One day u will watch this video and will see how far have you gone and how big your business has come! This is what I can promise u! Just keep going regardless of these people
I love how you deal with that!! And that you shared that!! Really! Makes me like you even more than I already did bevor! Keep up just being the way you are and thank you so much for inspiring and sharing your journey with all of us 🙏🏼🫶
Thought you should read my response - As a fan of both of you guys, I disagree with your conclusion Ali. You're both focused on a different audience. I don't think it's on you to make the best mechanical keyboard at the best price. That would be on him if he made one. Which is why he won't, because it's not really feasible at his scale. You have a different audience that expects something completely different. For example, I'm a record producer. If my audience bought a cooking pan from me, they should expect a cooking pan that makes sense for another record producer at a fair price. That's not your lane. It's his. Just as if he made productivity videos, no one would expect them to be like yours. Don't beat yourself up. What you did makes sense and being reviewed by someone like him is an unfair place to put yourself in. I'm not a cook. You're not a custom keyboard builder. - And to be clear, what HipyoTech did wasn't wrong either. It was perfect for his audience. No reason you both need to please the other's subscribers.
@@REAPERMania The pan analogy doesn't really make sense as a pan has nothing to do with what you do. If you were to produce a peripheral related to what you do, I'd hope that you'd make it good and not just market the shit out of it while being a very poor value offering in comparison to the rest of the market. For instance, if you made a MIDI keyboard, priced it to compete with the higher-end of the market, and your product had the quality of a competitor at half the price, you made a bad call. It doesn't matter if you aren't making it for "MIDI Keyboard enthusiasts", you made a bad product that your audience is going to buy because your name is attached to it. No one expected Ali to create a keyboard for keyboard enthusiasts, but he definitely could have done better in providing a fairly priced peripheral that he approved of to his audience. Respect to Ali for facing criticism head on, he clearly cares about making the right decisions, but let's call a spade a spade here, he made a mistake.
@@thatmfdiego A pan is still something I use in my life. Record producers also need to eat. A mechanical keyboard isn't something that you need for productivity either. If it makes you more productive, use one. But this product does what it claims to do. It's a good mechanical keyboard, it looks nice and if you like it, it may make you more productive. It's a bit expensive but so are other luxury items. I paid $80 for a desk pad that is made of felt. Way overpriced but the difference between $30 and $80 isn't that big of a deal for me. Just as a $159 keyboard isn't a big deal for me. My daily driver was $105 but I have about 6 keyboards and many of them are over $250. All overpriced if you ask me. If mechanical keyboards are your hobby, you probably wouldn't buy this keyboard unless you happen to love the choices and look. But it's not a bad product. Had he made a great mechanical keyboard, it would have easily cost $350 with the way things scale for a creator like him. And I would argue asking your fans to spend $350 would be a real scummy thing to do as great keyboards are available for around $100. This one costs more because it's coming from a smaller creator. Not a huge corporation.
I do agree, but absolutely not clever to open up numbers, and specifically make the argument that price is due to scale. Price is value people pay for it. Hermes sells expensive bags to the right customer at the right volume, not because they only can make 10
Right. 3 months later and the product is still listed for sale at the exact same price with the same issues. This is obviously a fairly calculated move and the real item he's trying to protect is the 5k courses which the keyboard video and comments also ragged on. Ali obviously needs to neutralize this commentary because if there's enough negativity it'll eventually attract scrutiny upon his 5k courses and those are his actual bread and butter.
Show me a man who hasn't failed, and I'll show you a man who has never tried. It takes a lot of courage for someone to share their own mistakes, and I really appreciate you doing that as many others can learn from your experience. Thanks Ali.
I am not interested in tech whatsoever but this was really refreshing. Everyone who tried to start a business knows you will fail and fail repeatedly and its very discouraging to see people on social media who only show their highlights and success. And if it makes you feel any better, I really like the design of that keyboard lol.
Can't deny the fact that *DaleValskov* is the strongest bet to bring power back to this industry after we suffered FTX, Celsius, Tera and so on. Sure if they fail it's done for good, but I don't see that the biggest tech company in the world would put everything at risk just for that.
Okay here's my thoughts on this: you tried something you had never done before, something you had no experience with, you did a reasonably good job but it wasn't perfect. You admitted to making mistakes, you responded to criticism in a reasonable way without getting defensive, despite the fact that you felt embarrassed. Somebody as smart and successful as you, Ali, not only made mistakes but admitted to them. That gives hope to me and to everyone who isn't quite there yet. It's okay to try something new and not be perfect. I'm about halfway through the video so I may have more comments later. Anyway, good job!
