I worked on Iron Back for 4 years (on/off) before I started to feel comfortable talking about it publicly. That's clearly too long and a mistake, you know why?
Because after 4 weeks of discussions with my family, colleagues, strangers and also Ulule, our partner for the launch of the pre-order campaign, I realized a crucial point: I had not adopted an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach , the product is too complex, too expensive to produce.
Submitting your project to others , even if it can be scary, brings a lot and above all can prevent you from making mistakes.
Ulule 🦉 made it clear to me that, given the project's current (budgetary) state, the chances of success are very low because:
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The cost of the rewards is too high (compared to the average unit funding generated on the platform).
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The minimum number of pre-orders required to launch the project is too high (again, based on their experience).
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Incidentally, the community around the brand is not strong enough.
The launch will therefore not take place in June as initially planned, but rather in September , to give me time to:
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Optimizing the hoodie's production cost with an MVP approach: the product must retain its core identity, but I will streamline it as much as possible without compromising quality.
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Incorporate a portion of external funding (Ulule recommendation) to lower the overall financial target of the campaign.
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Working on developing the Iron Back community (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.)
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Take this opportunity to take more time to create the necessary content, and be less rushed.
The first point, as you might have guessed, also impacts my ability to produce photos and videos “ASAP”, it is a prerequisite.
These discussions, I'm convinced, helped me avoid a major setback in June. However, there's still a lot to do between now and September to ensure the campaign reaches its full potential 💪
Axel