Focus groups on products may seem like a no-brainer for a company. But what about crowdsourcing a product design from start to finish?
That was the case for Handground, which used a Kickstarter campaign to fund its business and crowdsourcing to design its product — a precision coffee grinder. The Kickstarter goal was $35,000, and it’s now at a whopping $264,110 as of this post’s publication.
The beginning
The two co-founders Brandon Warman and Daniel Vitiello, have known each other for some time, playing on the same lacrosse team together in high school. They were in need of a burr grinder as their interest in coffee peaked.
“The first grinder that we got was one of the Hario Skerton's,” Vitiello said (the full-size one to be exact). “After using it just for a couple weeks, we just became so frustrated with the coarseness adjustment settings because we were doing different brew methods.”
He added, “We would get it dialed in to just the right setting and then want to change to a different brew setting. We would lose that perfect setting and never be able to go back to it.”
They saw frustrated comments from Amazon customers and sought to “build a new grinder from the ground up” around the end of September/beginning of October.
Design
The initial design came from a crowdsourcing effort via a design competition. The winner was Joaquin Herlein, a professional designer, who has stayed on with the team through further product development. Even in terms of picking a name, part of the process involved surveying people.
The final design of the product is still in the process of happening as Handground is working with its manufacturer’s engineering team. Currently, prototypes are being 3D-printed.
“We’ve avoided a lot of complaints or making wrong decisions when it comes to design by involving so many people in the process that any issues of things we would’ve chose to do that would’ve negatively impacted the product were raised before we launched the Kickstarter,” Vitiello said.
The main target audience is home brewers. “Really our goal with Handground is for it to be the first product that is recommended to someone when they’re first getting into specialty coffee,” Vitiello said.
He added, “I hope that it makes it easier for people to brew coffee in the best way possible.”
As for the company's main competition, Warman said, “in terms of quantity sold probably more like a Porlex or Hario, but quality would be on par with Lido.”
As for potential acquisition plans, it doesn’t appear the two are interested in a buyer. “I think right now we’re focused on really building the Handground brand and delivering on all the Kickstarter backers that we have,” Vitiello said. “We’re not looking at any sort of other partnership or acquisition. We’re 100% focused on manufacturing and delivering Handground.”
“It feels really good to see how positive the whole coffee community has accepted the idea and really become enthusiastic about it," he added.
Is this a trend?
Regarding the crowdsourcing effort, Vitiello said, “I hope that maybe that can spark some new ideas for other people to try a similar process.”
Vitiello anticipates crowdsourcing in this manner will become a trend. “I think that we have shown that end users are willing to participate in the product development process and can provide a lot of value when evaluating tradeoffs,” he said. “I think this trend will continue in the same way that crowdfunding has become popular over the last few years. With the Internet we are able to reach ultra early adopters who enjoy seeing their contributions bring a product to life."
Vitiello said the current plan is to sell the product through its website, and they are also looking into distribution options with companies currently distributing coffee equipment.