Project update 2 of 12
Hello supporters of the Portland Press!
We’re almost at the halfway point. Here is an update on how we’re doing so far, as well as some changes we’ve made to the campaign.
We knew from the start that $80,000 was an ambitious goal. Despite the challenge, the Portland Press has received a lot of great feedback from our supporters and the design community over the last 14 days. Wanting to do everything possible to enable the success of the campaign and get the press into people’s hands, Rob and I went back to our suppliers and asked them for more competitive pricing for a smaller order. Just for some perspective, most of our suppliers are used to dealing with order quantities between 1,000 and 100,000. However, they’re all very excited about the product, and they all want to help us in our effort to support domestic manufacturing. Most of them were very generous in accommodating the request, and after crunching the numbers again and getting approval from Crowd Supply, it looks like we’ll be able to lower the goal to $50,000, increasing the likelihood of making the Portland Press a real thing!
We’re able to reduce overall goal without affecting the delivery schedule or changing anything about the press itself - it will be the same press delivered in the same time frame as we originally planned. However, we understand this is a big change to our campaign. If you have any questions or concerns about this change, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us directly or with the Crowd Supply team.
So far, we have just over 180 presses sold. With the new goal change, we’re about 40% of the way to raising the $50,000 we need. That’s great progress, but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us. Thanks so much for your contributions so far!
We still need your help to spread the word. Sharing us via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook is great. In addition, we made up a flyer and would be honored if you posted it in your favorite coffee shops. You can download and print it out here.
Thanks in advance for posting it!
We’ve recently added a $5 donation pledge level, as well as a 10-pack Reseller Kit. The new Reseller Kit includes a shirt and two cup cozies, to show our appreciation for being such an advocate for this product. The wholesale kits are a huge boost to the campaign progress. If you’re considering being a retailer for the Portland Press, please help us bring this product into reality and make a wholesale purchase now. It’s also a great way to get all your Christmas gifts covered in one shot!
We’ve been continuing the prototyping process for the lid throughout the campaign, and our latest improvements include a seal mechanism between the lid and the jar which doesn’t require a plastic gasket. We’re in the process of developing and testing the new prototypes now. We’ll keep you updated on the progress.
-Rob and Bryan