Steve Jobs once said “You can’t ask customers what they want to buy and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” We’ve got to wonder what Jobs would have thought about Kickstarter.
Launched in 2008, Kickstarter.com is an online “crowdfunding” service that helps designers, artists, and entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life. Fund-seekers submit projects for consideration, and if they meet guidelines they’re able to post a full proposal on Kickstarter.com. Developers must set a deadline for raising their required funds, and if visitors to the project’s Kickstarter page like what they see, they can pledge financial support. If the goal is reached by the deadline, Kickstarter charges the contributors for their pledges, and the developer gets the cash, thus “kickstarting” their idea into reality. Backers of a successful project are rewarded based on how much they donated, ranging from a personalized thank you, a T-shirt, and so on--even the finished product. If the goal isn’t met, the project’s developer walks away without a cent.
An early prototype of Olloclip, which was thrown into full-blown production thanks to Kickstarter funding.
The system marries entrepreneurship with democracy, and for those with success stories, it’s incredibly rewarding. For instance, the inventor of the Olloclip (olloclip.com), a clip-on multi-lens attachment for the iPhone, is very satisfied. “I found out about Kickstarter and I had the idea for the Olloclip at the same time,” says Patrick O’Neill. “I thought Kickstarter would be perfect for this because you get the community to fund you, and you get a few things out of Kickstarter besides money. You get enthusiastic supporters who will spread the word and tell people about your product. That’s priceless.”
Patrick O’Neill launched Olloclip with Kickstarter funding (vintage aircraft not included).
Launched as a Kickstarter project in May 2011, the diminutive Olloclip is selling like hotcakes not only via its own official site, but also through Apple’s online store and its brick and mortar retail outlets. O’Neill credits much of this success to the support the Olloclip received from Kickstarter. In order to send Olloclip into production, he and his team required $15,000. Visitors to Kickstarter were so impressed that O’Neill was able to reach that goal in just over a week.
According to Justin Kazmark, Kickstarter’s Director of Communications, gadgets aren’t the only projects that flourish. “The largest category right now in terms of money made is Film & Video,” says Kazmark. “Since we launched, there’s been more than $140 million pledged to projects. Something like $45 million of that has been to film projects.” In fact, 17 of the movies that screened at the 2012 Sundance International Film Festival received Kickstarter funding. One of them, Indie Game: The Movie (indiegamethemovie.com), received the World Cinema Editing Award and was optioned by HBO for TV redistribution. Not too shabby for a film that only reached (and then exceeded) their $35,000 funding goal this past July.
Threeds oboe trio + Kickstarter pitch = one awesome record.
Musical projects have fared well too. Katie Scheele of the oboe trio Threeds (threedsoboetrio.com) says Kickstarter could very well turn out to be an independent band’s best friend. “Making an album costs so much money,” she explains. “We set what I thought was a pretty reasonable goal: $5,000. It took us a little over a week until we were fully funded and hit that mark, and it just kept going up from there. We were able to get up to $7,700. It allowed us to find a nicer studio to record in and to use additional musicians.”
For those thinking of pitching a project on Kickstarter, Kazmark observes that individuals who promote their projects through social media and engage their potential backers during the course of their Kickstarter campaign have traditionally enjoyed more success than their less active counterparts. It’s a sentiment shared by Karen Chu, whose podcast Good Job, Brain! (goodjobbrain.com) was launched with the aid of Kickstarter funding. Chu says that from what she saw while researching Kickstarter before pitching her podcast, entrepreneurs who pay attention to their page’s visuals often find their efforts pay off in the end.
The Good Job, Brain! podcast did a great job of fundraising with Kickstarter.
“Anything online has to be digestible and visual-centric,” says Chu. “I feel like a lot of the more successful Kickstarter projects, they have a good video and pictures, and the description is not too long. You really need that initial grab for people to come to your page, scan it, and get the gist of your project. I made sure that my project had a video and a lot of pictures.”
Of course, there’s one more ingredient that every Kickstarter entrepreneur should bake into their product pitch: passion. Add in an ingenious product and just the right combination of engagement and showmanship, and anyone could kickstart their way into making their creative dreams a reality.
