The first model of Wattvision was funded by angel investors, but when it came time for version 2.0, Dhanjal turned to Kickstarter.
“There’s nothing better than connecting directly with people that want to buy your product,” Dhanjal said from his Nassau Street co-working space. “It’s such a great vehicle. We could take loans or raise capital from external investors, and give up equity in our company, but it’s almost a no-brainer.”
In August, Dhanjal set up a one-month Kickstarter campaign for Wattvision 2 with a $50,000 funding goal. Within 24 hours, the company received nearly $18,000. When the campaign ended on Sept. 13, Wattvision had more than $67,000 in backing.
Dhanjal did not attribute the success of Wattvision to Kickstarter alone. It takes a lot of legwork to publicize a product, he said.
“Kickstarter isn’t just this magical thing where you put something up there and it takes off,” Dhanjal said. “You have to do a lot of work to get the word out and get people to like you on Facebook or tweet about you. You have to do that legwork.”
Innovation everywhere!