SACRAMENTO-
Gavin Fish’s ukulele playing sounds better in person than it does through a pair of headphones for speakers – even nice ones.
But Fish is part of a company that’s trying to change all that.
“This little guy is called the Geek Out,” Fish said, showing off one of the products Fish’s company Light Harmonic makes.
Through a computer or phone or CD player, music is digital – just ones and zeros. To get through your speaker to your ears, it has to be translated and Light Harmonic makes arguably the best device to do that in the world. It’s a home stereo component, and it’s more expensive than you would probably imagine.
“The Da Vinci DAC costs more than 30 thousand dollars,” he said.
If you’re shocked people would pay that, the guys at Light Harmonic were a little shocked too. That is until they turned to crowdfunding to help build it.
Crowdfunding is one of the hottest things in finance. Entrepreneurs turn to the Web and collect seed money from anyone who wants to give it.
Light Harmonic, from its a little shop in Sacramento, is lighting it up. They reached one funding goal in less than 10 hours. They raised more than a million dollars this way. And now that they’re making a smaller – and yes, cheaper, version of their technology, they say it’s not just the money from crowd funding that helps.
Fish says contributors also contributed ideas. And what better way to make a product that customers want, then to get their input while you’re building?