This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emily Byrne, the founder of Rise Centered , a company that makes sunrise alarm clocks from natural materials. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I launched a sunrise alarm clock made from natural materials on Kickstarter in 2023, raising nearly $200,000 from roughly 1,500 backers in one month.
The Kickstarter was useful beyond raising funds to manufacture our first batch of alarm clocks. It helped me learn the value of getting customer input early on and understand the financial realities of running a product business. It also provided proof of concept so I could further grow the…
