We are getting very busy around here. Although we are still waiting to receive funds from KickStarter (it takes 14-20 days) it is not slowing us down a bit. The out-sourced parts are ordered and we are tooling up the machines here so we can deliver the rewards as soon as possible. We will continue to post updates as milestones are met. Here is a glimpse of some pen tips already made.
KickStarter
The Daily Courier Features a Story About Bona Fide Pens
Local entrepreneur designs high-quality ballpoints
By Lisa Whiting of the Daily Courier, June 15, 2017
Now he’s a believer, saying it does three things: gives you exposure, raises start-up funds, and provides you with a market instantly.
The folks who backed the pen don’t have ownership in the product, but by supporting the pen were saying “I like your product, I want to get one and help you get it to market,” said Noveske.
The backers were from the United States and beyond, including Australia, Italy, France and Singapore.
The Noveskes are website developers, and credited friends with getting the word out on Facebook about the pen project.
Noveske doesn’t hold a patent on his pen, saying you could spend money and make lawyers rich but it’s better to create an original idea and get it to the market quickly.
“While everyone is copying it, you’re coming up with the next idea, making you the leader and them the followers,” he said.
Bona Fide’s website launched Tuesday, and the pen is priced at $80. Noveske said the pen is completely serviceable, and all parts can be replaced.
Noveske said there’s a possible limited-production co-branding in the works, but couldn’t reveal the details. The Noveskes say there are other products they want to pursue based on the same concept.
Noveske met his wife at a map-making business he owned in California, and after moving to Oregon over 20 years ago, the two have owned an antique mall and a clock and watch repair business. He also served as president of the Towne Center Association.
“It’s something fun we’re both interested in, and were able to take the idea to funding in four months,” said Kristin Noveske of the whole process.
Thank You! The Bona Fide Pen is Now a Reality!
Here is a quick update. The campaign ended on Friday at 5:00pm with $12,886 raised, over 250% of our goal. We are pleased beyond our expectations.
We are finishing up the surveys and will send them out to all of our backers by Tuesday the 13th. The survey will give you a way to give us your contact information, shipping address and pen (reward) preferences if your level of support had color or style options.
We will be posting more updates here to keep you fully informed of our progress toward delivering the pens.
Thanks again for your support,
John & Kristin Noveske
Project Goal Reached – Thank You to All Our Backers!
Tuesday evening at 9pm, one week after we launched the Bona Fine Pen project, we reached our funding goal. We want to thank all of our backers for their trust and support. All of us are busy getting production scheduled and packaging finalized.
We just finished shooting new photographs and video that show the pens with the upgraded click mechanism mentioned in our last update. This Kickstarter page will have those new images soon. Don’t forget to share this project with your Facebook friends. Thanks again.
Free Upgrade – Stainless Steel Retracting Mechanism for All Backers
All pens delivered from this project are being upgraded with the American made, 100% stainless steel retracting mechanism made by Tuff Writer MFG.
Through four months of development I continually tested this design to make sure I had all of the quality issues worked out. In the last few days however I started to have doubts about the German made Schmidt retracting mechanism. Because of my ‘no compromise’ policy, I felt I could not deliver a pen that might have a reliability problem. I consulted with Jack Roman (a great guy by the way) of Tuff Writer MFG who has agreed to supply us with his greatly improved retracting mechanism. Dimensionally it is a drop-in replacement for the Schmidt mechanism but has overcome the reliability problem by making it with an improved raceway and 416 stainless steel.
All pens will be upgraded to this higher quality and more expensive mechanism at no additional cost to the backers.
We are working to update the images and video to reflect this upgrade and will post another update when they are up.
Thanks for your support!