Remember that cooler everyone bought on Kickstarter with the built-in blender, radio, speaker, LED light and onboard nuclear generator? They raised $13 million to start their company, but now that have run out of money. This might be the most expensive cooler in history. It was a cool idea at the time. Here’s what you were supposed to get:
And here’s what real dollars had to pay them to not get your Imaginary Coolest Cooler:
So how did this happen? How is $13 million not enough money when they only set out to raise $50,000? Creator Ryan Grepper explained that while the campaign raised well over $13 million (from 62,642 backers), after Kickstarter got their cut, transactional fees, development, people and operations dropped the cash down to $7.4 million. This amount is not sufficient to complete manufacturing and shipping to the thousands of backers who remain uncool without their coolers. That’s not cool.
In a backer update emailed to supporters yesterday, the second most funded Kickstarter campaign delivered some disturbing news. In brief, Coolest Cooler has ran out of cash.
The email, signed by Coolest Creator Ryan Grepper, danced around the subject a bit. Grepper stated;
“However, this update is letting you know that unfortunately there will be further delays for some of you. We are in the process of identifying the right partner who can provide the capital and strategic resources to fund the remaining production of backer rewards and help grow the company to the next level. We’re not quite there yet, but it is moving forward.”
Grepper sadly admitted the cost of creating the Coolest Cooler surpassed the price charged to backers of the Kickstarter campaign. An unfortunate conundrum for the young business;
“That reality was known last year, but we forged ahead. We were confident in our company and the market for premium quality coolers, which had absolutely exploded. We knew that the Kickstarter funds, in the end, would not cover the actual cost of fulfilling all the backer orders (see below for a detailed financial breakdown), but with such huge interest we knew we would find a way to help us finish the process and grow as a company.”
Not cool. People on Kickstarter are discussing contacting the SEC as allegations that the money was being used to start a company and not make a product swirl faster than that imaginary frozen margarita in the onboard blender ever will.
