Company Overreached, But Crowdfunding Site Shoulders Some Of The Blame

The tale of the Zano mini drone has left a lot of people wondering what happened, including the crowdfunding site on which the company worked to raise money for the project. After the project withered and died on the vine, Kickstarter commissioned investigative journalist Mark Harris to find out what caused the implosion, and he found a classic case of overreach, but laid part of the blame at the feet of the crowdfunders.

In his findings released this week, Harris said that the a combination of factors went into the failure. Engadget reports that Harris said that the Torquing Group promised a lot that it was not able to deliver, and the promotional video for the Zano was misleading to the potential funders. But he does not accuse the company of any malfeasance, they simply spent money raised from backers "too freely" and could not keep its budget in check. There were also problems with the technical aspect of getting the tiny flying camera operational, including issues with delivery of chipsets and other plastic parts, including the propellers. Calibration testing was also a concern. While about 600 Zanos did eventually ship, the product that was the focus of Europe's most-funded kickstarter campaign announced it was filing for bankruptcy.

But funding the investigation did not get Kickstarter off the hook with Harris. In his report, he said that all crowdfunding sites should do a better job of vetting their projects to reduce the risk of failures. They should also make it clear that funders are backing an idea, not purchasing a product. There is always the risk of failure.

(Image from file)

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