The first time a friend mentioned your channel to me was somewhere around 2019, 2020 - before COVID. So longitudinally, seeing your rise to success on RU-vid and in business has been something I’ve followed for many years. But it’s videos like this that give the feeling of “ah, that’s why I remember subscribing to Ali.” Not for being the #1 most followed productivity guru, or very successful in online business, or even for the fellow doctor status…but for just being a dude trying to do his best to create something cool, on an uncertain journey. That’s what I relate to the most, and also learning the most vicariously from. So the video is much appreciated 🙏
Agreed 100%. Ali has formidable academic and entreneurial accomplishments, yet shows up on his channel humble, raw, and honest, but also without diluting his content down to trite affirmations or long winded personal narratives without any lessons to glean. I love when people achieve exponentially more than the average person yet stay relatable and grounded throughout their climb.
100%. I don't watch any of his normal uploads, which are usually the same fundamentals repackaged into a new video (not always though; he does share fresh ideas). I tune in for these life and business updates which shows the reality of things and how he is continually learning. Even the productivity expert doesn't have everything figured out - that's what gives me relatability and is the core reason why I am still subscribed.
The efficiency of this *DaleValskov* is next level. To juggle walk throughs of various angles on the topic delivered to-camera, differnet content per topic from various folks underneath the umbrella of the track list of the larger big band concert itself is engaging and refined. To make a dense taccess like this so digestible is really something. Awesome work jack!!
As one of those 206, I love this video. Ali, you're not scummy. I bought this keyboard because you made it. I have a few others - including a Keycron - and I wanted another type of switch. So I was excited when you launched the yellow switches. In your previous videos, you frequently review tech products at different price points and features and what works for which person. I like mechanical keyboards but I don't have hundreds and hundreds to spend on them. So yeah, I trusted you. And for me personally, you didn't let me down. I love the keyboard. I also love that you did this video in the first place and that you're vulnerable and open-- that is your brand. That is why people are drawn to you. Thank you for this keyboard. Thank you for this video. Thank you for this channel. Thank you for these feelings that we all have on different scales. This is why viewers stay with you. Not because a product makes profit or doesn't. Hope you have some compassion and pride for yourself today and going forward.
I agree, honesty, empathy and compassion for his audience is Ali’s brand! I am glad he is willing to be so honest and transparent. This video sets such a great example for all creators, aspiring creators and the general audience. Thanks Ali!! 🙏🏼
Amy is right on the money. I am on the website purchasing a keyboard now. Not because it's the "best", but because it's maker is trustworthy and wants to do better. That's a story I want to be part of.
I watched your integrity driven, honest , fair and deeply humbling assessment of your journey with this product and I was so humbled myself by your openness, grace and humility in facing this difficult situation, hand in hand, side by side openly and fully with us. I have been referred to you from my stoic exploration and have just seen a magnificent example of the fundamental values by you demonstrating true stoicism at its best, in your outlook, intention and drawing of healthy, truthful, unbiased, stringent, deeply considered and bravely unfiltered conclusions here. This is not simply about the keyboard dilemma, this is bigger picture revelation that I or anyone else lucky enough to see this can remember and apply thoroughly to our own stumbles and failures. Most especially your comment in the gut feeling you had that you put to the side - so relatable and so powerful. So refreshing. Thank you thank you thank you. I’m looking forward to ordering my keyboard and when you have designed and endorsed the new bag I will be preordering one of those. Go well. Onwards and upwards sharing your gifts, inspiration and insights.
I was going to write a comment asking if you had gotten any feedback from those that purchased your 206 keyboards and what did they think? Then I read @amyyoder768 and thought well there is one and the purchaser was satisfied. I am not in the need for a keyboard, but honestly, I came very close to just purchasing just because I don't have a mechanical keyboard, although I have been considering getting one for several years now. Maybe I would give this a go as a test bed to see what I like and don't like. Ultimately, didn't because I am a wireless keyboard user, I like the freedom of being not being tethered. But I was close:)! Lastly, I think this product development and launch was well worth the lessons learned. You are young, and the knowledge you and your team gained from this launch is priceless. Best of luck on all future endeavors!
This my be one of my favourite videos from your channel. I know it's commonly said to turn a mistake or failure into a learning opportunity, but to see it in as close to real time as possible, is truly inspirational. Kudos to you for your candid openness and willing to face criticism head on. While at the same time, also standing for where you disagree on the points of difference.
I appreciate you confronting this in a very objective and open way, so that we all can learn from it. Coincidently I’m launching my own keyboard, and I’ve felt similar things. Thanks for sharing your unique insights and lessons. Wishing you the best Ali!
