A game-changing, fully customizable plier-based modular multi-tool with interchangeable components.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
February Update
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 06:42:23 PM
Good day makers, creators, and DIYers!
First thing is first: We are on schedule to fulfil all of the original pre-orders by June. I think I accidentally got a lot of people excited when we started shipping in the end of December. We stated in all the previous updates that was a small run to verify consistent quality using the same tooling and procedures for the multi-thousand unit run currently being produced as I type. I know there was some confusion on why very early backers have not received theirs and later backers have. The test run was primarily Satin finish, locking multi-tools, with a small set of Black Oxide, and most of the add-ons were non-locking. This was the most efficient way for us to check all the variations we needed to with a limited run, although it meant the pre-orders that matched were very spread out. The 3,000 unit production run is contracted to be completed in May, then it will be dispersed to our 3rd party logistics warehouses, and then shipped to all of you.
We’ve spent the last 2 months testing shipping methods for US orders, I’ve personally been to 6 facilities already. There are numerous carriers and even more independent integration companies for those shippers. The shortlist was created over the last 2 years, but now we were able to use the small run to do live testing on all of them. This is going to be a big advantage when we suddenly fulfill a few thousand all at once. We are also in the process of migrating the all of the customer profiles and orders to our webstore. This means you will be able to look up your original order, get your tracking info, handle warranty claims, and purchase future add-ons all in one location. When you get an e-mail saying your order has shipped, it will have the tracking number as well as an invoice. This invoice shows the CURRENT pricing, it will be higher than what you pledged, you do NOT owe any more money (it is a nice way to see how much you saved being an early backer though!). We had some confusion about this from backers in the early run.
There is a learning curve with this tool’s proprietary mechanics, which has become clear as it landed in hundreds of new hands. Our walk-through video linked below is probably the best way to learn before you get your tool. But we are also getting infographic instructions printed and shipped with the rest of the multi-tools.
Shows & Expos: A lot of people have been asking if we will be at Blade Show in June. Although we were planning on attending, we would have to have ½ the inventory shipped direct, before the individual pre-orders are shipped. I cannot justify selling direct at an expo before all the pre-orders are delivered (even it is by just a few weeks). Since we will not be selling it is unlikely we can justify the cost to attend. Our first priority is fulfilling all of these pre-orders.
I've posted a video to YouTube that showcases what everyone gets with the base tool. It also has a full walk-through of every tool and. I highly recommend watching it to familiarize yourself.
FAQ about shipping: When will I get mine?
This depends on several variables, including when you pledged, Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, which tools you ordered, what finish, and where in the world you are located. You will receive an email with tracking information when yours ships. All Kickstarter and Indiegogo pledges should be fulfilled by end of June.
What order are they being shipped?
They are being shipping in backer order (Kickstarter, then Indiegogo) as long as the ordered items are available (i.e. if Backer #25 ordered Satin Finish, but we currently only have Black Oxide in inventory, the next backer who ordered Black Oxide will be next in line until there is Satin in stock.)
I moved, how can I update my address?
If you need to update your address please go to https://goat-tools.backerkit.com
Where in line am I for shipping?
I get a lot of messages asking me when theirs will ship. But with so many variables its impossible to give an answer and I would end up spending all day estimating each person that asks. So I ask you as politely as I can, please don’t message me asking when yours will ship because it slows down the entire process when I have to read & reply to these messages. We are packing and shipping as quickly as we can accurately do it. You will receive a notification when your order ships.
The templates are now live on our website! in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
January Update!
about 1 year ago
– Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 06:45:39 PM
Good day makers, creators, and DIYers! This has been the absolute busiest month since we launched the campaign!
SHIPPING Update:
We sent out most of the first batch end of December, early January. The $1,000 tier First & Forever backers received their custom made boxes (some teasers below. The hard cases do NOT come with every tool, only with the $1,000 tier. I know someone will ask.)
First & Forever $1,000 tier
First & Forever $1,000 tier
I've posted a video to YouTube that showcases what everyone gets with the base tool. It also has a full walk-through of every tool and function (which I had to edit down aggressively to keep it under 10 minutes, its easy to get carried away talking about this multi-tool!)
I have been swamped with individually checking, packing, and shipping each order (don't worry, going further we have a 3rd Party Logistics which will streamline the entire process). This first batch I needed to personally QC each tool. I have also been testing different shipping partners, mostly on purpose and then when one of their online terminals crashed I was forced to move to another vendor. There has been a massive surge in interest since the first few of these have hit customers' hands, this has been a blessing and a curse.
