Tile, The Lost-Item Tracker With Millions In Crowdfunding, Was Worth The Wait

The first thing you’ll notice about Tile, the crowdfunded lost-item finder that attaches to bags, keys, bikes and more, is that it’s big. I mean, I know the company provided the device’s specs beforehand, but it’s still a surprise to see this large white square — bigger than a Wheat Thin and slightly smaller than a matchbook – sitting there in the black foam padding.

The second thing you’ll notice, during setup, is that it’s musical.

Yes, Tile actually plays a little song for you when you’re connecting it with your phone, and later, when it confirms it was successfully activated.

What’s Tile? For those who need a reminder, Tile was a breakout, viral success story, demonstrating crowdfunding’s potential. The company raised $2.6 million via its Selfstarter campaign – far more than the $20,000 it was looking to initially raise, to top off the earlier $200,000 from Silicon Valley accelerator Tandem Capital.

Demand Caused Delays

But the buzz around Tile has been both a blessing and a curse. Instead of being able to scale slowly, the company had more orders than it was prepared to handle.

“It really changed the dynamics of manufacturing this in a really good way. However, one of the bad things it did was add delays,” Tile CEO Nick Evans says. “We had to go and find a different manufacturer — our current manufacturer couldn’t produce enough.”

And, he adds, “we needed to make sure if we were shipping that many units, that they’re really, really going to work.”

Nearly a year after Tile achieved its multi-million-dollar crowdfunding raise, shipments finally began getting off the ground, and today the company is still working to get the device into the hands of those who’ve paid.

That means some Tile customers won’t just be asking themselves if Tile was worth the money (one Tile is $19.95 on preorder), they’ll be asking themselves if it was worth the wait.