Friday Buzz: Target the Pain Points

If there’s a pain point in your industry’s business model, target it.

That’s a key lesson for any business, but one that feels particularly relevant for Kickstarter, which has a reputation for having hardware-driven crowdfunding projects that don’t always get off the ground or flop in embarrassing ways  (opens in a new tab).

“Certainly every time a hardware project fails to deliver, it’s a headline,” Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler admitted  (opens in a new tab) in an interview with TechCrunch.

The certified benefit corporation  (opens in a new tab) announced this week a new Hardware Studio, which is designed to help its hardware-based creators think ahead of time about the infrastructure they’ll need to complete their projects.

“Figuring out how to engineer a product for large-scale manufacturing can be daunting,” the company states on its website  (opens in a new tab). “Some creators have a great idea and a working prototype, but could use help taking the next steps.”

Kickstarter is teaming with the firms Dragon Innovation and Avnet to help creators asking for money think of these things ahead of time.

Associations should take notes when building out their own member benefits—because this is the kind of approach that helps improve an industry.

Sometimes You Just Have To

How Eventprofs Can Be Better At Multitasking (Even Though You Shouldn’t) https://t.co/ZixUW2eVEf  (opens in a new tab) #eventprofs  (opens in a new tab) #events  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/dQZrmuuvm0  (opens in a new tab)

— Event Producers (@event_producers) May 19, 2017  (opens in a new tab)

Multitasking is a fact of life, despite the fact that maybe 2 percent of people are actually any good at it. Event planners may gain some sort of benefit out of doing it, even if it’s not always a desirable thing to do.

If you’re in a spot where it’s necessary, this piece  (opens in a new tab) from the Event Manager Blog should help you figure out how to juggle a little. Use only when necessary.

Other Links of Note

The much-hyped Surface Laptop is a dramatic rethink of what a laptop can be. Laptop magazine explains why that matters  (opens in a new tab).

Don’t be afraid of telling a story with a cartoon, IT pro Joshua Hiller writes  (opens in a new tab) for Association Success.

Detect high emotional intelligence: Inc. contributor Marcel Schwantes breaks down the behaviors  (opens in a new tab) of someone with good EI.

(iStock/Thinkstock)