Have you heard of Kickstarter yet? If you haven't, you need to go to their website and check it out! Kickstarter is one of the big players in the world of crowd funding websites. Crowd funding, as defined by Wikipedia, is "the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together." In other words, crowd funding gives anyone the ability to go to this website and fund a project. Kickstarter believes that a good idea can be communicated across the web and spread like wild fire reaching a huge amount of people. This huge amount of people is a great source of funding and support.
Kickstarter employs an "all or nothing" funding system. That means if a project does not reach its funding goals, the project gets no funding at all. They do this for three reasons. First, it eliminates risk for people giving funding. A funder's money is not going to go to waste on a project that is not fully funded. Second, it allows people to test a concept without risk. If it's a bad idea, you're not going to get funded, so you do not have to worry about having to follow through. Third, it encourages people to spread the word and get involved in promoting their Kickstarter project.
So that owners keep 100% ownership of their projects, Kickstarter does not allow an exchange of equity for funding given. Instead, project creators give away rewards in order to incentivize people to fund their project.
Do you have a project you want funded? This is how it works:
1. You submit your project to Kickstarter for approval. It must fit into one of their categories (art, comics, dance, design, fashion, film, food, games, music, photography, publishing, technology, or theater). It must also be a creative and novel idea according to Kickstarter.
2. Once your project is approved, you can create your Kickstarter profile, which includes a video, a description of your project, the amount of money you are asking for, the number of days your project is going to run, and a list of the rewards you will be giving away. Check out a successful Kickstarter project here.
3. Once your Kickstarter project has gone live, it's time to promote, promote, promote! You only have a certain amount of days to reach your funding goal! Tell everyone you know across any platform you have about your project.
4. If your Kickstarter project gets funded, AWESOME! It's time to start fulfilling the rewards to your funders and start your project! If your Kickstarter project wasn't funded, it probably wasn't that great of an idea. Time to move on.
Kickstarter can be used by entrepreneurs to get their concepts off the ground. It can be the seed funding that is needed to validate a business without giving away any equity and with very little risk.
Some very exciting news: my most recent venture MistoBox just got approved by Kickstarter! I'm now in the process of creating a Kickstarter strategy before I launch the project, so I can put myself in the best position possible to get full funding. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the projects process, and let you know what I find to be the best strategies to getting funded. Can you think of any strategies that would make a Kickstarter project successful?
First off congratulations on getting approved on Kickstarter! I think that your idea is very interesting and fun and it reminds me a lot of the BirchBox mentioned in the post below. Kickstarter reminds me a lot of Kiva lending, in which you read profiles about individuals' business ideas to support themselves. It allows you to see how much they are seeking and how much has been lent, just like Kickstarter. I think sites like this are nice because you can learn about both a person and their idea to better choose something you really support. In thinking about making MistoBox a success I think that you should talk about what sprinkled you about this project and the benefits of buying from independent farmers and roasters. Perhaps someone that donates a large amount can get a visit to a roaster or have an input on a new product offering. Or you could provide coffee for the break-room at their business etc. Good luck with your venture!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that sites like this existed! This is really cool. I wish they didn't have a box that your idea had to fit into though. It's a great concept though. I think it's great how creative and innovative our culture can still be even though it seems like we've run out of things to come up with. When I encounter things like this site it really makes me think that ideas are limitless and that we aren't going to plateau anytime soon. I'm also excited for you and your project Sam, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post. I heard of Kickstarter before, but wasn't familiar with the intricacies of how it worked. Obviously, it's a great way to get projects funded and to test ideas. Big congrats on your acceptance to list your project!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of Jumo? It was a similar concept, but for the non-profit sector. I say "was," because it was just acquired by GOOD for a hefty sum, and it appears they took the site down. (Maybe it will be back later?) Basically, non-profits could list projects and receive funding in a similar manner. It was started by Chris Hughes, one of Facebook's co-founders.
Personally, I like that they do not fund projects unless the whole amount of funding is reached--great idea to test ideas and have funders feel like their money is being protected.
Obviously I'm no Kickstarter expert given that I just read about it, but perhaps you could combine your funding request with a beta product run. You could have different tiers of sample subscriptions that people receive for x,y,z months free based on a contribution of x, y, or z. That way people attracted to your idea feel like they actually get to participate and get free coffee/tea out of it, while you also get a diverse base of user testers and funding. Especially since the people that sign up this way are likely to be more interested in your project than the average person, they would also be a great source for feedback, i.e. more likely to fill out surveys, be patient with bugs, etc.