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Originally Posted by mycurlylocks
As for people worried about crowdfunding, isn't that essentially what Amazon did for the Echo, and Fire TV? They took pre-orders and authorized credit cards to make certain the buyer would likely to be able to complete the purchase.
I doubt very few independent start ups have the resources to not need crowdfunding.
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Amazon wasn't crowdfunding those products. There was no risk involved for any buyer (aside from maybe not liking the product perhaps). Nor was the money being used to subsidize or enable Amazon to scale up manufacturing.
The odds of Amazon actually producing and shipping the Echo or the Fire TV was very nearly 100%, give or take a millionth of a percentage. They were likely in the process of manufacturing and warehousing the products already and people's pre-order money would have made no difference.
The odds that Good eReader produces a product to scale here is far lower than that, and given the lack of polish in the pitch, I'd peg it at maybe 5-10%. Successful crowdfunding efforts are utterly difficult, and I've seen with my own eyes how quickly they fall apart after a small management error. Crowdfunding remains a great tool for startups, I agree, but the bones of those who came before should be a warning sign.