Re: TransWarpGS Clone Preorders open!

[hafner.spam@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, January 2, 2013 3:28:46 PM UTC-8, Conrad wrote:

> Putting all that aside, I am going to now tell you how the card was cloned so that there will be no more doubts or anything like that. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise with some diagrams I was making and planning to include with each order but whatever.

<snip>

This was actually really cool, and answered a lot of questions. So is it true that the cloned card has been tested and successful on a real IIGS? If so, that makes me feel a lot better about the project.

If that's true, I'd be happy to ante up $50 as a deposit on my order once the the production batch is available, assuming you're opening to receiving it this way. This sounds real enough to be a probability - and if it doesn't work out, hey, I've received so much help and support from this community that $50 invested in the possibility of accelerator cloning for all IIGS fans seems like a worthwhile way to pay it forward. (I can't quite get to $180, but hopefully $50 helps).

Let me know if you're open to this type of deposit arrangement.

<snip>

> How has IUnknown not made accusations? He/she has said that he/she doubts I can produce a product at this pricepoint, which implies that that since I am claiming that I am offering a product at this pricepoint I am either crooked, a moron, or both. 

I just didn't read it that way. He/she went out of his/her way to say that they're excited about the project and wish you the best, but wasn't sure the approach would be successful. It didn't read like even remotely a personal attack to me.

Here's my thoughts - every project gets some scrutiny, and if it doesn't, nobody is interested in it! I get a lot of scrutiny when I put a project together at work, and I've always seen that as a good thing, an opportunity to make your case to an interested group of observers, not an attack.

So people are asking questions because they're interested and are prospective customers. Just use it as an excuse to sell your product. It can be a great marketing opportunity to tell your story and to get people excited. In short, rather than telling people why they're wrong, tell them why they should be excited that you're right. 

For example, here's a possible response I just whipped up for your consideration (some of which is extrapolated from what I've been reading here):

"I understand this seems too good to be true - I'm promising a long-awaited product that is in hot demand, and a straight clone sounds too easy. But I think others haven't come up with the same approach to cloning the board, and since there aren't any custom chips in the Transwarp GS, it's actually not that hard. I have relationships with a manufacturing company that has been deconstructing a card and building a clone from that schematic. They have tested a sample successfully on a IIGS I sent them, so it's not just possible, it's done - which is incredibly exciting.

Unfortunately I'm in the same position you are when it comes to pictures or a schematic - I receive those and the cards once I provide the second payment - because the supplier needs to protect their time investment as well. But I've worked with this supplier before, and I trust them. I've already fronted a lot of money to get this project moving, but to pay the final bit I need to sell some pre-orders. 

I get that that's risky for all of you, and requires some trust, but I've already risked some of my money to make this happen. I'm offering a discount to make that risk more attractive. I already have a reputation in the community from working with Henry at Reactive Micro, and my goal is to be a hardware supplier to this community in the long-term like he was - so giving you all a bad experience with my first project would be a terrible idea. 

I can commit to everybody who trusts me with a pre-order to give you all a weekly update with the project status, even if there's nothing to report, just to keep you updated and let you know I'm not just going to disappear with your money. Hopefully I can impress you with the product and the experience of buying one of my products so that you'll consider me when I bring out my next products."

I don't know that this sort of approach would convince everybody, but my opinion is it would definitely put a different spin on the conversation, and that level of openness and commitment to communication would help people feel a lot more comfortable about betting their money on what is still a somewhat unknown prospect.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as a lecture - I mean it to be helpful, since I have to convince reluctant and skeptical people on a fairly regular basis. :-)

Cheers,
Chris Hafner