The Coolest Cooler story: Kickstarters BIGGEST failure - SGR

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It's finally time to talk about the Coolest Cooler the most successful Kickstarter of all time... which was a pretty big failure
Big thanks to the following peeps for helping out with the voices...
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👍My Wife: xxx
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⌛ The Kick-Scammer Series...
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Join us as we look into some of the very worst Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns ever!
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#KickScammers #CoolestCooler #KickStarter

[@slopesgameroom]

Check out the following videos before they go public by supporting the show for as little as you wish... 🤑The Peter Molyneux Kickstarter DISASTER 🤑Kickstarter 's DUMBEST scam 🤑The Paprium Scandal .. And coming soon... 🔜The Story behind GoFundMe's strangest campaign ... THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT 🟠 PATREON: www.patreon.com/slopesgameroom 🔴 KZbin MEMBERS: kzbin.info/door/455p7ts9lh8IWi5zuf_8tQjoin

[@DerMeisterKreig]

Build it beautiful.

[@SirGeeeO]

This is a cautionary tale. He should have shipped the coolers based on the original design, then sell them for a while before coming out with the "coolest coolest cooler" or "Coolest 2." He tried to run before he could walk

[@jamesgoines4635]

Yeah this is a classic case of feature creep cost the company millions.

[@danielt8919]

Even some actually successful Kickstarters died a few years in. Pebble has two of the biggest successes and that company still ended up getting bought out for pennies compared to their worth at their height

[@thadoc5186]

I don’t think he ever intended to ship all the coolers.

[@tmarritt]

@@thadoc5186 i disagree, but i just think he is a bit of a crap business man.

[@thadoc5186]

Fezz we will never know.

[@childofcascadia]

Never thought I'd see feature creep in a cooler of all things

[@ccricers]

As Ashens said, it's more complicated than a Chinese space shuttle

[@ian_b]

Indeed, but you can feature creep pretty much anything, especially if you've decided it'll be the "best ever". You could do this with a ballpoint pen, or a coffee table, or anything really.

[@Pr0jectFM]

Instead of creating the ultimate cooler, this guy could've just stuck with his prototype, then created an upgraded version for people willing to spend extra.

[@ProductofSeebach]

He could have made it modular so people can update it themselves, or sell modules and market it as a platform. Either way, you are right, he should have pushed it out.

[@BrettonFerguson]

Air conditioners, freezers, refrigerators use a compressor to pump Freon compressing it to cool the air inside. Outside it decompresses creating heat which goes into the air outside. The compressor uses a lot of electricity. It seems like the battery would die in an hour. Even without the blender and things it wouldn't work very long. The upgrades made the problem worse, but it wouldn't have worked very well even without the upgrades. EDIT: What might work better is to have a 12 volt cooler that plugs an outlet at home to cool it off initially, then plugs into your car to keep it cool for the trip. This would drain your car battery, but would work while you are driving to the beach or wherever you are going. Once you are there it would remain cool for a time like a regular cooler. EDIT2: Looking at the picture with the beer sticking out of the top, it looks like the compressor, battery and all that takes up over 50% of the space and there isn't a lot of room for actually putting things into the cooler. Also it is probably fairly heavy, and thus the wheels on the bottom.

[@NintendoSunnyDee]

@@BrettonFerguson It definitely wouldn't drain your car battery, unless you drive an electric of course.

[@carlost856]

Wouldn't have helped anyway. He was prepared to make 250 of the things and suddenly had a demand of 62K. That's not a trivial problem to solve.

[@rarepepe1572]

He did receive a lot of money... who knows how truthful he is being when it comes o what the money was spent on. He obviously mismanaged it and went stupid on the design. Amazon was able to sell these for cheap, the fact that others got them before the backers is a disgrace. I'd never be able to live with myself. He fucked up big time and wasted a lot of people's time and money.Hopefully he never manages to step foot in the industry again.

[@GrumpyIan]

If he didn't keep adding upgrades and instead focused on ways to reduce the price we wouldn't have had this video.

[@Sniperbear13]

indeed. one should focus on just making what your trying to sell before you go and make expensive upgrades. he really should have just made a second kickstarter to fund add-ons or even a new line of the cooler rather then adding everything for free.

[@jaredparks4713]

It's called "scale creep", and yes, the number of projects that fail because of it is astounding.

[@CraftAero]

"There comes a time in the life of every project when it's necessary to shoot the engineer and start production." - Henry Ford

[@JohnDoe-yf9wk]

@@CraftAero Damn, that man was amazing and racist and cutthroat about both competition and workers.

[@CraftAero]

@Deon Denis Yep... Quality, Cost an Timing are the three balls you need to juggle. Drop one and the game's over.