To me, your discussion about the price sums it all up. When I saw Hypio video (I’m what you can call a keyboard enthousiast) I was like « this keyboard is ok if it’s sold for something between 80 and 100 dollars ». And there you are : the keyboard itself is worth 70 dollars. The thing is, you are asking for 150 $ for a product anyone can have on Amazon for 80 $. Throw in a nice set of keycaps you’re at a 100. My point being, you’re not bringing any value to your consumer or to the market. Not because you’re scummy. But because your ideal is flawed from the start : you’re building from scratch a product that massive companies built ten years ago. To make a comparison, imagine launching a company that invested billions of dollars to create a smartphone with the specs and characteristics of the very first iPhone in 2024. The result would be a 2500 $ phone that gets smoked by any budget smartphone. That would not make sense to anyone and unless it’s hyped by influencers no one would buy it. And I think that Hipyo’s premise is that he thinks you know you’re selling a very bad value product and endorse it anyway. I get why it hurts you but the thing is : either you know this keyboard is a very bad value and endorse it and sell it anyway and in this case this is a scummy move, either you don’t know or realise how bad value this product is. But in that case it’s a problem too because you and your team made a very bad job analysing the market. And it’s not bad value because enthousiast say it is but because if you type « cheap mechanical keyboards » on Amazon and buy the very first you one you see you basically have a product that has the same specs and characteristics as yours. Randomly buying a 50/60 $ keyboard brings to the customer the same value as your keyboard that’s sold for 3 times that.
Hey Ali! Been following you for a long time since you were a medical doctor but never commented. However, this transparent and candid video of you sharing your side of the story is one I need to comment. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, being transparent, and not belittling your critics. Your resilience to push forward despite so many challenges is admirable as most of us would've just folded. I totally agree with the key-man risk part of the business. All the best in Lightmode!
Ali, the thing that makes you so genuine human being is that you are really ok with being vulnerable! Many people would hide the confusion and embarrassing feelings from the camera! This is what I used to and trying to share in my own RU-vid channel!
I feel that the last bull run was bolstered by all the money being printed. Major returns next bull run but I think they will be tamer in my humble opinion. A 10x on *DaleValskov* and a 15x on polygon are fair considering how much those two coins are interwov
I don’t have any one specific takeaway but I really appreciate your transparency in what your thoughts were throughout the process of making the board. I don’t think you’re a scummy person at all, and it’s clear to me that this project was not a cash grab (I’m positive there are many ways for you to make more money with way less effort haha). I think the mechanical keyboard hobby can be a really tough place to do business and I think you did your best in navigating that (and you seem to have a better idea of how to move forward if you try again!).
He is probably one of the only RU-vidrs who thought about his actions and audience more than just monetary gain from the keyboard sales. I am 100% sure that majority of the audience would have not even know about this keyboard failure, but the fact that he still addressed it, knowing that this might harm the brand image (at least in the short term) really shows honesty
and the beautiful thing is that this is the most authentic take that makes people connect magnetically to you. selling = helping and not all ventures are successful and that is ok
I'm only halfway through but it really sounds like "Yeah the product isn't great, but we're not targeting people who know what a great product is." If you're admitting it's not priced well, it can't compete with products half its price and your justification for that is "We're not targeting people who know that", should this product exist? I get you want to start a self-reliant business but what's the benefit for your consumers? What makes this a good product for them? It's really good the amount of transparency in this video though. I don't think it's a "scam" or a "cash grab" but I do think every product needs to begin with "Do people need this?".
Agreed. He’s not bringing anything new to the market and as much as he’s trying to argue it’s not a cash grab, it is. If he’s not actually drawing up the designs himself and a factory is doing the work, then he’s just white labelling it.
@@boostaconfiance Well your point of him selling a mediocre product based on his name alone is... exactly everyone's criticism? Okay, I don't know anything about marketing. You don't know anything about the product in question. We aren't talking about two identical products with different colours. He didn't release a different colour version of a different keyboard. He released a worse product for the price compared to other products on the market. Imagine an iPhone 15 costs £1000. Now imagine I release an iPhone 13 for £1300 and I'm selling it to my audience. Would you argue the same thing you're arguing now? (If you would, you'd be wrong). That's what he did. He released a product with fewer features (gasket mounting, foam padding, different connectivity options, different key switch options) for about 50% more than it would cost to get all of this stuff. So I ask, why does this exist? If it doesn't exist to be a good product, it exists to be sold based on his name (something he said he doesn't want) and to be sold to people who don't know any better. Exactly everyones criticism. Welcome to the party.
+1 Think about the consumer value if you want this to be a standalone business. Otherwise it’s just a merch business where fans will buy products to support you but the product doesn’t add value to the consumer. Which is fine too but that didn’t sound like the genesis of this business.
I think the foundational "mistakes" here is not prioritising the customers perspective. The lack of brand positioning makes this business confuses itself. Because customers dont care if you are a new business that need to up the price because of the limited scale of economics. At the end of the day, majority of people wanted to buy the best value from a product that they get. Kudos for sharing all this story though. Always love all your content. Cant wait for the next great business!
It's rare to see honesty this genuine these days. As a mechanical keyboard nerd, I guess I'm subscribing for more than just keyboards. I'm interested to see more vids like this
This is brilliant, you are doing the exact right thing! take it for what it is. learn and grow with failures! most of us have a hard time with accepting defeat, but its how you rise from it that shows who you are.
