Number sqrt(e) in a series of crowdfunding stories.
Sansaire Delta sous vide cooker
$256,804 raised from 1,314 backers in September 2016 ($169 from me)
Estimated delivery April 2017
What an impressive Kickstarter page! All those beautiful photos and bios of the founders. Lucas pursued a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Valerie has traveled to all seven continents and will close out any karaoke bar. I own the original Sansaire, it was one of the first things I backed on Kickstarter. I still use it. They should have no problem making an updated model. Their required risks and challenges disclosure:
After successfully delivering the original Sansaire device to over 4000 backers in 2014 we’ve gained enormous experience. We’ve been working with top manufacturing experts, seasoned developers, and industrial designers to ensure the Sansaire Delta device is beautiful and works seamlessly. With any new device launch there still could be unpredictable issues that could cause minor scheduling delays in the manufacturing and logistics process.
Over the past 3 years we’ve vetted our manufacturing and logistics partners, weeded out the ones who weren’t performing to our standards, and believe we have an amazing network of experts, suppliers and manufacturing partners to bring Sansaire Delta to our Kickstarter backers.
The Sansaire team is committed to delivering the highest quality product, on time, and being transparent with our backers every step of the way.
How could it possibly go wrong?
First update in November 2016:" We’re on track to meet the Kickstarter backer shipment schedule (April delivery for 110V units and June delivery for 220V units)."
January 2017, it’s looking great. Photos of the machines, “the molds are all complete”, and they’re starting manufacturing in a few weeks.
February 2017: “We have made the difficult decision to delay shipping Sansaire Delta units until July for 110V and September for 220V units. We know that this is disappointing news for all of you.” What happened? “one of the molded parts didn’t meet our quality expectations”
August 2017: “Time to Hit the Reset Button” - “We hit a snag over the past few months that has challenged us in new ways. In addition to encountering technical issues, we have had turnover in our management team. While this was a setback, I am thrilled to announce we have established a new management team that is fully committed to Sansaire and to launching the Delta.” Lilac, the new CEO “is a charismatic, energetic engineer”. Geoff worked on nuclear submarines in the Navy and is a “Lean Six Sigma Black Belt”. And Lukas is spelled with a k now.
October 2017: “Build Completion and Testing”. Headline is slightly misleading. Lukas has been to the factory and they made 150 units for testing.
November 2017: a change of manufacturers. “At this time, we do not believe that we will be able to ship Deltas this year, but we are actively working towards a Q1 shipment. This is quite disappointing to all of us.”
December 2017. They are “pursuing alternative funding”. “As of right now, the new deal will likely be secured mid-January, pushing manufacturing of Delta to Q3 2018.” Lukas gets a new title: “To ensure continued progress and to prevent further deviation from the aforementioned plan, I have now assumed the role as CEO”
And that brings us to February 21, 2018. “Disappointing News” in full:
We regret to share that Sansaire will be ceasing development of the Delta. This is an unexpected divergence from our intended direction. We know this news is hard to digest and we are committed to keeping a dialogue with each of our backers for next steps.
To share our story, alternative funding, production lines, and the necessary engineering foundation were in place for the Delta launch, but ultimately, the factory and funding sources proved to be detrimental. In short, we have exhausted all of our resources and approaches for bringing Delta to completion. Our plan from here is to phase out operations by taking the next 12 months to support existing warranties and customer service.
Although coming to this point was a difficult decision, we could not have gone this far without you and your contributions. We would like to sincerely thank you again for being our partner. The sous vide category is bigger and more mainstream since our first Kickstarter campaign when it was an eclectic method used by diehard foodies and techies.
We will be reaching out to our backers individually with next steps and refund information over the next few weeks. Moving forward for all direct inquiries, we can be reached at info@sansaire.com.
Lukas
Co-Founder & CEO
Sansaire / Modern Chef
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