Hi
I'm Lukas, 20 years old from Zurich, Switzerland and I failed.
Writing this made me reflect all those moments once again. I've written this in one go, so forgive me, if I made some mistakes.
Well at what exactly did I fail? Let me explain you.
I've been going to the gym for several years now. Along with that, I've been taking supplements, such as protein powder. One thing that has always been annoying for me was the fact, that the scoop, that comes with the supplement is somewhere in the protein container, covered up with all the powder. So I decided to create a solution for this.
So at the time, I was actually working on a little t-shirt business idea. But after reading TMF , I realized that I started this whole t-shirt thing not to solve a specific problem, but to make money, which is the wrong reason to start something.
So from that very day, I started drawing drafts of a product which I had in mind. I decided I would look for manufacturers in China, which would then produce physical prototypes for me. Actually finding a suitable manufacturer in China, one that speaks English, delivers efficiently and listens to what you want and understands you, is quite hard. So the next few weeks I would text over a hundred different manufacturers, tell them about my idea and send them the drafts. I took me a while to find a decent manufacturer, eventually, only 4 were left, from all of which I eventually ordered 3d printed prototypes.
Of course, all those 4 prototypes weren't great, not because they produced them badly, but because my design sucked. So I was refining it, ordering new ones and then again, refining it. Finally, around 4 months later I finally had a satisfying prototype that I could work with.
Since I didn't know if people would actually spend money on this product, I decided that I would do a crowdfunding campaign (on kickstarter) to validate the product idea and to see, if people would actually like the product.
So I hired a filmer, we went to a local gym and filmed the whole campaign.
So after finishing all the copywriting for the campaign, setting up proper instagram and facebooks ads and also coding my own website, I finally launched my campaign.
I remember it clearly, it was a cold sunday night in december. I was going through the whole campaign over and over as I finally hit the button to go live. I had almost put my whole free time during weekdays and weekends in the project. I didn't go partying and hardly went out with friends.
So the next morning I woke up to check my phone if my project was already funded. As I switched off the airplane mode and started refreshing the kickstarter app the following number appeared:
0% funded
I thought this was I mistake, I tried again. Still 0%.
So the campaign would go for about 2 months.
As I mentioned above I was making advertisements on facebook and instagram. I also sent the link of the campaign to several friends, family members and other people I know.
So after the first month of the campaign, I think only 4 people would preorder products from the campaign. 2 of those 4 people were actually my parents. One of those, my father would pledge about 5% of the total funding goal to the campaign. I was really grateful for that. But I knew that my father isn't the market and ultimately, the market would decide if the product has value or not.
So the 2 months were almost over and I ended up with the following funding, percentage-wise:
0.8% (not counting the 5% added by my family)
I had many people tell me on facebook that this product was a useless piece of shit (literally in those exact words).
Honestly, I was frustrated. I started questioning my product. As I said above people would make fun of the product on facebook, but they didn't mention any exact reasons.
As if a wish came true, I received an email from the gym owner, where the video clip of the campaign was filmed. She would text me, that she likes the product idea. She also gave me her number so I called her the next day. We're talking on the phone about the product and I told her, that the product wasn't out yet. So we decided to make some kind of market research in one the gyms she owns.
So I sat down and I created a form. With questions on it as "What's missing?" and "Why do you like it, why not?" and so on. I sent all those forms and a prototype to the gym.
I called her about 3 weeks ago about how the campaign went. She told me that it was a cool idea, but she's questioning whether people would spend money on it or not. That was actually a similar impression I got from friends and other people. About the forms, I haven't received them yet. So I don't really know how they went, but I don't really expect wonders of it.
One day a gym dude I know, approached me about the product and had an idea. He told me that people wouldn't necessarily spend money on the product, but if they received it for free when buying supplements, it could potentially be a great thing.
This has really stuck in my head ever since. I'm probably going for one last try; sending prototypes, specifically branded for each supplement manufacturer and suggesting them the opportunity to give this product to their clients after spending x amount of $ on supplements.
That's where I am today. But honestly, I'm not a 100% convinced anymore about my idea. I'm questioning if there's an actual need for the product. I mean it failed in the b2c business, why would it succeed in the b2b?
But beside the fact, that this business idea hasn't worked out. There's one thing I have to say. I don't regret any minute that I spent working on it. All the hours, whether it was drawing a prototype, finding adequate manufacturers, talking to them or coding the website was all completely worth it. I haven't earned a dime yet, but just the process of creating something gives me purpose. Even though it would have loved this business to work out, I'm not going to give up. I want to eventually build something that matters. I want to hire and inspire people. This is my calling.
I appreciate each and everyone on this forum who has made an effort to read this story. Perhaps you can take some things without and avoiding some mistakes I did. If you have any questions, ideas or criticism, feel free contribute.
