Rob Hallifax

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Articles

Why I’m Shutting Down My First Business (Maybe Not Why You Think)

Sep 29, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

Rob Hallifax·Follow4 min read·--Ten years ago I wrote a blog post about how I thought some classes of product were universally crap. I looked at extremely expensive watches, high-end hi-fi equipment, and all cartridge razors. My point about razors was that they were ugly, over-engineered and designed to become landfill. There are some complex business model reasons why cartridge razors are the way they are, but I simply thought a cartridge razor could be designed better. Over-engineered?
Reply: Guideline recommendations don't exist in a vacuum

Sep 26, 2024 | erj.ersjournals.com | Steven Walker |Rob Hallifax |Nick A. Maskell

Reply to I.S. Tournoy and K.G. Tournoy:The letter “Debunking the myth: why wall suction should not be routine in pneumothorax treatment” postulated that negative pressure via thoracic suction may lead to worse outcomes for patients and suggests that the joint ERS/EACTS/ESTS clinical practice guidelines on adults with spontaneous pneumothorax [1] should be amended. This hypothesis may be correct. It could also be wrong.
My first “big” Kickstarter. Why this project did better than the others

Aug 12, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

My fourth Kickstarter campaign was for a deck of cards. My third had also been for a deck of cards and that made it the first time I’d followed up with a product in the same category as a previous one. There are plenty of good reasons to have a consistent theme if you’re going to run multiple Kickstarter campaigns. It’s not something I did until my fourth campaign, but better late than never.
Behind the Scenes of My Multiple Successful Kickstarter Projects

Aug 5, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

Last week I looked at the dashboard data behind my first ever Kickstarter project, the Ockham Razor. This week I'm going to do the same thing for the two projects I did after that. As with last time, every dashboard tells a story of how a project went. I launched this second campaign almost exactly a year after my first. There was no real strategy towards building a coherent product portfolio at this point. I just thought it was a cool product idea and wanted to make it.
The One Piece of Luck That Changed My Life. My Kickstarter Campaign Dashboards

Jul 29, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

Last week I looked at the high-level data behind all eight of my successful Kickstarter campaigns. Now I'm going to look in more detail at each project and go through my interpretations of my project dashboards. The project dashboard is a page that only the project creator sees, and it shows funding progress throughout the campaign, and also an overview of the different sources of backers. (You can read more about the project dashboard here.)Every dashboard tells a story of how a project went.
Is Kickstarter Worth it? Data from 8 Kickstarter Campaigns Answers the Question

Jul 22, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

I often hear two extreme opinions about Kickstarter. Some people think that just by putting your project on Kickstarter, plenty of people will find it and you'll make loads of money. Others think that you have to do all the work to bring your own audience to Kickstarter anyway, so what's the point. The second attitude is probably a more realistic one but, as with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Most Things are Normal. But the Edges Get the Clicks

Jul 15, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

You don't often hear in the news about normal things. They don't make interesting content. But most things are normal and it's worth remembering that. When we forget this, it has a lot of negative implications. Nuanced opinions go unnoticed and we're driven to the edges. Social media algorithms maximise the chance that we'll end up at the extremes. Leaving us with either a warm feeling of solidarity or an upwelling of outrage.
What it Feels Like to be a World Record Holder

Jun 24, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

I recently became a world record holder. A bona fide Guinness World Record with a certificate and everything. The record is for the world's smallest deck of playing cards. I've written before about where the idea came from and how I did it. I didn't do it to make money and it was quite a lot of work. But I thought it would be fun (and it was), and it's a good publicity stunt for my playing card company Cartesian Cards. I've been pleasantly surprised how much attention the project has attracted.
After 8 Kickstarter Campaigns, is it the Same People Coming Back Each Time?

Jun 10, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

As with anyone selling a product, I want to know as much as possible about who my customers are. When it comes to Kickstarter that means analysing my backers. A couple of high-level questions: Where in the world are my backers? Do the same people come back to each of my Kickstarter projects? The answer to the first question is useful but not unexpected. The answer to the second question surprised me. Firstly, let's look at where my backers are in the world.
What Is It and Could It Make You Rich?

May 20, 2024 | medium.com | Rob Hallifax

Last week I wrote about the processes and mindset needed to successfully launch products via crowdfunding. My approach in fact applies much more widely beyond crowdfunding. However, my focus is on crowdfunding, and mostly Kickstarter. When you're so deep within a subject it can be easy to forget some of the fundamentals though, so this week I'm taking a step back and going over the blog posts I've written that cover the foundations of what Kickstarter actually is.