A great idea, motivation and a team of friends who know their job is often not enough to start some project because most of the time the team is missing something. Something very important and that is money. There is a reason why people say that money runs the world and, unfortunately, that is mostly true. There are lots of projects that want to start with their work and develop their idea. In fact, there is so many projects that you need a lot of skills and time to succeed and because of that some of the great ideas are ending up to be a losers.
So, where to look for the solution? Well, first you must create your business plan and then you can go to some crowdfunding sites. Those sites are based on large number of investors that support some team or individual projects. In that way some great projects get their money to start it.
The biggest current site for crowdfunding is Kickstarter. You probably heard of it. It was created in 2008 to finance people who were starting some projects about video games magazines or some other weird little innovative products. Kickstarter immediately attracted large attention and from that date to today they got over $230 million of investments for different projects and over 23 thousand successfully financed projects. So, you have an great idea and a business plan for your project? Just go to Kickstarter.
The biggest Kickstarter problems
But it is not that easy at it sounds. There are lots of projects that failed to gather money for their start but there are also people who couldn’t even start their crowdfunding story. So, what are the biggest Kickstarter problems and traps? Find out below.
- Kickstarter rejected project
You can’t even say how many projects didn’t even get a chance because there are no data about how many projects were rejected from Kickstarter. This website is mainly made for funding an innovative products but Kickstarter is getting about 5% of your money if you reach your goal. If you don’t reach the goal Kickstarter won’t get anything so if they see some project the probably won’t reach the goal they will reject it and it won’t get its chance to shine.
- Project didn’t reach the goal
After Kickstarter accepts your project you must stand out from the large number of other projects. If you don’t give awards for donated money then you won’t have a lots of success. For example, you can’t give a baseball hat or DVD to someone who donates more than $50 that just doesn’t make any sense. Also, a successful campaign has a lots of information and pictures and if you don’t inform visitors about your innovative product it probably won’t reach its goal.
- You need more money
The goal was reached and you received your money but then you realize that it won’t be enough. What then? Well, in this case you must notify all your investors and Kickstarter that the money you got won’t be enough and that you will try to get all the money you need through some other possibilities.
- You are late
Another thing that often happens is that people who successfully get money for their projects figure out that they won’t finish them on time. In that case investors surely won’t be happy but if you have a good reason for your late delivery of the product then just inform everyone about the reason and it will all be OK.
How to avoid all the problems?
So, what to do when you run into some of the problems we mentioned above or some other problems? Well, before you start your campaign you must make sure not to get yourself into that problems. And how to do that? Below I listed some of the best tips and advices that will help you to run successful Kickstarter campaign.
- Why should people help you?
Why would I give my money to you? Most of the people that come to your projects page will ask themselves that. And it’s your job to give them a reason. You must sell your story and convince people to help you because of your story and your plan, not just because of your project.
- Newsletters
You should take advantage of every marketing tactics you can find and one of them are newsletters or e-mail marketing. Create a great newsletter (you can find tips about that on our site, here) and send it to your subscribers. If you don’t take all advantage that marketing offers your Kickstarter project will probably fail.
- Make friends
It is always nice to make new friends but here it is important to be friends with your backers, the people who invested in you. Be nice with them, be open and some of them may spread the word about you and get you more investments. You should also make friends with some large blogs that will agree to publish an article about you and help you to achieve your goal on that way.
- Rewards
A very important thing about your crowdfunding project is to create good awards for everyone who give their money to you. You are not getting donations, you are getting invested money and if you don’t give something in return a bad word about your project will spread very quickly. Try to return the same amount as you were given so the both sides will be happy.
- Presentation
Presentation is one of the most important parts of your projects. Without a good presentation your project won’t be interesting and money that should have gone to you will go somewhere else. Create your presentation with large amount of quality and professionalism to attract visitors and show them your confidence. A great way to add some quality to your presentation is to make a great video about your project. Create something professional but fun and informative
6. Try hard
When you start your project then that Kickstarter campaign could be and should be your everyday job. Creators of some of the most successful campaigns spent almost 8 hours a day working on promoting their project and making it better and better so they can reach their goal. Try everything you can, write guest pots, ask some websites to do interviews and publish your articles. If you think you tried it all, trust me, there is still something else you can do and you should always search for more.
More advices about running a successful Kickstarter campaign can be found in the infographic below:
Best Kickstarter campaigns
Kickstarter made a dream come true to lots of projects. So, want to know who were the crowdfunding kings at Kickstarter? I made a list of 5 best campaigns. Check it out!
The most funded project on Kickstarter is still the Peeble smartwatch. Connect this watch to your Android or iPhone and receive text messages and call notifications. Its success on this crowdfunding site is simply unbelievable. Today, you can buy Peeble smartwatch for about $150.
Another project that can enter the category of “historical campaigns” on Kickstarter is the first affordable 3D printer. It costs about $3,300 and it is perfect for schools, universities, labs and similar places.
- Ukiyo-e Heroes
Ukiyo-e Heroes is an interesting project on Kickstarter that received about 30 times more money that its goal. Henry and his friend David Bull decided to make woodblock prints of a popular characters of video game.
- ARKYD Space Telescope
ARKYD Space Telescope is a telescope for everyone, at least they say that. This project raised about $1,5 million which is about $500,000 more than its goal. This public telescope should allow people to take their own picture of the space. Not just any kind of pictures, people will be able to take the pictures of themselves in space. Interesting, right?
- OUYA Game Console
It was hard to pick the last campaign to enter our top 5 Kickstarter campaign but we decided for OUYA Game Console. This console raised about $8, 5 million and its goal was only $1 million. This Android game console costs only $100 dollars and because of its functionality and beautiful design fans were amazed by this console. Since its launch there were some bad reviews because there are not a lot of games for this console but that doesn’t have to do anything with its Kickstarter campaign and OUYA Game Console will always remain as one of the best Kickstarter campaigns ever.
Worst Kickstarter campaigns
We listed the best Kickstarter campaigns of all time and I think it would be unfair to skip the worst ones, just to give you an example on how your idea, project planning and campaign presentation shouldn’t look. Check out my top 3.
- Nothing Simulator 2015
Nothing Simulator 2015 is an interesting game that does exactly nothing. The goal was to get $70. Unfortunately, it didn’t reach its goal, or maybe fortunately.
- Twerk Island
This is one of the times we must be thankful that the campaign didn’t get the necessary money. Twerk Island: A Real Contest Movie should have been a movie about a girl that organizes Twerk contest. Goal was $1 million and this project only needed $999,970 to succeed, so close.
- Paul – The Sexiest Smartphone Charger o the Planet
Do you want Paul? Paul is a naked man’s body that is used as a charger for your phone. You put your phone on your “favorite” area and cables are coming out of his bottom. The weird part is that this project raised $2,160 but, fortunately, the goal was $8,000 and it was unsuccessful.
Have some great Kickstarter campaigns that we missed? Or some fail that will make us laugh? Feel free to share it with us!