[@tehblackarachnid]

So a project went out of control because the creator just couldn't stop adding "upgrades" to it that only served to delay it and make it more clunky? Isn't this EXACTLY what happened to Duke Nukem forever?

[@NebLleb]

Yeah, pretty much.

[@AyaReikoTripleElite]

And Star Citizen. Once that one inevitably imploded, it'll make Coolest seem quaint.

[@ForrestFox626]

Sometime your project just needs to react it's original specs. No need to upgrade when no one asked for it.

[@ashkitt7719]

And Mighty No. 9

[@rarepepe1572]

At least people got that game. Can't believe amazon shoppers got theirs when backers didn't.

[@CraftAero]

"There comes a time in the life of every project when it's necessary to shoot the engineer and start production." - Henry Ford

[@wgjung1]

They probably followed that advice when Ford Motor Company created the Ford Pinto.

[@GabyGeorge1996]

Henry Ford was an Anti-Semitic and his writings went on to influence Adolf Hitler. I don’t think you should be quoting a person like that

[@thebestcentaur]

Gaby George dude was a known racist and anti-Semite. Still doesn't stop people from being inspired by him, so I don't know why you even bother. I know I don't.

[@CraftAero]

@@wgjung1 I imagine engineers were shot before AND after the Pinto.

[@CraftAero]

@@GabyGeorge1996 Are you harshing on my freedom of speech ? 😉 He also employed many black men, then built the town of Inkster, MI for them (a kinda double-edged move) . I have MANY reasons not to like Henry, but they don't negate his accomplishments, they co-exist. Much like you and I.

[@Dreadjaws]

I remember when iDubbz made his original Kickstarter Crap video on the Coolest. It was one of his most downvoted videos because people insisted he was wrong about the product, as it looked great, even though his point was that the guy was precisely trying to do too much, which was likely to end in failure. Fast forward to a few months after release, and he was proven right.

[@Elenrai]

To be fair, its fucking iDubbz, not exactly someone you should consider a reliable source on physical product management, with that said of course he was right, but that is what happens if you do not show the numbers nor have any actual qualifications to be deemed an authority on the subject. wubs coulda simply done a retrograde calculation and avoided all those dislikes from people that were even more unqualified, of course that is about two days of research, and if you look at the content wubs create, it is not exactly "high effort", good stuff, sure, but the guy is using his natural strengths, like his incredible charm. Seriously, look at the content wubs do, and ask yourself whenever you see something even remotely "high effort" from a technical standpoint; did he make it? Most of the time, the answer is no, the guy is creative and charming, making an authority based argument regarding something that is so outside his own field of expertise is erm...well, that will get you dislikes from people that disagree, but dont know shit either!

[@TimChuma]

Should have put an electric motor and wheels on it to get the important "Florida man arrested driving cooler" demographic.

[@NeverEvenThere]

The real reason that he kept running out of money was because Ryan was a big fan of creative accounting. Every time he got more money, he would reserve part of it for production of the cooler, but he would take an equal (or in some cases larger) amount and put it towards "R&D", a nebulous expense in the companies books that ended up being functionally his own little hobby expense fund, he used it to buy himself a bunch of expensive equipment for his home workshop and there were a whole bunch of expenses for "Consultants" that turned out to be friends of his. He knew that he was never going to be able to produce all of the coolers required within about a month of the Kickstarter campaign ending, but kept the charade up too keep raking in money. Ryan took home about $300,000 a year in personal salary from this company during the time it was operational. He was a scammer from the very beginning and relied on the fact that the US has terrible consumer protection laws and that he could simply shutter the company in the end and go on his merry way, with his new workshop full of toys.

[@ForrestFox626]

I think it became a scam after the first successful campaign.

[@rarepepe1572]

This is what i've been trying to tell people. No way in hell all of it went on those shitty upgrades. He has lined his pockets well and is living on backers money. This is why I never use KS, it attracts greedy scammers like nothing else, it's a no obligation money printing service.

[@Chris-ci8vs]

That's really interesting and informative insight. If you are able to, can you comment on how you know this? I understand if you can't however.

[@kakizakichannel]

Kinda based tbh

[@Boogie_the_cat]

​@@kakizakichannel"based" on what ? Do you mean "biased" ? Those are two completely different words with very different meanings. I hope that when you text your mom or significant other, you don't make mistakes like that. For instance, misspelling "donor" as "boner"

[@fluidwolf]

This was essentially "feature creep", the campaign. Ends up a pretty amazing product that can't keep itself afloat due to adding too much instead of just delivering the thing that was supposed to go out originally. This is basically why you need the hardasses alongside the creatives, so that if they go too out there they can put a stop to it and get it pushed out. It sucks when you can't pack everything you want into a creation and isn't everything you wanted but there's a point the product NEEDS to go out and be considered fine as is

[@OrangeyChocolate]

Definitely. It’s why editors exist: to take what a creative produces and make it publishable. It’s the same for any product.

