在众筹网站上发现的永远旋转的未开发客户群

Felix ：在这一集中，您将了解他们用来确定销售什么的标准、如何吸引不会说英语的 Kickstarter 支持者加入您的活动，以及为什么要在 Kickstarter 和 Indiegogo 上启动。 今天，来自 ForeverSpin.com 的 Viktor Grabovskyy 加入了我的行列。 ForeverSpin 是一家加拿大公司，致力于制造世界上最好的陀螺。 它始于 2013 年，总部位于加拿大多伦多。 欢迎维克托。

维克多：你好菲利克斯。 能上节目真是太好了。

菲利克斯：太好了。 告诉我们更多关于您的故事以及您销售的产品是什么？

维克多：当然。 ForeverSpin 本质上是一个非常高品质、非常优雅的金属陀螺系列，现在有 18 种不同的金属和饰面，从铝到钛再到不锈钢、钨和铜。 有 18 种不同的品种，所以我们经历了非常广泛的 f 金属，但实际上它是一个非常高质量的陀螺系列。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 你一直对陀螺感兴趣吗？ 你是如何参与开店的。 我想我们稍后会讨论这个问题，但是您首先发起了 Kickstarter 活动，但是您是如何参与创建陀螺的？

维克多：事实上，我这辈子都不是陀螺的忠实粉丝。 这是我从小就记得的东西，但我一直是你可以握在手中的物品的粉丝，有触觉体验的物品，你可以坐立不安的东西。 现在我确实有两个商业伙伴。 其他两个商业伙伴确实是我今天所说的陀螺项目的灵感来源。 我们决定让产品栩栩如生，真正是质量非常高的产品，我们可以为之付出一定程度的卓越。

我们开始检查一些标准，在我们的头脑风暴会议中检查我们的标准，通过我们的价值观，我们发现我们所有人都记得木制陀螺是我们的第一个玩具。 在那次体验中，我们决定让它变得非常优雅、非常时尚和时尚，并用不常见的金属制成。

费利克斯：听起来你们有一种非常有条理的方法来弄清楚……嗯，听起来你们都想创业。 你想开始做某事，你们有一个标准列表或某种练习，你们通过这些练习来弄清楚你应该开始什么，应该卖什么。 你能和我们谈谈你经历的那个练习吗，因为我认为这是很多企业家经历的一种情况或一个阶段，他们有创业的灵感，但不确定如何缩小选择范围这里。 你能和我们谈谈你们是如何缩小选择范围的吗？

维克多：当然。 为了让您了解一下我们公司的历史，我们实际上并不是从产品本身开始的。 我们确实开始与一些软件项目合作，真正致力于解决现实世界中存在的问题，使用您可以处理数据的软件和应用程序。 从那里，我们发现我们确实没有足够的资金来维持我们想做的事情。 我们冒险使用替代融资方式，这驱使我们来到 Kickstarter，在那里我们真正开始遵守我们为项目制定的标准。 其中一些标准是，无论我们创造什么，它都必须具有令人难以置信的高品质，必须受到尊重，因其质量和对细节的奉献而受到高度尊重。

我们的品牌和我们的项目的另一个标准是，它能给那些获得体验产品的人带来快乐。 我想这也是对这个特定项目的怀旧之情，但实际上，我们可以为我们的产品带来如此高的品质，并真正灌输那种快乐感，真正让任何人的一天都充满活力。 这也是怀旧的事实，它是高质量的，这也是世界上许多人的学习工具，这有助于我们选择这个项目。

现在通过这个过程，我们实际上有一个包含 20 个不同项目的清单，正如我之前提到的，这是我们决定的，因为我们所有人都真的记得那种触觉体验，我们的第一个玩具是木制旋转玩具，我们只是顺其自然并想创造它，并在后面加上一些小魔法，在它后面加上一些质量。

菲利克斯：有道理。 你有那些标准清单； 听起来像你说的高品质，需要带来快乐，然后也许作为奖励是怀旧。 你有这个列表，我想也许其他正在考虑创业或考虑扩展其产品线的听众也有标准。 然后从那里，你怎么知道我猜你必须反对什么样的选择？ 您是从那里进行研究还是只是坐下来集思广益，思考所有可能符合此标准列表的事情？

维克多：真的，只是方法非常独特。 我们刚坐下。 我们考虑了我们可以做的事情。 我之前没有提到的另一个标准是它也必须简单。 简约中真的有一种美，简约中有一种优雅，你真的看不到太多了，尤其是高科技电话变得如此之多，高科技应用程序变得如此之多，以及你每天对技术的饱和程度。

我们想做的是给这个世界带来一点简单，让每个人在忙碌的日常生活中保持平静。 这是我们的另一个标准。 在我们的头脑风暴会议中，我们只是经历了不同的想法，思考什么会很酷，什么会非常独特，我们还有能力创造什么，因为我们作为专业人士和工程师的能力受到限制。 从那里，我们有一个大约二十个想法的简短列表，二十个可行的想法，我们选择了陀螺，我们从未回头。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 是否有任何其他产品几乎晋级，或者是否有其他入围者通过了标准列表，然后你不得不艰难地决定往哪个方向发展？

维克多：肯定有。 我们现在实际上正在开展一些项目。 我们希望将它们推向市场，我想这就是我能说的关于它们的程度，但它们也非常相关。 我们总是将质量的这一方面、简单的方面和对细节的奉献精神结合起来。 话虽如此，我们确实希望推向市场的这些新产品也是基于金属的。 它们是金属物体。 这也是我们提高效率的东西，也是我们可以可靠地提高客户欣赏和期望我们的护理水平和质量水平的东西。