I am drowning in messages from backers and potential customers. For those that don't know, I do my best to stay engaged in every way possible, which means every day I'm replying to:
Emails
Kickstarter comment/DMs
Indiegogo comments/DMs
Instagram comments/DMs
Facebook comments/DMs
YouTube comments
Discord groups/DMs
Forums
Reddit posts/comments/messages
There have been some questions I want to directly answer: NO ONE who did not pre-order has or will receive any items before Kickstarter & Indiegogo backers! All of you will receive your perks before we even consider sending any marketing affiliates. Any YouTube or Instagram media you see is from original Kickstarter backers. (full disclosure: We may send pre-production prototypes that are unsellable to 3rd party collaborators such as leather sheath makers for sizing. These tools do not function properly but the dimensions are the same)
FAQ about shipping: When will I get mine?
This depends on several variables, including when you pledged, Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, which tools you ordered, what finish, and where in the world you are located. You will receive an email with tracking information when yours ships. All Kickstarter and Indiegogo pledges should be fulfilled by end of June.
What order are they being shipped?
They are being shipping in backer order (Kickstarter, then Indiegogo) as long as the ordered items are available (i.e. if Backer #25 ordered Satin Finish, but we currently only have Black Oxide in inventory, the next backer who ordered Black Oxide will be next in line until there is Satin in stock.)
Where in line am I for shipping?
I get a lot of messages asking me when theirs will ship. But with so many variables its impossible to give an answer and I would end up spending all day estimating each person that asks. So I ask you as politely as I can, please don’t message me asking when yours will ship because it slows down the entire process when I have to read & reply to these messages. We are packing and shipping as quickly as we can accurately do it. You will receive a notification when your order ships.
The templates are now live on our website! in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
December Update: NOW SHIPPING
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 03:28:19 AM
Good day makers, creators, and DIYers! We locked orders about a week ago, and if you purchased any add-ons via BackerKit those charges went through a couple days ago.
SHIPPING Update:
I hope you all are having a good Holiday season! I have fantastic news you have all been waiting for: We are officially shipping! Some pledges have already been delivered, and we are ramping up to fulfill the rest as quickly as possible. Please keep in mind it will take months to ship all the global orders (Over 1,500 pre-orders!). The packaging came out great! The multi-tool boxes have a premium appeal, while the add-ons are very minimalistic (this will save a lot of material, waste, and cost for add-on orders and warranty claims. This was a long game calculation). I custom made 10 cases for the First & Forever backers ($1,000 tier) that I’m very excited to hand over and will likely take some photos and video to share with all of you. FAQ about shipping: When will I get mine?
This depends on several variables, including when you pledged, Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, which tools you ordered, what finish, and where in the world you are located.
What order are they being shipped?
They are being shipping in backer order (Kickstarter, then Indiegogo) as long as the ordered items are available (i.e. if Backer #25 ordered Satin Finish, but we currently only have Black Oxide in inventory, we will check Backer #26, 27, etc until one who ordered Black Oxide. #25 will be next in line when there is Satin in stock.)
Where in line am I for shipping? I get a lot of messages asking me when theirs will ship. But with so many variables its impossible to give an answer and I would end up spending all day estimating each person that asks. So I ask you as politely as I can, please don’t message me asking when yours will ship because it slows down the entire process when I have to read & reply to these messages. We are packing and shipping as quickly as we can accurately do it. You will receive a notification when your order ships.
(We are still missing a few boxes of tools and add-ons from FedEx, they split the shipment mid-transit for unknown reasons and we are crossing our fingers they still arrive. If anyone see’s any boxes in Memphis, TN labelled GOAT TOOL, let me know! Not our first bump in the road and it won’t be the last, but we will always persevere. )
The templates are now live on our website! in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF
(You will notice the rest of our products are “sold out”. We are still taking pre-orders on IndieGoGo until we complete first production run) If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving!
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
November Update
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Dec 03, 2022 at 05:53:50 AM
*If you need to update your address please go to Backerkit*
Manufacturing Update:
I hope you all are having a good season! I spent Veterans Day weekend field testing the GOAT Multi-tool in Death Valley (light camping tasks and general tinkering – Any excuse to spend time in our National Parks). I carry a Satin model with Titanium scales every day. Although a little stiff out of the box, after using it and breaking it in, it is like butter. 1-hand open all 4 of the long tools, everything snaps open and closed, it’s better than I had dreamed about 7 years ago.
Our manufacturer is progressing very well! It’s exciting to see these components and tools being assembled in mass quantities.