At the beginning I thought that I would skip on the video as it doesn't relate to anything I do. And then you said: "Watching this video made me feel bad. ... Thank you for making the video." That stopped me and glued me to screen. I love the way you went through everything. The ability to look at mistakes, taking in the feedback, and making conclusions on what to do next time - that was off the chart. Excellent 👍🏻. Thank you for making this video.
There is a logical fallacy when you say you don't want to compete with the more budget friendly keyboard so you price yours higher. If you want to place a product into a certain price range it also has to offer features that justify said price range, this base level of performance has to be properly researched and your "feelings" don't matter. It may very well be that it's the best keybord you tried but that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things... You being a public figure earned you the trust of a group of people (the fact it's warranted or not is irrelevant) that will trust this is a keyboard worth the admission price which makes it more disappointing when it's revealed not to be the case... Also, the fact you have high expenses is TOTALLY irrelevant to the quality of a consumer product, if all you can offer is x$ quality and your expenses suggest a price of x + x/2 $ that's a you problem, you can't dump the problem onto the consumer, that's a remarkable bad business practice for a productivity guru... That may work if you offer something innovative but you chose to dive into a pretty crowded pool with a bog standard product... The fact that the usual mechanical keyboard consumer is a pretty methodical and dedicated nerd doesn't help either.
Everything he did was directly against the reason he wanted to even do this in the first place, which is to launch a product that’s independent of him.
I really appreciate the openness of this man personally. And i Know for a fact if i had the money for a computer. I would 100% go for ali's keuboard knowing that ~ beauty comes from the enjoyment in creating that beauty I hope you have a good day ali (and whoever else is reading this 😁)
This honesty is the main reason why I subscribed to your channel couple of years back! Success and failure of a product is also a part of learning process. Keep going and stay the same as you are! ❤
The transparency and vulnerability on display here is so inspiring in a refreshing way!! There’s so much to learn here about how to grow from valid criticism and using failure as a springboard for future success 🙌🏾🙌🏾 thanks for making this video man, really appreciate what you’re doing here!
Your honesty is appreciated. It's quite a bold move to address the constructive criticism head-on. Keep growing into the best version of the man you can possibly be, and the rest will fall into places. Best wishes!
Such a good video! The lessons learned are A+++. It's also so important to detach personally from a "failed" launch/product so you can instead get curious in trying to figure out how to improve the product. You'll also get way more backing if you do a future launch now that we're bought in on your integrity + self-awareness on this!
Product strategist here. Enthusiast communities can often start holding products to very weird, seemingly arbitrary and constantly evolving standards. Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts in particular can get really caught up in gasket mounts, or types of lube, or whatever the latest hotness is. HOWEVER, that doesn't absolve your responsibility to understand that market and where your product sits in it. Re: The whole 'is it scummy' discussion... I think it comes from not really having defined who its for, beyond "someone who doesn't know enough to choose something better". You get to define the target market as "They care about and want different things than the enthusiast" with absolutely no problem, but I think half-baking it by saying "Oh that group /isn't/ the market" is probably unhelpful as it's basically just saying "If you don't like it, you're not the market". The MKB enthusiast /loves/ value-for-money and spec-sheet comparisons, so will interpret "I can get these specs/materials elsewhere for less" as "You're ripping people off because you're famous", and will get righteously indignant about that feeling. Saying "You're not the market then" will just come off like saying "You're not dumb enough to fall for it, but someone else will". It's tricky with an early product/company to carve out a meaningful proposition (especially in something that can feel as commoditised as MKBs), but I'd encourage you to really think about who the user really is, who could know about every other competitor on the market and still pick yours. That I think will give you a clearer idea of a path forward.
Awesome break-down! It sounds like it was maybe not a good enough job of doing market research in the productivity niche and not understanding what his audience wants? Super cool comment.
@@thelifewithnate In effect (and you can hear it a lot in how Ali talks about the genesis of this project) he's started with a solution (a business that can outlast him and monetise his audience) and gone looking for a problem (I guess minimalist-ish vibe keyboards), rather than starting with a problem and gone looking for a solution. Like he said - businesses are just organisations that charge money for solving problems. In this case it feels like they started with the charging money part, not with solving problems.
@@MattDiffey Thank you for pointing to what I feel a lot of marketers promote - Priority #1: building an income through a business Priority #2: Solving people's problems. I'm not naïve enough to think that people should just start businesses out of the good of their hearts. And this is something I've struggled with myself and having FOMO about not having passive income or products in addition to my services. But the focus really has to be on what the customer needs/wants and to pursue THAT with the heat of a thousand suns. Perhaps there were a few hundred suns missing on this endeavour? Or the Priority #1 was equal or stronger than Priority #2. Regardless I am impressed by Ali's candour and reflectiveness and appreciate his willingness to share how he failed forward.
@@MattDiffeyyes, and I think this is what Ali has done wrong. He should try to fix people's problems first and then if he can monetise it, that will be a bonus. He didn't start his RU-vid channel to make millions; he wanted to educate & help. I think he should stick to that.
