[Agustus]

Hi Form engineers and Form finance department, you have my attention and desire to purchase this. Can you provide answers to the following questions:

1. How much will this cost to purchase?

2. Will their be a subscription fee?

3. How is the Point system installed, from the video it appeared to be a magnet?

4. When is the actual release timeline, so I can start figuring out where I can put this in my house or if I should simply Arduino / Pi / Grove a solution instead.

5. Why kickstarter, you appear to have the infrastructure (e.g. engineering, prototype, etc.) in place.

[nmattisson]

Hi Agustus!

Form finance and 1/5 of the engineering department here. :)

1. The Kickstarter price will be $79, with early-bird options for less. Retail will be more expensive.

2. No.

3. There is a small metal plate with double-sided tape that you attach to your wall or ceiling. Point then attached with magnets.

4. This summer! Beta units earlier if you are OK with a rough experience.

5. We might look larger than we are. Right now, we're basically self-funded engineers. Kickstarter allows us to validate our prototype without committing serious cash to manufacturing deposits. Like several others have remarked, it also helps with marketing and early customer interaction. Win-win really.

[Agustus]

Thank you Nils! How can I e-mail you to have one as soon as possible at $99?

[nmattisson]

If you want to make sure to get one of the early-birds, sign up to the newsletter. Since it's mostly friends of ours on there we'll send a reminder before the launch so you can be ready. The launch mailing list will only get one email once the project is already live.

[Agustus]

Okay, see you when it clears Kickstarter.

[forrestthewoods]

I'm not a member of Form, but I'll answer number 5 for them.

Because Kickstarter is an unbelievably powerful form of marketing. You get a huge a number of eyeballs, reduce risk with an almost but not quite pre-order, and you build an extremely passionate fan base.

Assuming they do have the infrastructure required to launch I would almost ask why not launch a Kickstarter? Zero to huge reward for little to no risk. That's a helluva deal!

[Siliticxx]

I'm assuming we will have all those informations in the kickstarter. Which i assume is both marketing and might be a way to produce in mass.

[Agustus]

Yes, but since the developers are chatting about stuff on here and giving answers, a basic summary would be great. If not, then I will forget about it in a few hours and wait for it to clear Kickstarter, I do not need to go through the fundraising drive of another e-mail push.

This speaks to what kickstarter is becoming, a viral method for corralling sales through an accepted platform and deferring capital risk. Point has prototypes, the company has blog posts from people knowledgeable in the intricacies of handling the Chinese copyright issue, sourcing, and is essentially ready for market except for the ability to purchase it.

Kickstarter is being used in this instance for one of two reasons:

1. Capital risk: Contracts may be in place with their manufacturer to do certain run ups, instead of taking the risk themselves, Kickstarter funds will be used to offset the risk of the product marketing going wrong.

2. Product awareness: Kickstarter provides a great social media platform through which to raise awareness, create a community, and drive sales at different price points.

[mbesto]

wrt #5-

Little known secret, most successful Kickstarter campaigns have 25% of their demand already assessed and paid for up front. (yes, this includes the infamous Pebble). Since KS is so ubiquitous, it's now generally regarded as a PR/marketing platform as opposed to a funding platform. It would make total sense for these guys to do Kickstarter.

[nmattisson]

When talking to people who had run successful campaigns before us, we found that having an audience and a mailing list beforehand was the key driving success factor. Prior to yesterday we had about 200 people, mostly consisting of friends and family. This is the real thing. No one has committed to buying Point, but we hope that some will!

(I'm on the Form team)

[mbesto]

Yup, even though KS will take a cut, it's worth getting those people who will pay to do it through KS. It's a very strong signal on your KS campaign page if by the time the buzz hits that you have 25% of your money already there, you'll convert way more than if you only had say 5%. Social proof is a huge factor in sales. The KS campaigns that are are successful and haven't use this technique are generally outliers.