Felix ：你并没有真正去详细介绍这个其他产品，但听起来好像因为你们想做另一个竞争产品，你怎么知道不尝试一下子做所有的？ 因为我认为这是很多企业家遇到的另一种情况，那就是我们有很多很棒的想法，其中很多都被引用/取消引用“derisked”，因为我们已经完成了一些练习或完成了一系列标准你们经历过，但是你是如何强迫自己的，或者你怎么知道不要尝试不止一件事的发射？

维克多：真的，现在变得比过去更难了。 在过去，我们更专注于真正回到我们之前所做的工作，这就是我们正在从事的软件项目，只是为我们真正致力于的工作获得一些资金。 通过陀螺项目，我们在 Kickstarter 上启动，并没有真正预料到它会像现在这样受欢迎和成功。 从那里，我想我们得到了验证，这是我们已经转向的东西，也是我们现在非常非常自豪的东西。

我们有一个支持者社区，来自九十多个不同国家的个人，我们承诺，我们有义务，并且我们不断为他们带来新产品。 至于进入第一个项目，我想我们的情况有点不同，但我不认为这对我们来说会很困难，或者如果我们有不同的动机，它会更难。

费利克斯：有道理。 你们正在启动 Kickstarter，得到了快速验证，我们将对此进行详细介绍，但是因为它变得如此迅速，所以很容易做出决定，嘿，这正在起飞，让我们把时间花在什么已经在工作了？

维克多：是的，绝对的。 任何 Kickstarter 项目的过程也是一个艰苦的过程，所以从你启动一个项目的那一刻起，从你实际创建你的照片、你的原型，到这一切，到那时，你确实学到了很多东西。你实际上运送了所有的支持者，所有的贡献者，奖励，在这种情况下，他们正在旋转陀螺。 那是一个非常谦卑的过程。 这是我们在此期间学到了很多东西，也是我们刚刚决定的事情。 我们有一些成对的手臂移位，这是我们很高兴继续进行的事情。

Felix ：我想在你们想做的第一件创业事情上退后一步。 你们是三个想要创业的创始人。 这就是创业的目标吗，因为你之前说过你开始尝试创办一家软件公司。 告诉我们，当你们坐下来说“让我们一起开始一些事情”时，你们的动机是什么。

维克多：真的是需要更好的东西。 更好的是，我从全球的角度说，因为对于许多不同的人来说，更好的情况可能会大不相同。 它可以是更好的卖家，它可以是更好的支付。 对我们来说，我们确实对质量有这种奉献精神，这就是我们的信条，即质量、简单以及我们可以为我们的创造带来优雅的事实。 真的，这是我们开始自己的东西的动机。 我们真的想对我们创造的东西负责，我们想实现卓越，这是我们很高兴看到其他企业家为之奋斗的事情。

这确实是激励因素，今天仍然推动着我们。 从专业角度和个人角度来看，我们一直努力实现的目标是持续增长。

Felix ：从现在主要使用数字，不一定是数字但不是有形产品到生产和销售实体产品，这种转变是什么样的？ 那个过渡是什么样的？ 有什么东西，也许是你们必须掌握的一些新技能，因为你们从一开始就进入了这个新领域？

维克多：这绝对是一次非常艰苦的学习经历，我们确实学到了很多东西。 实际上，考虑到我们早先在那个领域工作，我们不需要为此运送产品。 我们经历了那个物流过程，实际上是如何将产品运送到 200 多个不同国家的发现阶段。 随着时间的流逝，您会学到很多东西，很多东西是您被迫学习的。 同样，我们的驱动因素是我们对支持者的奉献精神，我们对工艺和卓越的奉献精神。 有了它，您可以实现的目标没有真正的限制。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 当你决定专注于陀螺时，你们是否尝试过以任何其他方式验证产品，或者第一次真正的大验证来自 Kickstarter 活动？

Viktor ：我们实际上在陀螺公司之前启动了另一个项目。 这是一个不相关的项目，我们只是用来测试 Kickstarter 的水域。 除了验证陀螺以及它们可能是什么以及它们是什么之外，我们决定将平台作为一个整体进行验证，并真正通过一种了解运输过程的方式来工作，了解真正如何实现的实现过程与全球观众交流。 从那里，我们刚刚在 Kickstarter 上提出了旋转陀螺项目。 幸运的是，它在某些情况下获得了一定的吸引力并得到了病毒式的传播，我们就成功了。 我们很幸运，在第一个项目上就成功了。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 有趣的是，您想首先验证平台。 在过去的几个月里，我越来越频繁地听到这种说法，这是关于你应该如何真正尝试首先弄清楚分销渠道，不一定是实体分销，而是如何传达你的信息，如何让你的产品推出以人为本。 听起来这正是你们正在做的事情。 你想确保 Kickstarter 实际上是一种推出产品的可行方式，显然你在此过程中也学到了很多东西。 你能说第一个项目是什么，它是成功资助的吗？

Viktor : 它被成功地资助了。 实际上，我们确实也经历了另一次迭代，并添加了不同的内容。 这是一个豪华的项目。 它的表现不如 ForeverSpin 自然而然，也没有通过几次众筹活动筹集到数百万美元，但它对我们来说是一个非常强大的垫脚石，它确实让我们学习了所有那些入门技能我们需要为 ForeverSpin 和我们的后续项目取得成功。