Not “scummy”. Personally I don’t care enough about keyboards to want to spend lots of time researching keyboards. From my perspective, if I wanted to buy a keyboard, I’d look at the lightmode one since if it’s good for you it’s probably good for me too. I’d be thankful that you saved me having to go and spend a bunch of time learning all the geeky details about keyboards… and that lines up with your productivity purpose. I respect your honesty and I love your book!
Watching this video felt like talking to a good friend, while I didn't even have to say anything, the friend just asked himself all the right questions and made the right conclusions. So wholesome... 😇🙌
I think there's nothing more educational to beginner entrepreneurs (which I would guess is a subset of your overall audience) than hearing a story like this and learning from the mistakes. I think it's awesome that you were transparent and shared the ups and downs of this venture. Keep up the good work!
Ali - well done on sharing how it affected you and Hipyo's review was pretty fair - he could have really hammered into you. Knowing the product was below your own standards before shipping.....
Ali, you are the best. We love you!! I have loved this channel because it really doesn’t feel like a RU-vidr trying to make clickbaity videos. It feels like a friend who learns new things, from exciting people and experiences, and shares it with me. This video, you sharing about this failure, its totally visible how hard was it for you, but you still did it and have been transparent. You have no idea how much you have inspired by just doing that. Love you Ali! You are the best and you are a champ! We trust you.
thank you, Ali, for being open even about the failures! I'm sure you will put it on track! Could you please call the war in Ukraine "the war", not "the stuff in Ukraine", people are dying daily from Russian missiles there :(
I liked your acknowledgement around the way you've done things in the past, wont necessarily work in the future, especially around just launching MVP and iterating. So many established brands both in hardware and software do this and ultimately its just bad user experience. I resonate with that a lot.
my take aways: -don't have the first business be a product if the goal is net profit early on - different strategies are needed at different business stages - being a real human is okay and being able to communicate that effectively gets people to watch until the end of a video
Thank you for sharing your experience so openly with us. I love that you built the keyboard not for a "strategic" business reason, but because you actually found it cool and just to see how the experience would be like. That's my definition of building a business around your dream life rather than the other way round. Keep doing what aligns with you Ali. You are an inspiration :)
It’s really refreshing to see large creators talk honestly and openly about their failures. It was clear that you were a little uncomfortable talking about certain topics at times but you did for transparency and we respect you for that. I am tempted to buy the keyboard as a reminder that even the great people I look up to fail, and failure is just a jump start to learning. Thank you for making this video.
Hey Ali, this is by far the most gutsy video I have ever seen from anybody talking business on YT. The biggest lesson for me personally is not everything that works in a creators economy (fail fast for example) would necessarily work everywhere especially when you have already built a cult in one specific niche and have high stakes. I can feel very strongly that this experience has made you even more stronger to make Lightmode a successful brand. I wish you all the best your journey is a university for me. God Bless ❤ ~ Your moist eyes summed up your intentions just before you stopped recording. ~ Anshul Tiwari (IT k Funde)
I think it's very cool that you had a call with this guy. The version 2 has to involve his expertise. You may even collaborate with him as a professional or designer and share the costs (so he can also promote it).
You see lots of people having temper tantrums about this sort of thing but you haven’t, Ali. In the words of Dieter F. Uchtdorg “It's your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life's story will develop.” That’s why you’re a role model to so many and will surely grow from this and achieve a lot more going forward. Thank you Ali.
things I learned - admitting your mistakes is very nice; builds trust - I relate to the trusting your gut thingy - when starting a project or something you need bias towards action and in the middle you need bias towards quality
Thank you Ali for being honest and sharing all this valueable information with us, I think you are doing really good in terms of your business and I think you have leared many valuable lesseons from this product, and that will mak you even better enterpreneur.
For me, I'm buying the product not because it is a perfect mechanical keyboard, I'm buying it because it is produced by Ali and his team. I'm buying this because of the people and brand. Back in 2019 when I first started university I was in a total slump. Then I discovered Ali's channel and his exam tips and other study-related content back then really helped to lift me out of those swampy days. Now, fast forward to 2024, I'm sorta in my dream school and still watching Ali's channel to get inspiration for life and work management. Great job, Ali! Sending support!
this is lovely, but still, this is what i hate about influencers. we have this parasocial relationship and we feel affection and the need to support people who are just doing their job. you are buying an expensive product from a person you admire and feel that he helped you, well he didn't help you for free, you already made him money watching his videos! if you genuinely like the product, then ok it makes sense (I personally find the blue keyboard stunning to look at), but I would not buy it just to support a guy on the internet, but if you find value in it!
Just bulk it to a course. The highest course payers get a keyboard. The next 10 people who buy a top-tier course will be sent a keyboard. Not the end of the world. Use it as a course bonus.
