EXHIBIT 2017
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`EXHIBIT 2017
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`Dynamics Inc. - Ex. 2017
`Page 1
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`Dynamics Inc. - Ex. 2017
`Page 1
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`Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech
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`https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreymorrison/2017/04/29/plastc-card-i...
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`A digital nomad in search of life, the universe, and everything.
`
`It looked like sci-fi. One card to rule them all. Plastc was a smart credit card that
`looked like something out of a movie. Bluetooth connectivity, wireless charging, a
`built-in touchscreen, and more. The idea was you could upload all your various credit
`and gift cards to this one card. It was lockable with a password, and if you left it
`behind, you could remotely lock it. It seemed too good to be true.
`
`And it was. Last week Plastc announced that they were shutting down. Many people,
`including myself, are out a few hundred dollars (the cost of the pre-order), with nary
`card to be seen.
`
`The thing is, I didn’t really expect to ever get a Plastc. It was way too futuristic, they
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`Dynamics Inc. - Ex. 2017
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`Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech
`
`https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreymorrison/2017/04/29/plastc-card-i...
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`were doing way too much that had never been done, and they were a startup (i.e. they
`had no manufacturing experience). I was willing to take a bet on the idea of Plastc
`because it did seem so cool.
`
`And that is what everyone needs to keep in mind: pre-orders and crowd funding is a
`gamble, by you, on people you don’t know.
`
`The web is littered with stories of failed tech startups. Usually they only cost investor
`money. But when it comes to hardware, you’re the customer, and it’s your money.
`Take the recent story of Juicero, a startup hawking a $400 juice machine that is no
`better than your hands. I wouldn’t go so far as to say customers were sold a bill of
`goods, but mislead is certainly a reasonable take. Then there was the Coolest Cooler
`$400 smart cooler fiasco. These are just two notable examples, but there are many,
`many others.
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`Almost daily I get emails from a tech company I’ve never heard of trying to get a little
`press about their Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Usually it’s headphones or something
`related. I, and many of my colleagues, have a strict rule about reviewing pre-shipping
`products. Making a handful of something is radically different from making 100,000
`of something. I usually don’t even write news posts about this vaporware (and the rar
`occasions I do, I heavily caveat it with skepticism).
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`And look, I get it. It’s hard to break into the tech world. It’s hard to get traction on ne
`products, even if you’re making a good product. But the thing is, it’s good that it’s
`hard. The deluge of crap products that would inundate the market would be a
`nightmare.
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`Crowd founding and pre-sales help manufacturers generate some initial buzz and get
`some much needed capital to proceed. This can be a good thing. But it’s also possible
`those companies aren’t structurally sound to make the product they’re hawking, and
`your money is the band-aid to help them proceed, when they shouldn’t.
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`I’m not going to say “don’t do it!” because there are far too many cases where it’s been
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`Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech
`
`https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreymorrison/2017/04/29/plastc-card-i...
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`a massive success. Star Citizen is an incredible success, and it wouldn’t exist without
`crowd funding (no traditional game publisher would have funded a game in a genre
`that hasn’t been popular in 20 years, by a game designer than hasn’t made a game in
`about that long).
`
`Basically, it comes back to caveat emptor, as seems to be my advice about most thing
`If it’s a company you’ve never heard of, and the product seems too good to be true, it
`probably is.
`
`If they figure it all out, they’ll sell the product through real channels and you can get i
`then. Will it be more expensive? Probably, but it will also exist.
`
`Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
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