[@rarepepe1572]

He also used the money to line his own pockets. You'd be silly if you didn't think he took a large chunk for himself.

[@CruelestChris]

Not even a particularly amazing product, I can't imagine you couldn't piece together all the bits of this thing rather than gluing them all on to a cooler with a giant proprietary battery powering it all. The military gets these kinds of projects all the time, some civilian wants to put on machinery that can detect the style of the enemy's beard at 5,000 miles and then divide it by zero while everyone who uses it just wants the core of the system to work properly. Projects like this embody the bad engineering concept that "if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet."

[@conqc20]

A lot of sucessful kickstarters fail because instead of giving backers what they wanted, they spend the money on adding new parts/features etc until the money is all gone.

[@AeroQC]

There's a term for what happened here: FEATURE CREEP. When the creator starts a project, but instead of finishing the initial idea, piles on more and more extra stuff to the point where the progress to completion starts to go in reverse.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Yeah, you don't need to spell it out for us. "Feature creep" started in video games and software, which we're familiar with on this channel. It's called Slopes Game Room, not "Grandfather Land Memory Lane Retirement Castle Home", although that IS a great KZbin channel you should watch. It's like Big Brother for old people.

[@Mace2.0]

So... A Cooler that was a home run in the target, reviewed well, relatively cheap, but also the biggest failure as it keeps evolving like iTunes, the 20,000 people not getting the product, and the company going under because they're spending more than what they gain. This is probably the craziest crowdfunding campaign I've heard, and it's over a "Jack of all Trades" cooler.

[@DanaTheInsane]

Mace 2.0 iTunes is dead and gone. Windows only now.

[@Mace2.0]

@@DanaTheInsane Jokes on you, I used Winamp.

[@packers12to80]

These sites crack me up...the amount of money ppl get screwed out of is insane .....yet ppl just keep giving their money and loosing it

[@weregretohio7728]

And it could all be avoided with simple, inexpensive coolers that do what they're advertised to do.

[@Turnabout]

All this tells me is that you didn't back Star Citizen :(

[@LendriMujina]

I'm surprised nobody jumped on the opportunity and released their own take on this concept when it became clear that the original thing was never going to be released.

[@gibmeaway100]

probably an issue of patents and not wanting to be targeted for Coolest to collect money cause they obviously needed it.

[@ladrahas]

The cooler guy look like Projared

[@Thebossstage1]

Uh oh

[@Shyolite]

thought the same thing

[@JohnDoe-yf9wk]

Glad I'm not the only one. Can't unsee the resemblance.

[@SuperSteve180]

Looks more like an older Spoony to me.

[@sold0ut210]

@@Thebossstage1 No need to uh oh. Ya can't get more exonerated than Jared and people largely realized this by now.

[@Bhazor]

"Translation note" 15:06 British writer and comedian Tony Hawks who dragged a fridge around Ireland as a bet.

[@IndigoAlpha]

Honestly, as an outdoors appreciator, I'd like it if the patents were to be sold to REI, the North face, even Dick's sporting goods so more can get made. It looks like a great cooler to have while glamping/staying at a cabin.

[@kylewhite9383]

“I wanna take you for a ride” 🎶 Me: Pretty fitting song for this series 😂

[@MorbiusTheMenace]

It's in all his vids

[@maxxam3590]

@@MorbiusTheMenace r/woooosh

[@KanokYT]

Capcom did good in making this song for Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Love it and yeah, it works very well

[@leeadkins1360]

It's almost as if it wasn't chosen at random and was purposefully selected isn't it? :P

[@MrMegaManFan]

Every time @Daniel Ibbertson uploads a new Kickscammers I start singing this song in my head before I even click play.

[@Fimbulvinter19]

It's being delayed because of a legal challenge that only happened because it was being delayed. I see absolutely no problem with that logic. Carry on sir.

[@Ettrix]

To be honest, if the guy played it right he could have walked away with much more $ and a successful company (or a successful sale of the company) Had he successfully produced the original run, and got it to backers, then proceeded to continue to produce them for additional customers: The product probably would have become extremely popular, to the point all the major retailers would want it on their shelves every summer season. Leading to a successful long-term company , or lots of $ for selling it off after initial success. (Not delivering on the first run, kills so many potential sales. It tarnishes the products name , to the point it can't ever make it back to where it could have been otherwise)

[@mustakrakish]

I never knew how lucky I was to get my Coolest Cooler very early in the fulfillment cycle. I really like mine actually, but I NEVER use the blender.

