CROWDFUNDING | THE COOLEST COOLER

The Coolest, created by Ryan Grepper of Portland, Ore., includes a blender, waterproof bluetooth speaker, USB charger, cutting board and bottle opener.  The most amazing part about this cooler is not its features but the fact that it raised over $13,000,000 on kickstarter.com.  This is not a typo!

Kickstarter is the world's largest crowdfunding site.  Since their launch in 2009, 8.2 million people (called backers) have pledged more than $1.6 billion, funding 81,000 creative projects. Crowdfunding sites provide inventors and companies an opportunity to raise capital, test the popularity of an idea and/or extend marketing efforts.  In return, backers receive a variety of rewards offered by the project creator which often include a copy of what is being produced. A win-win most of the time. 

Unfortunately, in some cases backers get carried away with a projects description of what could be or fancy renderings.  These backers act before reading the fine print and fail to understand that many of these products are in an infant stage.  For many projects, a successful funding campaign is just the start of what can be a long journey to production and shipping.

We highlight the Coolest because it displays the extremes of crowdfunding success and frustration.  The Coolest campaign started last Summer and raised $13 million.  Most successfully funded projects on Kickstarter raise less than $10,000.  The Coolest has also generated its share of disgruntled backers.  During the campaign, the Coolest estimated shipping in February of this year.  The new shipping date is now July.

So what does the Technology Insider think?  We love the idea of crowdfunding and think if you see an idea that excites you -- go for it.  But, please be smart and recognize that it may take time to receive your reward.

Finally, if you backed the Coolest campaign and now are frustrated by the delay, we echo the comments of poster on kickstarter, "People, it's just a cooler. A really cool cooler that we're all excited for, but at the end of the day it's still a cooler."