"Hey, I have this great idea..."

this was written by Awkward Engineer's Chief of Marketing, Chris Sim

"Hey, I have this great idea..."

Many adventures in a boy's life start with this phrase and it's usually followed by a high risk activity. As a kid, it meant jumping bikes off a sketchy ramp. You get a bit older, and it's sneaking out past curfew. When you get old enough, it means starting a company.

We've known each other for years, but I hadn't spoken with Sam since I moved from Massachusetts. When Sam initially called me to gauge my interest in Awkward Engineer, I was actually kind of surprised. But the same "hey I have a great idea" feeling came back and hearing his enthusiasm made working on Awkward Engineer an easy sell.

To be honest, I had no idea at the amount of work that Sam had already put into the Panic Button Light Switch Kit or even the development of the Cookie Dunking Cup. I am continually impressed with the level of commitment and the passion behind Awkward Engineer and most of all, the follow through has been amazing.

I've been learning a lot about the product development and Kickstarter process, like everyone else over the last few months. What I really love being a part of, is that it's really about as grassroots as you can get. Take our blog post about starting a company with $500, it's amazing to me that technology has allowed the “two guys and in a garage” business model and further reduced it into “two guys and an internet connection”. The internet age has allowed us to collaborate and share our ideas and also to distribute them to the people who are most interested.

The internet, in the form of social media and blogging, provides a way for us to spread our story and share our experiences and ideas with all of you. It also provides a new opportunity in crowd sourcing. To me crowd sourcing or crowd funding is just the adult version of telling a friend “Hey, I've got this great idea...”

Are you in?