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The "tiers" are just bundle names. We could have been super dry but decided to make it more like collectable cards packs; our expectation is that most people wi

The "tiers" are just bundle names. We could have been super dry but decided to make it more like collectable cards packs; our expectation is that most people will buy Kong since it looks cool (that's totally fine with us). Our margin on Kong is typical of other startup hardware projects; not great. We're not raking in cash from a digital token sale. We've made a physical product, we'll sell it to cover the costs of doing so.

qwtel 7y ago
I agree that they do look cool. They remind me of euro notes but turned up a notch or two. But I'm wondering what made you decide to go with the generic greek bust heads? Missed opportunity to depict some cryptography and computer pioneers imo.
- torgian 7y ago
  They’d probably get sued if some of those portraits were of people still alive today.
- paulgerhardt 7y ago
  Some of the design elements are skeuomorphic throwbacks to traditional currencies. One design pattern among currencies is "person on front, place on back" - we didn't want Kong to be too geographically local so we picked the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Luna, etc) for the places and the associated Roman pantheon. Romans used currency while Greeks famously didn't. (Lydians aside.)
elil17 7y ago
Yeah see “startup” is the problem word there. That implies you have a product. You have a cool hobby project, but there’s no use case. I’m so curious why people think (and it’s certainly not just you, I see this attitude all over) that it is possible to run a business without providing value to customers.
- ccamrobertson 7y ago
  We've sold and are selling products to customers. That seems to constitute utility for someone as well as fit into the definition of a "business".
  - ixtli 7y ago
    This is a truly unbelievable answer to the question you were asked.
    - Aeolun 7y ago
      You think? If someone is paying them money for the manufacturing of goods, then regardless of the value and utility of those goods, I’d say they have a business.
      - ixtli 7y ago
        It's a dark world where the fact that someone will pay for something/someone is, alone, proof of utility.

qwtel 7y ago

I agree that they do look cool. They remind me of euro notes but turned up a notch or two. But I'm wondering what made you decide to go with the generic greek bust heads? Missed opportunity to depict some cryptography and computer pioneers imo.

torgian 7y ago
They’d probably get sued if some of those portraits were of people still alive today.
paulgerhardt 7y ago
Some of the design elements are skeuomorphic throwbacks to traditional currencies. One design pattern among currencies is "person on front, place on back" - we didn't want Kong to be too geographically local so we picked the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Luna, etc) for the places and the associated Roman pantheon. Romans used currency while Greeks famously didn't. (Lydians aside.)

elil17 7y ago

Yeah see “startup” is the problem word there. That implies you have a product. You have a cool hobby project, but there’s no use case. I’m so curious why people think (and it’s certainly not just you, I see this attitude all over) that it is possible to run a business without providing value to customers.

ccamrobertson 7y ago
We've sold and are selling products to customers. That seems to constitute utility for someone as well as fit into the definition of a "business".
- ixtli 7y ago
  This is a truly unbelievable answer to the question you were asked.
  - Aeolun 7y ago
    You think? If someone is paying them money for the manufacturing of goods, then regardless of the value and utility of those goods, I’d say they have a business.
    - ixtli 7y ago
      It's a dark world where the fact that someone will pay for something/someone is, alone, proof of utility.