Re-Launch on 6th Feb
After a failed Kickstarter, we have learnt, evolved and are ready to re-launch.
Hello all,
Hope you all had a great new year and are making the most out of the new start. Things are looking very positive on the horizon for Livegrid, here's some things I wanted to share.
Release Date
Let's start with the most important bit - Livegrid is re-launching on Kickstarter 6th February, which is less than a month away now. Lots to do until then, make sure you follow us on Instagram to keep updated. For the people who are new here, Livegrid was launched on Kickstarter before, but didn't make it. However this failure was packed with lessons - which is why the re-launch will be much much better.
Frame-less Design + Lower Price
One of the single biggest feedback was that it's simply too expensive. This sent us back to the drawing board - where we made a few significant changes
The base design now comes without a frame. This is hugely inspired from ertdfgcvb's work (design and codes studio based in Switzerland) on LED matrices. This bare look is pretty neat, and comes with a huge reduction in cost. The new early bird price now is £210 (was £245 before) and can potentially reduce even further.
You can still get a wood/white/black frame, but it is optional. The design is still being refined, and will be finalised before the launch.
New Controller
We have a new controller design for the panels, and it's significantly better than ver2. For instance-
It looks way cooler than the last version !
Unlike the last ones which stuck out of the panel (like in images above), this one stays completely hidden behind the panel and can be plugged in from the back.
ESP32-S3 instead of generic ESP32 which gives a lot more oomph and power allowing us to do a lot more things.
Touch buttons added to the PCB, which will be extended out in the frame version.
Rotation sensor added, so the panel will auto-orientate when rotated.
Better ambient light sensor so brightness gets adjusted automatically.
I2S exposed with a stemma-qt connector supported by adafruit/sparkfun and many other DIY shops.SCD40 (CO2 sensor) will be added to this connector.
Lower Goal
The goal for the last campaign was £32,000 which was way too high. It was high because I wanted to be sure that I would be able to deliver the project. Unfortunately, this is not how Kickstarter works. You need to set your goal as the minimum possible you need to make it work - simply because you want to reach there as fast as possible and get into the 'good books' of the algorithm. The new goal will be £8,500, which we actually made last time. Such a simple thing, but this is so important.
More marketing
I definitely underestimated this, and am putting a lot of effort in it this time. Thanks to that, the new kickstarter pre-launch page has 100+ followers already.
I read the 'Dummies Guide to Marketing', an interesting read and definitely made me appreciate the little tricks and games marketers are playing on us everyday. For example, research has shown adding the word 'only' before the cost increases sales by 20%. Obviously, there's a lot more to marketing than that and while all this does not come naturally to me - there's no excuse and I will keep going at it.
New Interns
We have Pablo and Bruno, 2 new interns working at Livegrid now. They are very curious and seem keen on learning. They have a very small attention span and need a lot of sleep - but have shown a lot of potential and we are excited to see their growth with us.
Long update, but sometimes in this fast-paced world, it's nice to go in-depth sometimes. If you have made it here, thanks for reading through and I hope you find this as exciting as I do. Launching a project like this is a lot of work, but it's fun! And this is my attempt at sharing the joy with you. If you have any feedback/questions/suggestions, please fill this form here.
Finally, please follow us on Instagram and subscribe to the Kickstarter pre-launch for more updates.
Catch you next time!
When is the re-launch?
James Fox, a designer playing around with Livegrid and Madmapper creating really cool effects.
Hello all,
If you don't already know, the Kickstarter campaign we launched didn't reach its minimum goal - and thus failed. You can see how it all unfolded right here on Kickstarter, but this email is about the future, not the past.
At this point, the plan is to relaunch. In fact, we already pre-launched the ver2 of Livegrid. You can go to this page and press 'Notify me on launch' which already helps with growth of the campaign.
Also if you have not filled the feedback form, please do. The 3 questions here are crucial to taking the project towards the right direction. The feedback we received has been so good, a lot to understand and implement.
Which brings me to the next very important point. I was planning on re-launching very soon (next week), but have now decided to postpone it to next year February. It felt rushed, especially since there is so much valuable feedback to work on (thanks everyone who filled it already).
Personally, the campaign has been very stressful and anxiety-inducing. I quit my job, ate through all my savings, and was supported by my partner and family through it. I need to take a breath, take up some freelance jobs, and recover mentally and financially. But thankfully, I am a homeowner (boatowner?) which means I don't need much to sustain.
Some exciting news to end it all-
1. Some artists and programmers have agreed to test and try out Livegrid. We will soon post updates on what they come up with.
2. Thanks to Mike Harrison (check out his work), we have now in storage around 200 LED panels which were about to get binned. A lot of focus right now is to try and use them for Livegrid, which is not so easy as these are not standard off-the-shelf panels.
200+ LED panels saved from getting binned. If they work, we can significantly reduce the price of Livegrid.
There is a lot going behind the scenes all the time, follow us on Instagram for more updates.
Catch you next time!
