Locals Turned Rejection Into a New Company to Help Others

Last week we told you about the six-month long AOL incubator First Floor Labs (FFL), now meet Swish.com, a member of their current graduating class. 

The company launched two months ago. It lets any creator submit a product for a 30-day pre-order campaign, so that sellers don’t feel like they’re throwing money away on a pipe dream. Those visiting the site vote for orders, signaling that a product is great, moving it up the list of orders. Users won’t be charged until their items are ready for shipping.

This has been quite the week for company founders Brad Stronger and Lolanthe Chronis, who met at MIT. On Tuesday, they had their demo day for Y Combinator – another incubator they are part of – in order to attract investment.

They also worked to keep the website up after an influx of people jumped onto the site after receiving massive press coverage since Microsoft offered developers free copies of Windows 8 Pro and Parallels Desktop through Swish.

After getting rejected from Kickstarter for their key chain pill holder invention by form letter, and without explanation, the two decided to start their own site. They began recruiting sellers from trade shows and their Bay Area and MIT networks.

“Kickstarter is not optimized for pre-orders,” Chronis said, who studied electrical engineering at MIT and used to work for Kayak.com. “We do the listings and the fulfillment. Kickstarter didn’t want to be the place for hardware products.”

How do the two feel about FFL and their imminent departure? 

“Incubators really light a fire under you,” Stronger said, who was a mechanical engineering major at MIT. “There are pros and cons to leaving [FFL], it’s like graduating from college, you can’t hang out with your friends anymore.”

“It was a little loud, so it will be nice to have an isolated room to work in, but at the same time you can’t listen in on conversations of the companies.”

They pride themselves on selling items that aren’t already on the market on Amazon or elsewhere. Current top pre-orders on the site include:

-       24,000 pre-orders: Thalmic Myo — an armband that lets you use the electrical activity in your muscles to wirelessly control your computer, phone and other digital technologies

-       6,934: Thermodo — the tiny thermometer

-       6,214: The 10-Year Hoodie — a premium sweatshirt designed for a lifetime

Next week, the company will leave Palo Alto for a new office space in Mountain View. They plan on hiring after their fundraising concludes.

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