Is crowd funding a good way to go about this project? And specifically, is crowd funding through Kickstarter a good way to go about this project?
Basically, the project creator has an idea for a product for which he thinks there is a market, but he lacks the capital to get the business off the ground.
By using Kickstarter, he's able to acquire the capital, and the backers -- the vast majority of whom, I'm assuming, are either friends who just want to help him out or strangers who just want a bed-desk -- know that they'll get their money back if the goal isn't reached.
But once the goal is reached ... that investment becomes a risky investment. The obligation to actually deliver a product to those investors to whom it was promised is, at best, a moral obligation, rather than a legal one. Kickstarter has been very insistent on this point lately: If you donate to a project, consider it a donation, not a purchase (http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store).
With more artistic projects -- say, a musician raising money to record an album -- I think it's a little bit easier to see those pledges as donations rather than purchases, even if a copy of the album is promised to donors. Why? For one, donors are likely to already be fans of the artist and feel a sort of kinship with them. But probably more importantly, the final cost of the album is likely to be in the $10-$20 range, which is a lot easier to write off, if the artist doesn't deliver, than an expensive piece of furniture.
In contrast, with a project like this, I'm assuming that if you're going to "donate" $650 or more, you're going to want a bed-desk at the end of it.
And at least on Kickstarter's current terms, the arrangement is not favorable to somebody who just wants a bed-desk at the end of it.
There may be other crowd-funding options out there that are more favorable to the would-be owners of a bed-desk (for instance, if the project creator were contractually obligated to deliver the product). Or perhaps the project creator could simply raise $65,000 with micro-loans, then sell the completed product to interested buyers, then use the proceeds to pay back the micro-loans. At least in that case, it's the aspiring businessman who's on the hook if something goes wrong, not the aspiring bed owners -- which is as it should be, because when an aspiring businessman is willing to take on financial risks, that demonstrates his commitment to the business. Or, if the project creator is not willing to take on all of that financial risk, perhaps he might be willing to offer equity in the business to potential crowd funders. That way, you're distributing the risk, but you're also distributing the potential upside, which is only fair, right?
As things stand, I just don't see a Kickstarter project for this type of product as being a good deal for anyone but the guy building the bed-desks ... unless you are willing to consider the $650 (or more) you donate to be just that: a donation.
I know producing these will be a big job and I liked that Kickstarter allows me to set my funding goal at a level where I will be most likely to succeed. I could have certainly set up a pre-order page with a Stripe button and started building as the orders came in, but being woefully underfunded is not a great way to start an enterprise like this in my opinion. And I thought that Kickstarter would be the lowest risk option for everyone involved.
I think you should use the kickstarter monies to help you get better connected with furniture manufacturers who would license the design from you and help you make this a reality.
There is so much potential for such a design - and even though it is not 100% novel - it looks like it could be affordably developed easily and could be sold in dorms and rooms around the world.
that said, i'm not sure how more support helps one make more deskbeds. the more deskbeds to make the more deskbeds to make. unless one is manufacturing, constructing and distributing components automatically.
An alternative to Kickstarter would be to approach these companies directly, with a demonstrable prototype, and secure a letter of intent to purchase. Armed with these letters, it might then be possible to get a business loan to fund the initial production run.
It isn't buying an item & it isn't donating to something either. Backing a kickstarter project a different sort of thing to both of these. While there may be some issues with expectations & delivery, there are obviously people that want to back kickstarter projects as is.
My personal feeling is that it lets them have a relationship with the makers of the stuff. Something that is natural to us, based on favours, "moral obligations", expectations, social expectations - something like friendship. Separating "investing" & buying in the way that most of the economy works would miss that whole point. They could just work for & shop at Ikea. It would probably be a better deal. The don't want to because this is.. warmer.
I have been working on a monitor mount that will work in conjunction with the UrbanDesk but it is not yet finished and I have been anxious to launch. Check back soon, as I hope to post a video of the finished mount within the next week or two.
http://www.resourcefurniture.com/space-savers/queen-space-sa...
I imagine the more people see this, the more people will simply attempt this themselves and post their version on make/instructables/hackaday. Others who want to simply purchase one outright, can certainly get one from you. However, waiting until May to potentially get one will not jive with many people.
Not to demean your work/project, I just think you are going to have to offer some polish and niceties that iterative building this product multiple times allows rather than offering what someone could duplicate with a trip to Home Depot and a Saturday to be successful.
Regardless, good luck.
There is plenty of room for running cables off the back of the desk, I currently have a half dozen cords for charging phone, laptop, etc... and I haven't had any problems.
You can take down my email (in my profile) and feel free to hit me up in the future if and when they actually get built and are ready to ship.
Good luck!
A _much_ better option: http://www.resourcefurniture.com/space-savers/queen-space-sa...
Who should be doing more searching?
On what planet is that problem solved?
This might sound like a joke, and it is, but I'm also totally serious here. Sex is the critical secondary use of beds. Engineering a "smooth ride" seems like an important thing to consider. Google "West Elm bed frame" for some anecdotal evidence of what can go wrong.
Great work, either way. I can always appreciate some clever woodworking.
So you wake up:
1. Make bed and tuck in sheets so when bed is folded all the bedding doesn't fall off. 2. Fold up bed - desk appears. 3. Unbox everything to put on desk 4. Plug in any electrical equipment. (obviously a desktop computer would be very impractical. 5. Pull up a chair and do some work.
When your done reverse the steps. You cannot leave any work out or organized on your desk ready for the next day as you need your bed. Your desk chair I guess needs to be left in the corner at night as there is no table to tuck it under.
It just seems like the guy is combining 2 pieces of furniture which should not be combined.
What is the mechanical engineering behind this? Did you do all the calcs? Simulate it in CAD or something? Gas struts need to be tuned to the weight you are counter balancing; are you selling or recommending a particular mattress with this? How much resistance do the gas struts provide at the top of the stroke, what happens if you drop it at 3/4 raised? Do you need to fix this back to the wall or floor; i.e. could the whole thing topple over on top of you if it jammed while you were lowering it? Can you see all the parts where childrens fingers might get caught from the raising lowering position? The desk pantograph mechanism has quite slender struts, they look like they could be quite easily damaged.
Most double beds have a central beam under the slats and a lot more slats than this. Why is yours different?
In general, it's one thing to use your own prototype where you have an intuitive understanding of its weaknesses, but when other people use it they will break things you wouldn't expect. Will it fail safe?
It looks terrible, some bits of structure look too big and some too small. There are parts of the design where the same problem has been solved with a different solution, why isn't it symmetrical?
$650 Including all labour? Seems too cheap. Are you expecting people to build this out of construction grade timber like the prototype?
Why are you flipping the bed to the wall? 1. The cot will slip down, will be a mess and I will have to fix it everyday. BAD 2. Unstable structure - Why is the heavy/big part on top ?
It would have been better if this was like a standard desktop table. You could pull the whole table from underneath of the bed and put it above the bed like pulling a keyboard dock. The table would stay on top of the bed when in use and can be pushed underneath. Much better. This whole thing looks stupid to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAa6bOWB8qY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4yJGTPUR_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=juW...
As others have noted, the inability to leave items (particularly monitors) on the desk is a major downside.
I'm a fan of the collegiate solution: a loft bed. This is particularly suitable where high ceilings are available, especially cathedral or A-frame designs.
Now 30 years later, my daughter's dorm room came equipped with a bed that was designed to be raised above either the desk or a bit of seating. I don't see a reason to flip the bed if you're not looking for open floor-space.
Remember google wasn't the first search engine.
