As wearable tech becomes more commonplace, we're starting to see applications that go beyond utility and into pure fun!

On the show today, I speak with David Panettiere, who created SYNC Footwear using his experience working for a major footwear manufacturer, combined with his own creativity and tenacity to bring a cutting-edge product to market on Kickstarter.

His shoes actually sync with your smartphone, through Bluetooth, to allow your music to drive colors and patterns on your shoes. It can operate through your playlists, or through a very cool "mic check" mode, where your phone's microphone drives the lights - so at a live concert, or club, the light show in your shoes would sync with the ambient sound.

Be sure to listen in as David explains how he put together a team of tech and music professionals to create a lifestyle product that won't light your feet on fire, and also has applications in the action sports and safety-wear verticals. He was also very generous in offering his assistance to anyone looking for information on manufacturing and app development contacts - his email is [email protected]

You know you've hit the sweet spot, when you hit a 20 multiple on your Kickstarter funding goal. Hitting it without a product video is even more incredible, but it goes to show you that supplying a popular Kickstarter niche with edible dice can bring crazy success to a pari of gamers!

Their company is called Lunar Wolf Treats, and C.W. and Daemon Wolf have created enough chocolate and gummy dice to satisfy hundreds of hungry gamers. Their product is officially called, "Swirled Chocolate & Gummy Dice," and it's been a hit for the Lunar Wolf co-founders.

C.W. joins me on the show today, and hints that they're about to unveil another special premium that has to do with wooden treasure chests - you'll have to check out the Kickstarter campaign page to see for yourself. C.W. also runs the Patreon Creator Support Group, so he's very familiar with the ins and outs of crowdfunding campaigns, and all the work that goes into keeping his customers happy at their etsy store, as well!

3D printing has produced plenty of miniature face sculptures, and product prototypes, but when is it actually going to do something to make your everyday life more comfortable?

The answer is, now! The folks at Wiivv have developed a unique system that uses a smartphone app to measure your feet, and then translate 2D images into 3D, so they can craft a pair of custom-fitted insoles specifically for your feet!

The product is called BASE, and their Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $100,000 from almost 1,500 backers, with more than 2 weeks left to go.

Listen in on my interview with Wiivv's Head of Marketing, Jen Riley, about how they integrated a smartphone app into the 3D printing process to create truly custom-fitted orthotics. She also references Vancouver PR shop TalkShop, who assisted with some of the amazing coverage Wiivv received during the campaign.

We all know that not every campaign succeeds on Kickstarter. Usually, it's due to poor planning, a bad product, or just plain lack of backers. Our product today, MotorMood, had none of those issues, in fact, was heavily backed, had almost $120,000 in pledges, and is a very cool product that looked like it would do very well. However, the campaigner canceled it!

So, why cancel a campaign that's well on it's way to doing great business, and has hundreds of backers? It made me curious, so, I had to find out. It turns out it was for very positive reasons that allowed the company behind it to move ahead with building their brand in a very strong way.

Check out my interview with the Marketing Director of MotorMood, Kina De Santis, who explains the reasons behind their decision and how their company actually benefited from canceling their successful campaign.

Never underestimate the kids! Sometimes, the biggest innovations come out of the children's market, and many times, kids are the best connected most tech savvy members of a household.

Today's product was specifically designed for children, and it solves a couple of problems - the first is safety. Every parent wants to know where their child is at all times. In this day and age, adults would never want to find themselves without a cell phone, but many younger children don't have access to (or a need for) a full-blown cell phone. The second problem is communication - beyond safety issues, kids and parents want to be able to communicate at will.

The product is called the dokiWatch, and it solves both of these issues and more, as "The World's Most Advanced Smartwatch For Kids." Video calls, text messaging, GPS tracking, fitness monitoring and an SOS button are all onboard, and it even has it's own "electronic pet!"

Listen in as Founder and CEO Casper Chien fills us in on how he first utilized Los Angeles-based KCM Agency to create his high-quality visuals and messaging, as well as garnering major press mentions in Engadget, CNet, and Product Hunt, among others, all at an outrageously efficient price. He then partnered with original design manufacturer UMEOX and geo-location operator, WhereCom? to provide the rich feature-set of the dokiWatch. And, since his company has offices in Los Angeles, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, he's employed Hong Kong based fulfillment house, FloShip, to handle shipping logistics and fulfillment.

