The Lander 4: What it Takes to Launch a Kickstarter

We funded in 25 minutes. Sweet mercy. 2-5. 1,500 seconds. Our fastest funding yet. Thank you, thank you to the 600+ backers (so far). 

There's still time to back the Lander 4 Kickstarter and get in on some of these cool bonuses! BACK IT NOW

 

 I look at the Lander 4 like it's our Apollo 15. Apollo 11 put a man on the moon. Apollo 12 proved it could be repeated. Apollo 13 faced imminent death but brought the crew safely home. Apollo 14 got them back on the horse.

Apollo 15's mission was the first extended stay, three days on the moon and over 18 hours driving a lunar rover. They explored the highest points, drilled beneath the surface, and collected samples to prove once and for all the moon isn’t made of cheese (which was immensely disappointing). They felt so confident in their abilities that the lunar liftoff from the moon back to the command module was broadcasted live. A nearly perfect takeoff and landing, only 187 milliseconds off schedule. Efficient. Challenging. Stretching capabilities. That’s the energy we put into the Lander 4.

As we approached launching the Lander 4, our thought process was that we've done four Kickstarters. Number five should be no sweat, right? You see, we had a lot of pieces in place to make this the smoothest launch yet. 

You can read the nice, polished story on Kickstarter. But I wanted to also share a little bit of the messy, behind-the-scenes stuff going on in Knafs Mission Control to get this Kickstarter to lift off. 

You see, July is a special month for the moon. Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969. Apollo 15 launched July 26, 1971. The timing felt too good to miss, so we decided to launch the Lander 4 on this historic week. 

Then we also decided to host a party. Sidewalk sale. The timing lined up for when our friend Zac in the Wild would be in the area. Two big things in the same week? Alright, this will be a challenge. But like Apollo 15, we can handle it. 

Then an opportunity came up for me to connect with Devin from Backcountry Exposure by backpacking through the Uintas. It was a chance I'd been wanting for awhile, but it would mean being out of the office for a couple of days during crunch time. Not ideal, but I'm a knife maker. I need to be outdoors. And I've learned to say yes, even if it seems like there's too much going on. I've hired an awesome crew, and I just had to trust that things would get done.

And then, life is gonna life. 

I'm out of the office, Athena is out of the office. And instead of the crew making sweet graphics and finalizing copy, they were sweeping water under the tables.

Literally.

 

Our warehouse flooded. We lost almost an entire day moving our hugely expensive machines out of the way and pushing water out the door. Here you can see Jamie and Keith tag-teaming this inadvertent river.

The leak was coming from the office space next to us. We share a wall. Their toilet broke, and it flooded us. Not a huge gush, but a steady flow that couldn't be ignored. Thankfully no product or machines were damaged, but we're still waiting to hear back about the drywall.

It took several hours of phone calls to building managers and the office space next door (who was also gone). Shout out to Keith for getting into the building and fixing the toilet for them. Check out this video below of the geyser eruption.

We took the missed time hit, but we still needed to throw a party, make some YouTube videos, finalize the Kickstarter, and do the other daily things that are needed to make Knafs run. Like Jamie, wading into a frigid mountain stream so that he can get a cool shot of the Lander 4.

Then the Kickstarter got delayed. Those were things out of our control, but it was a bummer to push so hard and then feel like it was wasted effort. To miss that historically cool week.

 But ultimately, we had lift off for the Kickstarter.

We funded in 25 minutes.

We hit 500 Backers in two days.

Are you surprised? That was the question Curtis asked me. My response to Curtis’ question: “Always, yes.” I'm always surprised. You see, Curtis is our Fractional CFO (Chief Financial Officer). He watches the money. Forecasts. Makes sure we’re paying the bills. Seeing a successful Knafs Kickstarter campaign doesn’t surprise him; he’s seen us do it before, and his numbers brain tells him it will happen again.

My brain doesn’t work like that. Instead, my brain goes through every possible worst-case and chaos opportunity imaginable. So, yes, I’m surprised. Blown away. Delighted, thrilled, and absolutely grateful. A huge shoutout to each of you 576 Backers for being part of the Lander 4. I shouldn't be surprised anymore. You all keep showing up again and again. And we can't thank you enough. 

I took a step back to think about how on the outside things can look really efficient. Apollo 15 was off schedule by 187 milliseconds-- less than one second error! But at Mission Control you have no idea the hustle and grit that goes on behind the scenes.

So thanks for coming on this launch with us. We can't wait to get it into your hands and see what adventures you take it on.