Seems a little like KickStarter, but without the need for supporters to pledge actual money.
You design a module, get 1,000 people to vote for it, and LittleBits manufactures and sells it.
The gotcha? The developer of the module gets only 10% of the module revenue.
I get that they’re doing the manufacturing, and hence taking on a lot of the risk, but 90% for Little Bits seems a tad steep.
I think it’s a cool idea, particularly for folks who don’t have the confidence to create something and manufacture it themselves, but I have to wonder how many folks are going to meet the 1,000 vote mark and/or be willing to do the work required for so small a return.
@ devhammer - where did you find mention of 10%? I couldn’t find that number anywhere. Is it 10% of the revenue or 10% of the profits? If 10% of the revenue, then I think its a fair deal given I wouldn’t have to provide anything except the initial design and they’d take over support, etc. after that.
Having created and sold modules of my own, I’m sympathetic to the notion that there’s value in having someone else provide the manufacturing and support. I just think that a 90/10 split is not very equitable, particularly since as a module developer, I have to do all of the work to create the idea, presumably build a working prototype, and get folks to vote on it, and even if I get 1,000 people to vote for it, Little Bits can still say “nah, we’re not interested.” And all of my work is for naught.
Interestingly enough, in their FAQ, one of the possible reasons for them rejecting a module idea is if the module you’re working on is already on their roadmap, but unannounced. Thanks, but I’d rather they let me know before I go to the trouble of getting 1,000 votes.
Again, I think it’s a neat idea, and I like what Little Bits does (I got the Korg Little Bits synth kit for my 11yo for Christmas last year). I’d just be surprised if this is a big success as currently structured.
Gary, we really have to work on your URLs. The one above gives a 404 because of the period, and IIRC, you had some trouble with capitalization earlier this week.
We have a [url] tag, I do it the way that I do to make it easier to copy and paste links. Of course that only works if I don’t forget to space the period.
