The saga of the Coolest cooler: How a Kickstarter campaign goes south
The Coolest cooler, a souped-up cooler complete wth a cutting board, blender, Bluetooth speaker and USB charger, started out as Kickstarter's own Cinderella story. When creator Ryan Grepper first launched his "portable party disguised as a cooler" in 2013, it failed miserably.*
He went back to the drawing board and returned in 2014 with a lower funding goal and a better product, which went on to raise more than $13 million and break Kickstarter's funding record. The Coolest Cooler's price tag of $165-$185 was too good to pass up.