[@UberNeuman]

It looks like the future of the Coolest has run cold.

[@carlost856]

Beyond feature creep, what caused the project to fail is the ballooning of the demand. Where before he could have made the things in a small workshop and sanded over the problems, the sheer amount of orders means more people, suppliers, manufacturers, logistics need to be involved and new problems that you may no longer be equipped to tackle arise.

[@boxerblake1]

"There's only two ways to profit from your invention - license it, or bring it to the market on your own" Well, thank goodness he told me that. I would never have known otherwise!

[@ffejpsycho]

Yeah, he never set out (at the start) to scam anyone... But, he certainly ended up taking full advantage of (knowingly, and now with full intent to scam) backers, using the 'Sunk Cost' fallacy & lying through his teeth. What he did was damn deceitful at best, and criminal at worst. He kept taking money from backers, knowing with 100% certainty that a soon to be filed chapter 11 bankruptcy was the only planned conclusion in the cards for this venture. I am sorry, I don't agree with good ol' Slopey on this one. He absolutley knowingly and methodically played his backers like fiddles. Using their already placed mental, and monetary investment in this flim-flam business venture against them at every possible step along the way. It is the only explanation that makes any sense whatsoever. I mean, the guy ain't hopelessly stupid. And he would have to be to have committed this fraud on all these backers by 'accident'.

[@weregretohio7728]

Yeah, it all reeks of SCAM.

[@kaitoshigure9085]

TBH the fact that some people did get the things rules out scammer and more stupid. If it was a scam the backers would get jack and he wouldn't have gone under and went into hiding instead. Like a lot of other ******** in kickstarter.

[@quinnzykir]

Oh I agree with you. I smelled a scam when I first saw this

[@quinnzykir]

I feel like it became a scam once it went past a million.

[@kaitoshigure9085]

@@quinnzykir If anything it just showed the guy didn't really knew what he was doing. He prolly had no idea about business and only good at his inventions that he couldn't really take into account the things that could happen for this venture. By the time the law was roped in I'm pretty sure he was hitting himself for not having a business consultant because this whole thing just screams novice incompetence.

[@mellytempest]

I'm part of a Kickstarter right now that shows a lot of signs of all these failed campaigns - Simple yet appealing idea, slick visuals, runaway success and giving the creator too much money, suddenly lively amount of updates and feedback trickling to a crawl, and the creator STILL promoting themselves and ignoring crucial questions and request. I'm both incredibly nervous of it falling through but also excited at the thought of the project being featured in KickScammers in the future, haha.

[@teen_laqueefa]

And that's at least living a life. Win fucking win baby

[@deusfaust]

6:49 Legend has it that that cooler is still there... in the bushes... waiting...

[@ReneSchickbauer]

"We all have the ability to f up product development by starting a crowdfunding campaign"

[@jhdkoopman2]

This should be up for Best Documentary at the 2020 Oscars.

[@Maggerama]

idubbbz killed it! edit: didn't expect of you to actually mention him, lol. Also, I don't see any difference between them dummies who become involuntary scammers and them real scammers in terms of how it affects their customers. They should be judged equally.

[@Maggerama]

@@twicethemegapower3995 Tsk, don't tell anyone I called him that, it's embarrassing.

[@Chris-ci8vs]

I think intent matters a lot when passing judgement.

[@Maggerama]

@@Chris-ci8vs Yeah, you're right.

[@gregoryblack8109]

When all else fails, blame the economy

[@weregretohio7728]

He'll be running for office soon enough. Although, tbf, the trade war was fucking stupid. But he'd be a Kickstarter scammer no matter what the economy was like.

[@rarepepe1572]

IT WAS ORANGE MAN! NOT MY OWN GREED AND LACK OF FORESIGHT! ORANGE MAN BAD!

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

@@rarepepe1572 incoherent loudmouth who doesn't understand the trade war so he starts shouting in defense of his daddy

[@scottdixon2505]

That one guy was very angry but he's completely right that this creator got too rich over night and didn't know how to react. He only wanted 50k to make a simple cooler but ended up with 13 million so he decided he had to do something with it and started adding upgrades that no one wanted and it got out of hand.

[@potatoradio]

Sad thing is it seems a good idea, that was viable and sold. He should have sold the rights and as part of the deal made backers whole.

[@caodesignworks2407]

Man, if he'd have stuck to the initial design and the stuck all of his extras into a 2.0 version of his cooler, he'd probably still be in business and everybody would have gotten their coolers. But nah. I do have to give him credit for the Tariff complaint. My friend owns a granite/ marble company and those 30% tariffs hit his business hard.

[@teen_laqueefa]

Literally between a rock and a hard place. Don't take life for granite guys

[@nairblooc]

The free upgrades....and THAT’S why the cooler ultimately failed. Oh, and the cooler is a piece of crap.