菲利克斯：让我们谈谈那个。 你在第一个项目的第一个活动中加入了什么，你说毛绒玩具，就是这样吗？

维克多：是的。

Felix ：有哪些事情，一些假设可能是你在 Kickstarter 上发起你的第一个活动，但在你运行活动时可能会改变？

Viktor ：实际上，我们很快就被证明是错误的第一个假设是您的客户群的限制，您获得的曝光率以及我们假设 Kickstarter 主要是由讲英语的观众访问，这是真的。 这是事实，但实际上现在我们的数据反映的是，几乎 50% 的 Kickstarter 访问者来自加拿大以外和美国以外，这带来了很多潜在市场，很多可以看到您产品的潜在个人，可以对它感兴趣并为自己挑选它。 这就是您必须建立在全球范围内运输的能力的地方。 那是第一件事。

从物流的角度来看，我们有一些事后需要了解的东西，但就营销和整个平台而言，我们确实学到了很多东西。

Felix ：一旦你为陀螺发起了 Kickstarter 活动，你是否对产品进行了任何验证，尝试以任何其他方式销售它，或者在启动 Kickstarter 之前找到其他方式来验证它，或者你们只是说，“让我们把它放在 Kickstarter 上，看看会发生什么，然后这就是验证本身？”

Viktor ：对于第一个项目的 ForeverSpin，我们真的只是把它扔到了 Kickstarter 上，让我们的工作质量不言而喻，这就是它被选中的方式。 这就是它变得流行的原因，因为我们确实致力于卓越和质量。 我们的营销材料很到位。 人们只是喜欢我们的页面，我们的陀螺。 他们再一次有那种怀旧的感觉，这有助于分享它，然后它就从那里起飞了。

Felix ：当你发起旋转的 Kickstarter 活动时，你说你从第一个活动中就学到了物流和运输的知识。 您是否也学到了有关如何展示产品本身的知识？ 你在 Kickstarter 页面上看到的东西太多了，你可以通过许多不同的方式通过你的 Kickstarter 将你的信息传递出去，还有很多优化它的方法。 从第一个 Kickstarter 活动（使用毛绒玩具）到你的 Kickstarter 活动到第一个旋转陀螺活动，你学到了哪些关键的东西？

维克多：当然。 我们第一次竞选和现在之间的时间很长。 在那段时间里，我们学到了很多东西。 现在，我们甚至在第一次竞选期间就学到了一些东西，我想这与现在的对话更相关，而不是它如何随着时间的推移而演变，但首先我可以说，你真正需要关注的只是确保你对细节有敏锐的洞察力，以确保你的所有文字都是正确的，图像是准确的，它们代表你的产品，它们拍摄得很好，光线充足，你的文字和方式你与你的支持者的交流也是普遍而简单的。

有很多关键的事情是非常重要的。 视频也有很多风格选择是专门为全球观众设置的世界，而不仅仅是说英语的人群。

菲利克斯：你在那里说了一些我想谈的事情。 在您的页面或视频中包含哪些关键因素，以更加包容全球观众，而不仅仅是关注说英语的访问者？

维克多：例如，从语言的角度来看，你所要做的就是真正尝试简化你的语言，确保它清晰、简洁，并且尽可能让世界上尽可能多的人理解它. 话虽如此，现在有谷歌翻译，还有所有这些不同的服务，适用于 Chrome，适用于 Safari，可以为居住在土耳其的人翻译页面，但为居住在中国的人翻译页面，但更容易传达信息的是那些确实会说英语。 我可以保证，对于不会说英语的人来说，在翻译之后，在翻译之前，这也会更容易。 除此之外，实际图像本身以及您展示产品的方式也非常重要。

例如，在图像页面上指出功能而不是在下面的项目符号列表中输入它们，这对于全球受众而不是英语受众来说效果要好得多。

菲利克斯：我明白了。 基本上几乎就像少说话，多展示。 显示更多的图像，或者只是不那么依赖书面语言本身，但我想更多地通过图像和视频进行演示？

维克多：是的，完全正确。 它也确实更加强调了您的产品本身和产品的设计。 如果图片比文字更能支持这一点，那么从营销的角度来看，这对你来说肯定是更好的，并且可以传达你的信息。 对于我们的特定品牌，视频对于陀螺来说比图像更有效。 我们尝试加入尽可能多的视频，确保我们所有的信息，我们的观点都在视频中而不是下面的文字中出现。 尤其是对于陀螺，你必须亲眼目睹才能真正欣赏它。 除此之外，你必须真正感受到它，获得那种触觉体验，并在你面前看到它才能更加欣赏。 这就是我们能够带给我们的支持者、我们的客户以及对这种体验的期望的体验。

菲利克斯：明白了。 你之前提到过你真的必须对细节有敏锐的洞察力。 根据您的经验以及您查看的其他活动，是否有一些常见的细节是您发现其他活动缺少的，您肯定会建议新的 Kickstarter 活动创建者确保他们成功？

Vikto r：失踪，我不知道。 实际上，我个人不再关注那么多项目了。 我们非常忙于我们的义务。 我们确保我们将世界各地的包裹运送给我们的支持者，但绝对要注意的一件事是我想不要添加，但要确保您不添加任何矛盾点，您确保您的项目页面，您的演示文稿尽可能简单，这可能会导致您只删除大量文本，但如果您必须这样做才能更好地传达您的信息，那就简单了。

