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Devecka and Berkowitz went their separate ways until 2013, when they reunited to work on a new music product: Singtrix. They recruited the Huangs, as well as Al Roque, who had helped them develop what became MTV Drumscape. In 2014, they signed a deal with Voxx Electronics, a distribution firm in Hauppauge, New York, to manage the manufacturing logistics.
After the Shark Tank appearance, Singtrix was on a trajectory of growth and profitability, selling tens of thousands of units between 2014 and 2017, the co-founders say, declining to disclose annual revenue. The facility was put on lockdown for two months while the fire was investigated, according to Devecka.
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The factory owner couldn't go in, he says, so the Singtrix team had no idea how badly the fire had damaged their molds and tooling. Worse still, he adds, the company was in the middle of ramping up production ahead of the holiday season. With the factory closed and no idea if their proprietary parts had been spared, Devecka says the team decided to cancel all orders and put the brakes on marketing.
Singtrix planned to sell at least 37,000 units in 2017, but it shipped only 20,000, according to the company. 'To miss an entire holiday season-almost all of our sales happen around the holidays-it was devastating,' says Berkowitz. He says they chose to gloss over the details with Amazon and other retailers, and simply said the Singtrix had 'sold out' for the season. Meanwhile, he and Devecka were still trying to assess the extent of the damage-but the factory owner was unresponsive. 'No answers, no answers, no answers, no answers,' adds Berkowitz. 'That's pretty much what was happening.' The factory owner did not respond to multiple requests from Inc. Once again, Berkowitz says, he had to go back to retailers to apologize and explain they would miss another holiday shipment.
'We spent most of our time fielding emails from people who wanted to buy and asking us what's going on,' he says. 'You don't have any real answers for people.' New York-based B&H Photo, which carried the product, was one such retailer that was told Singtrix was sold out again.
B&H's 2017 holiday orders went unfulfilled and it hasn't received any new Singtrix units since, the company told Inc. As Devecka and Berkowitz desperately searched for a new manufacturing partner, they noticed savvy re-sellers listing used Singtrix machines on eBay and Amazon for as much as four times the retail price. Berkowitz and Devecka say they took comfort in seeing continued demand for the Singtrix, but they were also furious.
They had created a popular product consumers were willing to pay top dollar for, but they were not reaping the rewards. On the contrary, they say, the company was struggling to stay afloat. Last fall, Berkowitz and Devecka realized they needed funding to rebuild their company.
They decided to turn to Singtrix's fans for a lifeline. Their Indiegogo campaign, launched on March 20, has already raised nearly $200,000 from crowdfunders who want to get their hands on a new version of Singtrix's karaoke machine for less than $300. The campaign doesn't reveal the ordeal the co-founders have been through-a company timeline says the device simply sold out in 2017 and again in early 2018. Singtrix also tells crowdfunders that it has secured a new 'high capacity' manufacturing partner in China.
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