ShadowBlock Project: Move forward or give up.
Hi guys. It's a long read, but I really ask for your support and advice.
My name is Artur Uryvkov. Many of you remember me from my custom project, ShadowBlock, for organizing the cable management of the I/O zone. A few months ago, I put up a post in this sub-reddit and was glad that I managed to create something that you guys truly appreciated. I spent several months working on the project after my main job. There were a lot of problems at every stage of creation, from a pencil sketch in a notebook and technical specifications to the first perfectly working prototype on a resin printer (FDM turned out to be unacceptable for this project; the detailing suffered a lot, and post-processing with painting caused big problems). I tried to make it so that it fits almost any PC without design flaws, but thanks to some of you it was improved a little in places where I hadn't even thought of—thank you for that. Some even bought my prototypes for their builds. Each prototype—resin printing, connecting the electronics, a 3-stage painting process, and packaging—took a colossal amount of time, and many looked at the price skeptically, and I understand them. I wasn't planning to do everything by hand, not even thinking that anyone would need it. But before the post went live, I still registered the industrial design with the patent office. I have been living in Poland for a long time now, but I am originally from Ukraine, if anyone is interested.
A few months after the post came out, I accidentally found a video by Alex Krastev (technic) from SignalRGB. He spoke very positively about the product. I wrote to him, and 10 days later I received a response saying that when the product goes to the masses, they will integrate ShadowBlock into their lighting control program, and it will be supported and synchronized with the PC through their software. And then, as I thought, I had everything in my hands to start storming the brands, and there was hope that the product would go out into the world. In my personal opinion, the DNA of my design fits both the style of Fractal Design with their Scandinavian minimalism, and up to Phanteks or be quiet!, speaking of Europe. I stormed them with letters from all sides as best as I could, found the right people, made inquiries, but alas, I didn't get a response from anyone. Honestly, guys, I don't understand what else they need—maybe market validation, a Kickstarter campaign, even more virality, going to them personally, I don't know. Kickstarter was initially not interesting to me; I wasn't going to manufacture ShadowBlock personally myself. I am a creator, right now I have several other projects in development, and worrying about manufacturing is not my thing. But reality turned out to be much harsher: most likely, if I don't bring it to the market myself, the project will die along with my desire to build anything else, since there will be no point in it. I need your advice and support, I am no longer driven by motivation, I just want to finish what I started and see how it all ends, but let me say in advance, I am already grateful to you for everything.