菲利克斯：有道理。 我认为很多时候我们想把所有东西都拿出来，列出所有的功能，一切，但根据你刚才所说的话，我猜你强调支持更多地包容非英语人士观众不要用太多的词，尽量简单。 我认为这是一个很好的建议。 当您通过页面上的副本创建这些 Kickstarter 页面时，无论是使用您的视频还是图像，您是否为此聘请了任何帮助，或者这一切都是在内部完成的？

Viktor ：迄今为止的一切都是在内部完成的。 这是我们非常自豪的事情。 我们在多伦多拥有的团队，他们非常出色。 他们做得很好，这一切都始于我们对质量的奉献和对卓越的奉献。 归根结底，有很多活动我们相信在内部总是会做得更好，因为我们首先想象它们。 我们知道它应该是什么样子，我们知道它应该如何写，应该如何描绘，我们不相信有很多人能够在这种能力上比我们自己更成功。

菲利克斯：你有没有觉得你试图承担一切可能会让自己太瘦？ 您是否遇到过这个问题，并试图不必保留所有内容，而是将其全部保留在内部？ 您是否觉得自己在任何时候都在尝试自己处理所有事情时遇到了限制？ 不是你自己，而是公司本身？

维克多：是的，绝对的。 肯定有这种担忧，随着团队的壮大，我们会减轻这种担忧。 我们培训我们添加到团队中的个人以便能够执行我们的任务。 我猜你所说的，这与雇用专业人士或雇用某些公司相同。 真的，我们最终会更加关心我们的项目。 我们确实投入了总是丢失或大部分时间丢失的额外里程。 当你为别人的项目工作时，并不是那么强调细节，也不是太注重卓越。

菲利克斯：我明白了。 如果你确实需要一些特别的帮助，你们会在公司内部雇佣他们，并根据你的精神或你的理念对他们进行关于这种卓越和专注于质量的基本培训？ 这就是你的意思吗？ 你不会外包它，但如果你想在那里得到一些帮助，你会在内部雇佣他们并培训他们？

Viktor ：到目前为止，我们遇到的大多数问题以及我们在增长中的大部分挑战都是由直属团队和创始团队在内部解决的。 我们确实有很强的解决问题的能力，这就是我们的优势所在。 我们的很多问题已经在内部解决了。 这是我们非常自豪能够完成的事情。 对于一些更高级别的任务、编程工作等等，我们会外包出去，但就我们品牌的质量而言，这是我们倾向于内部保留的东西。

菲利克斯：我明白你在说什么。 质量就像您的品牌和公司的核心竞争力。 任何需要或需要维护这种质量的东西，你们都有立场将其保留在内部。 任何与质量核心无关的东西，那么你更愿意实际外包或在外面招聘？

维克多：是的，完全正确。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 让我们谈谈你的 Kickstarter 活动，一些 ForeverSpin 的活动。 看起来你们已经发起了三个活动，都非常成功。 你能给我们简要介绍一下我猜这三个人筹集的资金吗？

维克多：当然。 我们发起的第一个活动是在 2014 年，它是在年初的 2 月推出的，而那个活动是我们没有真正得到验证的活动。 我们把它扔到了 Kickstarter 上，我们得到了巨大的社区支持。 我们有很多人打电话给我们，询问要添加的不同金属，询问扩大我们的收藏，这促使我们在未来创建更多的 Kickstarter 项目。 第一次竞选，它筹集了大约 140,000 美元，有 17 或 1800 名支持者。 从那里开始，实现这一目标的时期就是学习时期。 我们学到了很多关于如何真正管理我们的项目、如何执行制造、如何执行我们的运输以及真正如何处理所有这些的知识。 如果没记错的话，我相信这个项目在 7 月或 8 月完成。

从那里开始，我们开始研究下一个陀螺迭代，在 Kickstarter 上可以找到 ForeverSpin 2.0。 现在，我们再次将 ForeverSpin 2.0 添加到我们的收藏中。 最初的系列是十个陀螺，在 2.0 中，我们添加了一些非常、非常独特的陀螺，我们也为能够真正接触到以前从未做过的非常创新的东西而感到自豪。 我们用黑铑、白铑、镀银、铸铁和玫瑰金制作了一些陀螺，这是我们在 2014 年 10 月启动的第二个 Kickstarter 项目中添加到我们系列中的陀螺。后来那一年，我们在该项目中筹集了大约 400,000 美元，有 3800 名支持者。

该系列还包括我们系列的另一个补充，即旋转底座，这是我们的支持者强烈要求的项目。 现在，真正让我们与许多其他项目创建者和 Kickstarter 上的许多社区不同的是，我们对我们的支持者有着非常强烈的奉献精神。 我们确实回到 Kickstarter 的真正原因是为了满足他们的需求。 有很多完全熟悉 Kickstarter 的人喜欢支持该平台，并且非常愿意在网上和其他地方购买。 话虽如此，我们带着他们的建议回到了 Kickstarter，他们提出了他们的建议，并将他们要求的物品带到了市场。

