Regardless whether it was or wasn't Tom, the situation is Tom should step forward and show his credibility (or face the refunds).
If the chips are finished, is there please a chance to take a photo? No secrets revealing, no clock buffers or anything.
If the business has run into problems, it would be wise to speak out and ask friends, the community, or the customers for help.
Maybe the customers will rather accept the problems and clarity, hence they are the venture capitalists.
BTW any news from the new owners? Or they are not owners yet? Or they are not the right owners? How confusing.
Correct - complete and full disclosure is the only option to save the project at this point. I wish Tom would take that to heart. It's either that or it all dies, he might recover some funds from selling the chips in bulk (probably a huge loss though in the end), and nobody is happy (except whomever gets those chips, probably). If he came out and posted a long long description of exactly what is happening from an engineering standpoint, and allowed people to actually invest in a meaningful way instead of gamble on a pre-order, this could end nicely for everyone involved. Laying out exactly what the costs are, when the money would be needed, and volumes of technical description would give people a way to chip in at each step of the process, and something could be worked out to reward their risk. For instance, if the chips are fabricated and just need to be put on boards, tell us how much this one procedure would cost, and ask for an investment from the community so they can help pay for manufacturing costs directly. This would allow the project to continue, and allow your customers to potentially receive a unit below retail price (as a reward for helping with production). For those unwilling to take this risk, allow them to order a finished product when the units are complete (at a significant markup). If each unit ends up costing $500 to manufacture, I think many people would pay that in installments at risk instead of waiting to pay $1079. Just an idea - feel free to rip it apart.