The pair developed a simple, easy-to-use portable device for motion control and image capture in time-lapse photography.
After launching on global funding platform Kickstarter in April, they achieved $US636,000 ($NZ797,544) in funding in just two months.
Now, after recently returning from China, the pair were preparing for production "pretty soon" once some development fine-tuning was done, Mr Ryan said yesterday.
Mr Ryan and Mr Thomson met when both were studying at the University of Otago and they remained "good mates" after finishing their studies.
Several years ago, they met in Sydney where Mr Thomson was working at a design firm and they got talking about making camera equipment.
With Mr Thomson's background as an industrial designer and Mr Ryan's work in film production, their skills complemented each other as they went about developing the Genie.
Before launching on Kickstarter, they had followed the funding platform for a year and had seen many similar products do very well, Mr Ryan said.
Since starting in 2008, Kickstarter has launched 62,750 projects, the completed successful projects raising a total of $US232 million.
While they definitely thought they had a good product for Kickstarter, they were surprised to raise so much money so quickly.
Mr Ryan attributed the interest in the project to having "a really good product" and to there being a massive gap in the market.
There was nothing portable and easy to use, and the Genie was designed to be "super easy" to use.
Their goal amount was $US150,000, which was the minimum they needed, and the additional funding meant they were able to employ more people, make the product better and also work on new products.
At the moment, they were employing three contractors and there was potential for more staff as the business grew. From Kickstarter alone, there had already been 700 orders.
The pair, who have formed a company called Syrp, had worked hard in the past 12 months, and they were delighted with how it was advancing.
"It's all go now," Mr Ryan said.