Hey Ali. I love that you took this whole experience and put it out there as a lesson learned and how to improve in the future. We are all learning and growing everyday. I love your insights into Feel Good Productivity and strive to add it into my daily life as much as I possibly can. I also love that you are always transparent in how you work your business as well. You have taught me so many things through your videos and tbh you are my favorite youtuber. I love the look of the keyboard and if I was into mechanical keyboards would totally buy it. I am so excited about the possible release of the bag! I have a major bag problem and have never been able to find one that meets all my needs so can't wait to see what you will design and release.
whole comment section of this vid is so positive even though any1 who knows anything about what he did and the keyboard space knows how blatant of a shameless cash grab this product was from start to finish. How do grifters get away with this so easily is beyond me.
I always respected your views and the interesting topics you talk about. I follow you since years, but you became my "hero" with this video. Thank you so much to be so brave and honest! Everyone talks about owning their mistakes, and learn from them, but sharing these publicly...you really lead by example. I undersand that this must have been difficult for you, but for me, your video ment a lot in processing my own fear of failure in a healthy way and (not just knowing how I should approach, but) really practicing growth mindset!!! Thank you so much, it gave me a lot of courage to get up and continue workig towards my goals. (Similarly to your previous "how i failed" videos, but this was....different)
Very cool to see someone try to realize their vision of a tech product. I think everyone recognizes the feeling of wanting to create your own version of something, whatever it is. Even though this might not have gone exactly the way you wanted it's still super interesting and inspirational to watch!
I really think that there is a niche for a keyboard made by you that works, but I just think it's in a higher budget range. Making a plastic mechanical keyboard with relatively few additional features is fine but we're really starting to see that it's a bit of a crowded market, instead you could make a product that feels truly "premium", give it a little volume knob, add support for a keyboard software like via, make it out of aluminum, add 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth, add a gasket and some foam, make it a bit easier to disassemble. Obviously this will raise the price dramatically but it will give the product a real shot at being one of the best keyboards for productivity, and even if you can't compete in price with a lot of products, having this nice distinct premium quality and aesthetic will make it a truly worthwhile purchase for someone that is researching what they want to buy. My point is, I'd really love to see more keyboards from Lightmode, and I hope they'll be truly great products and not something in the midrange that's a bit overpriced from a consumers perspective, something you put on your desk that feels amazing and premium!
I thing that what he was trying to say was that you have a very large audience and many people (including me) truly admire you. So if you made a keyboard those people would buy it without doing much research as they have the feeling. Apple fanboy type something. BTW thank you very much for the amount of value you added to my life.
yeah but I guess Ali's opinion is - so what? if people don't want to do research, that's on them. he's not scamming them, he's selling a product he's proud of and uses himself. I personally know more than the average person about mechanical keyboards, but much less than an enthusiast, and if I liked the aesthetic of this, would be happy to get it. people can choose how they want to spend their money and the onus isn't on the person marketing to spell out all the research for them. it's simply to market the product. e.g. show the best attributes and why they should buy it. to that end, ali did a great job, and even went further and talked about some of the cons, which is totally unnecessary and seldom done by most companies.
I love that you shared this, as a full-time content creator myself I'm in exactly the same position as you - I don't want my business to rely on me for everything but that's the current situation. As a result, I've also been looking into creating a brand with physical products in my niche so all your learnings are incredibly helpful. Please keep sharing! I wonder if building a brand seperate to you, low-key not talking about it and establishing reviews from customers not knowing it's anything to do with you in the first place might build a stronger brand with feedback first, so any negatives don't come back on your personal brand but it would make marketing much more expensive. It's a tricky one! Look forward to hearing updates and to be fair, the keyboard looks great
Ali , my first comment ever on your channel and reason is: I got so much from your honesty, your humility and your introspection ( almost more then the countless other videos of yours that I watched ). We often look at people from the out thinking that they take action and they win without seeing some of the struggles they also have in the process. As a young entrepreneur myself this helped me more than you could ever imagine. Thanks for the share Regards Thomas
I really love this video - The criticism you faced seems like it was needed, happy to see a youtuber still being humble. All that aside - The reason this looks/sounds scummy is: A lot of people would kill to be in your position - being able to launch their own product. Something that I would myself love to do. But when you said you didn't give it time, or rushed with certain things like marketing, those are things people solely focused on launching this product would never make, because so much would be at stake for this to go wrong. I don't think anyone with the dream of launching a physical product has 300k to shell out but if they did, they would do it right. Atleast that's what I think. :)
As someone who likes mechanical keyboards I probably wouldn't buy your keyboard specifically. But also I don't feel like I am your target audience. Any consumer considering purchasing something should do their own research to see if there is anything better and at the end of the day purchase the product that they like. You made something that looks good and put effort into that you think your target audience would buy. I hope you manage to break even on the keyboard and make an even better V2 in the future! The way that you have turned this into a learning experience is an encouraging thing to see as learning from failure and seeing failure as a good thing is something I personally try to keep as a core principle myself.
