Last week the
Coolest Cooler became the most successful crowdfunding project on Kickstarter – ever. At it's closing, the Coolest campaign, by creator Ryan Grepper, has raised $13,285,226 through the contributions of 62,642 backers. The last record was set by
Pebble back in 2012, which raised an astonishing $10.2 Million and helped kick off the wearable tech wave we are still riding today.
Crowdfunding holds a special place in my heart because I used the platform as a means to publish my first book, and Crowdsourcing is important to me as a major driver for Appirio as we continue to revolutionize how organizations consume and utilize professional services. I learned so much during that book process – you’d be amazed how vulnerable it makes you feel to put yourself and your ideas out there.
Aside from being a poignant example of how social influence, the startup landscape and business in general has changed forever, The coolest campaign provides some great lessons that all of us can use as we pursue both personal and professional goals and continually ask the people around us to take action.
Lesson 1: If you are going to be a problem solver – pick relevant problems to solve. We might not all get to tackle the largest of the world’s problems on any given day (world peace, hunger, poverty, disease, war…) but we do have the ability to choose relevant problems, whose solutions can resonate beyond ourselves. As I call them
in my book, some simple OS!M’s or Oh Sh!t Moments, direct from Steve Farber, author of Radical Leap.
The function of a cooler is simple – keep food and drinks cold. But Grepper decided to take that concept further by designing a cooler that not only meets those basic functions, but also solves the most relevant problems with current coolers: he added extra wide wheels, an LED light, a cooler divider (that doubles as a cutting board!) Smart.
But then he got even smarter – he decided to address the relevant issues with enjoying outdoor events in our current tech-dependent lifestyles - enter the wireless Bluetooth, the USB Charger, the Blender, etc. Brilliant. His video nails the ‘why’ take action, and with each Coolest feature listed on the campaign page – the pain of cooler owners worldwide intensifies, helping us focus on why this simple cooler is now a critical to our enjoyment of the great outdoors.
[1]
The Take Away: By tapping into relevant problems, we elicit emotion. When we do that, we earn the attention of the people we are solving for.
A great example of a business that solves relevant problems is Zappos. I know I’ve brought this up before – but it’s true. They identified a relevant problem – restricting talent participation across the organization (ergo, not maximizing everyone’s strengths) due to titles & hierarchy. They eliminated titles and replaced their traditional org structure with their Holocracy
[2]. It’s bold – but in it’s purest form – it’s simple. Which leads me to my next lesson…
Lesson 2: Never over complicate the solution.
Some of the features of the Coolest are so simple, they’re ridiculous – but yes – I do get frustrated when I have to make 6 trips from the car – thanks for those gear straps! And YES – I’m frustrated when the wheels get stuck every 6 inches in the sand – thanks for the extra wide tires!
This lesson reminds me of the recent move by Adobe. They needed to tackle a big problem – ineffective performance reviews that didn’t help performance, and actually hurt manager/employer relationships and morale – that’s a big, giant, relevant problem. Their solution? Find ways to measure the employee engagement in real-time instead of maybe, once per year.
The ‘solution’ could have involved an epic RFP, 12 months of vendor hoops, and countless hours spent by a committee discussing the implementation and change management required for rolling out a new performance management process. Instead, they designed a solution that is elegant in its simplicity and appreciated by the people it impacts.
The Take Away: By designing simple, low-friction solutions you’re demonstrating a respect for people’s time and attention. When we do that, we earn the right to ask them to take a specific action.
Lesson 3: Clearly demonstrate the value of what people receive in return for taking action (and always deliver).
Backers of the Coolest got a variety of rewards based on their different pledge levels (translation: the stronger the action, the higher the reward) Aside from all of the fun ‘limited edition’ swag, the VALUE of getting the cooler early was crystal clear: you get the cooler at a significant discount ($165 vs retail at $299). And for those that really showed support ($2000 or more pledged) Ryan flies out and acts as your personal Bartender at your next event (before the COOLEST rolls off production).
Unfortunately, it seems rampant these days that employees don’t trust corporate leadership which makes them wary of change. Glenn Llopis published this piece on Forbes that covers reasons for this in greater depth
[3]. This just amplifies the importance of showing people the value associated with a specific action.
The Take Away: By clearly stating the value of taking action, the most important part of any change management initiative, you build trust, and help people make a conscious decision to take action.
Two bonus lessons we can learn from the Coolest guy, Ryan Grepper:
If your first solution isn’t well received, learn from it – but don’t give up.This was not Ryan Grepper’s first attempt. He tried this is 2013 and didn’t hit his funding goal. Determined to succeed, Ryan evaluated what hadn’t worked and adjusted for his next attempt. A year later, he came to the table with a smaller ask – and it worked.
When you find a solution that is well received, share the wisdom.
It’s a very small part of the campaign page – but if you look closely – you’ll see that Ryan Grepper has attempted 2 campaigns (one unsuccessful and one – well, record breaking) Something else you’ll see is that Ryan has backed 27 other creators. His ‘backing’ dates back to 2011 – which means that even before his success, Ryan was in the ‘give-back’ ‘pay-it-forward’ mindset.
….Another Infusion of Knowledge
