I Just Spent 5 Minutes Learning About a Coat Hanger — And So Have 1,000s of Others

Written By Scott Stockdale

How Simone Giertz has nailed her latest Kickstarter

“I just spent three years designing a coat hanger. Why? Fair question. I couldn’t fit a coat rack in my bedroom, and it really annoyed me.”

I was hooked.

Truthfully, Simone Giertz had my attention way before her opening lines.

That’s because she’s already raised over $160,000 for her “Coat Hingers” in less than 24 hours.

Let that sink in.

Over $160,000… For a brand-new coat hanger… In less than 24 hours.

I had to dig deeper.

Who is this Swedish inventor and YouTuber? How has she engineered this successful Kickstarter campaign? And why have I contributed to become a backer, too?

The time is now 4 pm GMT.

Let me rewind the clock.

2:03 pm: “I wonder what’s on Hackernews”

I’d just finished lunch and returned to my desk.

After finishing my work for the week, it was time to play. I searched online for article inspiration. Wired and Hackernews are my go-to sources.

That’s when I stumbled on this:

Screenshot from Hackernews

“I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]”

What the f*ck?

Sure enough, Simone and her team have spent the last three years designing a brand-new coat hanger.

“I don’t like how far it comes off the wall, so I was thinking what if you could have a coat hanger you could fold […]” — Simone Giertz

Her first step was to build a prototype made from wood:

Then, after carefully explaining what makes the perfect coat hanger — friction, size, ease of manufacture, squeakiness (who knew?) — Simone demonstrates the final “Coat Hinger”.

It’s been over 100 iterations in the making.

“I just can’t believe I get to spend three years designing a coat hanger. I know that doesn’t sound like everyone’s definition of fun, but for me, that’s my absolute dream life.”

Simone crams so much into five minutes.

She hooks you in with an intriguing title, her passion shines through, and her product solves an obvious problem.

What are some other underrated takeaways?

  • She’s been posting YouTube videos for the past nine years, during which time she’s clearly refined her filmmaking skills. She’s also built a sizeable audience (2.69M subscribers).

  • She’s warm and funny, which makes for a wonderful combination.

  • The aesthetic of her background space (tools, workbench, etc.) reinforces the point that she’s put lots of care into this product. You become invested.

2:08 pm: “I suppose there’s no harm in checking out her Kickstarter campaign…”

I didn’t bother watching the video.

I just scrolled through her story.

Here, she expertly explains why “Coat Hingers” is an excellent storage solution for small spaces. Her visuals capture how they work:

I also discovered the Yetch store.

Her e-commerce store houses all of the products she’s created since 2018. This includes her Every Day Goal Calendar (I totally want one!) and the world’s first officially incomplete puzzle:

Screenshot from Yetch Store

Before long, I found myself whacking out my card and pledging $135 for the Small Bracket Kit.

$135 for 12 “Coat Hingers”, two brackets, and a rod?

Are you mad, Scott?!

Quite possibly — and it seems I’m not the only one.

When I refresh the page, hundreds more backers jump on board. 231 people have already backed the same product as me:

So what have these past 60 minutes taught me?

  • There’s a market for all solutions. You just need to get them into the hands of the right people.

  • People buy into you as much as the product. And people buy from those they know, like, and trust. Video is the perfect medium to transmit these feelings.

  • Hackernews is an underrated place to promote your stuff. It seems you just have to create an account and submit your link by pressing the “Submit” button in the top navbar:

Screenshot from Hackernews | This item has climbed to the top since writing this article

  • I’m getting old. Things like coat hangers excite me now.

  • I need to hide my bank card.

Scott Stockdale
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