Casper has brought together a pretty amazing amalgamation of talent and resources to get his smartwatch launched on Kickstarter, and his experience is definitely something to learn from.

There's a race to develop the best wireless earbuds. There are a couple of products on the market that have a wire connecting each earbud, but I haven't seen anything on the shelves yet that works without any wires.

Our product today not only is completely wireless, but promises to stay in your ears in a way that earbuds have yet to achieve. It's called the Phazon, and their Indiegogo campaign  has exceeded $1.2M, with more than 6,000 backers, which proves there is demand out there waiting for the right product to fill this need.

In this episode, I speak with Founder and CEO, Chris Houle, about how he built an email list of 24,000 potential backers, and sent out cold emails to press outlets and bloggers and  utilized the resources of Smart Crowdfunding to launch what could be a game-changing new product! Chris also wanted to reach out to anyone looking to launch their own campaign and provide any assistance he can offer - he's available at [email protected]

PR has been one of the biggest mysteries for crowdfunders since the Kickstarter and Indiegogo launched. The campaign trail is littered with empty promises from PR firms who typically take a monthly retainer with minimums for access to their Rolodex.

The guys at top crowdfunding promo firm Jellop (see CFN episode 026) dropped me a note about Proper Propaganda, so I knew I had to get them on the show.

Check out this episode to hear Jackson Wightman, the head propagandist at Proper Propaganda speak about things like their recent success with Revol (over $2.5M raised on Kickstarter), the best day of the week to launch your campaign, the signs of successful creators, and best of all, his unique, performance-based fee structure, where his firm is paid for hitting certain specific targets, rather than a fixed or hourly retainer. This  is truly a breakthrough in PR, and is a game-changer for anyone looking for a PR firm with integrity for their next campaign.

Sometimes, it's the simple things that bring us the most pleasure. There's something almost soothing about watching a top spin, and something even more satisfying when it's a well-crafted design piece.

Savvy entrepreneur Viktor Grabovskyy sought to create the perfect spinning top, and used the Kickstarter platform to fund his dream and build his brand. A veteran of three crowdfunding campaigns, his latest version of the ForeverSpin top is a direct result of input from previous backers and a drive to deliver the highest-quality user experience possible. He even provides a toll-free phone number (with a 24 hour turn-around), to insure the best communications with his backers.

Apparently, this attention to detail has paid off, as Viktor's 3rd campaign has exceeded it's funding goals more than 20 times over, with about 2,000 backers and a little less than a month left to go.

Listen in, as Viktor explains how grateful he is for the backers of his campaign, and how he's building a valuable brand one campaign at a time.

Stand-up desks have become the new standard in many office environments, and anyone who has one can also attest to the fact that while standing may be better than sitting, it still poses issues with, well, standing...

Enter another entrepreneur who just can't sit by and wait for others to solve the world's problems - Mark Publicover (who also invented the trampoline safety net, when his own children were bouncing off their trampoline), noticed that there was nothing really designed to help those who were standing in one place all day keep their feet, legs and core active. When he saw an inflatable paddle board one day, he realized that it provided the perfect amount of bounce and support he thought would work for his idea, and the "Wurf Board" was born.

Listen in as Mark describes his experience with one of the nation's largest retailers, who bumped him with a cheap, rip-off of his trampoline product, and how that eventually led him to continue building quality products and launching the Wurf Board on Kickstarter. He also talks about MadHatter PR (which appears to now be Launch Lab) helped him positions his crowdfunding launch for success.

These days, everyone is shooting stills or videos of almost everything. You have a smartphone in your pocket, a Go-Pro on your helmet, a DropCam in the nursery and a dash cam in your car. What if you could simplify your life a little and use one camera for all these uses?

Our product today is called the YoCam, and it's really the Swiss Army knife of cameras. It can hand;e all of the above functions and even more, and is built by the same folks that manufactured the iPhone, Xbox, Playstation and Kindle - Foxconn.

Listen in, as I speak with Ray Yang, who is one of the founders of MOFILY, who has partnered with former Foxconn engineers, to bring Foxconn on board, to bring a very versatile and rugged camera to the market.