From the business point of view, you can't pursue your dreams if you can't eat. Or live in a van by the river. I love my ZX. You couldn't pay me enough to make me give it away. But my friend, for any business to continue to exist it must grow to the point the business supports itself and the owners. Otherwise it's just a hobby. Which is ok too, it's just a different vibe.
I'm metaphorically in a van by the river. I'm only missing the van
(I'd be stoked with an old dirt bike at this point)
I love what I do, but I just know there's so much potential.
I am extremely interested in these two vaporizer concepts, but more for the pocket vaporizer and that is what will work best in terms of sales in my humble opinion.
It must be admitted that many people now want to create a wireless setup. New users, like old ones.
I also think that there is a deep misunderstanding among people about pure materials like glass and in particular zircon.
It's sad but I spoke with a lot of people through the networks who proved it to me.
Also often what comes out is that they are afraid that the zircon head or bowl will break and they are convinced that titanium is a better option for this reason.
But ultimately it is a very competitive sector, particularly for ball vapes. I love my ZX so much that I plan to buy a backup of the ZX and Zbol next month as soon as I get my paycheck.
As long as the presale is still open
I believe that it's a common concern as I still get emails from people who are skeptical because they already have a broken zeal or read about it somewhere. Those reports tarnished the reputation of the material for sure. I have to wonder if they were truly even zirconia.
Ceramics manufacturing definitely takes more due diligence work than sourcing metal parts.
There's not a ton of shops in the entire world that even have the capabilities of producing these, it's highly specialized.
I agree the pocket friendly IH ready vape seems like my best dry herb option as far as mass appeal.
My thing is I love these obscure puritan heavy hitting desktops and always want to keep improving them.
I've been a desktop guy since I started, so I still resonate highly with these vapor cannons
The downside of specialization is it cuts into the margins, add on top that you self-fund R&D that others can then realize downstream value with cuts the margins again, from a price-point perspective. Diversifying the product line, including materials and forms that lend themselves to a better margin return makes heaps of sense. I know that can feel cheap to someone who prides themselves on the craft, but if it can help offset R&D investment, it can maybe even help you push further on your higher priced/lower-margin items.
I like this response a lot, salute friend.
I want to uphold my puritan enthusiast angle, but I have to accept that there's way more interest in budget vapes than 100% medical grade ceramics, at least right now. I know I can provide compelling solutions with these other materials, maybe it's worth trying.
I've built at least four functioning budget metal vape concepts since I started this project, but I've never released any of them to market.
From memories the SX drop was quickly sold out.
I'm not ashamed to say it but I was happy to pay that price.
I would have kept it and not given it to a friend, if it had come with a bowl of the same type as the Zbol but in SS hahaha.
This type of more affordable option seems obvious to me to move your business forward as mentioned in the message before mine.
I'm not talking about doing an SX, but you have a lot of options at your disposal given your talent, and the fact that you ultimately have the best ideas in the game.
There was only 20 SX's made in my backyard in California.
Only 20 Z8's.
Only 50 ZXL's.
Only 50 ZXXLs.
I have to reiterate just how low volume these products truly are.
Most people have not even received their Tempest and they've already sold thousands.
I think that's amazing, but it also speaks volumes that I might be on the wrong path.
I tried to bring the SX back and launched a second preorder for them but it didn't really go anywhere.
At that point the SKO was already available for $40 so there was no market left. Funny thing is I don't think they even sell those anymore.
The original ZXBowl was first prototyped in stainless steel, but it got very hot. I guess there is a lot more interest in conduction and heated bowls and stuff now. I should post the video of when I was experimenting with heated bowls, you guys would get a kick out of that. But the point of this particular vape/thread was always to provide 100% pure convection evaporation, so I never pursued any of these products beyond testing and prototypes. I always figured they are easier ways to get conduction than plugging into a wall. But I started with a pure convection desktop (Vapor Brothers) so I've been on the convection train for a long time at this point. I'm open to making conduction stuff though, I want to grow the brand because my favorite thing is the awesome testimonials I get from people enjoying my stuff, I want to be able to get more of that rush. It's a great feeling.
This. It sort of seems to my business illiterate self that you’re at a weird point. The Z-series seems to me to be your hook into the market. I’m less and less interested in other ball vapes besides my ZX. I own 5, inclusive. I think if you could get this thing out to a wider audience, you’d be set. It seems like you’re on the precipice of catching on. But I think you’re also dealing with the huge bias in cannabis in general towards the THC arms race (at the expense of the entourage effect)I and “I am SO fucked up” as a mission statement. I wish I knew how you could get past that, but everybody seems to be too busy getting wirelessly slapped in their melted face. The market for dry herb vaping would need to expand I think.
I'm at a weird point because my products are stuck in this middle class - too high end to do a volume based sales model, but not anywhere near high end enough to compensate for the low order volume with price. This is the main reason I talk about dropping these.
I can't help but feel that's the market saying "you don't belong here"
It reminds me of how my mother and grandmother loved to go to garage sales.
But anytime they hosted one, they never felt like it was worth it.
But I hate to get rid of them as I feel like they are close to catching on, but I know people who have felt similar feelings in other businesses for 20+ years so I don't want to be unrealistic either. The original idea with the medical grade zirconia was to try and get some crossover from the concentrate enthusiast side as they would never take a metal vape seriously. But a lot of them don't take dry herb vaping seriously either, so it hasn't been an easy conversion lol. I
Thanks!