[@packers12to80]

These kickstarter go fundme places r scams and should be illegal sites. Atleast no way the company should be able to keep ur money if you don't receive ur product

[@kiraina25]

@@packers12to80 Legally, you're considered an "angel investor". You only get a recourse if they promise and fail to deliver some form of tangible reward, like when a game Kickstarter promises a physical copy of the game for certain reward tiers. But if they do, and they don't deliver, you absolutely have a recourse to demand the item or your money back, which is why they talk about a DoJ agreement and the potential for a settlement.

[@otakukaku]

Hearing tales about this product is always interesting because I have a strange 'connection' to it: I have one and never actually backed the project nor purchased it from Amazon. I have backed several hundred KS projects back in the day, but mainly games and movies. Gadgets were not my thing. However, my mother, who never backed anything before, heard about it and backed it, not just for herself but all of four of her children. She told me about it during a phone call. I didn't think anything about it because it wasn't 'my' project and I'm not an outdoor person. Skip ahead a few years after numerous delays from the company, my mother finally got it (I guess she was one of the lucky 40,000), she sent it to us and it has been sitting in the garage ever since. Unused.

[@J233-4]

Just curious, how is the product?

[@otakukaku]

@@J233-4 Honestly? No idea. The wife and I don't go picnicking that much, so I don't even know if the blender and music player still has power. I am certain that, as a cooler, it works fine if I were to put food or ice in it. However, it is large, so we don't use it for normal travel when I go to visit family.

[@PatrickKellyLoneCoder]

An important part of product development and project management is knowing when you need to release your product, and what features can be saved for later revisions or new products. There's a saying in software development that, to an extent, applies to physical goods: release early, release often. Get your shit out there. Don't be this guy.

[@djbadboon]

My favorite part of these kick scammers videos is the voice overs. Please do a spotlight video on your voice actors!

[@MrMegaManFan]

Love the choice of Monty on the Run as you introduced the coolest cooler!

[@slopesgameroom]

I live that their are still people that spot this sorta stuff

[@pferreira1983]

@@slopesgameroom ...and Worms. 😁

[@TerraHv1]

That thing looks tiny. I'd rather get a larger cooler and just bring a battery powered blender.

[@RaithSienar]

BUT DON'T YOU WANT TO SPEND $500 ON A FANCY COOLER THAT ALREADY HAS A BATTERY IN IT FOR YOUR BLENDER? CMON MAN THE $25 COOLER YOU BOUGHT AT WALMART THAT IS 4X THE SIZE DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE SHEER PLEASURE IN KNOWING YOU'VE SPENT TONS OF MONEY ON A TINY COOLER THAT HAS A BATTERY IN IT!

[@Nipplator99999999999]

I have a power inverter that is capable of running an A/C unit, mini fridge, and tv. Yeah, I'm OK.

[@TerraHv1]

@@RaithSienar Now that I've seen the argument in all caps, you're right! I do want that battery pack integrated into my cooler so I can never change it when it dies! Thank you for opening my eyes!

[@TerraHv1]

@@Nipplator99999999999 Now that's camping!

[@elvickRULES]

And if you’re so desperate to charge your phone, use your car you drove to bring your cooler where you are… And many people already have their own wireless speakers. What a dumb product.

[@GlassesnMouthplates]

I see the problem of this product and why the project failed so hard, it's missing a bottle cap opener feature!

[@teen_laqueefa]

"There's your problem, right there"

[@kclink1579]

19:22 Truely screwed up when you want the whole family to die, even the ones who have nothing to do with it or against it themselves.

[@Kalvinjj]

some people definitely got issues only the best professionals should try to approach to solve

[@karaoconnoraliasraidra]

These are probably the same jerks who send death threats to athletes for failing to make plays. Anyone who thinks it's acceptable to threaten to murder someone for failing to catch a ball or whatever is warped.

[@fluidwolf]

Some people just seem to react to everything in stupid extremes. It's something understandable to be angry about but wishing death on people over it is way too far.

[@weregretohio7728]

@Enclave Officer 117 Sums up humanity perfectly well.

[@watsisbuttndo829]

That guy would be a scary neighbour. Left your bin out on the drive a bit long?. Instant death threat!.

[@justinbuergi9867]

We need another $15 million HOW?

[@GrumpyIan]

He couldn't stop adding stuff to it.

[@RocketboyX]

This always seemed like they came up with a name and then the product.

[@southofheck]

To be fair its a cool name.

[@OrangeyChocolate]

Somebody needed to grab that guy by the shirt and say “Just. Ship. The damn. Product!” Feature creep basically ruined the project, like what has happened to innumerable videogames before now.

