Update #3: Gearing up for a Kickstarter

We've figured out how to make this thing

Hey gang! This is a newsletter about developing the AI Clock — a new ChatGPT poem every MINUTE on a gorgeous e-ink screen (here’s a web-based sim). You’re getting this email because you subscribed for updates, probably when that tweet went wild.

If you’d no longer like to receive these emails, the unsubscribe link is at the bottom of the email. And if you’re sticking around, thank you :)

Read on for:

• The latest on how we’re going to get this clock into your hands

• What happens next

— Matt, July 2023

Updates will always come to this newsletter, which will now be monthly or more if necessary. If you need to email directly then my deets are on my homepage.

Prototype #2 of the AI Clock. Not final industrial design but it’ll be this screen

💃 The story so far…

In a nutshell: I hacked together a quick prototype, a tweet went crazy, AI Clock got in the New York Times, uh oh better make this thing. But what to do? Kits? Boxed product? Who can even make it? So we’ve been figuring out all of that.

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🏭 Milestone! We’ve planned out manufacture!

The pic above is very first public photo of P2, the second prototype of AI Clock.

It has a gorgeous e-paper screen, it’s super easy to connect to wi-fi, and it gets all the poems from a new backend server (so you won’t have to pay a monthly fee to run the thing).

What’s more, this is manufacturable.

I’ve been working with a couple of amazing production partners in the US and Mexico – more about them in a future update.

We’ve optimised for low risk: it’s a fairly straightforward manufacturing process, and the clocks will be easy to certify FCC/CE (certification can otherwise be a lengthy process).

So we’ve got our bill of materials; we’ve figured out timings, and freight cost, and minimum order quantities, and all that stuff. PLAN MADE.

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💃 Next stop: Kickstarter

Let’s do a Kickstarter campaign!

This is a bit old-school Kickstarter I know. I’m not a company. I’m just a guy with a clock that needs to reach a minimum initial order with a factory. If enough people commit then I can hit the button.

I’ve been talking to some crowdfunding-savvy buddies. Here’s their advice:

1. Make a prototype that can go to production. Done!

2. Make a budget. Okay, done that.

3. No, like a really REALLY detailed budget. Huh ok some work to do.

4. Make a pre-launch landing page on Kickstarter. Right I’ll do that after the budget.

5. Get lots of people on a mailing list so you’ve got people to tell when the pre-launch page goes live.

6. There’s more down the road but we’ll get to that.

On (4): well here we are! There are 1,296 subscribers on this Substack. I would love more! Please tell your friends!

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🧑‍🎓 What happens next

What I will do:

• I am going to prep the Kickstarter campaign, and tell you about that process here

• I will let you know first when that campaign is about to go live (so you can get first dibs)

• I will update you at least monthly.

What you can do to help, if you like:

• What would you like to know? Tell me! I could write an issue on some aspect of the design of AI Clock, or my philosophy on something or other, or how some process or another works. LMK.

• Tell your friends! We’re making this thing and the more people on this mailing list the better.

Let’s see if we can do this thing.

(Also: if you might be in a position to commit, as part of the Kickstarter campaign, to 100+ units, then let’s chat and we can figure out some kind of interesting collab.)

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🤖 Until next time…

Ok! Big moment! Now I have work to do.

Matt x