Journey to Kickstarter
Is it worth it? We’ll find out soon.
Main kickstarter video for the Kickstarter campaign
Hello folks,
Hope you are all doing well.
If you haven’t already heard, we are actually coming out on Kickstarter tomorrow.
Also if you haven’t been following the project, it has changed significantly. The Kickstarter page is probably the best place to catch up.
I have been avoiding Kickstarter for years now, because every time I meet people who have launched on Kickstarter or are planning to, they look like they haven’t slept in days. And honestly, that is what I feel like right now.
Early supporters get 30% discount.
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Early supporters get 30% discount. 〰️
Draft page for the campaign scheduled to release tomorrow.
Kickstarter is an interesting platform. It started as something to support innovators looking for support to get their ideas out, but as it got popular and it’s potential was realised, bigger companies started concealing themselves as startups. Kickstarter is slowly turning into a marketing platform for established businesses.
This 3D printer by Anker, which definitely did not needs crowdfunding support, raised almost $9 Million on Kickstarter. One of the numerous examples of bigger businesses using Kickstarter as a marketing platform.
This has effectively made it very difficult for people who actually need crowdfunding to launch, and do not have bags of money lying around for ads and teams of employees, struggle way more than they should. I fall into that category. Hence the stress and lack of sleep.
That being said, it’s not impossible, and there are ways to setup a good campaign with limited resources. I have tried that, and now all I can do is actually release.
Livegrid has been officially selected as one of the projects they love on Kickstarter.
A lot of people have warned me against launching ‘too soon’, and to have atleast 500 subscribers. Reason being the projects which don’t get early success don’t even show up on the Kickstarter page. I am nowhere close to those numbers, but I don’t even know how to get there. The campaign lasts for a full month, so there is plenty of time to keep promoting the project.
I also don’t want to launch ads straight-away. So the plan is to let the campaign cook over the weekend, and then launch ads only if it feels necessary.
So keep an eye out, I will send another reminder a few hours before the launch. Your support means a lot and please feel free to contact me at Livegrid.tech if you have any questions/suggestions/feedback around the project.
It’s happening !
Launching Livegrid
This project has been in the kitchen for a while now. Some of you guys probably assumed it’s dead. I know I did, a few times.
But guess what! It’s happening !!!
Don’t know about you guys but I am thrilled right now. So let me quickly update you, look back on the hazy past, touch the present reality, and perhaps dream a little about the future.
3 years ago (early 2020) I was working at Jason Bruges Studio in London when I came across these LED matrices. For those who don’t know, they are extensively used in commerical billboards, video walls etc. The issue is that they are very difficult to use - you need to use dedicated controllers which are awkward, the cables are everywhere, and the software makes you want leave the room and get some fresh air.
And there it was, a clear and simple opportunity. Take this amazing piece of hardware, and make it easy to use. Make it accessible to artists and creators. All you need is a well designed controller accompanied with an easy to use app.
First prototype running on a Raspberry Pi.
Fast-forward to May 2013, frustrated with my job at UCL, I got something called the Global Talent Visa. Let’s talk about this for a few seconds. Immigrating is hard. I am not talking about the boats in Mediterranean and Atlantic seas, that is beyond my understanding. I am talking about the easy way. You know English. You get accepted for a uni, or get a job. You pay a lot of money to apply for a visa, with no guarantee that you will get it. You come here, and realise there are no rooms available - so you naturally find a relatively clean staircase (aka box room) and live there. Any money you make, you spend on potatoes and alchohol. All your holidays and savings(not that you had any) get used up in visiting your family. And finally, getting uprooted from your space, your culture, your family, friends, support system is not easy and is a sadness which never leaves you, not really. But the national trains here always have seats available, so not all bad.
To be fair, London is probably the best city to live in. Made lot of friends, learnt a lot, found love, a boat (not the immigration type), so no regrets. Anyway so I got the visa and quit my job. I didn’t need a break, I knew what I want to do. And so I got to work. There were ups and downs, but here we are, launching Livegrid. For real this time.
So where are we? We have a product almost ready to go. We have a pretty good idea of what it does. We also added a bunch some environmental sensors to it. Besides a few hiccups, we are ready with the product. I know some people have questions like - do you have the certification? Patent is essential otherwise Samsung will do it better. You need to think about security? To all those people, I say you are right, but I will never launch like this, so I am going to press the go button anyway.
So we are launching on Friday 4th August. Unfortunately I don’t have enough savings to build a stock - so we have to do the pre-order thing. Taking into account some holidays, shipping delays etc, the shipping will be on 1st November based on the well known ‘underpromise and overdeliver’ philosophy. This will also give me enough time to make some final refinements, get certifications, etc.
Also if you don’t like what you see right now, we are rapidly evolving the designs right now. But hang around, lots of things to come soon.
Lot to talk about, but we will end this post here. But as we go further, expect regular updates. There are a lot of exciting details around every aspect of this project - software, hardware, marketing, design, logistics - all worth talking about. One step at a time. It’s happening !