I learned a nice thing "When a person become more successful than others, people will not appreciate him on his success but if he did one thing wrong even mistakenly, they will just leave no stone unchecked in harassing them" These things should not discourage the successful one cuz from 99 percent success he only got 1 percent failure
Mad respect for your very level headed response to the criticisms to the keyboard. And while some may view this as taking advantage of people that aren't keyboard enthusiasts, I see it in a different way. Everyone needs an entry point into enthusiast mechanical keyboards. My own entry into the world of mechanical keyboards was an overpriced, very plastic keyboard made by a big name brand over a decade ago. After using it for a little while, I was inspired to do more research into what other options were out there. And I have had a handful of keyboards since then, each being progressively better and fitting more closely to my personal preferences. Your keyboard may well be a perfect fit for some people, but for others it may just be an entry point down the rabbit hole of enthusiast keyboards... and that rabbit hole goes pretty deep.
I've been following you for a while now (even bought your book, which has been really helpful!) and my heart breaks for you. Not sure if you feel like pivoting but here is a real problem I had with keyboards moving internationally: I learned to touch type on a windows keyboard with an American layout. I moved to Germany and my workplace supplied me with a Mac with an American layout... problem was, they didn't supply an external Mac Keyboard, they only had Windows ones with the German layout. So I was in the position of having to use an external German layout Windows keyboard with an American Mac computer!!! I had to memorize everything as the moment I looked down it was all wrong. This introduced me to the world of different language layouts for different OS in the keyboard world. I have no idea how you might accomplish it, but if you had some way of making a 'universal' keyboard (using lasers under the keys or something to quickly swap between languages and layouts) I think that you could find a market for that (or change your current stock to like a Swedish layout or something unique where they are used to paying that much for a keyboard because they are not a mass market?) Thank you for making this video, it's tough to share when something didn't go as planned but it's incredibly valuable. My biggest take away from this video is that each project requires the right way of approaching it. I will add 'Slow productivity' to my reading list. Thanks again!
This is why I subscribe to you. The value we get from every piece of content is really great. I really hope your brand takes off (that is keep putting the effort and then it will). Love you Ali!
The problem I have with your reasoning is that you are trying to make it separate from you. That is fine but you used The Rock as an argument for why your keyboards don't have to be amazing. The Tequila brand is about The Rock and that is why the fans buy it. I thought you wanted to be separated from your brand, so act like it. If you can't compete on price or quality, you should have gone for a more unique aesthetic or something because otherwise people will only buy this keyboard as long as *you* keep promoting it.
the argument was because the video said it was scummy of him for people not doing research? totally bs argument. Is apple suggesting consumers to do research comparing with microsoft? doesn't make sense tbh
@@allangamez94 19:55 He says people don't buy The Rocks Tequila because it is the best and "that's not the point". Well, what is the point then? The *celebrity* behind it. Apple had a vision, a unique feature, and an idea. People didn't buy it because Steve Jobs said they should, but because the product competed in the market and won. There is a clear difference between influencer and normal brands; Ali initially stated, he wanted a normal brand. In that case, he shouldn't get butt hurt when someone reviews his keyboard and compares it with other keyboards and calls out that the price is too high for what it is. The problem is that Ali brings nothing to the table besides his name in this case. I understand a planner and his courses, but this time it feels like he invested a lot of money into something he doesn't know enough about and tries to compete with experts that he can't beat on features or price. Btw: 34:02 sums up why it might feel scummy for an influencer to promote an expensive, subpar item. People don't use Excel because Bill Gates said they should. Kids buy an overpriced, unhealthy drink because Logan Paul says they should. Influencers have more of an influence and should act responsibly.
Great lesson: Realizing the importance of getting feedback from others (when happy enough yourself) as part of the design. And asking feedback (offline first) both from the enthusiasts/ experts and the "ordinary" people. p.s. ability to take feedback and criticism like you're doing is a huge asset and shows character to do it publicly. Respect.
I always like LTT approach to merchandise design 1. I would personally use it every day/time 2. It were better than competition to some degree, else I would use the competitors instead if I don't have anything to add on 3. Be honest with the marketing, yeah it cost a lot to made, it also price very high but we can stand by it.
I just discovered your channel in the past few weeks. I haven't watched a lot of your content, because I assumed you would just have a lot of the same productivity tips as every other "expert" on RU-vid. However, your video on how to achieve financial freedom caught my eye this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised at how refreshing it was, and how much I enjoyed it! So, I went on to watch your series, 'How to Figure Out What to Do With Your Life', and it ended up taking me a few hours because I took your advice and wrote out all my responses. I felt mentally exhausted afterwards (I am a serial procrastinator and avoider, so it's rare for me to actually engage with something this way), but also, I felt optimistic for the first time in years! (I am older than you and have been stuck in a career/financial rut for a few years now because I felt that I couldn't do any better than this. Kind of lame I know, but it's just the sad truth of where my head has been at.) Anyways, all of this was to say that I decided to watch this video as I wind down for the day, and I am really glad I did. I have watched countless hours of RU-vidrs distilling advice/apologies/tell-alls, etc., and this has got to be one of the most authentic ones I've ever come across. It really won me over and earned my trust, because it was very apparent how much you cared about this. You weren't firing from the hip and barking back with a bruised ego; you clearly cared about addressing this in a transparent way. So, thank you for what you're doing here, and I look forward to learning more from you and taking your advice, as it's already broken through the cobwebs in my brain in a way that I haven't felt in so long.
