How one product can spawn hundreds of knock-offs

Nimrod Back raised more than $600,00 on Kickstarter for a customizable button that you could plug into your phone’s headphone jack. But just as the crowdfunding campaign was ending, copycats struck. They managed to launch clones of Back’s product, Pressy, before his even shipped. Today, Pressy no longer exists.
Creating a physical product is hard. Creators have to come up with an idea, prototype it, figure out how to manufacture it at scale, raise enough money to cover the costs, sh