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I've seen it work once, but it was hard over the long term: LIFX (smart light globes) [1], which was launched on Kickstarter in 2012 by people working from the same co-working space and accelerator I was involved with then (so I kinda had a backstage view on it).

Products like that work if there's natural consumer excitement built into the product, that you can convey in a video that gets people excited imagining how much better their life would be with that product. That's what motivates pre-purchasing and also sharing/virality. That's why the LIFX campaign worked.

But that company didn't turn out to be a big success. It was hard/slow to get the product into production and shipped to consumers - it took 2-3 years I think. Established lighting vendors like Phillips were quick to bring competing products to market. Along the way the company seemed to have a lot of internal drama, and investors became disenchanted. The company was acquired in about 2019 [2], then that company went bust, then the LIFX assets were acquired again in 2022 [3].

So, from its early signs of huge potential success, it ends up being a cautionary tale and another case study that investors can look at as a reason not to invest in hardware startups.

Another cautionary tale is the "Coolest Cooler", which ended up in a lawsuit [4]. I heard someone mention that a factory they engaged in China held them to ransom (staff went "on strike" in the middle of production) but I don't know details beyond what's been reported.

These cases demonstrate all the ways these kinds of projects can go wrong, and are much harder to turn around than a software project in which you can be building to deliver consumer satisfaction day-by-day.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollieslade/2013/12/11/eureka-h...

[2] https://www.geekwire.com/2019/building-energy-monitoring-com...

[3] https://www.techhive.com/article/827458/lifx-smart-light-bra...

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/shittykickstarters/comments/x4ovj6/...