After raising a record of 3.6 million dollars to fund a project called Zano Drones. The drones were originally expected to be small and portable devices that would send hd pictures and video directly to your smart phone. The company had claimed to have shipped over 600 drones but reports stated the drones that were shipped fell short of the companies promises. The company as a result has filed bankruptcy and has started liquidation. Backers of the Zano Drone project are obviously not happy and would like to receive their money back but this is unlikely to happen. Kickstarter has stated that backers are not shoppers but instead investors. I think it is bad that Kickstarter is allowing project to make false claims about their products in order to take peoples money. Kickstarter should do a better job of checking up on products to ensure they are legit especially the largest funded project in Europe.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/19/9759834/zano-drone-bankrupt-liquidation-kickstarter
These projects are extremely risky to invest in. Sometimes they pay off and sometimes they do not. There have been countless examples over the past 20 years of technology companies that have boomed. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Early investors in things like GoPro, Twitter, and Facebook received major payoffs. Things like Zano Drones have done the complete opposite. For this reason, it is always important for investors to diversify their portfolios. If they only invest in technology companies, they might never be on the lucky end of an investment. Therefore, spreading out ones wealth to stocks, and start ups in various industries can help balance out risk and return in the long run.
I do not think that the executives at Zano Drones are bad people. Companies go bankrupt everyday. It is something that happens. Projections are not always met. That doesn’t mean that these are bad people or that the product is not good enough. There could be a variety of different factors. The company has also been relatively transparent about what they spend the money on. It seems like most of their spending was legitimate to help enhance the company. Unfortunately it did not work out. Here is an article that adds more information.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/111613/20151128/zano-drone-maker-apologizes-for-collapse-of-3-5m-kickstarter-where-did-all-that-money-go.htm
Interesting post. If Zano Drones is indeed perpetuating false claims about the state of their product to investors they most certainly need to brace themselves for legal action. In addition, effectively lying, they are alienating any new potential investors as they are slowly deteriorating any credibility.
Drone Technology is growing very quickly. I think that it is an innovation that has the potential to disrupt many industries ranging from military to shipping. The possibilities for cost effective autonomous airborne vehicles are endless. Amazon is already working on incorporating drones into their shipping practices. In addition, drones have created business opportunities for many, including those that use them in order to photograph real estate for appraisal.
I think Drones will be labeled as a disruptive technology in years to come.
This a great example to show that every pice of technology or new innovation has its flaws or setbacks. Kickstarter is a great platform that has allowed many people to make make cool things and sell them to the public that no service has ever allowed before. However, the risk the creators could pull the project is always there and has happened before. This example just goes to show that it can happen with major projects as well as minor projects. People who back these projects just have to realize the risk involved whenever they invest.
Kickstarter is a very nice program but I think they definitely need to be careful with what programs they let get funded on their site. I have invested in something on Kickstarter for a TV show, and it worked out nicely. But I have seen companies ask for money and once they reach the goal they kind of slowly go away and remove themselves as an up and coming company to a non existent one. Kickstarter is a complete risk and reward option. In my sake, my donation got me a prize that varied with whatever price range I decided to donate. I think that Kickstarter is great, but they definitely need to make some changes with how they decide who gets to put their company on the site.
Even though I have not used kickstarter before I agree with the fact that they should be a little more selective and do a little more research on some of the projects that they allow on their website. A company losing over 300 million dollars of investors money on the website I believe will lead to a slight decline for some people investing on the website. This is important because Kickstarter is all personal investor base and if people start to realize that kickstarter is allowing crazy ideas on the website than people are less likely to take it seriously and go on the website to donate.
I too have never used Kickstarter campaign but I always assumed that the “buyers” or investors knew what they were getting into and that their investment is through a risk and reward system. As for this Drone company they also took a risk and by not following through with their promises lost a great deal of business as well as the trust in their investors. I think it will be difficult for them to try to startup again anytime in the near future. As for Kickstarter, I would they need to ass discretion and make sure their users know that their investment in completely up to them.
Kickstarter could do a better job og looking into the products they allow on to the site. The people that invest in the product are the ones who should do the bulk of the research into whether it is a good product or not. The people who invested in the drones should not get there money back just because they made a bad investment into a product that failed. It is the same premise into investing into a new restaurant or bar if it fails the investors would not get there money back then. Why should they get their money back just because it is a start up company?
I have personally never bought anything from Kickstarter, but I have heard many stories, about good and bad products alike. By funding a Kickstarter campaign, you are basically making a donation to a person, product, or cause. You are not promised anything in return, you just have the assumption that the product maker will fulfill their side of the bargain. My friend backed the original Pebble watch and was very happy when he received his, but some people on other projects have received an inferior product than what was promised or nothing at all when the Kickstarter project folded. Kickstarter seems to work much better with products like digital video games or movies, where there are few to no physical requirements. This allows a majority of the funding to go directly to whatever digital product is being created. When you are making a physical object, you have to deal with prototypes, manufacturing plants, shipping costs, and regional issues. A bad Kickstarter manager may see all the money they have raised and think they are good to go, but actually are very constrained on what to do with the limited budget they have. Kickstarter actually does try to verify a product has a legitimate prototype and actually bans quite a few products, like the Skarp Lazer Razor. Like I said before, you are promised nothing and choose to donate to a cause. In return, you just may happen to receive a finished product.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/13/9518163/laser-razor-kickstarter-banned-indiegogo