I'm Lukas, 20 years old from Zurich, Switzerland and I failed.
Writing this made me reflect all those moments once again. I've written this in one go, so forgive me, if I made some mistakes.
Well at what exactly did I fail? Let me explain you.
I've been going to the gym for several years now. Along with that, I've been taking supplements, such as protein powder. One thing that has always been annoying for me was the fact, that the scoop, that comes with the supplement is somewhere in the protein container, covered up with all the powder. So I decided to create a solution for this.
So at the time, I was actually working on a little t-shirt business idea. But after reading TMF , I realized that I started this whole t-shirt thing not to solve a specific problem, but to make money, which is the wrong reason to start something.
So from that very day, I started drawing drafts of a product which I had in mind. I decided I would look for manufacturers in China, which would then produce physical prototypes for me. Actually finding a suitable manufacturer in China, one that speaks English, delivers efficiently and listens to what you want and understands you, is quite hard. So the next few weeks I would text over a hundred different manufacturers, tell them about my idea and send them the drafts. I took me a while to find a decent manufacturer, eventually, only 4 were left, from all of which I eventually ordered 3d printed prototypes.
Of course, all those 4 prototypes weren't great, not because they produced them badly, but because my design sucked. So I was refining it, ordering new ones and then again, refining it. Finally, around 4 months later I finally had a satisfying prototype that I could work with.
Since I didn't know if people would actually spend money on this product, I decided that I would do a crowdfunding campaign (on kickstarter) to validate the product idea and to see, if people would actually like the product.
So I hired a filmer, we went to a local gym and filmed the whole campaign.
So after finishing all the copywriting for the campaign, setting up proper instagram and facebooks ads and also coding my own website, I finally launched my campaign.
I remember it clearly, it was a cold sunday night in december. I was going through the whole campaign over and over as I finally hit the button to go live. I had almost put my whole free time during weekdays and weekends in the project. I didn't go partying and hardly went out with friends.
So the next morning I woke up to check my phone if my project was already funded. As I switched off the airplane mode and started refreshing the kickstarter app the following number appeared:
0% funded
I thought this was I mistake, I tried again. Still 0%.
So the campaign would go for about 2 months.
As I mentioned above I was making advertisements on facebook and instagram. I also sent the link of the campaign to several friends, family members and other people I know.
So after the first month of the campaign, I think only 4 people would preorder products from the campaign. 2 of those 4 people were actually my parents. One of those, my father would pledge about 5% of the total funding goal to the campaign. I was really grateful for that. But I knew that my father isn't the market and ultimately, the market would decide if the product has value or not.
So the 2 months were almost over and I ended up with the following funding, percentage-wise:
0.8% (not counting the 5% added by my family)
I had many people tell me on facebook that this product was a useless piece of shit (literally in those exact words).
Honestly, I was frustrated. I started questioning my product. As I said above people would make fun of the product on facebook, but they didn't mention any exact reasons.
As if a wish came true, I received an email from the gym owner, where the video clip of the campaign was filmed. She would text me, that she likes the product idea. She also gave me her number so I called her the next day. We're talking on the phone about the product and I told her, that the product wasn't out yet. So we decided to make some kind of market research in one the gyms she owns.
So I sat down and I created a form. With questions on it as "What's missing?" and "Why do you like it, why not?" and so on. I sent all those forms and a prototype to the gym.
I called her about 3 weeks ago about how the campaign went. She told me that it was a cool idea, but she's questioning whether people would spend money on it or not. That was actually a similar impression I got from friends and other people. About the forms, I haven't received them yet. So I don't really know how they went, but I don't really expect wonders of it.
One day a gym dude I know, approached me about the product and had an idea. He told me that people wouldn't necessarily spend money on the product, but if they received it for free when buying supplements, it could potentially be a great thing.
This has really stuck in my head ever since. I'm probably going for one last try; sending prototypes, specifically branded for each supplement manufacturer and suggesting them the opportunity to give this product to their clients after spending x amount of $ on supplements.
That's where I am today. But honestly, I'm not a 100% convinced anymore about my idea. I'm questioning if there's an actual need for the product. I mean it failed in the b2c business, why would it succeed in the b2b?
But beside the fact, that this business idea hasn't worked out. There's one thing I have to say. I don't regret any minute that I spent working on it. All the hours, whether it was drawing a prototype, finding adequate manufacturers, talking to them or coding the website was all completely worth it. I haven't earned a dime yet, but just the process of creating something gives me purpose. Even though it would have loved this business to work out, I'm not going to give up. I want to eventually build something that matters. I want to hire and inspire people. This is my calling.
I appreciate each and everyone on this forum who has made an effort to read this story. Perhaps you can take some things without and avoiding some mistakes I did. If you have any questions, ideas or criticism, feel free contribute.
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