例如，旋转底座，我们收藏的配件，它是专门为他们准备的。 我相信我们的第一批支持者要求了 203 次，其他金属也被要求了 100 多次，玫瑰金非常非常受欢迎。 Wee 总是将我们的项目奉献给我们的支持者。 第二次活动于 12 月结束，我们在次年 7 月成功交付了所有支持者奖，然后我们开始着手另一个项目，这又是扩大我们的收藏。 我们重新设计了我们的纺纱底座，我们重新设计了一些项目和一些比例，在这方面，我们再次对我们的支持者进行了非常强烈的奉献，以扩大我们的收藏，以确保它尽可能高品质。 在那方面，我们刚刚从我们的观众和我们的支持者那里得到了持续的支持，取得了很大的成功。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 让我们从第一个项目开始，即筹集了近 14,000 美元的 ForeverSpin 陀螺活动。 看起来你最初的目标，我不确定这是加元还是美元，上面写着 1,500 美元。 无论哪种方式，您筹集的最终金额都会破坏非常缓慢的目标。 你们准备得如何，几乎拥有，这是什么，你最终筹集的最初目标的一百倍？ 你们为这种巨额资金做好准备了吗？

维克多：绝对不是。 这导致了很多深夜。 实际上，我们非常致力于我们的支持者，以确保我们尽快履行我们的责任并真正履行义务。 它确实导致了很多非常晚的夜晚，确保我们将我们的每一根能量都提供给我们的支持者，这是一个很好的教训。 这不是我们所期望的。 这是我们面临的问题，最终我们克服了。

菲利克斯：太棒了。 初始金额 1,500 美元，我猜你需要这笔资金做什么？ 只是为了验证吗？ 与创业公司合作似乎不是很多钱？ 你需要那 1500 美元做什么？

维克多：那是为了一些原型设计。 只要确保我们有完美的设计，并且设计确实经历了很多次迭代。 我相信我们经历了数百张图纸，数百次重新设计，以确保我们确实拥有完美的陀螺，从外观和陀螺的角度来看。 那里有一点双重功能。 从性能的角度来看，它必须看起来非常优雅，同时也运行得非常好。 这是一个非常好的平衡。 这是我们已经能够实现的目标，而且速度并不快。 这不是一夜之间发生的。 这是我们确实需要资金的事情。 除此之外，只是为了确保我们的流程是可靠的，确保我们添加到我们收藏中的金属也是完整的。

我们使用了一些合金和一些不同的纯金属，它们是非常非常罕见的机器，它们很少使用，这也是我们非常自豪能够将它们带到我们的系列中的东西。

菲利克斯：一旦你在这结束时确实达到了 140,000 美元的资金目标，再次，来自近 1900 名支持者，下一步是什么？ 实际上，在我到达那里之前，您能够以多快的速度突破那个目标？ 是不是很早，比如第一天，还是你多久打破了 1,500 美元的目标？

维克多：我想它发生在十七个小时之内。 这太疯狂了。 然后从那里，第二天也有几千个订单，活动的最后三天也刚刚爆发。 这不是我们所期望的，但我们确实面对它，我们最终克服了它，这是我们非常高兴的事情。

菲利克斯：你怎么看，你们是怎么这么快就获得牵引力的？ 1,500 美元显然很棒，但在整个竞选期间筹集 140,000 美元显然更好。 发生了什么事？ 您是如何推动流量和推广活动的？

Viktor ：Kickstarter 的运作方式确实会在某些项目立即启动时奖励它们的可见性。 归根结底，Kickstarter 是关于成功资助项目的。 它确实在项目启动时夸大了项目的可见性，只是为了创造这种嗡嗡声，在这些项目中创造意义和可见性。 仅仅基于我们的陀螺的优点，我们确实立即获得了很大的吸引力，很多人都喜欢这个想法，而且我们有回头客。 我们已经将收藏品运送到学校，为过去支持我们的老师、博物馆，甚至大学。

我们的收藏非常受欢迎，Kickstarter 自身的可见性及其排序算法和项目的外观对我们帮助很大。 在那方面，随着嗡嗡声越来越大，随着越来越多的人开始谈论它，我们被一些新闻媒体报道了，这也有很大帮助。 没有真正的公关。 我们在内部没有做任何事情来支持这种流量。 它只是有机地来了。

Felix ：我从一开始也从其他活动中听到了这一点，这就是你所说的如果你能尽早获得牵引力，因为 Kickstarter 是成功资助活动的激励措施，他们会想要突出显示成功资助的活动。 早点做了什么？ 您是否向朋友和家人宣传它？ How did you get that early traction to get Kickstarter to pay attention to an obviously great product and everything, but how did you even get them to notice your product in the first place?

Viktor : Yeah, it was something that we did promote to our friends and family. They naturally helped in the start, but really we we our success and the funding of that project to the Kickstarter community. The first person sees it, then they let one of their friends know, "Hey, this is very cool." Then that second person sees it, and from there Kickstarter's algorithm kicks it. It just boosts the front page, to the What's Popular page, to the top design page, and from there it's just something that spiraled and you did get that viral affect or that pseudo viral affect.

Felix : Once you raised $140,000, was this a thirty-day campaign or how long did it run for?

Viktor : Thirty-five days.

Felix : After that thirty-five days ran and you guys had a good amount of cash, capital to invest in the business, what was the next step? Did you have to get manufacturers? What was the very next thing you guys decided to do once you got that check? I'm not sure how Kickstarter pays you, gives you the money, but once you got the money in the accounts, what did you guys do immediately?

Viktor : Again, we just went back into the design stage. We learned a lot about our product as well and about what the customer wants as we did launch the product. We had seventeen hundred people send us hundreds of emails, thousands of emails and we actually had them call us on a dedicated hotline as well, which is something that not a lot of other project creators do. In that, we just went back to the drawing board, or I guess returned to the drawing board just to make sure that our product and our spinning tops are as elegant and as high performance as they can be, maintaining that balance between the two. There was a lot of design work that had to be done.

