A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction

We often hear stories of someone posting a creative project online. Then hundreds or thousands of people come rushing to them and it takes off. It seems so simple. Come up with a brilliant idea and the Internet will take over to make our dreams come true.

Somewhere deep down inside we know there is more to it than that. There must be some explanation as to why their idea took off. We’re just not sure what it is. We launch our own project, hoping the masses will show up, but they never do. We are left feeling disappointed and full of doubt. Why not me? Was my idea not good enough?

The truth is that there is a lot of work that goes into a project before it will take off. Simply posting an idea online is rarely enough to get meaningful traction. That’s the lesson I learned, the hard way.

In the fall of 2010 I posted my first Kickstarter project. It was for a documentary film that I wanted to make with a friend of mine. After our project got approved we naively rushed through setting up the project page and launched it. Confident in the fact that we had the best looking video on the site with a meaningful topic, we sat back and waited.

After a month we had only raised 10% of our goal. Slightly disheartened and running out of time, we rolled up our sleeves and began contacting everyone we knew. In three weeks we were able to raise an additional $5000. However, there was only one week to go, and we had over 50% of our funding goal left.

Faced with the reality that our project probably would not make it, I started to question myself and my idea. Then something amazing happened. Realizing the deadline was fast approaching, my friends started posting it, writing emails and sharing it with their friends. In the last six days we raised $9000 and got the project successfully funded!

If this sounds like another example of a viral Internet phenomena, I assure it’s not. My project never got picked up by any major media or high profile blogs. In fact, the ONLY reason that my campaign succeeded is because I have amazing friends and family who rallied to support me. Even with all their support, we limped to the finish line. I feel pretty lucky that we made it at all. But I’m ok with being lucky.

In the months after the Kickstarter campaign ended, I was able to reflect on my campaign. I thought about everything I could have done differently that could have made it even better. I started to looked at what other people did to fund their projects. I began to realize that it was not my idea that had been the problem, but my approach. I had made a lot of assumptions about how the idea would be spread and how Kickstarter worked. From those insights this guide was born.

In the world of Kickstarter there is a lot that happens behind the scenes to make a project successful. Just because an idea is great or worth doing doesn’t mean it’s going to get funded. Rather than trying to guess at what those factors are, this manifesto will look at what it takes to make a project successful.

In case you don’t have time to read this in entirety, this is what it says in a nutshell:

Great Kickstarter projects are successful because they connect and resonate with a specific audience. They use compelling storytelling combined with interesting or wacky ideas to attract backers. They are authentic while effectively communicating goals, passion, credibility and purpose. The more time spent thinking about these elements before the project is launched the easier the campaign becomes.

If you want to do a Kickstarter project because you think the Internet will find and love your project, stop right now. The Internet does not care about you. However, if you can reach out to the right people, in the right way, before time runs out, you just might get lucky.

How to Use This Guide

Read it, study it, memorize it and then IGNORE IT.

This e-book is a not a step by step manual on how to get your project funded. I don’t think there is any formula that can guarantee success. Instead, it is a collection of thoughts and ideas to help you create the best Kickstarter campaign possible. If the ideas in this book don’t fit your project or don’t resonate with you, then try something else.

At the end, of the day remember one thing: There is no map.

Who am I?

I’m an average person who started a project and was fortunate enough to reach my goal. I have a blog but it’s small. I don’t have a popular podcast or web show. My project never got promoted by TechCrunch or any major blogs. I’m not a world famous product designer making cool iPod watches.

I have used Kickstarter to launch two successful but very different projects. I will be referring to both throughout this book. The first one ran in the fall of 2010 and was called Identifying Nelson/Buscando a Roberto. The purpose of the campaign was to help raise some money so my co-producer and I could start working on a documentary film. The second project related to this book and was called A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter. That campaign took place during August of 2011, and was to help get the this e-book graphically designed and distributed.


A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

  • A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
  • How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
  • Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful

    In 2009, only five weeks after Kickstarter launched, Perry Chen gave an Ignite talk about what makes a successful project. Even though the site was still very young, many of the ideas he presented still hold true.

    1) Be Real – “It’s humans asking other humans to help them.”

    2) Have a clear goal – “It’s not sponsor my life. It’s not fund me as an artist for some vague pursuit.”

    3) Offer fun rewards – “It’s about finding ways to provide value to the people who are helping you out.”

    4) Show you can execute – “So anyone can throw up a page, anyone can have idea, but before people are going to open their wallets they want to know you can execute.”

