Fidget Family!

When we launched the crazy idea of Fidget Cube to the world in August of last year, we had no idea what the following days would hold. This has truly been an insane journey, and we want to thank you again for all your support and patience with us.

We wanted to touch base with you again today for a brief and exciting update.

Except for a small pool of orders that have unverified shipping address, all Kickstarter rewards have been shipped!

This calls for... (you guessed it!)

A GIF party:

We didn’t want to break Kickstarter, so we’ll host the rest of this party on our site. Click here to continue the celebration.

As mentioned above, there is a small batch of orders that is still pending shipment, due to shipping address verification issues. For one reason or another, the system has thrown up red flags on some addresses, saying they might be undeliverable. What this means is that our fulfillment partners are manually checking each address and ensuring that what’s printed on the label will get the rewards to the correct destination.

Additionally, there are some backers in the community who have not yet completed their survey - if that describes you, be sure to complete it over at BackerKit so we can get your rewards sent out. :)

We want to sincerely thank you again for making this journey possible.

Fidget Family Spotlight.

One incredibly talented member of the Fidget Family recently used Fidget Cube as inspiration for a creative art project (which then became a home for her Fidget Cube). Needless to say, this is one of our favorite pieces of Fidget Cube fan art we’ve come across!

And Finally...

Don’t worry, this won’t be the last time you’ll hear from us - we’ll be in touch! As we’ve mentioned in the past, we intend on sharing an update in the future that will give a behind-the-scenes look at the ups and downs and lessons learned from this process.

Additionally, if you want to be sure to stay up-to-date on any exciting news coming from our team, be sure to connect with us on social here:

Antsy Labs Facebook

Antsy Labs Instagram

Antsy Labs Twitter

Until next time,

Team Antsy Labs (Matthew and Mark)

 

 

 

 

Hello Fidget Family!

We hope you’ve all been well. Let’s just jump into today’s update!

Updates, communication, and timelines.

We wanted to update you all on our shipping progress. As you know, we had hoped to have shipped all December tier rewards by the end of last week. We know that this doesn’t get you your Fidget Cube(s) any faster, but the timelines that we have communicated to you came directly from our manufacturing partners, and at the time were conservative. We are doing all we can as Antsy Labs to get all Fidget Cubes shipped as soon as possible. Of course, we are shipping incredibly large amounts every day.

This plays into why we do not post updates every week, as we are taking special care to make sure that any information we communicate is accurate and backed by reality. That said, it’s evident that even when care is taken there can be unforeseen shipping delays.

Since our campaign has ended, we’ve posted an update approximately every 12 days on average. As the campaign came to a close, we let you know that our post-campaign updates wouldn’t be sent out as frequently as they were during the campaign. The reason we bring this up is to set expectations regarding our update schedule. It has always been and continues to be our goal to communicate well and as often as makes sense with our community. That said, our daily workload is making it a challenge to communicate as frequently as we would like (as frequently as we did in our first week on Kickstarter). We are sincerely looking at outside resources that we can partner with.

Again, we understand that this doesn’t make anyone who hasn’t received their rewards feel any better. We are working overtime with our partners to ensure that the remaining December tier rewards that haven’t yet shipped are sent out ASAP.

At this point, the information given to us from our partners is that all remaining December tier rewards will be shipped to you by the end of next week. We have high confidence that this is the case and between now and then there will be daily shipments going out. We have just shy of 100,000 backers in the December tier, so we appreciate your patience as we work through the less than 10% remaining rewards. On that note, we also appreciate and understand your frustrations.

What backer number are you currently on?

We've heard this question being asked, and we wanted to take another moment to reiterate that the answer to this is fairly irrelevant, due to how rewards are being sent out. As mentioned previously, rewards are being shipped in order of backer number and available stock (meaning we have surpluses of certain color schemes and shortages of others, and are only able to fulfill rewards as availability allows). In other words, we are at a very high backer number in the December tier, but that information alone would suggest that we have completed the tier entirely. 

