A West Chester team building a portable speaker just raised $58K on Indiegogo

It’s a damn shame we didn’t hear about the BumpOut portable speaker in time for our holiday gift guide. But then again, it wouldn’t be ready by Christmas.
West Chester, Pa.-based BumpOut is in the process of building a portable speaker that uses a motor to expand and, according to the company, give out a rich, bass-y sound worthy of that Chance the Rapper album. It attaches to your phones and other surfaces through sticky lil gadgets called BumpOut Coins.
The trinket, set to ship in May 2017, is rechargeable and waterproof according to its Indiegogo campaign page.
Check out the campaign
The same site also shows the company raised more than $58,000 from 623 contributors in four days, surpassing its initial goal of $50,000. The “early bird” price is $69, a $20-dollar discount on the stocking-stuffer’s projected price.
https://twitter.com/bumpoutaudio/status/804803025391022082
Zac Pierce, CEO and founder at BumpOut, said the proceeds from the campaign will go directly to the cost associated with manufacturing. But why did the company decide to take on a crowdfunding campaign?
“Hardware is hard,” said Pierce in an email. “Primarily because it is an expensive process with rather long lead times. In order to maintain a price point that is of great value for consumers, crowdfunding allows us to take pre-orders, which alleviates some of the financial burden and deliver a high quality product at an affordable price point.”
Another reason to hit up crowdfunding: quick user feedback. “Consumers are smart and we want to hear from them,” said Pierce, who used to work at commercial real estate firm HFF in Conshohocken.
The company employs five and plans to manufacture the speaker in China.
Here’s a bumpin’, thumpin’ explainer video: