Building Titan Made
My Journey From Side Project to Selling Custom Keyboards
Looking back, building Titan Made is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. What started as a small side project during 60-hour work weeks as a carpenter turned into a full-fledged business. From designing my own custom keyboard to selling over $25,000 worth of products on Amazon and Kickstarter, the experience completely changed my view of the world and what I wanted out of life. In fact, it was the reason I decided to come back to school.
The Beginning
In 2022, I started working on the Titan Made keyboard as a way to challenge myself and create something I couldn’t find on the market. After long days on construction sites, I’d spend my evenings sketching designs in AutoCAD. Once the layout came together, I moved on to building a 3D model of the case in Autodesk Inventor.
That was just the start. To make the keyboard functional, I had to design a PCB—a completely new skill for me at the time. I spent months learning how to use Eagle, watching YouTube tutorials, and studying online documentation. Around the same time, I started learning Arduino programming to get the hardware to communicate. After countless late nights troubleshooting, I finally had a working prototype.
The Kickstarter Campaign
By mid-2023, I decided to take the project to Kickstarter. The goal was to raise $20,000 to produce 70 keyboards, and to my surprise, the campaign hit its target. That success felt like a major milestone, but it also came with a steep learning curve.
Selling on Amazon and Expanding
The manufacturing process was incredibly demanding. From sourcing hundreds of
PCB components to coordinating CNC machining for the cases and designing
custom packaging, every step required careful planning. I’d spend breaks at
work calling manufacturers, trying to negotiate prices and keep the project
on track. To make the keyboard visually appealing before it even existed, I
used tools like Photoshop to create renders from STEP files. Balancing all of
this while working full-time wasn’t easy, but I was determined to see it
through.
Once the Kickstarter orders were fulfilled, I expanded to Shopify and Amazon, where I sold the keyboards alongside smaller items like mouse mats. Over time, sales exceeded $25,000. I even reached out to larger influencers and companies, like Night.co, to explore potential collaborations. While none of those deals closed, the experience of pitching to established teams was invaluable.
Lessons Learned and a New Direction
Titan Made taught me so much more than just technical skills. It showed me what’s possible when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. One of the biggest lessons was learning how to focus. I tried to pack too many features into the keyboard, which made the design more complex than it needed to be. Simplicity is something I’ll prioritize in the future.
The project also made me reflect on my career and what I wanted out of life. Working as a carpenter was stable, but it didn’t feel fulfilling in the same way that designing and building the keyboard did. Titan Made made me realize how much I enjoy solving complex problems and creating something new, which ultimately inspired me to go back to school to study math and computer science.
Conclusion
While Titan Made is no longer in business after a failed second project, it remains one of the defining achievements of my life. Taking an idea from a sketch to a fully functional product, selling it to real customers, and learning so much along the way completely changed my perspective on what I’m capable of.
This project wasn’t just about building a keyboard—it was about discovering a passion for learning and creating, and it’s something I’ll carry with me into everything I do moving forward.