A Cool Product Doesn’t Guarantee Crowdfunding Success

For crowdfunding to succeed you need a strong concept/design for a product people will want or at least deem useful and a solid plan to execute production when the money comes flowing in. But the money doesn’t always come flowing in as Sonic Blocks recently learned.

The father/son startup, launched in 2014 by Scott and Jordan Wilker, launched a 30-day campaign in early August with the goal of raising $50,000 to fund a modular speaker system called Sonic Blocks and a pledge to donate “a portion of the corporate profits to charities related to the health and welfare of children such as (CASA) Court Appointed Special Advocates.”

Here’s how the press release announcing the launch described Sonic Blocks:

Owners will be able to customize their audio experience by selecting, swapping, and optimizing their Sonic Blocks units...

Offering best in class Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, sleek contemporary design, and extraordinary flexibility, Sonic Blocks can be used as a standalone unit or as part of a network. Users have the unique ability to easily select, mix, match, and swap individual speaker drivers (super tweeters, tweeters, midrange drivers, and woofers) to upgrade and personalize the sound of their system. And, multiple blocks can easily and seamlessly connect with the entire ecosystem via the Sonic Blocks app, enabling users to expand and increase the functionality of the entire system.

Multiple Sonic Blocks can be stacked, used to create a surround sound, or distributed in a multiroom environment. This flexibility and connectivity makes Sonic Blocks unique among affordable wireless music speakers. The system is controlled by an easy to use App, which can be used to setup and configure the hardware, control individual DSP engines, distribute music throughout a multi-block system, and access music from your own local or online music library.

Each sonic Block also has a built-in lighting element that can be used to create color patterns via the app or set up to pulse to the music.

“Music plays an important part in people’s lives,” said Scott Wilker, co-Founder and CEO of Sonic Blocks. “Our goal in launching Sonic Blocks was to create the best possible music ecosystem—one, that not only offers high fidelity audio, but also lets consumers take control of their music experience and build a system that is truly their own. There’s no other system on the market that offers this level of personalization and sound quality optimization, and Jordan and I are thrilled to finally share it with the world.”

The Sonic Blocks Starter Bundle has a retail value of $399, which gets you one Play-Fi Brain, one Exoskeleton, one tweeter driver, one full-range driver, one bass driver, two cover plates, three grilles, an auxiliary cable, a built-in rechargeable battery with charger, and a control app (Android or iOS). The company says shipping in the U.S. and Canada is free.

A month after the campaign kicked off on Indiegogo it was closed and the company had raised $13,485 from 54 backers, or 27 percent of the “flexible goal,” which means Sonic Blocks will receive the funds pledged.

Sonic Blocks is aiming to ship product in early 2017. Whether there will be enough funds to expand beyond backers who put up money to fund the launch and build a retail business remains to be seen.

For more information, visit Indiegogo.com.

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