The news about Logitech’s acquisition of TT Design Labs, a two-member startup that originated on the crowd -funding Kickstarter program, is generating feel-good vibes in the design and engineering community today.
TT Design Labs was founded by Zahra Tashakorinia and Derek Tarnow, two designers who developed TidyTilt — a little magnetic device which serves as an iPhone stand, mount and earbud-cord organizer.
The two entrepreneurs launched the company through Kickstarter, a requirement for their school project at the Institute of Design in Chicago. They had never designed a product for sale to the public nor launched a business. Kickstarter, a private for-profit company, provided them tools to raise capital. By early 2012, the pair had more than $223,000 from would-be customers who voted with their wallets via their Kickstarter campaign for TidyTilt.
Companies are looking at Kickstarter as a place to recruit talent. VCs are looking for companies to invest in. It will be interesting to see if Kickstarters will start more stand-alone companies or will it acquihires and VC investments for successful Kickstaters.
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