Beyond that, the next stage was to make sure that we select the right materials, that we use only the finest alloys. We started sourcing our materials and manufacturers, and from there it was just making sure that that manufacturing process is coordinated, that we have all the quality control checks in place since we are a company that is highly dedicated to quality and making sure that we do have a very keen eye as to what we do ship to our customers and to our backers.

Felix : I was going to ask about that because you emphasize on this episode and on your Kickstarter campaign and on your store about this, quality and attention to detail, which I can imagine could be stressful when you are looking for a manufacturer and making sure that they are adhering to your standards, and there's probably listeners out there that don't need this kind of attention to detail, but can still probably benefit from your device on this. What can you do to ensure that manufacturers are producing things to your standards?

Viktor : Naturally there's several quality control checks, and they actually start at the material stage before the manufacturing stage. It is very important that you have stringent QHX at each process of your manufacturing process. There's the shipping of materials that has to be checked before and after departure with a composition test making sure that your tops are exactly as you designed them, that they're exactly to spec.

Felix : Are you testing this or is there somebody that's at the manufacturer testing this?

Viktor : There would be manufacturers testing it, there would be intermediaries testing it, just making sure that we have the best materials that we could possibly get. The best materials in the context of what we're doing.

Felix : I don't know anything about this stuff, but are you giving them specific numbers and then from the test you want your alloys, your metals to hit a certain I guess number of purity or quality? I'm not sure what the right term for it is, but are you doing this in a quantitative way, saying, "Hey, I want you to test this," but has it hit these particular checkpoints?

Viktor : That's exactly right. For instance, the copper that we use is 99.9 percent pure. This is something that not a lot of people machine. It's not a metal that's commonly found as well. Most people do get copper in an alloy state, which is either bronze or brass. With copper, that 99.9 percent pure, it does have to be checked for purity, does have to be checked for contents and for everything like that. There are the other metals that we did use that we introduced to our collection. For instance, the titanium, we use a very high grade of titanium. That has to be checked for composition as well to make sure that it does abide exactly by our specifications; otherwise it's not what we had promised to our customer. We promised the highest creative titanium possible for the context of what we do for our spinning tops, and that's something that we intend to deliver on.

That's something that's very important to us and that did go through that QH process.

Felix : One thing you were saying about the campaign, the very first one that was happening, and then as you're gearing for you second one, was about how you got a lot of feedback. I think feedback is obviously invaluable, and you said that you even had a hotline set up to get this feedback. What were you doing I guess to solicit feedback? I think this is a problem that other entrepreneurs might run into, which is that they want to do things to improve their business, they want to improve the product, but they're not getting enough feedback from their customers. Are you guys doing anything specific to try to get people to give more of their opinion to you guys?

Viktor : Not really anything specific, no. Again, really Kickstarter is among the top thousand visited websites in the world. It is a website that gets a lot of traffic through it day in, day out, and if there's enough people excited about your project, then you do open up that possibility for them to speak with the founders, to speak with a member of the staff, to make their suggestions and to improve ultimately a project that they back and an item that they purchase. It's something that a lot of individuals are open to the opportunity of. With respect to our spinning tops, it is something that a lot of people are excited for, and just again, on the basis of that, there's a lot of individuals that called. We had hundreds of calls, and unfortunately it's just not something that's shared. There's not an ideology that's shared by a lot of Kickstarter project creators.

There's not many projects that do have that line open, that do have that dedicated telephone line for individuals to call.

Felix : Can you say a little bit more about this, just in case there's anybody out there that's thinking about launching campaign and wants to be really tapped into the potential customers? How do you set up, what is this hotline that you set up? Is it just a cell phone number, and how do you display it on your Kickstarter page?

Viktor : We effectively bought a dedicated telephone line, and that was tethered to our cell phone, so whenever somebody called we would answer. We would speak with our backers. We would take in their feedback, and again, when you have that personal connection with one of your customers and as a customer, when you have that connection with the founder, the person that you're buying something from, you do feel much more special, and that's something that you're very happy to support and support in perpetuity and through project iterations, through additions to that product find, and we are very grateful to all of our backers.

Felix : One other thing you mentioned in the I guess pre-interview things that we were talking about was about how social proof is really important for you guys. 你能多谈谈这个吗？ What does social proof mean for anybody out there that might not know what that is and how does it help you with your business?

Viktor : Naturally transitioning into Kickstarter and to our website, which is where we make sales on a daily basis, we do sell on ForeverSpin.com, it's something that significantly supports your brand and significantly supports the perception that people are buying this item. A spinning top isn't something that everybody would buy. The reality of it, it's just the way that it is. When you do have that social proof, when you do see that, hey, my neighbor bought it or somebody that lives a few blocks down from me bought it in the state of Pennsylvania or the state of wherever, or in X country, that's something that really supports the fact that we do bring something that's very special to the entire world. Now we have shipped to over ninety different countries, and that's something that supports our social standing and supports the fact that we do ship, that we're a very legitimate company and that we are here to stay.

Felix : What do you mean by social proof though? Just so I can clarify for listeners, social proof is just basically the validation I guess from your peers, like you were saying, your neighbors or your family that have purchased this, and because they purchased it, you feel a little bit less, it becomes less risky for you to purchase it as well. How do you demonstrate something like that either in a Kickstarter or on your Shopify store? How do you emphasize that there's been I guess social proof for your product?

