Yes, this is another one of those long, thoughtful updates.

PRINTS APPROVED

I've just approved the stunning prints pictured below. 

The pictures don't do these prints justice, they are truly mesmerizing works of art. 

The amount of work and time required to make these reproduceable, at this level of quality, has easily been the most challenging element of the project by far. These designs are punishing even for the most sophisticated and expensive printers on the planet. 

I want to share them with the world but I need some help. Due to supply chain strains, prices across the project have doubled, tripled and in a few cases been five times more expensive than initially budgeted, so these prints have jumped in price by 150%.

HELP WANTED

I recognize that this is a long shot but it is the biggest audience I have; it is my hope that someone out there reads this and a light goes on. 

TIMING

I must preface this all, by acknowledging that you've already pledged your help financially and for that I am eternally grateful. This is a message for anyone out there that wants to be more involved. There has been a great deal of change since 2020 and I sense that the timing justifies the following outreach for help.

THE GREAT REAFFIRMATION 

Many well qualified people left their jobs over the past year in search of something more meaningful. If you or someone you know has the knowledge and experience in CPG to help bring a wellness product like The Present to life, I need to hear from you. 

SUBJECT: I know someone who can help

scott@thepresent.is 

or

SUBJECT: I am someone who can help

scott@thepresent.is

HELP

• Fundraising, packaging and delivering open orders
• Building a go-to-market plan for this unique product
• Defining the TAM and executing a sales strategy
• Following up with the 51 distributors in Japan who want The Present
• and much, much more

THE OPPORTUNITY OF LIFE-TIME

I'm open to a co-founder / partner role for the right person with the requisite experience and I hope you are reading this right now or know someone who would want to be a part of making time more valuable.

NOW

Take a moment to think of someone who might want to help, please. If it is you, then do not hesitate to reach out. This is not a dress-rehearsal, this is real, and The Present really needs your help, right now. 

One more time.

 DEAR ANGEL INVESTOR 

Testimonials of The Present sound like this, "Living with The Present has helped me form a more emotionally meaningful orientation with time." That is a good thing for the world wouldn't you agree? 

Getting a product out there with the potential to help people feel like that is, in my opinion, much more valuable than a multitude of things that received funding just yesterday. 

The Present is a shining example of a product that serves our higher needs. It is an uplifting, wholehearted, and vital grounding tool for the chaotic times we live in that is woefully and chronically undercapitalized.

Third party validation of The Present sounds like this,

Wired, "The Present is a more holistic, gorgeous view of time that will help the time-crunched put things in perspective."

Fast Company called The Present "a 21st century Walden"

Core77 calls The Present "The next generation of home entertainment."

The Present sold out at the MoMA Design Store twice in a matter of months.

WHAT ARE YOU ASKING FOR SCOTT?

I'm not asking for sympathy or donations, this is a gift that has been time-tested and it is my intention to partner with someone, whether it is a co-founder, a partner, a CEO or an angel investor(s) both or all four. 

This is the first time I've stated that I'm hiring and although I might find someone through this channel and hope I do, I will find someone regardless.

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE THAT CAN HELP?

Every day I walk into the warehouse, make my way to the clean room, close the door and either; make more than the 1,350 movements I've already made by hand, or test them to make sure they work. 

After so many long stretches of working alone in the assembly room, I've had a lot of time to wonder what the heck am I doing with my time, and why am I doing this alone? 

This time, the present itself, illuminated by these timepieces, is precious and there must be others out there who want to surface it and share it like I do. 

•  Maybe making a job listing on LinkedIn is a more appropriate way to do this, but I felt it was time to let you know where I am and how I need help. 
•  Maybe you do digital marketing or build apps and can see exactly how to get The Present out there?
•  Maybe you know a guy, who knows a girl, who knows someone's cousin who used to live next-door to that person who loves to invest in wellness products?
•  Maybe you left a job hocking ice-cream gloves and were like, "What am I doing? Isn't there something true, something meaningful out there that could use my talents?"

If that is you, I made this update for you, really!

WHEN WILL THE CLOCKS SHIP?

I don't know. It might start in March with a few and slowly ship into the summer. It all depends on the degree of assistance offered and or if someone can partner with me who knows how to fundraise and level up a company like The Present LLC.

WELL, CAN I HAVE REFUND THEN?

I can no longer honor refund requests at this time. If I am eventually able to afford honoring refunds, I will not hesitate to do so. The priority is finishing the current order. If I have the clock finished and you don't want me to send it to you at that time, I will have to wait to sell it to someone else so I can give you their money. Kickstarter's policy on refunds.

THIS IS NOT THE UPDATE I EXPECTED.

For anyone who has been paying attention to me for years now, hi, it seems that I am, once again, in over my head. I'm a filmmaker by trade and as much as I have learned by making this concept into a reality over time, I still don't know half as much as someone who brings CPG's to market for a living. 

I was wholly unfit to be able to anticipate such outrageous price hikes. I also made the mistake of assuming investors would be much more forthcoming due to my traction, time in business and the otherworldly timeliness of the product itself.

WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU SOLVING?

When you start a business they ask, "So what is the problem you are solving?" The Present provides a solution to one of the most intimate problems we face in modernity, the problem of not having more time in life. 

I believe that The Present not only solves that problem, it gives us time with more joy, peace and stillness than any existing clock could ever hope to provide. More time is a "product" worth selling and is certainly worthy of a time or capital investment.

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?

Time felt out of character to me back in 2011 and I wanted a new scale of it to make sense of the size of life in the 21st century. I needed more time, so I made the original annual clock, and it actually worked, and so I had to at least try to make them for others. That's what this is all about, helping people make sense of time in a world that seems to have lost touch with its fundamental rhythms. 

If the world is wrapped up in a linear, industrial short term scale of time, which it most certainly is, it follows that we might all be unnaturally anxious and confused about time; surfacing the unspeakable quality of time in nature, seeing the poetry of motion in time, is I think, one of the reasons the visionary author László Krasznahorkai called The Present, "The most beautiful time mask of the world." I'm not bringing up László to gloat, I'm trying to help you understand that The Present is vetted and worthy of your investment, whether that is working capital or your time, both are needed.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

This update is me admitting I've tried to make this happen by myself, with my own shoestrings, but it's impossible. I must team up with someone else to see this through.  I'm only one person and yeah, I'm ambitious, but this is a marathon and I've got to be honest about where I am with the project. 

I have not stopped and will not stop but I've been subsidizing this production for months now with my own personal income from editing gigs and The Present is too valuable to not swallow my pride and call for substantial help. 

Will you, can you, or do you know someone who can help me make time? 

Programming time clip - no sound. 

Thank you for your patience.

SUBJECT: I know someone who can help

scott@thepresent.is 

or

SUBJECT: I am someone who can help

scott@thepresent.is

In time,

Scott Thrift