[@Nipplator99999999999]

Maybe l can find a way to make that a job, just have backers chip in small amounts to cover expenses to prevent any ID-10-T errors from the controlling party thinking too much. I should see if it can get funded on kickstarter...

[@johntgw]

Don't mention Star Citizen.........

[@Blur4strike]

Might want to put the "All Controller" as another project that got ruined by feature creep, with a failure to communicate to backers in tandem (both Kickstarter and Indiegogo backers)

[@kolonarulez5222]

By the end of the story I half expected you to be able to put a steering wheel on and drive this cooler.

[@weregretohio7728]

A $485 cooler... yeah, that's why cooler designs haven't changed in 50 years. Because it's a fucking cooler. To cool things. Not bankrupt you.

[@MarceloOmegaAGDM]

Should learn with console manufacturers. Make the crappy version first, then update.

[@DaveMcGarry]

Yep MVP Minimum Viable Product... At least people get SOMETHING

[@Kalvinjj]

But please take the console manufacturers as example and not the game developers: otherwise we would be getting cars that may or may not brake at your command, doors stuck close for hours and arbitrarily snap steering to the left, but in a month of release you are allowed to BUY the new service pack (not included in warranty - it's sold as-is after all like software) that fixes this!... hopefully. OR the lottery tickets for the repairs, ya know, people love gambling with lootboxes right?

[@3Dsjk]

Should have shipped an incomplete version and then released a patch. Strike at the factory that makes the blender motors? Give backers the option of waiting, or of getting one with a plain lid with the promise to ship out a full-featured lid they can install themselves when the supply issues are resolved. Things like that do more than simple blog updates to appease angry people who just want the thing they thought they were getting in the first place.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@3Dsjk funny how I poked fun at making it à-la game developers and releasing an incomplete version at full price and then fixing via patches (if not charging for the fix...) but in the end, considering how crap it all went, that would actually be a better option indeed. Tho I doubt it would even turn out that way, heck I think the financial issues were far beyond reach and the delays on the motors were more of an excuse than the issue they represented. They would likely still not ship even half of the units even in incomplete state.

[@reignandbongao9497]

Its kinda funny discovering and binging this channel's content after being involved in the kickstarter myself. Kinda being scared of how much stuff we put on the stretch goal hoping we our budget scales to the cost. But optimistic that we're only making a book and not anything that requires hardcore tooling, sourcing, manufacturing.

[@teen_laqueefa]

Printer and bindry can be a headache

[@jon_c]

This video should be required for an intro to software engineering. As a rising programmer, I saw so many projects die because of scope/feature creep. When I finally reached the software engineering level, I started frustrating people by saying 'no' a lot. I'm not an idea person and I kinda envy idea people, honestly. I LOVE working with people to help take their ideas and turn them into reality...even though arguments happen when reigning in scope creep. But you just finish the base and make new upgrades and add-ons granular.

[@tech34756]

Stretch goals/post campaign changes seem to be a common theme with Kickstarter failures/poorly received products I’ve seen. Not saying they shouldn’t be done at all, but they should be kept relatively basic and/or easy to produce.

[@JT_WARCRIME]

9:29 Sounds like DJSlope is remixing his videos now, lol.

[@Terminator550]

Lesson learned: do not do a kickstarter if you cannot fulfill orders for your backers. Treat others the way you want to be treated

[@RicksTravelogue]

iDubbz's Kickstarter Crap prompted me to search for more Kickstarter content on KZbin, which is how I found this channel. So that part has come back around. Now if iDubbz does a Kickstarter Crap video on something that retsupurae did a Kickstarter Nonstarter on, then things really will go full circle, as those videos is what led me to discover iDubbz.

[@medes5597]

*burps* uh hi *snorts loudly* kick starter thing is bad *burps again* Idubzzz is the worst.

[@coyoteartist]

Seems kinda odd to me someone would back something like this with the ider that they'd give it as some kinda present when you can't gaurentee it's going to happen at all.

[@Crazy_Borg]

I can hear Sim City SNES music hidden somewhere in the background again...

[@cicada_games]

I could see the fear in his eyes when he gave that video update about it being the most funded KS of all time lol. I don't think any Kickstarter project with a physical product can handle that kind of success without already having a massive production chain already set up. Also I love all the British voice overs for the various quotes, and then the angry KS comment is a NY accent hahaha.

[@JohnGotts]

As someone who actually uses coolers about 20 times per year, that is not a device I would buy at any price. I will say that any rechargeable batteries can be replaced, though. There is no such thing as a rechargeable battery that cannot be swapped out.

