I've thought about Kickstarting a bit. I guess my hesitation is that I'm terrified of pulling the trigger to get something injection molded. I don't trust my 3D modeling abilities enough to know that when I get something injection molded it will work. And injection molding is a lot money, so if I mess it up, I might not have enough money for a redo. That scares me, a lot. I'm not sure, I guess I'm scared of actually making something people would use - I want it to be perfect, and I know it isn't yet.

Have you considered asking for help?

I'm willing to bet that there might be other hardware startups in your area, on HN or in your university that would be willing to give you a hand.

I actually went to the local university - they said that you can't use university resources for personal gain (I was trying to print a case on their 3D printer). I'm sure there would be some people in the engineering department willing to give me some pointers, there's also a local prototyping company (I've emailed them a few times). Nothing too serious though - I guess I don't really have much of a plan yet, and didn't want to rush into getting roped into sticky situations.

Thanks for asking the questions - I just reached out to a friend who said he'd help me before, maybe this thing will start rolling :).

Where are you based?

Minnesota, USA.

Let me know if you want to try our Makerbot - we are in downtown Minneapolis.

That sounds nice actually. It might not be for a little bit yet (got some more design to do first), but send me an email (in my profile) to touch base.

Maybe render it so you can do a nice photo. Wouldn't be anything wrong if you put up a video of the prototype and you telling your story...