    5) Involve the audience – “The line between creators and the audience is getting blurred every day.”

    6) Spread the word – “Your idea isn’t going to mutate out there. Your going to need to push it out there and get your friends to help you spread the word.”

    “If you do these six things, you are going to have a really great crowd-funding experience.” – Perry Chen


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded

    So what does it take to get funded? That is a key question, the one I’ll be exploring in this book. For now, I thought I would share some of the founders’ thoughts on what they think it takes to get funded.

    Each Project is a Story

    During a talk co-founder Yancey Strickler gave in June of 2011, he explains how every project is the story.

    “Each Kickstarter project is a narrative of a real person doing something important or something meaningful, something they care about. We get to follow along. We get to act as an audience. These are people talking to their audience’s peers. These are people just like you and I, trying to raise money for an idea, trying to build support for their idea from people just like you and I.” – Yancey Strickler, Creative Mornings June 2011

    Strickler goes on to explain that Kickstarter is a video-driven site. When people come to a project page, the first thing they do is click on the video to see what the project is all about. He calls the videos “anti-commercials” because they are like advertisements for an idea, but authentic.

    The other way that stories are told are through rewards. Great rewards tell the story and share the experience with the audience.

    Yancey on Why Projects Fail

    Yancey Stickler believes projects that fail, do so for several reasons. Either the creator is going for too much money, or he or she has no history or “proof of concept.” Creators either have unrealistic expectations, or they are too commercial.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project

    It is a great way to build support for a project that you want to do. It also has additional benefits such as:

    Connecting to an audience – This can be an existing audience or one that you build through the campaign. You will be able to ask them for support, exchange ideas, make friends, and do business. Having a group of people that you can turn to repeatedly, will make launching future endeavors that much easier.

    Cutting out the middleman – In many industries such as film and music, one must go through a middleman in order to have a project funded. With Kickstarter the fans are the people who fund your project. If they want to support you and see it happen, then it will.

    Exchanging value – That means that both the project creator and the backer get something from the transaction. The project creator gets to see his or her idea come to life, and backers get a reward. This could be a cool new product or the good feeling from helping a friend.

    Retaining control – Traditionally, when working with middlemen and other organizations, they end up owning the rights to your artistic work. On Kickstarter this is not the case. You retain full control and are free to do whatever you would like with the finished product.

    Gaining Permission – When people back your project, they are not only giving you money, but they’re giving you permission to talk to them about your ideas and future projects. Every time you send a message to your backers it goes right into their inbox. Like many other forms of digital marketing, you now have a way to talk directly to people who want to hear from you.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Make sure your project has an ending

    “Projects. Projects. Projects. Kickstarter is for the funding of projects – albums, films, specific works – that have clearly defined goals and expectations.” – Kickstarter.com guide lines.

    Why is Kickstarter so obsessed with projects? Because they are tangible and help focus creators and their audience. Projects have specific goals, deadlines, and outcomes. This makes it easy for potential backers to understand where their money is going. Ideas without specific objectives are harder to support because the outcome is unknown. Projects also work well with Kickstarter’s all or nothing model, because patrons have an easy way to tell which projects are definitely going to happen.

    A Creative Edge

    Kickstarter describes itself as “a new way to fund & follow creativity.” It is geared toward, and is an important site for the creative arts.

    Perry Chen explains:

    “The landscape for creative ideas has been really constrained, because ideas need to be revenue generating… so most ideas are thrown away. What we are hoping is that other 99% of ideas can now come to a place like Kickstarter and get community funded.”

    “By not forcing things to have to generate revenue, you give them a chance to really come to life… [In the past] those [projects] have been supported by grants, rich uncles, and foundations.”

    Kickstarter provides a space for these creative ideas to be funded.

    In order to post a project on the site it must be within the parameters Kickstarter establishes.

    “Kickstarter can be used to fund projects from the creative fields of Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater. We currently only support projects from these categories.” – Kickstarter.com guidelines.

    What if your project is not in the “creative arts?” Don’t get discouraged, for Kickstarter uses the term liberally. Many projects that you may not think would be classified as “creative arts” get accepted by Kickstarter. However, all projects must have some creative element in them. If you are considering using Kickstarter to raise funds, make sure you read through the guidelines in its entirety.

    All Shapes and Sizes

    With over 20,000 successful campaigns, there are a wide variety of Kickstarter projects. However, most are trying to do one of the following.

    Kickstart a Larger Project

    Kickstarter is a great way to fund parts of larger projects or businesses. I used the site to start Identifying Nelson. Others have used it as a way to launch a product which turned into a business.

