The Woz Pre-Orders Successfully Crowdfunded “Tile Item Finder”

The Tile locator device successfully crowdfunded $2,681,297 using the self crowdfunding application “SelfStarter” becoming the most successfully self crowdfunded campaign ever.

The crowdfunding campaign not only raised more than enough funds to fulfill the financing needs of the company but indicated a growing market interest for small form technology which may be utilized to track or find lost items.

Now in another marketing boost, Tile CEO, Nick Evans, has garnered the tacit endorsement of tech legend and Apple co-founder, Steve “The Woz” Wozniak.  Apparently  The Woz is a fan of the forthcoming device as well and has already pre-ordered his Tiles.

The concept of “pre-tail” has captured the attention of many as a sure fire way to gauge market interest while generating seed funding for a business – quickly establishing this new strategy as an accurate form of market validation prior to any device being produced.  The fact that Tile crowdfunded themselves added another strategic shift as they cut out any third parties – maintaining control and lowering cost.  Fabled investor Marc Andreesen, who is spending enormous amounts of time on crowdfunding, has commented on this new approach to “learning if products can be sold in advance”.

Evans was no neophyte when it came to the crowdfunding arena as he previously had worked with the Lockitron – another self crowdfunded tech device – plus was part of one of  the largest-successful crowdfunding campaigns ever – Pebble Smart Watch.  These two factors certainly played a role in Evans tactics in launching this highly dynamic crowdfunding campaign in a market segment that already which already included multiple participants.

Tile has also announced production of their device with pre-orders now scheduled to ship in January 2014.  The associated App will be available on the Apple App Store prior the device shipping.

Tile has continued to use their platform to boost sales and pre-orders have continued at the original “discounted” price of $18.95 per tile.  Initially this prices was expected to increase after the crowdfunding round of finance had closed.  Pre-orders for first round of production are expected to close soon.

The Tile item finder differentiated itself from other similar items by using the “crowd” to extend the reach of the location application by daisy chaining any other smart – phone with that had installed the App.  The small profile form and this new spin aided in capturing the tens of thousands of early supporters.