March tier lockdown.

As you probably know already, last week there was an error that locked down certain March Tier Backer Surveys. Those of you who were affected by this received an email directly from BackerKit explaining what happened and what steps to take (if any). We want to commend BackerKit for the speed and professionalism with which they handled this situation.

As a reminder, if you have any questions regarding this, please get in touch with the awesome BackerKit team here.

March tier surveys.

The following is a message from our partners over at BackerKit:

“At 10pm PST on Monday March 6, we will lock down all remaining March orders in BackerKit. This will prevent any future changes, and we'll be pulling all order information out for shipping and fulfillment after lockdown. If you need to add any additional Fidget Cubes, make any changes to your add-on items, or update your address, head over to your survey here.”

If you’re a March backer and your tier is showing as locked, please contact BackerKit through the link above.

Email response times.

To be completely transparent, we have had a difficult time keeping up with emails we’ve been getting. We’ve heard backers in the Fidget Family express agitation over slower than usual response times for emails.

We are not ignoring emails, we’re currently receiving upwards of 2,000 emails daily, and this has caused a backlog. In the last week, we have added 2 additional customer service members and as of this weekend will have a team of 6 more. Rest assured, if your email is one that needs a response, our team will shoot one your way once they’re able to!

Packaging adhesive.

Just a quick note for those who have received Fidget Cubes that aren’t mounted on the platform in the packaging. This is something we are working on. In drop/shake tests, Fidget Cube stays attached perfectly, but we are now beginning to think that the extreme temperatures experienced in a plane might be interfering with the integrity of the adhesive. We are working on this, but unfortunately it’s not a quick fix (which is a real bummer, as we spent a lot of time designing the packaging to play a large part in the Fidget Cube experience).

Fidget Feedback.

We mean it when we say we that we value feedback from our community, and so we want to hear from those of you who'd like to share your thoughts. We've put together a brief survey that can be found here, which we're interested in seeing your responses to. Please be candid (whether positive or otherwise) - we will take it to heart. 

Fidget Family Spotlight.

We couldn’t help but share a couple more Fidget Family posts we came across recently that made us smile.

Fidget Cube nonprofit program.

Since the launch of our nonprofit program a couple of weeks ago, we’ve received a staggering amount of applications. As we continue to reduce the backlog of emails we’re receiving, part of our team will be addressing these applications and getting back to those of you who have submitted requests. The ones we have personally reviewed are exactly the kind of requests we had in mind (small schools with limited budgets, mental health programs, etc.). 

We hope that you don’t get tired of hearing us say this (we feel we can’t say it enough!), but we sincerely appreciate the support that this community continues to give us as we’ve taken this idea from something intangible to reality. As always, thank you for your encouragement, feedback, and energy - stay awesome!

Until next time,

Team Antsy Labs (Matthew and Mark)

 

 

 

 

Hello Fidget Family!

We just wanted to touch base with you all to catch you up on things - let’s get started!

Production and shipping update.

This is of course the biggest item on our plates. The good news is that our daily output on the production side (and subsequently our ability to ship) is increasing. What this means is that our rate of shipping your rewards is becoming more efficient.

December Tier Backers

We know that the remaining group of you who have not yet received your rewards are likely watching your mailboxes eagerly.

And while we know that this doesn’t give you the immediate satisfaction of having your Fidget Cube(s) in hand, we can once again promise you that our manufacturing and fulfillment partners are working around the clock to get your rewards shipped ASAP. In terms of December backers, we’re in the final stretch! Now, in the spirit of staying transparent we need to bring to light that we estimated that we would have fulfilled 80% of December orders by the end of last week. Unfortunately, we reached only 75% - that said, we plan to be at the 90% mark by the end of next week and 100% by the end of the following week.

March Tier Backers

Our previous projections still stand. We plan to start shipping March tier rewards later this month (of course, once December tiers have been completed).

