08/25/2023
I just looked at our page. It says there are over 500 of you who are following our progress. So, it’s time to tell you what we are doing and where we are going. Because this fall we are going to be selling the heck out of these lights and possibly one or two other incredible safety products. And, you deserve to know what’s on the burner.
This company began in 2016. I had an accident that took me to the emergency room in a hospital in Austin. I had hit my friend in front of me because he made a panic stop when a small child walked in front of him. We were going about 10-15 mph, not fast, yet when he stopped, without warning, it was impossible for me to stop. By the time I noticed he had stopped, I was almost on top of him. Crashed, fell to the ground, and broke my wrist.
That started this journey and now its going on 7 years, but finally we are really moving ahead and fast. Over the last two years we sold about 2000 lights. That sounds like a lot but it really is a drop in the bucket. When we got the first lights, we were ready to start selling everywhere….Facebook, Instagram, retail, Amazon and from our website. I had a great team ready to go who were ecommerce wizards. But then, COVID had hit and suddenly it was impossible to get more chips…and the factory told us it would be almost 2 years before we would get more lights.
So, any of you who bought the light, were part of the rare few who were able to buy them before they were gone. Those lights are collectors’ items. I’ll sign them if you’d like.
I had to intentionally stop. Or seriously slow down sales because at the rate they were selling just a few months after they came out, we would have been out of inventory by Spring of 2022. Instead, I hit the brakes and I only allowed us to sell about 60 lights a month. We pulled our effort off Facebook, Google, Instagram and only sold on Amazon. If you found our website you could buy it there, but that accounted for many 20 sales.
It was somewhat scary just dropping them on Amazon, you never know what people would say and if they don’t like it, you’re doomed – right from the outset.
Well, I guess our 3 years on engineering was worth it, as 95% of buyers liked it. We now have a 4.4% rating and would be higher if not about five 1-star ratings that were complete BS. Competitors, who knows.
A few years ago, right before COVID we were selected by the producer of the PBS TV show Everyday Edison’s, to be on their show. They looked at 9000 applications and selected 24 and we were one. We were in the studio for a week filming, and it was exciting. In my segment with 2 other contestants, they said we were “overqualified”. Our product was complete, running flawlessly and other contestants had only rough prototypes. I left feeling pretty good and waited for our TV date. But, then COVID hit in March 2021 and everything stopped. No show. One episode only. And still, they have no idea when the other 8 episodes will run. Perhaps it’s just as well since we didn’t have the inventory anyway.
So, fast forward, 18 months. We have 10 lights left, maybe 16. We are receiving 3,000 more in 10 weeks. They are being manufactured in Taiwan. The first batch were from China but I could not support manufacturing them there again. The government is abhorrent, slaughters minorities, restricts rights of citizens and now is the US single biggest economic and military competitor. How can you support them? We found a terrific manufacturer in Taiwan – they manufacture all Trek/Bontrager lights so their quality standards are beyond compare.
Ok. I don’t want to go on forever, but it’s been a few years since I have put any info on the site. We will be selling lights starting early November. We have two new bike safety products coming out, one before Xmas and one new light with some amazing features will come out in April. We will file for a patent and believe it will be possible.
You can find us on Amazon, our website, www.tailgatortechnologies.com and you will probably find yourself targeted by Instagram as prime candidates. I apologize if you get too many ads, but, surprise, you are our market!! But keep watching our website because by November there will be some new products.
All is good, no, all is great. A few key retail outlets are selling the light. E-bike stores sell it. Amazon sells it though we face competition from cheap Chinese copies that sell for 20-35.00 and do not provide any degree of safety. We are trying to bring down our price but there are no guarantees. It cost money to make these. To be the best, we must pay the price.
Frankly, this whole exercise has cost me about 5 times what I thought it would. But, I feel gratified that I have delivered and ready made a difference in bike safety. We are trying to spread the word and with your help it is getting out there.
Here’s something you could spread the word about. We want to continue to add new products, safer products that I think many of you would like. To do this, it is now beyond my resources and so I am talking to everyone under the sun about investing in Tailgator. I am not asking any of you to invest, I just wanted to let you know what is going on and how important it is. I have about two months to raise money so we can market Tailgator this Xmas. If you know anyone who would like to be part of the Tailgator story, let me know please. Please message me here or email me at [email protected]. This money will enable us to offer more cool products and grow. Anyone who is interested I can talk more about the potential investment return. It’s good.
But, so much for money. I want to thank all of you for your faith and interest in Tailgator. It is so gratifying to see all the people who do follow us and appreciate the work we have done. we’ll keep working to turn out the best products we can that will make your biking safer. And keep in touch. I love getting photos, videos and we may use some of them on our website or even in our ads. Would that be a kick if one day you get an ad from Instagram and there you are, spreading the world to all 4 billion FB users. Wouldn’t that be great.
Thanks Fred
Ride Safely and keep in touch
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