I am not a kickstarter investor for Aodyo on any of their products, but was watching their product development in case I could buy an existing product I liked.
I am responding here only because in my previous career I was a business litigation attorney, having been involved in various sides of bankruptcies. I would be bummed if I’d been a kickstarter contributor and lost my money, for sure. So, that sucks for you guys. On the other hand, having worked with companies facing bankruptcy, it has been my experience in the vast number of cases that companies will do almost anything to avoid going into bankruptcy, especially a dissolution bankruptcy. I compare it to someone who decides they need to get a divorce from someone they very much still love, but the situation demands no other choice. In a business setting, this can also crush your career and reputation in very serious ways.
It sounds here like this company made a couple of big assumptions that didn’t pan out, including relying on parts that they couldn’t source, and had to do some re-engineering and re-sourcing at a higher price than anticipated. My very strong guess is that this has happened to many other musical instrument manufacturers over the past couple of years, but they had the resources to weather the supply chain uncertainty, and smaller companies like Aodyo did not.
Whatever the case might be, buying anything as a kickstarter investor means you are taking a huge risk that you will not see the product, and not get your money back. When that happens, it doesn’t mean your money was stolen (I guess it could if they absolutely knew the product was vapor but didn’t disclose this while taking new kickstarter funds, but that’s a very large leap). On the rare occasion that I’ve contributed to a kickstarter campaign, I do so with the full knowledge that I might never see the product, and have no expectation that I will get my money back. If I can’t live with that, I pass on the kickstarter. Not trying to diss anyone who contributed here at all, and I feel your disappointment. Only trying to add a little background based on my own experiences.