A quick note on fidgeting.

With thousands of you receiving your Fidget Cubes each day, we love hearing feedback from the community! One thing that we wanted to take some time to talk about is the feel of Fidget Cube. We’ve heard from some members of the Fidget Family that they had expected certain components of Fidget Cube to feel a certain way, while the actual tactile experience differs from that. We understand that, before using a Fidget Cube in person, everyone has expectations regarding how each side will feel. Having only pictures and video to rely on, it’s impossible to know exactly what each side will feel like, but we think you’re each going to love your Fidget Cube(s) once you spend some time using it. We liken this to the experience of seeing your favorite radio personality for the first time and trying to align your mental image of them with how they actually look.

In our own experience, we saw the benefits of Fidget Cube when we truly forgot that we were fidgeting with it. This can take time, but once we got to that point we personally found it soothing. You may have heard us mention this before, but fidgeting is a subjective experience - what we did with Fidget Cube was carefully and intentionally design the product as a whole to offer a broad set of tactile feels. That said, we will be sending out a Fidget Feedback survey in the next month that will give you all the opportunity to tell us what you think. We will also be asking what your favorite side is and will be posting some of the results in future updates.

Fidget Cube Nonprofit Program.

This next section is something that is very near and dear to our hearts, which makes us very happy to announce it! 

Since we launched Fidget Cube, we’ve received literally thousands of emails from educators, mental health professionals, and other individuals involved in nonprofit organizations expressing interest in sharing Fidget Cube in their workplaces. Making sure that Fidget Cube is accessible to those who may benefit from it in these organizations is something that’s been of high priority for us. Of course, completing the fulfillment of Kickstarter rewards will come first. But in the meantime, we wanted to introduce a way for individuals belonging to nonprofit organizations to formally apply to the Fidget Cube Nonprofit Program. We’ve got you covered... thank you for all that you do.

If you are a professional working in education, counseling, health care, etc. then please be sure to check out the Fidget Cube Nonprofit Program here.

Fidget Family Spotlight.

After sharing Asiamarie’s song with the community in the last update, we decided we wanted to make Fidget Family Spotlight an ongoing feature. The creative little gem below was sent our way since then, and we can’t help but share it… It made our week!

Emails.

As we are in the fulfilling process, our inboxes are growing daily.

Many of the questions we are getting involve discounts for nonprofits, but a majority are questions regarding tracking information and if a specific reward has shipped yet. We are attempting to add additional resources to our team, but we thank you for your continued patience as we try to stay caught up on emails. Please know that once your reward ships you should receive an email with tracking information. Additionally, you might receive tracking info and then a lag of some time before a scan is logged. We have looked into this and have been told that packages need to be scanned by the carrier at various points during the journey to the destination, something that can sometimes slip through the cracks. Just know that it’s on its way.

Questions?

Finally, another reminder that any questions regarding your rewards can be directed to our awesome partners at BackerKit here.

Again, we want to sincerely thank each one of you for your support throughout this journey. The Fidget Family truly is an amazing group of people. We don't take your patience and encouragement lightly... thank you for everything!

Until next time,

Team Antsy Labs (Matthew and Mark)

 

 

 

 

Fidget Family!

We hope you all have been well since our last update. We (along with our manufacturing and fulfillment partners) have been incredibly hard at work, so let's get you caught up.

First, let’s discuss business.

Where are we with shipping?

While we would absolutely love to announce that we have shipped all December rewards as of today, we aren’t quite there yet but are making progress. A majority of December rewards have been shipped out to backers and by next week we will be at about 80% of December orders shipped. As you know, we are shipping as we get inventory - so you will receive your shipping confirmation based on the makeup of your order.

Had we known that there would be delays in shipments and deliveries of some of your rewards, we would have told you from the very start. It has always been our goal to deliver as soon as possible, and as you all know by now (as this has become our mantra over the course of this project) we did not want to compromise the quality of Fidget Cube to push shipments out the door faster.

