

I want to be more assertive and aggressive in business like this, but tbh I have no idea where to start.

 

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[GMSI7D]

Curious to see what other people's take on this is and what other lessons can be learned from this.

this is called the media effect

something which is very rare is shown on stage and we think that everybody can do the same or this is very common or we need to do something about it

but 99 % of people are not affected by it anyway

for example : winning the lottery , natural disasters, serial killer, and so on

i was watching a young chess prodigy yesterday

everybody thinks " i can do that too " !

no you can't. you are just victim of the media effect.

 

[MakeMoreMoves]

Not to dig up a resting body, but I did see the fidget clicker thingy in JC Penny the other day, and remembered this thread.

I have mixed feelings about whether the German guy in the article is wrong, or if he’s no different than most entrepreneurs, albeit much more aggressive and absolutely without remorse. Props to the guy for being a badass executioner, probably nobody on this forum that has the balls to hunt down a company, race them to a pre-verified market, start binge hiring and reserving warehouse space overseas and publicly berating their staff into performing at insane levels. He’s a Donald Trump. He’s tactless but in the end, he has the resources and wins. He’s doing the same thing that all of you ecommerce folks are doing - finding something proven, taking the junk out of the process and capturing a meaningful market elsewhere. It just sucks to see it as cold as that.

By the article’s description, he seems to have a Hitler like personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a mental issue that contributes to that level of intensity. The contention lies in his unapologetic method of directly copying. He’s very dangerous to businesses, he sees creativity as a time waster that other businesses can do for him for free.

Definitely shows the vulnerabilities of crowdfunding. Great place to find awesome ideas by people who don’t have the resources to execute. I had this very talk with an attorney about identifying meaningful markets and protecting yourself in them before you go out with your product.

Your post brings up the book I was briefly reading “The Wisdom Of Psychopaths”

Did not finish the book, but psychopaths and top business people share a good number of attributes. Not all psychopaths are crazy killers.

 

[Bishop]

To play devil's advocate here...

Someone has a good idea, puts it on kickstarter, which is basically screaming (assuming it gets traction with funding) "this is a good idea that I don't have the money to execute!", and then watches as it gets stolen by someone with the process in place to execute it quickly?

Not always true. 99% of the shit on Kickstarter is utter crap. It is littered with shitty ideas. The guy sifted through the crap and found a winner.

Not saying it's right. It's just Capitalism.

 

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