Kickstarter Campaign Fails to Deliver on Time, CEO Flies 7,500 Miles to Make It Up

Back in September, Waqas Ali, the founder of Markhor, launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring his stylish hand-crafted shoes to the world. Ali’s goal was to raise $15,000 — he ended up with a total of $107,286 from 508 backers from 35 different countries.

His shoes, designed for the modern gentleman but made by shoemakers in Pakistan using 1,800-years-old craftsmanship, were supposed to be delivered to backers by April of 2015.

Unfortunately, like many Kickstarter campaigns before his, Ali failed to deliver the products on time and had to push back delivery by one month.

But rather than issue a hollow apology to his backers for the delay, the team at Markhor decided to do something special to make it up, so Ali set off from Lahore, Pakistan, to San Francisco to deliver shoes to his backers personally.

For many, it was the first time a company founder had made such a personal gesture of gratitude. This is how a real company leader connects with the customers who support him.