Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:28 pm by clodester
Guys an idiot and border criminal but I think essentially is a tragic case of the dangers of how easy it is to do very scary things on the internet. Basically I think he had intentions but cocked of from the start with the whole idea of the project. The reason that homebrew picks are so good, well crafted and amazing design and ingenuity is because the incredibly skilled master craftsmen/women take time and do small batches. The reason commercial picks aren't of the same caliber is because they are produced for 2 bucks a pick....mass production.
How many of us here have paid many multiples of that per pick from some of artisans which display their galleries for us mortals to drool upon. Okay, im going abit on drama but my point is, Schuyler tried to solve the problem of cheap mass produced unimaginative picks by asking for money then producing prettier looking mass produced picks. He even mentions a press in his own updates! Yet says punched picks are bad????
Then out of the goodness of the publics' heart they over donate many times and he then spends the money on locks.....they paid for picks not locks?! then half the locks were broken but they came from a friend's 3rd party? so he couldn't return them? Then to explain the problem, he gave a description that even I as a seasoned picker had trouble following, I hate to think what a newbie who just wanted some cool looking picks made of it!
Then he poured more fog over the confusion of hotel fees, living expenses, rent? WTF? where does this guy get off? The public invested in picks, not so he could buy 6000 door locks, 3000 of which broken, and rent a van!?
I warn anybody wishing to fund thinks from unproved kickstarter projects. I love kickstarter, the idea, the projects on there, and have contributed to some myself, but my advice is think seriously about the kind of person/company your sending money too. Watching dragons den / shark tank etc will give you an idea of the kind of questions you as an investor need to ask yourself. (No difference between you and then, just scale size of investment). I'd only invest people/companies with proven track records.
But yeah Shocking tale. Think the guy just got in over his head and just wants bright enough to see the bigger picture. He may be a talented picker, but he is a shockingly bad businessman.