In this episode of Art of the Kickstart, we interviewed Nycol and Matthew Bevis, the siblings behind Top Shelf. Top Shelf is the first open-layout sling bag that allows you to access your gear in 1.1 seconds. Learn how these photographers secured over 3,600 backers and raised over $1 million on their first product launch.Topics Discussed and Key Crowdfunding Takeaways

How Nycol and Matt's photography experience led them to notice a gap in the market when it came to the styles of bags offered for photographersWhy it was so important for Matt and Nycol to get their product patentedWhy the pair used pre-campaign advertising to test the viability of their productThe difficulties Nycol and Matt faced when trying to find a manufacturer and how they found the perfect manufacturer for themWhat the siblings would do differently the next time they launch a product

Links

Top Shelf on KickstarterTop Shelf on IndiegogoBevis Gear WebsiteBevis Gear on Instagram

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TranscriptView this episode's transcript

Roy Morejon:Welcome to Art of the Kickstart, your source for crowdfunding campaign success. I’m your host, Roy Morejon, president of Enventys Partners, the top full service, turnkey product development and crowdfunding marketing agency in the world. We have helped startups raise over a hundred million dollars for our clients since 2010.

Roy Morejon:Each week I’ll interview a crowdfunding success story, an inspirational entrepreneur, or a business expert in order to help you take your startup to the next level with crowdfunding.

Roy Morejon:Art of the Kickstart is honored to be sponsored by Gadget Flow. The Gadget Flow is a product discovery platform that helps you discover, save, and buy awesome products. It is the ultimate buyer’s guide for luxury gadgets and creative gifts. Now let’s get on with the show.

Roy Morejon:Welcome to another edition of Art of the kickstart. Today we are joined by brother and sister, Nycol and Matthew Bevis. Bevis. God, I messed it up right there too. That is my bad because I didn’t practice that well enough.

Matthew Bevis:It can happen.

Roy Morejon:So Nycol and Matthew, you guys are the founders of your very first product launch on Kickstarter. You guys launched The Top Shelf, which is an amazing, super fast all-access camera bag. I’m super stoked to have you guys on the show. Nycol, Matthew, welcome to the show.

Matthew Bevis:Thanks.

Nycol Bevis:Thank you so much. Thanks to be here.

Roy Morejon:Yeah. So you guys are photographers. You’re brother and sister, right? So I’m really excited. One, to see how you guys actually started a company together because that, I don’t know if I could ever do that with family or let alone my sisters, but really what was that inspiration, that a-ha moment that inspired you both to create The Top Shelf product, the camera bag.

Nycol Bevis:Okay, well, I’ll let Matt start with his inspiration. Then we can go into how we came together on this. But, Matt.

Matthew Bevis:Yeah, I was a photographer doing like events and especially weddings for like three or four years. My passion was landscape photography and everything. And when I was doing weddings, I was so annoyed just with the current camera bags that it was just always on my mind. I was like, “These things need to change.” There’s really only three or four styles of different camera bags.