The argument Hippo is trying to make to you is that you are essentially acting as an influencer promoting a brand as "great and best" when you really don't know anything about the hobby or topic. Every influencer ultimately gets ripped for doing that, you are no different. You shouldn't do that. It is predatory to your audience because you KNOW there are people that will just buy it because you say so.
Having got to the end of the video, my one thought (and has been at the back of my mind having watched you for a while) is why have you thought about going into hardware rather than software? I feel there is quite a lot of potential for turning your ideas from all your back content into software products that integrate into someones electronic workflow. In that domain, you can still fail fast and get feedback and there are less upfront costs that you run at risk. Aside from that, there is a fundamental question in terms of your other brands. What are you prioritising? Is it aesthetics or feel, or is it the productivity benefit that product brings? The keyboard and the backpack feel like are aesthetics/feel first and utility second. Are you comfortable that those are the right away around for you?
I love how vulnerable you are in this video. it shows how you really put into practise what you "preach" you traid, you failed, and i hope you will try again!!! love your work and thank you for opening up like this. it was palpable how difficult this video was for you to make! love your work, your authenticity and how you are just...you!
The "scummy" thing was a bit harsh I would say. But it's not necessarily wrong. The thing is that you breakdown really well how the price is done, but there needs to be "something" that makes it stand out even a little. If it would be "slightly" worse than other keyboards on the same price bracket that would make to cost summary of the product much better and also understandable. But when it's just "you branded" product that you can get basically somewhere else cheaper it makes it a little "cash grab". What I'm trying to saying is that you could have had a little better product with the same price with better product design. Of course it could have made the "making the product" much longer time than 18 months but it would have been worth. And the lessons learned did take into account these things.
I think for me the big takes a way it is trying to do too many things at the same time without dedicating to the product full focus! Ali, it is better to try things that not do it. It was 200K mistake maybe… I don’t think so your next product digital or physical will be amazing thanks to this experience! Thank you for making this video I doubt it in watching it, I didn’t want to have a depressing feeling but actually motivated me to really focus in my new dream project! Thank you Ali again!
Props to you bro, it took a lot of courage to put this out there. I really appreciate how honest and organic this whole video is. It's also fascinating to see the business side of things, especially coming to terms with the shortfalls and learning through your mistakes. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Specifically on the keyboard, I don't follow anyone on socials so this is my 1st time hearing about it. TBH my opinion if someone like you were to put out a keyboard would just be that, it's just an "Ali Abdall" keyboard. In no way am I expecting this to be the best choice of mechanical keyboard, cos I know for sure people who's been making keyboards for years would be so far ahead of you. So if I do buy it, it's to support you and cos I like the design.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re still being one of my favourites RU-vidrs for things like this 🩵 You keep going! We love to learn about you ❤ No one is perfect
Wow! The bit at the end when Hipyo says you should have marketed it by saying the keyboard makes typing more enjoyable, so you are more likely to sit down and do it, ie a nice looking easy to use keyboard makes you feel good. So funny as Ali is literally the feel good productivity guy. It comes full circle. ⭕️
The most easy thing in the world is to criticise others (whom you have no connection with and hence not worried about falloff) . Next easy thing is probably eating food (not easiest if you have dental pain or sore throat) . You done the tough thing Ali and part of that is what we are seeing here. Kudos to you for trying to build a business out of a physical product and great video as usual.
I loved that Ali chose to be transparent and applied a growth mindset to being challenged for what he put out there, and the manner in which he put it out. It doesn't matter what the thing is. Ali is capable of doing better, as are we all, and Ali has exactly the right mindset to shrug off a poor showing with an excellent one.
I appreciate you acknowledging the criticism and not shrugging it off as hate. That takes a lot of guts. But there's a lack of consistency in the point you're making that I do not agree with. You start the video saying that you're building a business that does not rely on your person. This is also reflected in the marketing material. But when Hipyo makes the point that the board does not compete, you hide behind it being your flavor of keyboard. Anyway, best wishes for the V2, the backpack and other products.
oh my thank you for sharing this! I feel so bad for you at the same time I so RESPECT you for putting yourself out there like this - and to show us what actually happens to a lot of business owners, the failures and the outside judgement. No one is immune and this insight helps us to deal with ours. THANK YOU!