Viktor : Transitioning into our website now, again, it did go through Kickstarter, and on Kickstarter the numbers speak for themselves. There's eighteen hundred people that supported our first project. There's thirty-seven hundred people that supported our second project, and five thousand people that supported our third project. This is from all walks of like all over the world, and it's something that people can join. We really have a community here where our customers speak to each other on the message board that exists within Kickstarter as a platform. Now beyond that, there's Facebook, there's just the reviews that come from the individuals that we've shipped spinning tops to, the social proof that we got from Dragon's Den as well, which is the Canadian equivalent of Shark Tank, which was somewhere we were very happy to be included.

When you have that proof it becomes undeniable, and there is a stage at which people say, hey, this is a very legitimate product. This is something that I was skeptical about at first, and now something I really want.

Felix : It looks like one of the keys is that you've had a lot of very public purchases or at least pre-orders through Kickstarter, makes it a lot less risky purchase for other people because they see that lot of two thousand, five thousand or whatever the other number was, a lot of thousands of people are already buying this product, which makes them not necessarily only trust you guys more, but then also want it. Because they're like, "Why is everyone buying this? Let me take a look at it." 你是这个意思吗？

Viktor : Yeah, that's exactly right. To put it into simplest terms, nobody wants to be the first. You go to Amazon and you see some product listing that sells all over the world but it has two units sold. You don't want to be that second person, you don't want to be that fourth person to test an item that you may not believe has the quality that's promised. You want to be that seven thousandth person that's supporting it and that knows that you're getting something good, and really that's the social proof that we've gotten. It's with that support and with that audience and our thankful ability to have been able to ship to thousands of individuals all over the world that we're able to do that.

Felix : I'm not sure if you guys experienced this with Kickstarter, but if you are launching on Kickstarter this is why it's really important to try to get that early traction, because if someone doesn't know you and haven't ever heard of you and they come to your Kickstarter page and zero people have funded it, you're not going to want to be the first one, but if you have your network, your friends and family who already do trust you, who don't need social proof, if they're the first ones to help support you or your business or you Kickstarter campaign, then that starts this kickoff of social proof. Just by the fact that there is more than one person already that's supporting this campaign could be enough to compel strangers to also back it.

凉爽的。 Let's talk about the shipping because you mentioned this a couple times. You ship to did you say ninety countries or what was the number?

Viktor : Yeah, we've now shipped to over ninety different countries.

菲利克斯：太棒了。 What is that experience? How do you set up your I guess supply chain, your logistics to be able to ship to over ninety different countries?

Viktor : Essentially we've been searching for a very long term for a perfect solution, and it hasn't been an easy search. In time and as you dedicate enough time to that, enough resources, you do find the ability to do so. You find partners that can ship all over the world for you and different companies, and that's something that we have put our trust into. We've found these companies that can ship all over the world, that can ship packages with tracking information, comprehensive tracking checkpoints. It is something that just, we didn't have the ability to do before and I have never dreamed of being able to ship to all of these different countries, but it's something that in retrospect just seems incredibly easy, but it's not the easiest transition to get into.

Felix : Do you have to work with multiple logistics and shipping companies to do this, or is there a central one that you can maybe recommend that listeners check out, if they want to be able to ship globally?

Viktor : We did go through several different companies, at least in our search, and there's a few companies that will definitely be better than others, but I can't recommend a specific company over a different ones because there's a lot of variations in your cost depending on what you're shipping and where you're shipping. There is a lot of options, and you just have to do your due diligence, which is another thing that we believe is just with every decision that you make you have to make sure that all the options are laid out on the table, and that you have a very understanding of why you're doing what you're doing.

Felix : Maybe you can tell us what kind of key factors that our listeners should look out for if they are looking to partner with a shipping or logistics company to ship globally. What are some important things that they should either ask the company or include in their research?

Viktor : Naturally first and foremost, there's cost. There's going to be a cost of you shipping. Then there's transit times, there's tracking capabilities. A lot of individuals, especially with Amazon being so incredibly popular and widely used, a lot of people expect tracking information for their packages, and this is true for destinations all over the world. Those are really the three biggest facts, and transit time is becoming much, much more important than it had been in the past.

Felix : I see. 这就说得通了。 凉爽的。 I want to talk now about branding. You mentioned this as well, something that you wanted to talk about, which is the importance of having a brand. I think that word is just so I guess in general is a vague word. Maybe for you, on a day to day basis, what are you as a company or maybe what are you personally doing to I guess establish and push the ForeverSpin brand?

Viktor : Branding yeah, again, just exactly as you had said, it is a very broad word and it's hard to define in one sentence because there are so many factors that accumulate with the amalgam of what a brand actually is. With that, there's definitely social aspects and this goes back to the social proof that we spoke of. Really to break it down in how we establish our brand is just making sure that we do dedicate our products to quality, to make sure that every single spinning top is 99.9 percent pure copper, to make sure that every titanium top is indestructible and perfectly balanced. With that, you just get a lot of individuals that have an appreciation for your product, they do share with individuals, you get that social proof, you get individuals sharing with their friends and family, and it trickles down from your customer base and the people that you're loyal to. First and foremost, if you're loyal to your product.

Felix : You're focusing on the product itself, making sure that the product is upholding the brand. Outside of the product, are there other ways for you either through marketing that you focus on or someone from your team focuses on to make sure that the brand is established?

Viktor : All the creatives that we do, and we do advertise online as well. We advertise through Facebook, through Google AdWords. Pretty much all the creatives that we have, they do all reinforce that image of quality, that image of simplicity as well as excellence. It is something that is uniform. It's constant across all of our outlets, for all of our partners that we engage with, for our own marketing efforts in-house, for the companies that retail our product and that sell our spinning tops, it's something that we demand from ourselves first and foremost.