[@brunogrill3774]

Hey daniel will you ever talk about exploding kittens one of the most succesful kickstarter campaign of all time that i can think of

[@Nipplator99999999999]

I can talk about exploding kittens, but I don't know anything about how it effects kickstarter...

[@brunogrill3774]

@@Nipplator99999999999 (don't know if it's a joke so let me explain) exploding kittens was the most successful kickstarter campaign ever reaching 8 million dollars in funds

[@thefenrisianssweatshop]

Nipple Johnston and actually ended up in proper shops. @bruno grill I honestly did not know it was a Kickstarter project. If I did, I’d never have bought it for my daughter. The more you know...

[@brunogrill3774]

@@thefenrisianssweatshop why not the game is fun and they delivered all their promises honestly one of the best kickstarter I have ever seen on the platform (the NSFW deck started as a joke but they reached the stretch goal so they made it a real thing

[@Nipplator99999999999]

I am just someone that fixes certain things that aren't broken, doing my damned best to avoid trends and facebook, but I can't hide from every 5-40 year old showing off the newest shiny(s). I am still working on how to fix stupid.

[@fredleggett923]

I am NOT trying to absolve Ryan of responsibility of this utter mess. However, I've seen a lot of comments in here about how he should've locked the design and sold it instead of constantly throwing upgrades out as the money kept pouring in. This is one of the traps Kickstarter actually encourages project creators (PCs) to fall into - the dreaded stretch goal (SG). And it's something backers expect PCs to provide as pledge money rises. Many campaigns make SG commitments that have no hope of being produced without some other funding source outside of Kickstarter. TPTB behind Kickstarter are more than happy to sell the idea of SGs to both PCs and backers because - surprise, surprise - the more money raised, the more money goes into Kickstarter's pockets. It's REALLY insidious. And because Kickstarter itself provides no relief to jilted backers, they have no impetus to dissuade SGs - indeed, just the opposite (see above). Given how disreputable Kickstarter is at this point, I really don't know why people keep using the site expecting different results. Sure, some campaigns actually come through and deliver on their promises, but there are many more that don't and never will. And since it's a completely unregulated and unmonitored Wild West-type setting with no consequences attached to failed campaigns, you'd probably have better luck just gambling your money away at Reno or Las Vegas.

[@WhiteGloveBuilder]

This reminds me a little bit of the "Fidget Cube" Project - going in with little asking money -> Exploding Interest -> More and more addons and upgrades -> Delay after delay -> sold before the Backers got it, -> China Knockoffs out before the real product and so on...

[@NyrinTriball]

Is that's Worms: World Party I hear in the background at about 30 minutes in? Shit that takes me back.

[@jaxsonbateman]

It seems so obvious from an outside POV that he should have started with his original Coolest Cooler, then once that had been completed and shipped successfully, doing a campaign for the 'Coolest Cooler Mk II' or something. Not only can you then justifiably include all that extra stuff, but some of the previous backers might upgrade, leading to repeat business. Instead, company goes under and many people are unhappy. Go figure.

[@KlausWulfenbach]

Any chance of an episode on Diabotical? The devs promised an actual product on Steam in the KS pitch but are instead "shipping" a season pass on a free to play Epic Store exclusive. A lot of us are unhappy and a couple have even stated publicly that they'll never back another KS project again.

[@clevelandleathermaker299]

If he just sent out what he originally promised without the unnecessary upgrades, he would've maintained goodwill, and eventually been even able to launch a 2.0 version separately with all the additional upgrades at the higher price.

[@Adrastia]

I hate to be nitpicky but the next time you censor curses could you not quickly flash colors on the screen (the one at the 19 minute mark)? It's a visually disturbing image and can trigger seizures and migraines. It actually made me feel ill.

[@SurajGrewal]

Actually, talk to your doctor too, and thank him for helping you discover it.

[@Flickawho]

I always wondered what happened with this. It was so popular on social media, I think many people were expecting to see them all over the place. Excellent video once again, my dude!

[@raulazurduy5407]

5:12 Bust a Move - Natural Playboy NOICE!!!

[@Hammerhead547]

This reminds me of the Coleco Chameleon story, only somehow involving more incompetence. Fully loaded that cooler would weigh at least 100 pounds because of all the extra electronics and attachments.

[@Faelocke]

Except the Chameleon was an actual scam, and the Coolest was a case of putting the cart before the horse.

[@teen_laqueefa]

But the new Coolest has the Amico built in

[@nickmoney]

This guy created the portable luggage scale, good for him. It's pretty successful and used by most travelers.

[@TJTheEmperor]

Man, hearing music from Bust A Groove in this video was awesome. You rock Slope.

[@BonnibelVA]

Thank you so much! I couldn't put a name to the song i was looking for!

[@jobguy2351]

I like the Charlie Brooker style of presentation.