I get a lot of questions & requests about a smaller model, custom ordering all the pre-assembled tools, or future tools. Our single priority right now is fulfilling all of your current pre-orders – trying to split our time between new designs and the current model will only hinder the timeline. Custom configurations from the factory would actually cost more than ordering the pre-configured model + add ons. It adds a lot of manual labor from order processing, assembly, QA, and logistics of 1-off shipments. All of that said we are always welcoming input for new modules/tools/scales. Most of these go into an Excel sheet to track the most requested items. Some get sketched onto a bar napkin over beers as inspiration strikes.
The templates are now live on our website! in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF https://goat-tools.myshopify.com/collections/downloads
(You will notice the rest of our products are “sold out”. We are still taking pre-orders on IndieGoGo until we complete first production run) If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
Steps 1-9 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
The promotional video was completed! I hired a PR firm Boost Your Campaign to design our campaign page, run some ads to build our email list prior to launch. I had formally registered the company way back in 2017 and had already built a list of about 1k people, but the more you have before launching a crowdfunding campaign the better! Everything was looking great, launch day came and we started off strong, it was the biggest relief in years. Day #2 of the campaign we hit our funding goal! (Which was also my birthday, so thank you for the best gift). But then something strange happened – the pledges began to slow down. I started digging into everything; my original e-mail list, the online communities that had been following us for a while, the backer list. Almost all of the backers so far were from my personally built list. I asked the PR firm BYC about their ad campaign and their email list – they assured me everything was going smoothly but wouldn’t give me specifics. I checked the email about our Kickstarter Launch they sent to my personal mail box (from the list I created, the first one on there when I tested it in 2017), this is the same email many of you received. It turned out they were using the same tracking token for all of them, which is a giant issue since they were guaranteed a percentage of the pledges they brought in. I couldn’t find anyone who had seen a single ad for our campaign. BYC only used my email list, and wanted to claim all of those pledges were brought in from ads they never even ran. Needless to say, I had to revoke their access to everything immediately, and somehow find another PR firm to save the remainder of the campaign. This birthday was a rollercoaster. I wasted some money on a few gadget websites to promote it, but luckily our hero found me. I got an e-mail from BackerKit about their campaign services after they saw our Kickstarter (I only knew of their post-campaign services/surveys, never knew they ran marketing ads). It took a week or two to get everything setup with them but their magnificent campaigning is how we pushed all the way to $200k and unlocked so many new tools!
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
Respectfully,
Michael O'Donnell
GOAT Tools
October Update
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 08:20:09 PM
Manufacturing Update:
Not a lot of news but no bad news! The tooling and molds have been modified and all of them pass quality control. We are now in production; these will be shipping to you (Can’t believe it’s almost November already, tools should be shipping in December). Pausing briefly at 200pcs for continued quality assurance ensuring no new issues were encountered in large quantity production. I would like to apologize for getting behind in demo videos and product photography (I look forward to creating more media once I finish all the tedious tasks of generating UPC’s and corelating barcodes for all the parts and pieces). We’ve already seen some custom parts and scales being made by the community! The templates are still available on our website for anyone else that is inspired to create their own modules or scales!
The templates are now live on our website! in .STEP .STL .PDF and .DXF
(You will notice the rest of our products are “sold out”. We are still taking pre-orders on IndieGoGo until we complete first production run) If you haven't seen the testing videos on our YouTube channel, it's a great preview of what you will all be receiving! We continue to add videos as we go through testing.
Steps 1-9 complete! (Full list in previous updates)
10: 200pcs Test run production (In Process)
11: Mass production (after test run confirmation, around 3 months subject to the production schedule)
The Story Behind the Tool:
Our story is already into 2021! Shortly after the new year we were planning the promotional video shoot and going over the designs with our manufacturer. We have gotten a lot of compliments about the video but let me tell you how much of a headache it was to get there. The day of the shoot neither the videographer, myself, nor the actors could find the studio the creative director booked. Couldn’t get a hold of the creative director who turned out to be in another state the day of the shoot. The studio was a converted loft tucked in-between a pretzel shop and tucked behind an apartment building. What should have been a simple process of handing them the prototypes and waiting for the first draft cut a couple weeks later turned into having to do 1/3 of the work myself. It became an ongoing joke amongst friends and family that were following my journey how bad my luck had been with vendors, this was no exception. I ended up having to help set the scenes, direct, and be in a few of the scenes. The actors were great, even if a couple of the gentlemen didn’t understand how to use a screwdriver…Even after an entire day shooting multiple locations, we didn’t have all the shots that were planned. I had to hand deliver the prototypes to the videographer a couple weeks later to get the remaining shots we were missing. A few revisions of the video edits and we finally got to the Kickstarter video you’ve all seen and were inspired enough to back us (thank you!). To this day, I still only see all the issues and problems we ran into while filming.
Your support and patience are infinitely appreciated! We will continue to provide updates as we venture through this process together.
