With a bit of confidence under my belt, I decided that I wanted to launch a kickstarter for the Sleep Sensei to get it into more hands.

I was tired of having to make my own wooden bases by hand, so I started working on a new design that could be fabricated by a vendor. I ended up trying out a bunch of concepts, such as:

Split laser-cut design

3D Printed minimalist

And what ended up being the winning concept, a laser-cut hinged design.

I decided to set my Kickstarter launch date as the same day as Houston Mini Maker Faire. This gave me a deadline, and I figured the Maker Faire would help me attract some backers.

I made some business cards...

And set up a booth at the Maker Faire.

And I launched my Kickstarter page! However, it didn't end up reaching the goal. I think several reasons factored in:

• I made little effort outside of the Maker Faire to market the Sleep Sensei
• I asked for way too much money. I had planned to have a vendor make and assemble all the PCBs, but this required a large volume of orders. I didn't get anywhere close to what I needed.
• The design was still rough around the edges

But, the failure of the first Kickstarter didn't stop me, since Bay Area Maker Faire was just a few months away, and I had a couch to crash on in San Francisco. So I decided to improve the product and try again!