Editing The Pen Addict 116/transcript (section)

== Kickstarter ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So now we've got the main topic. Do we actually have a main topic? An hour in? Sure. An hour in. Let's, let's, let's talk Kickstarter.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, we haven't been around for a while, right? I'm sure people want a big episode today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Yes. So we'll, we'll keep it, keep going because we're not even, uh, not even close to done yet. I don't think. So the first one, let's talk about good Kickstarter, Myke. Let's, let's, let's start off with positivity. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This one, this is an interesting one. This is the Nexus minimal fountain pen. And some, I had a couple of people send me this and I looked at it and I was like, nope, don't want it. Like, so I'm not a big fan of that sort of grip style, like a metal grip, which is like etched in some way. Like it's got like that sort of, what do you call that bread?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um, it's machined out. Yeah. There's, there's a word I'm thinking of and I'm blanking.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like ridges and lines.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's basically a ridged, um, machined grip.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I was like, I'm not interested in it, but then enough people started sending me it that I watched the video. Really great video. Uh, especially when I heard their accents.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I mean, there is a big funky L in front of the, uh, in front of the dollar amount anyway.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Well, I didn't, I didn't pay attention to any of that. Uh, so they're from the UK, which that does mean something to me. Um, so I, I watched the video, read through it all and, uh, I'll tell you what I think of it in a minute, but you tell me what you think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I almost had the exact same, um, path as you. I just getting hammered with tweets. What do you think about this? What do you think about this? Is it legit? Um, what do you think about the design? And I kind of like you, I kind of, I didn't blow it off at first, but I was like, you know, it's got the gun shy thing. You know, the vision air really burnt a lot of people, right? I mean, huge, huge amount of people. So I didn't, I glanced at it. I was like, okay, good looking, not for me. And then more people kept sending it. More people kept sending it. It's like, okay, let me spend some time, you know, watch the video, read all the details, look up these guys, see what their background is, see what they've done before, you know, see if they're, you know, have a clue. Um, and the more I read about it, the more I said, yeah, why not? I think, you know, the design is awesome. I don't love the grip. That's my only hesitancy. But I think it's fairly priced to give it a shot. So I did, I backed it. And, um, I feel like, you know, I have no, there's no red flags to me on this project, um, that I could come up with. You know, I read through all the comments, read as much as I could about it before backing it. And I really liked the, excuse me. I really liked the design. I think it's going to be like a good pocket pen. Um, and they've done some interesting things with the titanium nib. And that really piqued my interest. One of the things, one of the things that sold me on this as a project is that they just went straight to Bach and said, we're using Bach nibs. And that's a big deal. Um, because that's a legitimate nib manufacturer. It's not some random thing. That's one of the things that's one of the, uh, I guess you could call that a green flag. Um, they did, they did that right. That's the right answer from, from a question that wasn't asked. You just do it and that lends legitimacy to the project immediately when you make that kind of decision.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Me and you had a very similar thought process in that. And because I'm watching and I'm like, I feel like your design guys, you maybe don't know pens, but what you did was you obviously did some research. I mean, I'm making an assumption. These guys may be pen addicts, right? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've not, I have not talked to these guys. Don't know anything.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm just making the assumption from the many projects like this that we've seen. Either, you know, your stuff, which is fantastic, or you don't know your stuff and you did some research and you went and actually got a good, the heart and soul of your pen, because you're making a fountain pen is the nib and you, you took the time and not only did you get a great company to get your nibs from, they also picked this really interesting. I've never seen titanium before.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, so yeah, I don't think I've maybe once I've ever used the titanium nib pen. You rarely see them. There's a company called, I don't know if you pronounce it Conid or Conid, C-O-N-I-D. And they're known for their titanium nibs, but I don't know where they get them from or if they make them. They're real expensive pen. And, but they're really nice. And I, you know what? I don't know that I've actually ever used one, but I've always wanted one. So I actually backed this project. I said, let me just back it at the basic level. You know, just the aluminum pen, steel nib. And I said, you know, I wanted to just, you know, things, more things come out as the project ages, right? You know, you get more information and, you know, you kind of get a feel for how the project creators are handling, you know, customer service, answering questions, things like that. You kind of get a feel and a vibe about the project. And before I dumped more money into it, I wanted to kind of get that vibe. And yet I went ahead and upgraded to the titanium nib. I'm going to stick with the steel barrel because I want the black with the titanium nib instead of, I said I was going to go full titanium, but I think I want the black with the titanium nib, I think is the route I'm going to take. So yeah, I'm, I mean, I'm all in on this one. I think it looks good. We'll see how the grip does when we get it. I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as, you know, as it could look, but we'll see. I mean, it's definitely worth giving a shot and it's fairly priced. And, um, yeah, it looks good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm gone all titanium. Look at you. I might have to change that. I think that that's too special. Yeah. I don't have a titanium pen. I have lots of steel pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's something about it. I'm like, yeah, that's fancy. That's like super fancy. People, that's an interesting pen. Yes, it's made of titanium. Oh, including the nib. Please, sir, come this way. And I also like, cause then they sent out, I like the way they're doing this, right? I've seen this a bit more recently where it's people are like, increase your pledge by X amount to get this, which is a really interesting way of doing add-ons. Right. So I, I got the titanium pen. I increased my pledge to get the titanium nib. And I also increased it by like the three pounds for a converter as well. So I was like, why not? Like they sent an email. I was like, I like these guys. And I did the same as you before I backed. I went and looked at, they, they only done one other, uh, Kickstarter project, which is like a 3d printed Tyrannosaurus Rex skull, which is incredible. But I went on their website and that they seem to have pretty good chops. Um, like the places that they're kind of featured in and stuff like that in the UK are interesting enough to me, um, that I, I wanted, that I felt good about it. Like they're in the science museum, which is like a really, it's quite a prestigious thing. Um, so, you know, I, I felt that these aren't fly by night guys. Uh, you know, they, they even use Edelstein ink. Right. Exactly. It seems like they could be pen guys. Uh, but even if they are, they aren't, they are, they at least understand good quality. Right. So I'm, I'm really excited about this. I hope that they meet their date cause it's November cause I'm really excited to try.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That'd be cool. That'd be cool. That's a good date. Yeah. I hope it, uh, hope it delivers. So it's got 24 more days. Well, from when we're recording. So it'll have less than that by the time you're hearing this. So plenty of time to get in.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I hope that this goes over a hundred thousand cause I think that'd be fantastic for them. Yeah. I think it might, you know, cause I think it might. You're approaching a quarter of a million dollars at that point.