Dear all,
Slightly more of a personal update this time around. I’ve reached out to one or two of you already and, as I was writing those emails, I figured that maybe I should just be as candid with all of you.
I understand how frustrating it is when something you have purchased is delayed. I know it sucks to have paid for something and feel like you might never receive it. This obviously isn’t something I wanted; the delays, the setbacks... they are frustrating to me too.
Every time we post an update or email our mailing list, we receive negative comments and - sometimes - full on hate mail.
The messages I receive range from being called a ‘crook’ and other various expressions of anger, all the way through to the occasional extreme individual such as the one who contacted me via my personal email address and assured me he would “find out where I live and hunt me down”.
And sometimes, when I read these things, it can feel like being kicked in the face. It kills me to read things like "this is obviously never going to happen".
It’s been 7 years since Pillow Talk was an idea that went viral on the internet. It was my university project and I started trying to make it a real product because so many people contacted me and asked if they could buy one. I grossly underestimated how difficult it would be. It was 2010; technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is now and I was an inexperienced graduate fresh out of university. Platforms like Kickstarter didn’t really exist - and they didn’t exist because consumer electronics were built by the Apples and Microsofts of the world; not by us little guys. From day one, turning Pillow Talk from an idea into a real product has been an uphill battle. I will write about it all in depth some day, but I am sure I have had more than my fair share of setbacks!
There is a public-facing front that Little Riot puts out to the world but the reality is that - for a lot of this journey anyway - I have been one person trying to come good on a promise that I made to thousands of people. There have been a lot of setbacks along the way, which I guess I could be more transparent about sometimes, but I’ve been working on Pillow Talk for 7 years now. It’s all I do, day-in, day-out. I’ve never earned a salary, I’ve never taken any money out of the business; I keep a roof over my head by speaking at conferences and doing freelance work for other companies. My entire “career” to date has been Pillow Talk, and the fact I have taken money from people and not yet shipped them a product keeps me awake at night.
I can understand your side of this experience, so I wanted to try and give you a glimpse into mine. There have been hundreds of times when it would have made more sense to give up, but it’s important to me that I don’t let down either my moral integrity, or all of you.
My biggest failing throughout this process has been not giving you all regular enough updates, and for that I apologise. When things are hard, it's easier to say nothing than to tell the truth and I should have been better than that.
Please know how grateful I am to each and every one of you who has pre-ordered a product, some of you over a year ago now. And please know it’s not something I take lightly; I carry the weight of it around with me every day.
Fortunately, for every disappointed message there is someone who has sent a lovely one, so thank you to all of you who show so much kindness and compassion towards me. Your messages keep me going when things get tough.
Pillow Talk is something I have poured myself into for years. Please do not worry about never receiving your Pillow Talk; I will never give up on this and I will not rest until it is done. And whilst it has taken far, far longer than I ever could have anticipated, I am proud of it. I am proud of the way it makes people feel when they use it. I am proud of the difference it makes. And I hope you will all love it as much as I do when you receive yours.
Best wishes,
Joanna
