Christie Street today launches a service that aims to ensure that people who buy fun new hardware products before they exist actually receive them — or get their money back.
In a very literal sense, it’s a Kickstarter for hardware products. Christie Street will evaluate the viability of submitted products, handle pre-orders (taking the same 5 percent cut as Kickstarter), and hold the money in escrow until certain milestones in the design, tooling and production process.
Though Kickstarter has become synonymous with crowdfunding, the curated platform is actually quite inhospitable for many people who would like to use it.
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