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BEACON TRANSCRIPT – We’ve all heard about Kickstarter. The crowd-funding company has led to quite a number of internet sensations, as well as some truly impressive projects. But then there are those projects that not only fail to deliver, but do so in a very suspicious way that makes backers ask themselves what exactly happened to their money. So, Kickstarter hired journalist to investigate Zano drone failure.
You probably all remember the Zano drone. In January, a project appeared on Kickstarter, promising cheap, affordable drones that would be used for aerial photography, and, of course, personal entertainment.
The project promised a price of under $300 for the tiny drone that was supposed to be developed by Lantronix, a Welsh company that produces Wi-Fi gear for various defense companies.
It was supposed to feature a replaceable battery and a 5-megapixel camera able to shoot videos up to 60 fps. It was supposed to launch in the summer, and be compatible with iOS and Android devices, as well as with Windows Phone.
The company gathered over $3 million in funding, and when the drone was supposed to be launched, the company said nothing. So, people waited to see when the device they had paid for would come out. However, the CEO quit in November, and left the backers wondering what exactly happened with their money.
In order to find out more about the situation, but also in order to turn people away from such immoral endeavors, Kickstarter hired an investigative journalist to look deeper into the campaign.
Mark Harris, the journalist in question, was hired to find out what exactly went wrong with the highest collecting campaign in Europe, as well as answer the questions of whether the drone’s creators could have done anything differently.
He is also to find out if the project managers made mistakes that future Kickstarter projects might avoid, and also to look into the crowd funding company’s role in the project.
This move by Kickstarter was made in order to avoid such letdowns in the future, and also so they can figure out how to better assist a project manager with their project.
The company also claims that it has no problems with huge projects getting the necessary backing and still failing, but they say they expect full transparency and honesty along the way.
Whether anything will be resolved is still up for debate, but one thing is certain. The 12,000 backers that provided over $3 million dollars will get nothing for their troubles.
Image source: Wikimedia
