From Idea to Kickstarter Launch and How much it cost along the way

For the past nine months I have been developing a new travel pillow called the Voyage Pillow. This is the journey from idea to Kickstarter and how much I spent to make it a reality.

Check out the Voyage Pillow on Kickstarter!

It all starts with a problem

On a trip last Spring to Stockholm, I came to the realization that I really didn’t like travel pillows. My go to sleeping position was resting my forehead against the seat in front of me, the side of my head against the window, or directly down into my palms. Not finding anything that would work — a sweatshirt was my best solution. However with turbulence or a slight shift in position it would be down into my lap. I also hated the bulky size of most travel pillows when I was trying to pack efficiently with just carry on luggage.

Solutions that weren’t going to work for me

Building my initial design and sample

I began sketching ideas with my main pain points written across the top of the page. I wanted:

1. A compact form factor for minimal space in carry on bags
2. Ability to use the pillow across different sleeping scenarios
3. Simply be comfortable no matter how I used it

Being a bit crafty, I already had experience working with a sewing machine. So I grabbed a pillow off my bed and a stretchy ski balaclava from my closet. I began to hack together my first prototype. It wasn’t pretty but when I put it over my head and I thought — this might just work!

The very first homemade Voyage Pillow

The design centered around two keys features. First the actual pillow. The traditional U-Shape Travel Pillow put a pillow around the entirety of your neck (which added packing bulk) when you could only lean in one direction. So I focused the pillow to be dedicated only to to one side where you would position it for sleeping. Second is a multi-purpose band that is connected to each side of the pillow — the allows for the pillow to stay in position as well as allowed the user to pick what orientation the pillow was used. Around the neck, over the head, over your eyes, around your hand, etc.

Total Expenses: $0

Understanding the market & finding a manufacturer

I knew I had to get a grasp on the pillow market and the materials that would be available to build the final product. Similarly I knew I was going to have to find a manufacturer to help develop this idea into an actual consumer product.

I began searching Alibaba for reputable manufacturers within the pillow market. However in this search I didn’t confine myself specifically to the travel pillows. I wanted to get a broader view of options available to me. Through this process I began ordering stock product samples from 4 manufacturers that I narrowed down on Alibaba. I was mainly testing the type of fill material that would work best for my design. This included down feathers, synthetic down, memory foam, cotton fill, and microbeads.

A Look into some of the manufacturers I reached out to

Samples Costs: $65, $40, $65, and $55 (each manufacturer)

This process also helped further narrow down the selection of a manufacturer to build my first samples. Two of four manufacturers were slow on communication and actually getting the samples shipped. I knew wanted to move quickly through the design process and knew it just wasn’t going to work with them.

Total Cost: $225

Building my first manufactured prototype

I took detailed photos of my homemade sample and created a digital sketch with measurements for my first prototype. I narrowed down the two remaining manufacturers to one, began working on communicating my ideas for what I would want as the final product. After two wasted weeks, they simply could not wrap their head around the idea (no pun intended). The language barrier was getting in the way and they told me that they didn’t think they were going to be able to help! AHHH!

So I got back in touch with the second manufacturer on my samples list to start to process over. Luckily it clicked instantly with them and they were quick to offer suggestions. They got to work and within a week I got my first photo of my first prototype.

This really helped me to know that I needed to have the multi-purpose band have a taper design so it consumed less area of your face.

Prototype Sample Cost: $80

Total Cost: $305

Prototype Iteration

The first prototype was a success from a communication standpoint. It looked and worked like the homemade sample. However it was far from ready to be final product. This is when I started to really be thankful I ended up with my current manufacturing partner. They offered ideas for new material swatches and overall structural design changes.

We went through a few more rounds of prototypes, which took a total of about 2 months. Some iterations were simply changes in density of the pillow, to fabric testing, and full design alterations until it was perfect.

Evolution of the samples

Prototype Charges: $80 x 6

Total cost: $785

Creating the identity and online presence

At this point I was on my first long trip getting full use of my pre-production ready prototype. I flew to Paris and taking in the inspiration of the high fashion boutiques. I went home to my Airbnb one afternoon in the Marais district and knew exactly how I wanted to logo to look.

Clean simple Lines

Cost: $0

In picking the name for the brand, I had done research to ensure the domain and social media handles would be available to allow for cohesive branding across all channels. This helped lower the cost of purchasing an available domain name and swiftly getting all the social media handles. The domain and hosting were purchased to create a quick landing page for the brand.

Cost: $95

Total Cost: $880

Filming the Kickstarter Video

Getting ready to launch the crowdfunding page I knew I wanted a very clean, simple, and straight to the point video. My previous college roommate happen to be a freelance film maker and agreed to help produce the video in between projects. However filming a video about a travel pillow within a commercial flight wasn’t going to work. I sent a cold e-mail to local charter aircraft company at our airport here in Burlington VT. I laid out what I was working on and what we wanted to achieve. The response? Complete access to their facility, hanger, and a plane…for free!

Filming on the plane for the day

Cost: $500

Although the facilities were free for the shoot, I did purchase a few props including other travel pillows and luggage.

The Final Kickstarter Video

Cost: $190

Total Cost: $1570

Finishing touches

With the video finalized, I spent about a month crafting the Kickstarter page. I wanted to ensure I illustrated those key pain points that were solved.

Showcasing the size comparison of the Voyage Pillow

To get ready for the launch, I wanted to get a few last minute things ready and on hand. The first was more samples produced from my manufacturer. I knew that sending samples to press and influencers would be a great way to help the buzz get going. I was able to get a discount rate for additional samples with the prospect of a production order on the way.

Cost: $350

Then I had the usual collateral made of postcards and business cards. I also produced a small batch of custom poly mailers to give the samples a premium look when being shipped to heighten the overall experience.

Cost: $65

Lastly I contacted a few photographers I found on Instagram to take some lifestyle photos. They agreed to take the photos simply for product exchange. The only additional cost to me was shipping.

@deathbefore.decaf on IG!

Cost: $20

Toal Cost: $2005

And now into the Campaign!

So I was able to bring an idea floating around in my head to fully finished product to market for just over $2,000. I definitely saved money along the already having a background in putting together my logo and website. Also having someone in my personal circle to help film the Kickstarter video was a huge benefit as well.

However bringing a product to the market is only the beginning of the journey! As of writing this I am over 50% funded in just under 48 hours.

I would love for you to check out the Kickstarter Page. If you are interested in backing the project — Awesome! If not I’d love to hear feedback or you can simply share the project with a friend who spends too much time in the air.

Click here to check out the full Voyage Pillow Kickstarter.