Kickstarter to Mass Production: They Sold Out After a Tariff Hike

When tariffs keep rising, is China still the best place to manufacture? The startup we’re talking about today has a surprisingly refreshing answer. Meet Nanu, a two-person team that turned Kickstarter launch into more than 10,000 units sold. Even after raising the price by $60, they still kept customer trust and ran into sell-outs.

Let’s start with the basics:

Product: Counter & Alarm clock
Price: $99–$299
Founders: Hanna & Drew
Sales Channels: Kickstarter (initial), Website, Etsy, Online retailers
Sales Growth: 300 → 10,000+ within 2 years

Selling Ritual, Not Just a Clock

Nanu’s first product was a brass mechanical counter. Every press gave a satisfying click, turning abstract goals like sobriety, unseen baby kicks, knitting, or a daily reading habit into a tangible ritual. That first launch proved one thing: there’s a niche of people willing to pay premium prices for strong aesthetics, tactility, and ritual over screens and apps.

So what came next? Their second product was Arc, a modern looking alarm clock built to combat screen addiction. Most alarms today live inside your phone or try to be “smart”—sunrise simulators, vibrating wristbands, AI sleep coaches. Hanna & Drew went in the opposite direction. To fight screen anxiety and notification fatigue, they built a clock that leaves your phone outside the bedroom by chimes through a real aluminum sound bar.

Of course, Nanu wasn’t the first to notice the “phone-free wake-up” trend. OneClock launched in 2021 with the same no-phone philosophy. But OneClock plays randomized, science-backed melodies through a speaker. OneClock’s wooden frame and cozy aesthetic lean warm; Arc’s sleek metal build and percussive chime lean pure. They both use sound to stand out from the market, but each with its own edge and that’s nearly impossible for others to replicate.

Why Would People Pay $299 for an Alarm Clock?

Arc originally launched at $239, later climbing to $299 as tariffs, material costs, and production complexity kicked in. Yet despite the higher price, Nanu experienced multiple sell-outs. That’s rare in consumer electronics, especially for a niche product without mainstream distribution. So what did they do right? The answers fall into a few clear buckets.

Clear audience fit, built from experience

This wasn’t a shot in the dark. Founders Hanna & Drew knew exactly who they were designing for because they were that user. And because of their past experience designing high-ticket consumer goods at Fellow (a premium coffee appliance brand). They understood the psychology of premium buyers. These people care about the feel of metal, the ritual of sound, and the ability to leave their phones outside the bedroom. Arc’s aluminum body, physical chime, and 10-year warranty was for that niche from day one.

Building trust in public

From the very beginning, Nanu chose to build it in public. They shared every factory visit, testing round, and even shipping delay, they made the process visible. It makes people feel like their $299 is going toward something real.

When you’re a small brand without big ad budgets, every dollar counts—and Nanu spent most of theirs on making the product better, not pushing flashy campaigns. Their blog posts, updates, and emails answered the big question most premium buyers silently ask: Why does this cost so much? Customers could literally see where the money went—better materials, refined mechanics, thoughtful design. For high-ticket products, transparency became marketing. Honesty became conversion.

A phased strategy for high-ticket products

Before Arc launched, Nanu was already starting build its community. Their teardown videos of antique clocks pulled in design lovers and analog enthusiasts, many of whom became their first email subscribers. This smart content strategy reflects exactly what it takes to convert high-ticket customers in phases.

1. Awareness: Attract the Right People

At the top of the funnel, Nanu didn’t push a product—they created curiosity. Content like antique clock teardowns and design inspiration appealed to a vertical niche that naturally overlapped with their future customers: people who appreciate craftsmanship, ritual, and analog beauty.

2. Nurture: Earn Trust and Credibility
Once the audience was in, Nanu focused on building trust. They shared behind-the-scenes updates—factory visits, quality testing, even production delays. No filters, no gloss, just real-time transparency. This kind of honest storytelling built familiarity, authority, and a strong emotional connection. It showed potential buyers that this wasn’t just another dropship brand—it was a team obsessed with making something meaningful.

3. Convert: Turn Interest into Revenue
By the time Arc was ready to launch, momentum was already there. Nanu teased pre-orders, published early customer reviews, showed real QA testing footage, and bundled products to add value. All this—without running a single paid ad.

