July 2012 – A Kickstarter's Guide to Kickstarter

The Kickstarter Hierarchy of Successfulness

Over the past couple months I’ve been working on something I call “The Kickstarter Hierarchy of Successfulness.” It is a framework that helps explain the most important factors to a Kickstarter project success. It is based on a lot of the research I have been doing over the past year as well as my own personal experience.

The name is a hat tip to Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness, whose book is an excellent resource and explains how ideas spread online.

This is just an overview and over the next couple weeks I’ll be taking a deeper dive into each of these. For now, here are four main factors that determine a projects success listed in order of increasing importance.

4. Explanation – The project must be simple enough that someone else can share it. Projects that have multiple parts are hard to explain and therefore spread slowly.

3. Offer – A project offers product or experience. Backers are either getting a finished product or are receiving an experience. Unless you have a working prototype in hand then you are offering an experience. Typically project offering almost finished products which are being pre-sold perform better than projects just offering an experience.

2. Engagement – The project must engage potential backers with an idea or story. A project either represents a unique, perhaps eve quirky idea or is telling a compelling story that is meaningful to a particular audience. Projects that represent a unique idea get a lot more attention because they are easier and more interesting to talk about.

1. Audience – The project must have a specific audience. Project creators either have an audience before launching or are working to build an audience during the campaign. Project creators who have a built in audience before coming to Kickstarter will have a much easier time funding there project.

The framework dictates that the most successful projects will be those that have a built-in audience, represent a compelling idea, are in the final stages of development and are easy to explain. As my friend Cedric Victor has said “but that’s kind of difficult isn’t it?” The answer is, yes. It’s very hard to do. An example of one such project is the Pebble E-Paper Watch.

What if your project is not like this? That’s Okay. The Pebble is the exception, not the rule, and there are a number of things you can do to push the odds of achieving success in your favor. This will be the topic of future posts. More to come!

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

These are the two fundamental building blocks of any Kickstarter project. A great project embodies a remarkable idea or tells a compelling story. The very best projects use both idea and story to build an audience and attract backers.

Unlike the other concepts in this book, these two principles affect all aspects of your endeavor. They can be embedded in everything, from what you are producing, to the way that you run your campaign. Using them well is extremely hard, but the payoff can be incredibly high.

Idea

Ideas are powerful. They are like viruses, spreading form person to person. When your project embodies a remarkable idea, it too will spread and this can serve as your marketing.

There are some projects on Kickstarter that have been funded because they represent an idea so contagious that people can’t help but talk about them. Building a stature of Robocop in downtown Detroit is one such idea. These type of projects are rare, but you can use this principle to make your project more interesting.

When Dan Provost & Tom Gerhardt ran their second Kickstarter project, they tried something different with their pricing. During their first project The Glif, they set the price of their product at $25. For their second project, a wide grip stylus for tablets, they did not set a price. They said the item would retail for $25, but people were able to pledge whatever they wanted. The catch was that there were only 3000 slots to raise $50,000. If everyone pledged $1, then no one would get the reward. By using a creative pricing model, they captured an idea that got people talking.

Everyone is making a film, album, art project, comic book, novel, etc., so you should want to create a project that represents an idea worth talking about.

Story

Story is the other building block you have to play with. Telling your story in a compelling manner can make an ordinary project shine. Storytelling isn’t just the narrative of how your project came into existence. It is about entertaining people and connecting with them on an emotional level. It’s more than your video, although that may be the primary medium. It is the way you convey the story that reveals the essence of your project.

Zach Williams and The Bellow used storytelling as a critical element in their project to record an album. Recording an album is not a new, creative, or even that interesting of an idea, but the way they talked about it was. In the video Zach talks about how eight strangers from the South found each other in New York City and formed the band. He talks about what the music means to them and why it is so important. Through their video you understand that, for them, this is about much more than just recording an album.

As you build your project, think about the elements that will make your story more compelling, and how you want to express them. There might even be things you can do that will enhance the story when the project launches. Give it some real thought, because a great story can turn an ordinary idea into something magical.

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

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

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.

A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction

How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website

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

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

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.

A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction

How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

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.

A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter: Introduction

How Kickstarter “Kickstartered” it’s own website

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

How to engage an audience with a Kickstarter project: Idea & Story

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?