Issue 01 · August 2026 itsowrong.com
It’s So Wrong Claims, objects, practices — not people

Crowdfunding Graves

Lily took $34 million in pre-orders. The drone stayed on the table.

Not a Kickstarter page — a viral video and a checkout. Same cemetery.

PRE
ORDER

Staff art. No photos of strangers. No scraped listings.

What looks wrong

A waterproof autonomous camera that throws itself in the air and films you while you ski.

What’s actually going on

Lily Robotics's 2015 launch video drove on the order of 60,000 pre-orders and more than $34 million. In January 2017 the company emailed customers that it could not build the camera and would try to refund them. In February it filed Chapter 11 in Delaware. The bankruptcy docket is public; refunds were the stated first job. This is a pre-order grave, labeled honestly.

Lily did not need Kickstarter. It had a video: a small drone, a throw, a skier, a perfect follow. Pre-orders opened. About 60,000 people paid. The company later said it had taken in more than $34 million that way, plus venture money.

On 12 January 2017 Lily emailed the list: the camera would not be produced, the company was closing, refunds would be attempted. A San Francisco city attorney's consumer case was already in the air. On 27 February 2017 the company filed Chapter 11 in Delaware as it prepared to auction intellectual property. Court papers said customer refunds were the priority, subject to the judge.

Kroll's claims site for Drone LC, Inc., formerly Lily Robotics, is the public leftover. Some customers were refunded through the case. This page is not a claim that every dollar came back. It is a claim about a launch that sold a flying object that never became inventory. Vote the campaign, not a skier.

Source: Forbes, Lily Robotics Chapter 11 and promised refunds, 28 February 2017. We quote the public record. A settlement is not always an admission.

The Wrong Letter

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