Exclusive With Skully: How We Crowdfunded Over $1Million In 48 Hours

The Skully smart helmet is the fastest crowdfunded campaign to hit $1million on Indiegogo in 45 hours, with an average contribution of $1,425.

The helmet uses a network of sensors, microprocessors, and a camera to deliver a heads-up display with turn-by-turn GPS navigation.
The most popular perk on the campaign is the Skully AR-1 which received over 400 backers have claimed.
Skully’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Marcus Weller gives us an exclusive quick interview about their crowdfunding success:

Crowdfunding is known to be hit and miss, what made this a hit?

We truly believe that our campaign success is due to the global community that has rallied around what we are doing, we also know that when we decided to do this campaign we promised ourselves to execute the best practices crowdfunding. Building a product isn’t easy, but building a product without a community is nearly impossible. SKULLY is truly about a Nation of riders from more than 40 countries coming together to build a better and safer way to enjoy the sport we love.

When you set your goal at $250,000, how long did you take to reach it?

Unbelievably, we hit our goal in about 8 minutes and 30 seconds. It was an awestruck frenzy of F5 and Command+R.

What was the reaction like in the office when you hit $1million?

Much of our team spent days working around the clock leading up to the campaign. When we hit $1,000,000, we were overjoyed and humbled at the same time. It was an eye opening moment for us, and we felt honored that so many people had joined us on this journey.

Obviously you have a product to deliver, but how else are you going to spend all the money?

The funds from this campaign are going to be focused on getting AR-1 to the customer as fast as possible. We want to see the AR-1 in the hands of our supporters sooner rather than later.

For funding were you originally going to go down the VC route? How much slower would the process have been without crowdfunding?

It is hard to speculate on the relative pace of raising with VC with or without crowdfunding. VC are interested in many factors beyond gross sales, but having market validation is helpful in getting a foot in the door.

Any advice for readers wanting to launch a crowdfunding campaign?

Reach out to your target audience and ask them about your product. See if it strikes a nerve and solves a real problem for them. Don’t be afraid to ask them to spread the word about you. Many of them would be happy to feel like they are a part of something and, as your advocates, give you insight into what is most important to your customers. Oh, and make sure you’re ready to answer a lot of questions. They will come from everywhere.

Contribute to their crowd funding campaign here!