Felix : Now after you had funded on Kickstarter I think the first time, is that when you open up the Shopify store or when did you open the Shopify store?

Viktor : We opened the Shopify store just before we aired on Dragon's Den, which was November of 2015, just last November.

Felix : This was after all three campaigns?

Viktor : This was after two campaigns. The third one was launched in December. We launched this last campaign in December, and it had actually run in concurrence to our store being live.

Felix : Did you have a storefront on another platform? Were you capturing any I guess other demand after the campaign ended? What'd you do about that?

Viktor : We did have a store. It was a custom store that we built ourselves. It wasn't Shopify, it wasn't really any other platform, and we did switch to Shopify we found that it was a much, much better solution for us. Ever since we made the switch, it's been significantly better.

Felix : Did you do anything to drive traffic to that very first store or is it mostly just from the traffic that was coming from the Kickstarter page? How do you transition from Kickstarter to your own store? How do you transition that kind of buzz?

Viktor : The very first thing that we did get traffic from was actually Dragon's Den, and we did launch that Shopify store a little bit before Dragon's Den. There are a million individuals that watched that episode, that watched that specific episode, that watch every episode for that matter. We did drive a lot of traffic from there. From that, we just gained a lot of valuable data. We really, again, established who our customers were, and from there we've had a lot of initiatives. We've had our paid advertising campaigns. We've had some social campaigns as well that have been targeting those individuals. There is always inbound traffic. A lot of it is paid, but we do have alternative means as well, and definitely it all started with that Dragon's Den appearance and Kickstarter's incredibly influential factor as well.

Felix : What are the plans for this year? I know that you were talking about working on some other products that you can't say much about coming up, but are there any other big goals that you as a company want to hit for 2016?

维克多：当然。 For ForeverSpin, we're looking to get our collection into a lot more schools. That's something that we're focusing very hard on. We have this educational aspect for our collection, and really we call the ForeverSpin collection the metal museum. That's because all of our collection, they are in different metals. Now we have a variety of over eighteen, and in that variety there's a significant amount of variance and variety in our collection. I can gather from what I know about most of the population is that you for instance, you've never held solid titanium and solid tungsten in one hand and the other at the same time, is that correct?

Felix : That's correct.

Viktor : For instance, when you have that tactile experience firsthand, you'll never forget that tungsten is signification heavier than titanium is. You'll never remember what the texture of solid nickel is or how much bronze weighs or that copper develops a patina over time. That's just things that we're very passionate about bringing to schools and bringing that learning, that tactile experience to children all over the world. That's something that we've started to do. There are a couple schools that we've gotten into that have shown our collection, taking it to their science classrooms, to their students for stress relief, for brainstorming sessions, for just getting some more focus. It's something that we're, very, very happy to be doing in the future.

菲利克斯：太棒了。 Thanks so much Viktor. ForeverSpin.com is the website. FOREVERSPIN dot com is the website and the store. You can definitely Google ForeverSpin Kickstarter campaigns if you want to see how they built their Kickstarter pages. Anywhere else that you recommend listeners check out if they want to follow along with what you guys are up to?

Viktor : Definitely our Kickstarter would be a very good starting point. Our website is also up to date and it does feature our entire collection minus what's available on Kickstarter. In addition to our Kickstarter page right now, we do have an active collection on Indiegogo.com. Also another crowd funding platform where you can find our newest five tops from our collection.

Felix : What made you make that transition from Kickstarter to launching on Indiegogo?

Viktor : Indiegogo is right now the campaign that's running on Indiegogo is an in demand campaign. It's effectively a campaign that runs in perpetuity. Again, just going back to the fact that there are a lot of individuals that are very wary of making purchases online. They're strictly and exclusively comfortable with Kickstarter, with Indiegogo, with Amazon.ca for instance or Amazon.com, and really just going back to we do have a very strong dedication to our customer base, to our backers and there's a lot of people that have been requesting it which is why we've gone back to Kickstarter three times and back to Indiegogo.

Felix : Very interesting. You're basically saying that the customers that you have and probably maybe a lot of other listeners might have these customers too, they only feel comfortable buying through certain almost websites. Kickstarter was what you guys cut your teeth on and noticed at first, but then you also now find that some customers feel best funding or buying through Indiegogo, so that's why you're launching there even though you don't necessarily need to launch on Indiegogo, is that correct?

Viktor : Yeah, that's exactly right. It's out best channel for communication as well. That's why we're acquainted with them, with a lot of our customers and a lot of our backers, and that's where we're happy to come back to bring that collection to them.

菲利克斯：太棒了。 I think that's a great gem. I'm glad that I asked why you launched with Indiegogo too. 这很有意义。 I never considered that people might not feel comfortable or maybe feel more comfortable buying on Kickstarter or Indiegogo for whatever reason they might have. 这很有意义。 惊人的。 Thanks so much again Viktor. Again, ForeverSpin.com, look up ForeverSpin on Indiegogo for a live campaign, or is it called in demand campaign, which I guess should be running in perpetuity, like you said, and ForeverSpin on Kickstarter if you want to see the past campaigns.

Thanks again so much for coming on Viktor.

Viktor : Thank you Felix. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.

Felix : Thanks for listening to Shopify Masters, the e-commerce marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs. To start your store today, visit Shopify.com for a free fourteen-day trial.