Selling Fewer Places, but Smarter

Nanu’s journey began on Kickstarter, which served both as a proof of demand and a source of early-stage funding. After launch, their own website became the primary sales channel, giving them full control over branding, margins, and customer experience.

Beyond their own site, Nanu also sells through curated, high-end retail channels. Some lean toward design-forward “buyer’s shops” like Windup, Gladfellow, and Gessato; others are content-driven retailers and gift platforms like Huckberry and Bespoke Post—or even museum stores like SFMOMA. This curated approach expands reach and adds prestige without compromising brand identity or pricing control.

What’s especially telling: Nanu doesn’t appear to rely on large-scale ad campaigns. As far as we could find, there was no visible social-media ad spend (Facebook/Instagram) before 2025, and only limited Google Ads thereafter. Instead, they focused on building brand presence and playing the long game for margins.

Enough Money to Start, Not Enough to Finish

Nanu’s first product is a brass mechanical counter—went from launch to delivery in under a year. The real test came with their second product, the Arc alarm clock. On Kickstarter, they raised about $164K, but nearly all of it went straight into molds, stamping, and fixtures. The actual R&D, prototyping, and day-to-day operations still needed more money.

So they pieced together the rest like a puzzle: a bit of their own cash, some angel backing, an SBA loan, and even inventory financing from the bank. Cash flow was tight, and engineering a mechanical chime system instead of just dropping in a digital speaker—only made it tougher. That one decision stretched the timeline, raised costs, and sharpened the cash crunch.

Supply Chain: Why China, Why This Factory

Let’s break down how Arc went from idea to reality. The initial concept and design were done by Hanna & Drew themselves. Then, to stress-test the idea, they brought in a U.S.-based engineer to evaluate technical feasibility and reduce risks early on. With a functional prototype in hand, it was time to scale.

When it came to production, China was the obvious choice. The complexity of Arc wasn’t just about one part. It was about coordinating everything: raw materials, custom components, machining, finishing, final assembly and doing it within a tight cost and time window. In China, a single supplier could manage the full supply chain.

To pick a manufacturing partner, the “ideal” choice would’ve been to approach a factory that already specialized in clocks. But as a small startup, Drew knew exactly what that would mean: they’d be the smallest fish in the pond—unlikely to get serious attention or resource investment. Instead, through a trusted friend’s referral, they found a factory that wasn’t a clock specialist, but produced high-quality goods and, more importantly, was willing to collaborate. They were open to prototyping, patient with iterations, and ready to build something new from scratch.

The Hardest Hits on the Way to Market

It took twice as long and nearly failed

The first product went from founding to launch in about a year. With the alarm clock, they expected the same. But this time, they insisted on using a true mechanical chime system, which made execution far more difficult. On top of that, the factory they partnered with had little direct experience in clocks, so mass production required extra coordination and refinement.

During the first small-batch run, problems showed up. The product wasn’t ready. So Drew went directly on-site to the factory. Over the next three months, he worked in cycles—meeting face-to-face every few weeks, tweaking, testing, and grinding through iteration after iteration to push the final version over the line. In the end, it took nearly two full years to get Arc from prototype to stable production. Luckily, they pulled it off.

900% tariff increase nearly killed the business

Just as production finally stabilized, another unexpected blow hit: a massive tariff spike on imports, raising the cost of both components and finished products. And there wasn’t a clear way around it. The logic for manufacturing in China still held: a consolidated supply chain, faster lead times, and full control from raw materials to final assembly. Even with the added cost, China remained the best overall option.

So Nanu did what few brands have the courage to do: They explained it to their customers—the real impact of tariffs, and why they had no choice but to raise the price of Arc from $239 to $299. The result? Their core customers didn’t leave. In fact, many stood by the brand. They kept buying—Arc went on to sell out multiple times after the price hike. In hindsight, all that early product polishing paid off. Because once trust is built, customers don’t just stay, they defend you.

Subscribe to us to see more case studies like this one, plus China sourcing stories, startup stories, product ideas, insights, and practical tips.

Wholesale and Cutsomize

Have great product ideas but not sure where to start? Or maybe you’re looking to buy products in stock, add your logo, customize packaging, or place a small order for quick testing?

Share your ideas. Get affordable, and effective sourcing solutions!