    Finish a Project

    Zach and Jonathan used Kickstarter to save Blue Like Jazz (the movie) and raise money to complete the film. They are not the only movie that used Kickstarter to help put the finishing touches on their project.

    Pre-sale

    One of the most famous Kickstarter projects, TikTok+LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kits, used Kickstarter as a way to pre-sell their kits. It’s a great way to test the market for a product before actually committing to making it. If the product doesn’t sell, you haven’t put any of your own money on the table.

    Support a Community

    The team behind Diaspora used Kickstarter to create an open-source Facebook alternative. Since the final product was free to download once they were done, you did not necessarily have to support the campaign on Kickstarter. However, by supporting the project, the whole open-source community benefited.

    Spread an Idea

    Because of the viral potential of Kickstarter, it is great for spreading ideas. If your project really resonates with an audience, it might spread far and wide. The Manual, a project about improving design principles, used the site to publish a book and spread the idea of better design to a larger community.

    Do Something Fun

    Ever wanted to build a giant Robocop statue in downtown Detroit? That’s exactly what the Imagination Station Detroit team did. They used Kickstarter as a way to get a life-sized Robocop statue built the heart of Detroit. They even got the actor who played Robocop on board. How cool is that?


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!

    Girl Scout Cookies

    On the final day of my Kickstarter campaign for A Kickstarter’s Guide I got this wonderful tweet.

    Danielle might have been joking but I think she is on to something. Kickstarter is very much like purchasing girl scout cookies. Not only are you helping the girl scouts, but you are getting some great cookies. It’s not exactly charity and its not exactly capitalism. Kickstarter lies somewhere in between. People support you and your project but also get something concrete in return.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    The Basics of Kickstarter

    Kickstarter is a platform for someone with a creative project to obtain financing for their idea by receiving small amounts of money from a larger group of people. Each project has a public page, funding amount, deadline and rewards.

    The funding goal is the minimum amount of money that a project needs in order to happen. If a funding goal is not met by the deadline, the people backing the project are not charged, and the creator receives no money. This may seem a bit harsh, but it is a very important aspect to the way Kickstarter works.

    Deadlines are set by the project creator and can be as long as 60 days. According to the Kickstarter School shorter projects tend to be more successful than longer projects. The number of days remaining in a campaign is displayed on each project page.

    The project page provides all the information about the project. This usually includes a written description, video and rewards. I will go in detail about each of these aspects later.

    Rewards are an important part of Kickstarter, and each project is required to offer them. Rewards come in many forms, from a physical product, to services, to early access. They depend on how much someone pledges to support a project.

    During the campaign a creator can post updates about how the project is going. These updates can be for the general public or just for the people who have already backed the project. Once the project is completed, the creator is responsible for honoring the rewards that were offered during the campaign.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Patron Model

    The Patron Model

    In tech circles raising small amounts of money from a large group of people is commonly called “crowdfunding” or “crowd-sourced funding.” This is a buzz word and does not actually describe what happens on Kickstarter. Who is this crowd? Where do they come from? How do they find us? The word crowdfunding makes it seem so easy. All we have to do is post a project and the crowd will fund it. However, that’s not really what happens.

    Founder Perry Chen describes Kickstarter as a newer version of the patron model, which lies somewhere between altruism and capitalism. People not only give to a project because they like the idea or creator, but they also get something in return. The reward could be to see the project come into existence or to get one of the Kickstarter rewards created for the site.

    The idea has been around for a very long time. Mozart and Beethoven used a similar funding model to premiere concerts and first print editions of their works. Patrons of the visual arts were rewarded by being able to keep and display the artwork. The Kickstarter model is similar, but it’s turbocharged by the web and its social aspects.

    The web allows for ideas to spread very fast and helps connect creators with an audience. The all or nothing deadline encourages patrons to share and promote the project quickly or risk see it disappear. Fueled by Facebook, Twitter and other social sites, Kickstarter projects can take on a life of their own, as patrons spread the idea far and wide.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website

    Kickstarter was founded in 2009 by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler. Since its launch over 20,000 projects have been successfully funded, with people pledging more than 75 million dollars. However, Kickstarter wasn’t always this big. Much like your project, Kickstarter began small.

    In 2002 Perry was working in New Orleans and trying to put together a concert. He wanted a way to query the audience to see if he had enough support to go through with it. From this initial idea Kickstarter.com was born. However, it would take another seven years before the site would launch.

