Nice, Inc.

Ok, so these are the most adorable things I’ve seen in a while; how did they come about?

Cablekeeps were born out of my desire to bundle up my charger and cable into a neat and tidy bundle when I travel, plus the added utility of marking my charger so my 3 boys wouldn’t “borrow” mine. I had launched a previous Kickstarter (PadPivot) with a partner and had great success. This time around I wanted to do something on my own that I could make locally and build a company from. I always focus on function first, refining the form to best to solve the problem. After countless computer models and several 3D printed prototypes, a fish tail shape started to emerge. We took a shot at playing up this aquatic idea and it worked! What could have been a boring object suddenly transformed into something unique and fun. We’ve been calling our style “delightful utility” ever since, but adorable utility works pretty well, too.

After your wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, what’s it been like since then?

Our days since the Kickstarter campaign have been nothing short of adventure. We’ve gone from fulfilling orders in my living room to a three-employee office with our own mini warehouse nearby. We’ve learned so much about business, sales, marketing, hiring, and manufacturing along the way. We added Ink and Spike CableKeeps for international iPhones last year. This fall we started shipping GoldiePlus, a USB power adapter that works with Android, Amazon, and Windows devices. We’re ready to hit Kickstarter again with our next product called “Snap”, a crocodile-looking CableKeep for earbuds.

Any particular advice for other companies going through (or thinking about) the crowdfunding process?

My best advice is to follow other crowdfunding projects and learn from their success and missteps. Find the experts in your particular field and study what they are doing. Last but not least, get feedback and build interest in what you are doing prior to your launch.

How has ShipStation helped you with your business?

ShipStation has given us the power to run our own shipping department within our small company. This provides faster ship times, better care, more visibility and most importantly, greater flexibility to grow and expand. We tried several other solutions that worked with our Shopify site, but nothing compared to ShipStation’s ease of use. I think we’ve contacted support twice in the last 2 years. Who else can offer support as quickly as hitting “help” from the shipping window?

What’s your favorite ShipStation feature?

Our favorite ShipStation feature is definitely the “batch print”. We just used this tool last week to fulfill over 500 orders for a Living Social sale. We typically capture all the similar orders and send them out in waves of appropriate model and color. Another feature I love is the ability to check in from any device to see what is happening on big feature and sale days. I don’t always work from the office so getting a snapshot of the day or running a report from my tablet or smartphone is a huge bonus.