[@noydb2148]

I ordered this, not because I thought it was great value but I just thought it was an interesting product. I think after three or four updates I said, this thing's never coming. I didn't know it was so easy to get my money back but I got it.

[@Sheepy007]

I am sorry but all I see was a regular cooler with an integrated soundbar and portable mixer. Is this something you really need?

[@MustachioFurioso9134]

Are you using Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo music??? AND EVIL GENIUS MUSIC!?! HOLY MOLY, I LOVE THAT GAME

[@Dorff_Meister]

I got burned on the TangoPC Indiegogo and decided that I'd learned my lesson. I'll never back an Indiegogo project, again. And I haven't backed anything since then. I've seen a few projects since then and thought "once it comes out, if it's that amazing I'll get one." And they nearly never come out or just aren't as amazing as the campaign suggested.

[@leilaclarridge5807]

Now that I've played the game, I can recognize Planet Coaster music anywhere

[@yissssss]

Do. Not. Pay. For. Products. That Have. Not. Been. Developed. Yet. There's a reason these companies couldn't find funding and it's not because they're reliable.

[@Dragonk116]

Basically he got too overly ambitious, ended up costing him more than he actually realized and thus the whole project kind of screwed him over.

[@SanFran51]

You see this is what happens when you just constantly add more rubbish for no reason.

[@NotBart]

Ryan or whatever his name is looks like ProJared and Scott Cawthon mixed together. Change my mind.

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

Seeing as I know how to rebuild battery packs, I'm wondering if I can't pick up one nowadays for almost nothing.

[@teen_laqueefa]

Nice brag....electronics knowledge is a great thing

[@sonicmastersword8080]

This would not have been that difficult to achieve. You would simply need a high quality refrigerant fluid and a means of compression-sterling cooling would work remarkably well here-and a power source with enough energy density to make it practical for any and all appliances you want to add.

[@Turnabout]

Excellent vid, Daniel! And using Bust-A-Groove's 'The Natural Playboy' as a backing track made me cheer!

[@lamario]

Same!

[@TheCasualSubculturist]

This guy looks similar to ProJared... and this product failed just like his marriage.

[@cttommy73]

To be fair, his marriage did not fail just because of himself, his wife played a 50% part as well.

[@SpectroliteDS]

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a true lesson on the perils of feature creep.

[@AaronKaiMCDNLD]

all for a fancy box that cools your drinks? jesus.

[@ninaemlemdi7821]

Just want to say that this was a great video! Well explained, answered all my questions for my class assignment! Thank you, seriously!

[@JakeKetoldchannel]

Love the toejam and earl back in the groove box in the background

[@Steelebourne]

You really need to cover the ALL-Controller!

[@aisakataiga5200]

That's not actually royalty free indie music, it's a track from planet coaster ost

[@slopesgameroom]

That's the music I used lol :P

[@aisakataiga5200]

@@slopesgameroom *facepalm* should have known. You always use gaming music lmao. Guess I was a little too into the narrative. Excellent video, huge fan of your content.

[@slopesgameroom]

Hahaha no probs:D

[@xyz360400]

Wow, so many great (and many excessive IMO) ideas in a single product, yet no one had the brilliant foresight to use a generic, off the shelf rechargeable battery, but I guess they had plans to make money on proprietary replacements as so many companies do (seriously, standardized parts are so much better for consumers when possible (obviously some form factors require proprietary components). I feel bad for the people that never got their coolers, but at least he did try to deliver the product and actually did build the thing.

[@CypressWolf1]

I almost donated to this about halfway into the campaign, but kept watch for about a week. Seeing how many people were donating I figured it was popular enough to see the cooler on store shelves after the original delivery date came around. I've been wondering what became of this thing after never seeing it in a store.

[@Spetia]

I remember quite a few people from the roosterteeth community ( including people that worked there ) put money in to this kickstarter, it did seem like such a neat thing and would have been The Coolest if it succeeded

[@qq13563817153]

If I had to guess, either Burnie or Gus put money into this, seems right up their alley

[@SlyPearTree]

If only he had added in a kitchen sink then he would the owner of a Fortune 1000 company.

[@jasonwilkins1969]

I remember in 2014 when my boss showed me this video and was so excited and I considered buying one. I'm so glad I didn't

[@tster]

Holy ship! Was that natural playboy playing in the background? Freaking love bust a groove.

[@lamario]

Yes! Me too!

[@dr666demento]

The "coolest" cooler - the _Star Citizen_ of coolers! (hint: _Star Citizen_ ain't gonna happen either)

[@MultiWilliam25]

im one of those few that got their coolest cooler in the first shipments, i only now realize how lucky i was, i only paid the initial 185.

[@slopesgameroom]

Does it still work OK?