Quirky

Quirky was established in 2009 by Ben Kaufman, who, at 22, envisioned a platform to "make invention accessible." This venture followed his previous forays into entrepreneurship, including an iPod accessory company called Mophie. Quirky's core business was a community-based invention platform where amateur inventors could submit product ideas. The global community would vote on submissions, and the most promising concepts were then supposed to be designed, patented, manufactured, and marketed by the company. This model initially garnered significant attention, attracting nearly $200 million in venture capital from prominent investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, and General Electric.

The company's business model revolved around crowdsourcing and revenue sharing. Inventors and community members who contributed to refining a product idea were promised a share of the revenue from sales. Quirky managed the entire product lifecycle, from initial concept to retail distribution, forging partnerships with major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon, and Target to sell the resulting consumer products. The product range was eclectic, spanning electronics, home goods, and toys, with notable successes including the Pivot Power, a flexible power strip, and the Aros, a smart air conditioner. The platform grew to over a million users submitting thousands of ideas weekly.

Despite its ambitious mission and early traction, Quirky's operational model proved unsustainable. The company took on the full financial and logistical burden of development, manufacturing, and distribution for a vast and unfocused portfolio of over 400 different products. This led to immense overhead costs, quality control issues, and products that often failed to meet genuine consumer demand. By 2015, after burning through its substantial funding, the company was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its founder, Ben Kaufman, stepped down as CEO. The company's smart-home subsidiary, Wink, was sold to Flextronics for $15 million, while the remaining assets were acquired by Q Holdings. An attempted relaunch in 2016 with a new licensing-focused business model, partnering with companies like HSN and Shopify, failed to regain momentum, and the platform eventually became inactive.

Keywords: invention platform, crowdsourcing, product development, community invention, consumer products, Ben Kaufman, social product development, hardware startup, invention submission, patenting, manufacturing, retail partnerships, Pivot Power, Aros, Wink, startup failure, venture capital, licensing model, consumer electronics, home goods, idea submission, collaborative design