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.
- 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
- 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
- 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
30 thoughts on “Perry Chan’s Six Principles on why Kickstarter projects are successful”