I'd be pretty much interested. Have a quite broad network of players from Europe and Asia (country level to international level)
Well, I think the best way is that every tester will pay the shipping costs to the next receiver and the last tester back to Maklike Tier. I would like to support Maklike Tier not only with a review. We can test and review a prototype of a startup Racket brand. Maklike Tier did a good job and I think he spend a lot of time and money. From Germany to Australia or every country in EU it will cost around 16 EUR. White Label will take over. Maybe sFrog, j4ckie and some other guys and hopefully I will build the german connection. Maklike Tier, I wish you much success regardless who will be the testers.
How much do you need to get these things out on the market. One alternative maybe would be http://www.kickstarter.com/ I think you would get quite many backers from this nice community and people love badminton all over the world. And if possible i would love to betatest the racket. Playing a couple of times a week and running a small reoccurring tournament spring and fall. One suggestion for the beta-colors could be glossy gold. That would really get the eyes open of the people around you. Or even cooler, one color on each side, so the racket looks, for example, all red for the first hit and then on the next one it looks all white. Maybe this isnt possible tho Anyways, this sounds awesome and really hope you will make it out on the market
I thought about kickstarter, but I almost think that's for "mildly innovative design(er) trinkets" and not sure what sort of interest my rackets would generate. Racket design is really just about configuring specifications - if I had a unique design such as a frame shape or stringing design or something weird that I thought would offer real world benefits, I'd probably go the kickstarter route, but I'm not convinced it's the way to go for what i want to do. Don't get me wrong, I have some wacky ideas I think would improve racket design, but at this stage White Label is not the driver for those.
I'm interested, but there's a 'but' Currently not in a situation where I can spend money on indulging my vice of testing new stuff, so I couldn't buy prototypes (shipping costs wouldn't be a problem though). Also will have to wait and see if I'm even able to give this the attention I'd need to give detailed feedback, injury woes, lack of players in the club/team and a pending change of racket keep me busy Or rather, keep me off the court a lot :S Anyhow, should you be interested in getting one more guy to take a swing at it, gimme a heads up and I'll tell you where I'm at
Well, what will happen is that I can only make 5 pre production prototypes - one will be for me, and two lots of two will be handed out to people for feedback. Testers chosen will have the rackets for a week or so, and then they'll be asked to cut the strings and send them on to the next tester. All I ask is that testers pay out of their own pocket for shipping to the next person - I think this is fair considering you'll be one of the first people on the planet to play with a White Label racket Testers who then go on to buy production models will get free shipping.
Ahhh visor come on - take one for the team! But as there'll be 2 sets going around I'm hoping we'll get a different set from yours...
Eeeek! By then I may as well pay out the full price* of the racket and keep the darn thing. *Edit: should be depreciated to used price considering how many users have handled it prior. So 30% discount is reasonable.
I'm always a sucker for trying new rackets. Anyone from Western Australia interested in giving this racket a try so we can split the shipping cost to have it transferred here?
I don't know. The rackets will go where the greatest publicity values will be. What I will probably do is make appointments with all the retailers in Melbourne and Sydney first and go show them the rackets. After then I'll decide where they will be going. One will always be with me here though.