Indiegogo and Arrow will be choosing three more flash funding recipients in the month of October. Sign up here for your shot at game-changing funds, engineering resources and tools, discounts, and personal guidance from experts. This week, we are excited to announce that Brad Holland, of Kordbot, is the first to win $25,000 in flash funds to help bring his product to life. Brad is building the Kordbot, a chord generator and studio production assistant all in one unit, with Arrow’s guidance and funding from Indiegogo backers. However, the Kordbot really started with a deep passion for music.
Brad’s passion for music, computers and all things music production began at a very young age. He remembers reading this book titled ‘Music & Sound for the Commodore 64’ over and over again. Brad initially came up with the idea for the Kordbot when he was working in music studios. However, he was surprised that it didn’t exist yet and was convinced someone was in the process of developing it. “I’ve always been waiting for this thing [the Kordbot] to be something that I could go and buy. And it never happened. So we made it.”
By ‘we’, Brad means him and his business partner, Bill Behrendt, a software developer he had interviewed during the prototyping phase. Turns out, Bill was the author of Brad’s childhood music book, “26 years later, this is the guy that wrote that book, that I was engrossed in as a kid and got me into music, and it’s come full circle and now he’s my partner on this. I’m not very superstitious, but wow.”
Kordbot Finds Validation in Crowdfunding
Bill and Brad set out to bring the Kordbot to the masses and find out if anyone would actually want their product. For Brad, crowdfunding was the only option. He wanted to build a business and “one of the most valuable things you get from crowdfunding is the group of people behind you.” The team originally asked for $55,000 on another platform, to make a bare minimum amount of units, and this was surpassed in less than a day. “That’s when we said, ‘oh crap.’’ Because this kind of volume can bring tons of other stress with it,” says Brad. He realized they needed to improve on the hardware of the device, add more features and be able to mass produce while maintaining the quality of the product.
Brad says that switching into Indiegogo’s InDemand, a feature that allows you to raise funds as long as you’d like, and enrolling into Indiegogo & Arrow’s certification program, has relieved a lot of stress, “The expert advice has been invaluable. And I’ve already received huge amounts of it.” Brad and Bill email the Arrow advisors for guidance at every stage of the product:
“The guys from Arrow have been proactive from the beginning, jumped on board and asked loads of questions. They’ve given tons of expert advice, they live and breathe the components, so they’re looking at our product telling what can be changed or improved.”
Arrow’s Guidance Proves Invaluable
Arrow’s experts have assisted Brad and Bill in design and production challenges, including questions about compatibility, hardware components and upgrades. Arrow has also helped them make decisions about which parts would fit the needs of their product. “That advice – you can’t even put a value on that. They’re on hand to help us make revisions in the future, look at our plans. They are so helpful. That resource is totally invaluable to have. It’s like having extra technical staffers on your team.”
As Brad waits for the plastic outer shell-molds of his product, he continues to make final adjustments on the circuit board, which he will run by Arrow. As for the manufacturing of these circuit boards? Brad is taking care of it in his very own garage.
Brad decided to manufacture the Kordbot himself instead of taking it overseas. He said he was very protective of the backers’ funds, he wanted to have quality control over the boards to guarantee that they work. “What really swung the idea of buying the manufacturing equipment for me, was the possibility of also being able to help other tech crowdfunding guys make prototypes in the future, kind of giving back to the community a bit, as this was quite stressful to me and so it would be good to be able to help others in the same boat.”
Arrow has awarded the Kordbot team $25,000 in flash funding to help them bring this product to life. This relieves a lot of stress for Brad and Bill and gives them breathing room in the production stage so they can continue to monitor for quality control and get the best version of the product into the hands of the backers. The funds will also go to the costs associated with shipping, handling and creating packaging for the device. The team has come a long way from prototyping to crowdfunding and manufacturing. And thanks to Arrow’s help, they have the right hardware components to make the best possible product for their backers.
As Bill puts it, “The three key words are “tools”, “certification” and “partnership”: Arrow, with Indiegogo, bringing all that together in today’s maker-entrepreneur world is a monumental step in the right direction for a new business model of the future. I feel blessed to be a part of it.”
Indiegogo and Arrow will be choosing three more flash funding recipients in the month of October. Sign up here for your shot at game-changing funds, engineering resources and tools, discounts, and personal guidance from experts.
