One of the questions we've gotten most often is: "If you're planning to launch on Kickstarter, why are you building a waitlist first?"
The short answer is that Kickstarter success doesn't actually start on launch day.
It starts months before.
When most people think about Kickstarter, they imagine a product going live and then magically being discovered by thousands of people. We certainly used to think that.
What we've learned is that Kickstarter is a lot like every other platform on the internet: momentum matters.
A lot.
The first few days of a campaign are incredibly important because Kickstarter's algorithm pays attention to early activity. Campaigns that generate strong support right away are more likely to be featured, recommended, and shown to new people. Campaigns that launch quietly often struggle to gain traction, even if the product itself is great.
In other words, Kickstarter tends to amplify momentum.
Which means our goal isn't just to launch — it's to launch with people already excited to be there.
That's where the waitlist comes in.
Every person who joins the waitlist is someone who has raised their hand and said: "Yep. That's interesting." Some may eventually become customers. Some won't. Both are helpful.
Because right now we're trying to answer an important question: Are we building something people actually want?
The waitlist helps us understand that. It also helps us make better decisions.
Should we produce one color or four?
Should we focus on parents? Digital minimalists? People who simply want a more beautiful place to charge their phone?
What language resonates?
What doesn't?
The waitlist gives us real feedback before we spend money on manufacturing. And for a physical product, that's incredibly valuable. Unlike software, hardware is expensive to get wrong. There are prototypes to build. Tooling to invest in. Packaging to design. Inventory to purchase. Manufacturing minimums to meet.
Every lesson we learn now makes us more likely to build something people genuinely love later.
So yes, the waitlist helps us prepare for Kickstarter, but it also does something bigger. It helps us build a community around the idea before the product exists. And honestly, that's been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey so far.
We've heard from parents trying to navigate phones with their kids. We've heard from people working on their own screen habits. We've heard from people who immediately understood the idea of giving a phone a home. Every one of those conversations makes the product better.
When Kickstarter finally launches, we'll certainly be hoping for a strong first few days.
But more than anything, we're hoping to launch alongside a group of people who helped shape Coilie long before it ever existed.
If you'd like to follow along, we'd love to have you on the waitlist.
We're just getting started.