    “I didn’t necessarily know where to begin. I wasn’t coming from working on the web” says Perry in an interview with TechCrunch. “At the time…I couldn’t have been less interested in dedicating my life, which is clearly what it takes.” Fortunately for us, he met some like-minded individuals and began working on the site.

    A couple years, later Perry moved back to New York City, his hometown. He met Yancey while working as a waiter at a restaurant called Diner in Brooklyn. Yancey was a regular and worked as a journalist. One day Perry mentioned an idea he had for a site that would allow him to raise money for creative projects. Yancey liked the idea and they began working it. However, neither of them had technical backgrounds. It wasn’t until they met Charles Adler that the idea really started to take off.

    Recalling the early years, Yancey said “At the beginning… it was a few people with a piece of paper and not much else.” He spoke of how they would wake up every morning wondering “Is today the day that the three people who live in Palo Alto, who are working on the exact same idea launch their site?”

    In order to get the site funded they reached out to David Cross, an actor on Arrested Development. Perry was friends with David’s cousin, and she helped arrange the meeting. David came on board as the initial investor and was joined by a few other artists later. When they were finally ready to launch, they sent invitations out to 30 of their friends and asked them to share it with five of their friends. In essence, they kick started their own site.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

  • A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
  • How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
  • Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”

    One of the most fascinating aspects of Kickstarter is the project’s “tipping point,” the point at which a project has enough momentum that it will most likely be completed. In Yancey Strickler’s Creative Mornings presentation, he explains how a project that reaches 30% funding has a 90% chance of being successfully completed.

    I learned of the 30% tipping point during my campaign for Identifying Nelson. At the time I found it hard to believe. I couldn’t imagine how a project with 70% of its funding goal left had such a good chance of making it. Even when the project passed its tipping point, I was still skeptical. But to my amazement we made it.

    Initially, I thought the 30% tipping point had to do with having a critical mass of backers. Once a project got enough backers to fund 30%, then that group would bring in the rest of the backers. It turns out that the number of backers it takes to reach 30% is quite low. During A Kickstarter’s Guide it was only 16 people. Each person would have had to bring in three to four more people. While this might have happened, I think critical mass isn’t the only factor in play.

    More recently, I began to think that there could be a psychological barrier before a project is 30% funded. When viewing the little green progress bar, a project with less than 30% funding looks like it won’t make it. Once that barrier is broken, people are more likely to jump on board. One thing that is clear about Kickstarter. People like to support projects that are going to make it. Maybe there is something about the 30% mark that subconsciously signals eventual success.

    We may never know why 30% is such an important number, but it almost doesn’t matter. What matters is getting to that mark as quickly as possible. Try your hardest to get to 30%. Then you can ease off a bit until you need to do a big push at the end.


    A Kickstart’s Guide to Kickstarter TOC:

    pssst…you can read all of this offline by downloading the e-book.

    Introduction
    A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction
    How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website
    Understanding Kickstarter
    The Basics of Kickstarter
    Kickstarter is an updated version of the Parton Model
    Kickstarter is like girl scout cookies…without the calories!
    Make sure your project has an ending
    Some additional benefits to running a Kickstarter project
    Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful
    Yancey’s thoughts on getting funded
    Brainstorming Your Project
    What is this damn thing about?
    Simplify your project for success
    Is your project a Purple Cow?
    Making Lemonade And Telling A Good Story
    Reward The Patrons
    Naming Your Kickstarter Project
    Doing Your Homework
    Before you launch, do your homework
    No one cares about you
    Some People Care About You
    Who is Your Audience?
    Where is Your Audience?
    Resonating With Your Audience
    Crossing Chasms
    What Will it Cost?
    Understanding Profit Margin and Costs
    Setting Your Goals
    Make or Break Decisions
    Running the Numbers
    Focus on what you need
    Reasonable funding goals
    Why be Reasonable?
    How long your campaign runs depends on one thing, momentum
    30 days or less
    Managing Deadlines
    Going for the BIG bucks
    The Allure of a Large Backer
    Pricing theory, thoughts about pricing your Kickstarter rewards
    The Paradox of Choice
    Crafting Your Pitch
    Creating a compelling pitch for your Kickstarter project
    Four questions people want answered when visiting your Kickstarter page.
    Show some credibility to get more backers
    Clarity is your friend
    How to ask for Support
    Kickstarter is a video-driven site
    Examples of great pitch videos
    Launching Your Project
    Launching your project
    How to track the progress of your Kickstarter campaign
    The 30% Kickstarter project “Tipping Point”
    Conclusion
    How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story