# Coolest Cooler (2014 – 2019)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/coolest-cooler/
- Sector: Hardware
- Country: United States
- Total funding: $13.3 million
- Cause of closure: Ran out of cash

## What did it do?

Coolest Cooler was a product that combined an ice-crushing blender, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, a USB charging port, LED lighting and a chopping board in a single portable cool box. In 2014 the project raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter. The products were manufactured in China.

## Why did it shut down?

The campaign's unexpected size made manufacturing, logistics and certification far more complex than planned, and deliveries were delayed. Production stopped in March 2016; the founder said he was looking for an extra $15 million to fulfil 36,000 outstanding orders. The company tried to fund the remaining rewards from the profits of retail sales, but deliveries were limited to a few dozen units a week. In 2016 the Oregon Department of Justice opened an investigation following complaints, and in 2017 it signed an agreement with the company setting out a delivery plan. The company closed in December 2019; according to The Verge, it also blamed import tariffs when it shut down.

## The story

Ryan Grepper's first attempt failed. In November 2013 the Portland product developer tried to raise $125,000 on Kickstarter for a multifunctional cool box but fell short of his target. When he relaunched the same idea on 8 July 2014, the result was entirely different.

The Coolest Cooler campaign closed in August 2014 with $13,285,226 from 62,642 backers, overtaking the Pebble smartwatch's record to become the year's best-funded Kickstarter project. Packing an ice-crushing blender, a Bluetooth speaker, USB charging, LED lighting and a chopping board into a single box, the cool box was due to reach backers in February 2015.

Success soon became a burden. The scale of demand made manufacturing in China, logistics and certification far more complex; delivery was first pushed back to July 2015. The first cool boxes shipped that month, and by November 2015 tens of thousands of backers had received theirs. But in a live stream in March 2016 Grepper admitted that production had stopped and that he was looking for an extra $15 million to fulfil 36,000 outstanding orders. The company offered a $97 expedited shipping option to those who wanted to skip the queue, and said it would cover the remaining rewards from the profits of retail sales. Having received 315 consumer complaints in 2016, the Oregon Department of Justice investigated the company under the state's unfair trade practices law; in June 2017 the two sides signed an agreement setting out how the remaining rewards would be delivered. In February 2017 the company said it would use money from online sales to ship units to between 30 and 50 backers a week.

In December 2019 Grepper and Coolest LLC announced that they were ceasing operations. According to The Verge, the company also blamed import tariffs for the collapse. More than 20,000 backers who never received their cool box were told they could claim just $20 back for a product they had paid around $200 for. The project came to be remembered as the biggest failure in Kickstarter history.

The lesson of Coolest Cooler is simple but painful: the size of a campaign is not a measure of success but a manufacturing commitment. Every extra pledge collected before cost and production capacity have been verified enlarges a promise that cannot be kept.

## Lessons

- In crowdfunding, verify manufacturing, shipping and certification costs against factory quotes before setting the product price.
- A campaign far bigger than expected means rewriting your production plan from scratch; update the delivery date realistically to match.
- Selling the product at retail while you still owe your backers quickly burns through the community's trust.

## Sources

- [Coolest Cooler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolest_Cooler)
- [Coolest Cooler shuts down after 5-year saga, leaving 20,000 backers without Kickstarter reward](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/coolest-cooler-shuts-5-year-saga-leaving-20000-backers-without-kickstarter-reward/)
- [Trouble on Kickstarter as two massive projects hit the rocks](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/19/trouble-kickstarter-massive-projects-hit-rocks-coolest-zano)
- [$13 million Kickstarter project for a cooler continues to be a disaster](https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/13/11424924/coolest-cooler-kickstarter-disaster-delays)