Quirky
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| Type | Private | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Ben Kaufman | ||
| Headquarters | New York City | ||
| Key people | Ben Kaufman (CEO) John Lott (CFO and COO) |
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| Net income |  |
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| Employees | 50-100 | ||
| Slogan | We Make Invention Accessible | ||
| Website | www.quirky.com | ||
| Alexa rank |  12,046 (February 2012[update])[1] |
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| Registration | Optional | ||
| Users | 180,000+ | ||
| Available in | English | ||
| Launched | June 2009 | ||
| Current status | Active | ||
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Quirky is an industrial design company, located in New York City, that uses crowdsourcing to determine which products to design and manufacture. The company solicits ideas for new products via its website; ideas are voted on by readers of the website, as well as by employees of the company. Products that are chosen get designed, manufactured and marketed by Quirky. The inventor and any other contributors then get up to 30% of any resulting revenue.[2]
A prospective inventor can submit an idea for consideration at a cost of US$10 (previously this was $99). A product is selected each week to become marketed. Factors considered include uniqueness, manufacturing complexity and intellectual property rights.
Quirky was founded in 2009 by Ben Kaufman, who is the CEO of the company.[3]
Quirky branded products can be found in some of the top retailers in the country including: Target, Toys R Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, OfficeMax, The Container Store, ACE Hardware, and Amazon.com.
In April 2010, Quirky got $6 million in venture capital funding, led by RRE Ventures.[3]
In 2011, a reality television series about life at the Quirky office, also named Quirky, debuted on the Sundance Channel.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Quirky.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/quirky.com. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
- ^ Deborah L. Cohen (July 28, 2010). "Entrepreneurs run with crowdsourcing model". Thomson Reuters. pp. 1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/28/us-cohen-column-crowdsourcing-idUSTRE66R40W20100728. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
- ^ a b Quirky's 23-year-old CEO finds love with the supply chain, Paul Boutin, VentureBeat, April 27, 2010
- ^ Associated Press, "Startup Quirky brings people's ideas to life", Japan Times, 28 August 2011, p. 5.
