The people of Eora are a group of indigenous Australian who once lived in the region we now call greater Sydney. Eora 3D however, is a new Australian startup based in Syndey, who have just launched their first product: a portable, high-precision 3D scanner for your smartphone.
3D printing is all the rage now, hobbyists and corporations around the world are quickly jumping on board to produce unique components in plastic, wood and even metal. The ability to customise aspects of a system, product or machine, is vital to continued innovation. China Eastern, one of the largest airlines in the world, is even 3D printing lighter components to be used in their planes, how cool is that?
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There are many drawbacks, however. 3D printing requires two main things, the printer, and the 3D model you wish to print. Now with any serious investment, printers are readily accessible, but for the 3D model, anyone without the skill to create one either has to use someone else’s design, or cry softly to themselves. This might require trawling through the mountains of models online, or looking at the world around you for inspiration or the shapes you need. Unfortunately if someone wants to incorporate shapes and designs from their surroundings in their 3D printing, they have to fork out over $10,000 for an accurate 3D scanner, or between $500 and $3000 for inaccurate ones. A ridiculous amount of money, especially for artists.
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Eora found its niche. A cheap and accurate 3D scanning system, and with a market price at $10,000 already set, their $300 scanner of extremely high quality is just unfair to the industry, it is almost too cheap. The interesting part, however, was how they got it to market. Rahul Koduri, Asfand Khan and Richard Boers, the three cofounders developed their product first. Claiming to have gone through 7 different prototypes before announcing it. With the skill to just create new technologies by hand, you’d think these people would have no problems selling their product, but alas, the monster that is manufacturing scalability blocked their path. So they went to Kickstarter.
And on Kickstarter they did very well.
With a pledge of $80,000, they achieved over half a million, that is 750% of what they needed. And they earned it. Not only was there a demand, not only did they pick a heavily growing industry, not only did they choose a launching platform filled with artists and tech addicts, but their Kickstarter page, was just extremely well done. They had very detailed videos, lengthy but savvy descriptions, and even interactive examples of things they have scanned, there was truly no bullshit here. I was quite pleased, especially after witnessing the consumerist anomaly of the Kickstarter stonecup (even now I still have nightmares).
Eora did it right in every respect. They created something people wanted, showed them what they needed to see, and did it all in a place they often go. It would be like revealing a large chocolate cake at a children’s birthday party, no one would be disappointed. This sort of marketing (well I guess it isn’t even proper marketing), this sort of pre-marketing is essential for the success of products limited by manufacturing scalability. And these platforms are there to just be used and abused. It almost seems too easy to generate exposure, but I have to catch myself, because these guys have done really well and I would recommend their Kickstarter page as a quintessential example of a page done right.
But an interesting situation is now created. Their company is an 'other unincorporated entity', so in a business sense, the only success is the wealth given to the founders, or any success they choose in their non-binding contracts. With half a million dollars, you could say they have already succeeded, paid themselves a six figure salary each for this year. It is an odd feeling, that Kickstarter has essentially elevated this trio into the echelons of the aristocratic before they have given anything back.
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I have no doubt that they will continue to deliver and create their product, and continue to be generally successful, but it leads to an interesting question. Can you over succeed?
With a race to prosperity as fast as this one, there might be a danger in losing motivation. The struggle, the internal conflict, the anxiety of not succeeding is often the fuel for continued success. Just as famous artists race to the tops of charts with songs of loss and struggle. Just as opposing forces lead to massive leaps in technological innovation like Apple v Google. The founders of Eora, however, are unhindered by anything, and have a padded bank account to show for it.
I will be interested to see how far they go.
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