3 ms·

Same situation here. Quirky is "right up my alley" and somehow I never heard of it until it was shutting down. Don't know if this is a regional issue (I'm in

Same situation here. Quirky is "right up my alley" and somehow I never heard of it until it was shutting down. Don't know if this is a regional issue (I'm in San Diego) or what.

S_A_P 11y ago
I'm in Houston so we are different regions. Sounds like it may have been a SV thing.
- mikeryan 11y ago
  Quirky was an NYC startup and never seemed to have the buzz of a traditional web or software startup to me (I'm in SF)
krschultz 11y ago
They were one of the big NYC startups so I heard about them pretty frequently in the community here. Their product distribution was fairly widespread, you would see their products in big box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, but not sure if it would stick out if you didn't already know them.
dangrossman 11y ago
There was a Quirky mid-aisle display at Wal-Marts for a while. I also see their organization stuff at Marshalls/HomeGoods on an irregular basis. Quirky made Wink, the home automation product line, which has a permanent endcap in most Home Depot and Target stores. As the article mentions, the lack of strong branding was one of their problems; it's easy to see their various products throughout a store and not realize they're all from the same company. http://i.imgur.com/8lExkKy.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8lExkKy.jpg
- ics 11y ago
  I also didn't know anything about them until hearing about the shutdown but now that you mention it I have seen the "Wink" stuff in Home Depot and probably elsewhere. However that was negative signaling for me, since Home Depot is not a name that I trust for tech but just a place I go if there isn't time to order something. With Nest products however it was because I had heard of them long before seeing them in Home Depot that my reaction was neutral-positive for retail stores carrying them. I don't expect my jaded 20-something outlook to represents most shoppers but it would've been cool to know about.
dcosson 11y ago
I had heard of them, but I still have a similar reaction to you. It's right up my alley, e.g. I've bought all kinds of random hardware on kickstarter, but I've never bought anything from Quirky even though I would have loved to. One example I remember distinctly, at the beginning of last summer Uber did a promotion where they delivered Quirky smart AC's with installation for a few hundred bucks. Fast forward a year to when I needed an AC I actually looked around for a Quirky one since I remember being intrigued, I figured by now they might even have a newer version and have worked out some kinks. But there was basically nothing to be found, it had just been a one-time thing on the part of both Uber and Quirky. It all makes sense now reading the other comments here. Turns out that was just their business model, to only ever release one-offs instead of building quality product lines and iterating on them.

Same situation here. Quirky is "right up my alley" and somehow I never heard of it until it was shutting down. Don't know if this is a regional issue (I'm in San Diego) or what.

S_A_P 11y ago

I'm in Houston so we are different regions. Sounds like it may have been a SV thing.

mikeryan 11y ago
Quirky was an NYC startup and never seemed to have the buzz of a traditional web or software startup to me (I'm in SF)

krschultz 11y ago

They were one of the big NYC startups so I heard about them pretty frequently in the community here. Their product distribution was fairly widespread, you would see their products in big box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, but not sure if it would stick out if you didn't already know them.

dangrossman 11y ago

There was a Quirky mid-aisle display at Wal-Marts for a while. I also see their organization stuff at Marshalls/HomeGoods on an irregular basis. Quirky made Wink, the home automation product line, which has a permanent endcap in most Home Depot and Target stores. As the article mentions, the lack of strong branding was one of their problems; it's easy to see their various products throughout a store and not realize they're all from the same company. http://i.imgur.com/8lExkKy.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8lExkKy.jpg

ics 11y ago
I also didn't know anything about them until hearing about the shutdown but now that you mention it I have seen the "Wink" stuff in Home Depot and probably elsewhere. However that was negative signaling for me, since Home Depot is not a name that I trust for tech but just a place I go if there isn't time to order something. With Nest products however it was because I had heard of them long before seeing them in Home Depot that my reaction was neutral-positive for retail stores carrying them. I don't expect my jaded 20-something outlook to represents most shoppers but it would've been cool to know about.

dcosson 11y ago

I had heard of them, but I still have a similar reaction to you. It's right up my alley, e.g. I've bought all kinds of random hardware on kickstarter, but I've never bought anything from Quirky even though I would have loved to. One example I remember distinctly, at the beginning of last summer Uber did a promotion where they delivered Quirky smart AC's with installation for a few hundred bucks. Fast forward a year to when I needed an AC I actually looked around for a Quirky one since I remember being intrigued, I figured by now they might even have a newer version and have worked out some kinks. But there was basically nothing to be found, it had just been a one-time thing on the part of both Uber and Quirky. It all makes sense now reading the other comments here. Turns out that was just their business model, to only ever release one-offs instead of building quality product lines and iterating on them.