Co.Design:

“It’s a pain in the ass,” Marc Barros says with a laugh. This week, Barros’s products will appear on the coveted shelves of Apple’s U.S. retail stores. Originally funded through two successful Kickstarter campaigns that started in 2014, the Moment lenses and cases—created for the prosumer iPhone photographer—caught the attention of Apple earlier this year.

It may have seemed like a big win for a small company. But the practicalities of taking an e-commerce business to Apple’s tightly curated retail stores—in only a month’s time—was a harrowing gamble for Barros’s 15-person team. Here’s why.

I know developers, big and small, who have products in the Apple Retail Stores. The common refrain is, “It’s the best and worst thing to happen to your company”. Apple’s attention to detail extends outwards to vendors who want to sell in their stores.