North Barrington Company Finds Kickstarter Success

A North Barrington company started a Kickstarter campaign last week and has doubled its goal for pledges to develop a new project, a fine point electronic iPad stylus.

LYNKtec met its goal of $24,000 in under 48 hours to develop the TruGlide Apex, said Mandy Skinner, a company spokesman. The latest total is over $80,000 and the company’s campaign continues through the end of the month.

“We felt we had a hit with the Apex so we are thrilled. We know what a really ground breaking product it is.,” said Joan Ghiglieri, a co-founder of LYNKtec with Bob Martin.

The company develops accessories for mobile technologies. Some of its products are TruGlide Microfiber Stylus, the Clean-a-roo Joey which is a microfiber cloth and tablet stands. The company started up in 2011.

It released its first product, the TruGlide Microfiber Stylus, last April and have received awards and recognition from Mac|Life, PC Mag and Cult of Mac.

The latest product, TruGlide Apex, “uses active circuitry that creates an electronic interruption of the field coupling between the drive electrode and the receive electrodes of the mutual-capacitance touch screen panel and controller IC,” according to its Kickstarter page. “This interruption to the flow of electrons simulates a finger, allowing the device to register a ‘touch’”.

LYNKtec had invested time and money in developing the Apex but was running low on additional funding, Martin said. So Kickstarter was a good way to test the product, he added.

Kickstarter is a great tool for creators of new products, Martin said. Rather than go the traditional avenue of recruiting venter capitalists, small companies can get backing by a crowd-based sourcing model, he said. A Kickstarter campaign becomes an endorsement of the product, showing it is wanted by the masses, he said.

“It’s an interesting way to bring new technology to the market,” Martin said. It is LYNKtec’s first Kickstarter campaign.

Martin was surprised at how many people are out there who want to be on the ground floor of new technology.

It is a hot market, said Ghiglieri, who worked for large companies in Silicon Valley before starting LYNKtec.

“It’s a really great place to be in,” she said. “The kinds of products we offer are pretty reasonably priced and they provide such great user (experience). There is a big demand for them.”

“I have my stylus attached to my iPhone and I’m using it all the time,” Ghiglieri said. “They become highly addictive.”

LYNKtec is planning to move into mass production in early November. The working prototype is made from plastic 3D modeling so the first step will be to create a production mold, according to its Kickstarter page.

The goal is to have the product ready by early December. The Apex will be added to the company’s line in January and sold on its eCommerce store, Amazon.com and other retailers.

LYNKtec is hoping to expedite the process and have the Apex ready for Christmas. It would be a great product to sell this Christmas, Martin said.

Distributors are already calling from around the world, including Australia and the U.K., interested in the Apex, Ghiglieri said.