First and foremost, these past 6 six months have simply been AMAZING! I have had the chance to interview some of the most creative, experienced, and hardworking Social Entrepreneurs from all over the map. When I started QuarterWaters back in November I wanted to get advice, tips and real life experience from entrepreneurs that have actually been through the trenches. Their stories of perseverance could not have done anything more but inspire any hopeful entrepreneur that wanted to do good.
As I stated in the title of this blog post, we got accepted to KickStarter!!! Through out this blog post Im going to tell you exactly what the idea is, how this idea came to life and probably the biggest part is ‘whats next?’ How do we make this KickStarter campaign successful?
The Million Dollar Idea??!
Ok, ok… so what exactly did KickStarter approve? Check out the video below
Here is the preview link for our KickStarter Campaign!
I started a new company called Slate&Stylus, where we make awesome SLATES (cases) for smart tablet devices. In the video above we show our first case, The Origami Slate for both the iPad 2 and the new iPad. Besides making a kick-ass SLATE for your tablet device we are also making an impact. We teamed up with Eddo and The Supply, and proceeds from each SLATE sold will go to providing children in Kenya with the school books they need to gain an education.
In order to make this happen we are going to need your help. We need to raise $5000 dollars to get our first round of inventory from our manufacturing partner.
Education supplying Education
Since our impact will be made in Education, we wanted to bring a product that can possibly be used in Education by our consumers. We wanted to start small, go after a niche market and gradually expand. But who would be our ideal consumer?
More and more college students are using tablet devices.
I wanted to figure out how can we tap into that market of college students using tablets?
When you go to your college bookstore you can find almost any and everything under the sun on their shelves. From t-shirts, hoodies and mugs with the college logo on it to books, pens and folders. How about if the college bookstores got a little bit more in tune with their students by bringing in appealing merchandise that compliments what their students are using?
The cool part about this, if we are successful, is that every time a college student purchases one of our SLATES they are playing a role in providing an education to a child thousands of miles away.
We want to get our products into college bookstores nation-wide.
We have already been in talks with a few colleges in New York. They are excited about what we are doing and want to participate, all we have to do is bring the product. Thats why your support on KickStarter is so important.
Here is the preview link for our KickStarter Campaign!
“Education for many of us is a given…” – Eddo Kim
Back in February I had the chance to have an amazing interview with Eddo Kim, founder of The Supply (<<the interview). Hearing the struggles of the children in Kenya, that he has witnessed first hand, fighting to get an education really brought me back to my childhood. When I was a teenager, I went to high school in Jamaica which is also a third-world country. The pictures and videos of the children of Class 5 reminded me so much of my friends and I. Of course we had a little more resources but poverty was rampant. What hit me the most was the fact that these kids were sharing 1 textbook! There are at least 25-30 kids in a class, how can they share one textbook?
After our interview I promised to Eddo that I would help. Somehow, someway I was going to figure out a way to not only help but create a continuos stream of income to provide these kids with books. We exchanged emails back and forth, I told him my idea and he loved it.
By doing all of these interviews I learned a few things along the way. The most common one is ‘if you have an idea, tell everybody so you can get their feedback!’ I did just that. I reached out to almost all of the social entrepreneurs I had interviewed and asked them for help. They gave me their feedback, pointed out things I could do and even told me what to look out for.
We got accepted, now what?
When KickStarter sent me the acceptance emailed yesterday I jumped and screamed yesterday! Look at how excited I am in the videos below:
Look at that smile! 
But seriously, now this is where the hard work REALLY begins. I can not say it enough but we need your help to make this happen. I need you to post this on Facebook, tweet about it on Twitter, forward the email you received of this to your close friends and family members.
We are going to let you all know when we launch our campaign in the next couple of day!!!
We have an amazing case and on top of that its going to make an amazing impact!
Here is the preview link for our KickStarter Campaign!
- In the comments below leave any tips you have for having a successful crowd-funding campaign.