There are many moving pieces to a project of this magnitude, and while we would love to have the ability to control 100% of these pieces, the fact of the matter is that there are unfortunately processes that take time. Some examples of this can be seen in shipments that are unexpectedly held up by customs.

Some of you may have seen that a small amount of March backers were reporting tracking information being sent their way. There was an isolated clerical error that sent out a small amount of March shipments. This was an error that was caught quickly thanks to our Kickstarter community… Thank you!

March Backers.

In an earlier update, we mentioned that we planned on starting March shipments in January. While we are finalizing the December tier shipments, we won’t be starting March shipments - however, we’re still planning to deliver your rewards early, which will begin in February.

Now, onto the fun stuff.

Many of you who have connected with us on our social platforms saw our official unboxing video for Fidget Cube. For those of you who may have missed it, here it is to tide you over until your rewards are delivered!

On that note, we’re planning on sharing another video in the coming days that’ll give a closer look at Prism and how we like to install it on Fidget Cube, so be sure to check back with us on our social platforms here: 

Antsy Labs Facebook

Antsy Labs YouTube

Fidget Family Spotlight.

We absolutely LOVE the creativity that's found in this community of ours. Some of the Fidget Cube fan content that you all make serves as a daily dose of motivation for us. There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with things, and maybe including a dollop of…

Backer Asiamarie wrote and recorded a short song while waiting for her Fidget Cube, and graciously posted it. You can check it out below. We're not saying it's been stuck in our heads the past few days, but we're not not saying that either. ;) Ear worm alert!

Even more closer looks at Fidget Cube.

For those who may still be waiting for their Fidget Cube(s) to arrive, we wanted to give you more Fidget Cube eye candy to check out. We may be biased, but we think Fidget Cube is pretty photogenic. ;)

Questions?

It’s come to our attention that some of you have reached out to us via the Kickstarter messaging platform and did not receive a response. We’ve had a forwarding service set up through Kickstarter (which directs queries to our knowledgeable partners at BackerKit) that has not been working just as it should. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our amazing partners over at BackerKit here. 

Finally, we’ve said it many times, and we’ll say it again (we hope you don’t get tired of hearing it!). The Antsy Labs community is one of the most awesome gatherings of people in crowdfunding. And that’s because of YOU. Thank you for your ongoing energy, patience, excitement, and support as we continue on this journey together!

Until next time,

Team Antsy Labs (Matthew and Mark)

 

 

 

 

Hello Fidget Family,

Matthew and Mark here. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

We hope you all have had a safe start to 2017 and we wish you all the best.

With every update we send, we realize that we are sending notifications and emails to over 150,000 of our backers (you). We do not take this lightly and don’t want you to feel like these are being “spammy” in any way. 

For this reason, we try to hold off on updates until we have new information to update you on.

That said, we want to let you know that shipping has started and is ramping up. Although we wished we could have shipped these to you back in October when our project ended, we had to (and continue to) make sure Fidget Cube was a finished product that met our incredibly high standards. As we ship such a large amount of packages over the coming weeks, please know that your shipment is in the queue and that we are in the homestretch! Being Antsy and fidgety ourselves, we know how the wait can be difficult - but rest assured, it will be worth it.

A Quick Note

We are fulfilling shipments based on backer number and available inventory. When your shipment is sent, you should receive an email with tracking info (there can be a slight delay in the email being generated, so please keep this in mind). As we are dealing with such large amounts of shipments on this massive scale, please be aware that sometimes shipments may not be scanned when they are picked up from the warehouse, which can result in a tracking number with no “pick up” scan (when it has actually been picked up and is on its way).

Again, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The support, patience, and kind words of the community won’t ever be lost on us - we truly appreciate your involvement in the story of Fidget Cube.

Until next time,

Team Antsy Labs (Matthew and Mark)