How the Coolest Cooler went from one the most successful Kickstarters ever to the site's 'biggest disaster'
The Coolest Cooler launched on Kickstarter in 2014 with the idea of a "portable party" disguised as a cooler.
It had everything you needed to bring your party to the beach, backyard, or wherever else. It had bottle openers, USB ports...
...waterproof Bluetooth speakers...
...and a battery-powered blender.
The project, with its splashy introduction video, was received well. At one point, it was even the most-funded project on Kickstarter, although it has since been surpassed.
Kickstarter backers were supposed to receive coolers in February 2015, CEO Ryan Grepper wrote a letter to backers pushing the date back to July because he said the company was adding new features at no cost to backers.
Source: Kickstarter
Then, Coolest started selling the product on Amazon for $499, which Grepper said was to "keep the lights on." The date for backers was pushed to 2016. Grepper said that the price for backers closer to $200 was much too low.
Source: The Verge
In April 2016, Kickstarter supporters still had not received coolers. Coolest then reportedly considered giving backers the option to pay an additional $97 for "expedited shipping," to receive the product that they had already waited over a year for.
Source: Motherboard
The fallout escalated, with Grepper and Coolest employees doxxed, and their personal details spread online. They even received death threats as a result of the bungled rollout.
Source: Motherboard
In 2017, Coolest reached a settlement with the Oregon Department of Justice requiring it to pay $20 to every backer who never received a cooler — nearly 20,000 people — although if the company is out of funds backers might not get anything.
Source: The Verge
Last week, backers got an update from Coolest that the company is officially shutting down. In the message to supporters, Coolest says that tariffs on Chinese imports are to blame. Kickstarter said in a statement that one-third of backers did not end up with the cooler they were promised.
"There's always a risk in creating something new, and some projects won't end up working out," Kickstarter said in a written statement to the Verge. "In this case, unfortunately, one-third of the backers won't receive the [product] they were promised. We've worked hard to make it clear that Kickstarter is not a store."
I just got the announcement email from @Coolest_Cooler that they are closing their business due to the trade war. I was an original backer but never received my cooler.
Win some. Lose some. pic.twitter.com/IyCTigHiPG
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