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Photo: Quiet Hut / Flickr
Cult-favorite brands, take comfort: An economic shortfall might kill your company, but it’s got nothing on your customers.
Take it from Boosted, an electric skateboard company that ollied onto the scene in 2012 with half a million in Kickstarter funding.
Its electric skateboard — with a wireless controller and a range of 12 miles — earned it a gnarly fan community that spans blogs, Facebook pages, and a subreddit (/r/boostedboards).
But profit? Less so
In early March, Boosted cut loose a large chunk of its staff and announced it was looking for a buyer. Since then, Boosted has gone radio silent.
Enter the superfans.
The fanatics seized the means of production
As The Verge reported, Boosted… boosters?… have started to do the company’s work for it.
Can’t fix your boards? Boosted apostle Alex McInturff is offering motor repairs for $100.
Need to remember the dos and don’ts? Skate over to the “Save Boosted” Google Drive, which features a trove of owner’s manuals, how-to guides, and safety instructions — a full-scale archive of corporate knowledge.
The Boosted subreddit is looking more and more like a shadow version of the company.
Sure, if Boosted LLC does wipe out, its remaining boards can’t last forever — but crowdsourcing might buy Boosted fans years until that happens.
Plus, if all else fails, Boosted users can always keep appealing to Elon Musk to buy the company.
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