What a whirlwind of group buy. I can't believe we have finally reached the finish line (until fulfillment). I haven't posted a blog on the site yet, but this feels like an appropriate occasion. Let's start from the beginning.
Design
The design process of this board was quite fun. Let me start off by thanking Baion for the Baion Bolt implementation and obvious inspiration.
The theme and motif were derived from my life experiences and personal views. When I approach a design, I want to design something I love. If there is demand for it, that is great. Sales and demand are viewed as a byproduct though, not the intent. With this in mind, it makes the fact the board resonated with so many people even more surprising. Below are some highlights of the evolution throughout the process.
The Longest 90 Days of my Life
What a crazy 3 months. I made myself available damn near all waking hours to answer questions and interact with anyone who typed in my Discord server. Eventually the server evolved into a community. It went from just myself and those who got cucked by Mechs & Co on the Cor65XT GB to now over 1700 members, some friends helping moderate, discussions about all things keyboards, and even heated arguments regarding philosophy, politics, and religion. It is a place you can speak your mind and be yourself.
When the GB started, I was stressing about hitting our 50 MOQ and hoping we could sell upwards of 100 boards. Oh boy, did we surpass that. Below is a breakdown of some of the data from the sales and marketing department!
- Sales
- Total Boards sold: 318
- Color Choice Ranking
- Bloodline
- Raven
- Astral
- Pazuzu
- Benevolence
- Vision
- Plates sold: 549
- Prototypes
- 8
- Prototype Investment: $6,397 (not counting the purchase of keycaps, switches, stabilizers, etc.)
- Total Investment: I don't want to know.
- Switches tested (by me): 15
- Marketing
- 14 content creators
- 1 artisan collab (3 caps from Gothcaps!)
- Instagram likes: 9,898
- Hours of stream content: 22
- Minds lost: 1 (mine)
Current Status and Next Steps
- Final numbers (including extras) have been sent to DDS.
- Awaiting final invoice to arrange payment.
- DDS has a noted ETA of April or May if we can get production started in October.
- Paid for bumpon feet.
- Finalizing carrying case details over the next 2 weeks.
- Awaiting invoice from Mechlovin for PCBs.
Mushy Stuff
This has honestly been one of the, if not number one, most rewarding creative endeavors and ultimately business projects I have ever been a part of. I cannot begin to thank everyone enough for trusting me with their hard-earned money, engaging with the content and community, and just overall support. It means so much. The overwhelming support allows me to push forward with future projects without stressing so much about the financials. On a personal level, this has also helped me tremendously when it comes to professional fulfillment, flexing my creative muscle, and allowing me to help and spoil others in my life (such as buying my partner a memorial ring for our cat that passed away last October). I would love to continue to grow the brand and projects, but in all honesty if future endeavors all did 1/3 of the numbers of this, that would still be insane to me.
I want to give a special shoutout to Queen Saevus, my partner Rhiannon. She has challenged me in so many ways over the last 9 years while being patient and gracious with me during my growth and evolution as a man and just person in general. She supports me, my crazy projects, this silly hobby, and my insane financial decisions at times (see prototype investment above). I spent many hours at the computer focused on this, and cannot wait to spend some much needed family time with her and the cats!
I swear it is because of her that I went from Cro-Magnon philistine to a much more well-rounded and empathetic person. I am much more charitable (but could be more so still) because of my experience with her as the most caring and compassionate person I know. A lot of that caring and compassion is in the ethos of the board, and I hope everyone continues to help and advocate for others whenever they are able to.
Thank you to everyone who has helped out in ways big and small, seen and anonymous. I hope that we can all enjoy the success of this project, because it is because of all of us. Cheers to us!