My Kickstarter Tips and Tricks
I’ve had 4-5 friends hit me up about Kickstarter over the past few months. It’s been a delight to chat with them about what I’ve learned over the past 5 years on 8 campaigns. We’ve raised a total of $774K from 7,757 Backers in those years, and the campaigns have been the backbone of our product launches to the general market. Now, there are single campaigns that have raised millions. We aren’t those campaigns or those companies. My business, Knafs, is a small business with 10 employees, and a campaign that clears $100K is a really big deal for us. So, keep that in perspective as you read my thoughts here. I’m not the biggest, but chances are if you’re reading this, neither are you. I had a professor once say something to the effect that you might be a clown on a bicycle in a parade full of huge, immaculate floats, but the clown is still in the same parade attracting attention. The trick is to put on the face paint, jump on the bicycle, and enjoy the parade.
Learn the Platform First
Several of my friends asked if they should do a Kickstarter campaign, but they haven’t signed up for an account or backed any other campaigns. Learning by doing is the long, hard way with Kickstarter. Learning by watching is the shortcut. There are so many incredibly creators and campaigns on Kickstarter. Go sign up for an account. Spend $200 on a few campaigns. Then sit back and watch the creators create. You’ll get their backer updates. You’ll see their struggles. You’ll watch the community interact. It will be the best $200 you’ve spent. Here are a few of my favorite consistent creators:
A quick smattering of campaigns I’ve backed over the years. Each one different and unique. Backing others’ campaigns is an excellent way to learn the platform without the effort of your own campaign.
Read and Learn
I became interested in Kickstarter in 2020 during the pandemic. It just so happened that my employer was having a shipping crisis in a warehouse in Hebron, Kentucky that required as many bodies as possible. I ended up there wearing a N95 mask, affixing Amazon labels on candles and Popsockets in a bustling warehouse. It was dreadfully boring. But it gave me time to listen to book called “Kickstarter Launch Formula” by Salvador Briggman. It was a perfect primer. He also had a podcast that I binged on for 10 days while growing pale under the neon lights of said warehouse. It was brutal. But, I’m now grateful I had the time to learn. Life is funny like that.
I’ve also spent a bit of time listening to a podcast called Crowdfunding Nerds. They’re deep and delightful with solid insights. I’d probably recommend them after you’ve run your first campaign, as they are talking deep optimizations.
Do Your Research
One of my friends was interested in doing a Kickstarter campaign around tea. I jumped on Kickstarter and started poking around. A few minutes of quick searching, and I realized tea is not a heavy hitter on Kickstarter. If you’re open to raising $5K there, perfect. If you need $50K, Kickstarter just doesn’t have that kind of audience for your product. Which takes me to the next point…
Bring Your Audience
If you’re going to Kickstarter hoping to launch your brand, you’d better have something super interesting like the world’s first self-adjusting smart belt. (Real talk: that’s the literal stupidest product I’ve ever seen in my life, but who I am to argue with $60K raised?) Don’t expect to magically find your people on Kickstarter. Plan to bring 70% of your own audience, then enjoy the 30% algorithmic benefits of being on a existing platform. My caveat to that is there are built-in audiences already on Kickstarter like board games, EDC, and comics etc. However, there’s no guarantee they’re going to like you.
Start Small
On my first project, I was hoping to raise $3,000— just enough to get it off the ground. We raised $20K. It was exhilarating, but also my risk was crazy low as I was learning. Manage your risk and only create a project you think you can actually finish.
Think Social
The best way to think of Kickstarter is as a social media platform. People comment and expect responses. You post updates. Storytelling is key. There’s a direct message and customer service component to all of it too. If you’re thinking of Kickstarter as a magic money machine that happens after you build a campaign, think again. It’s a pre-order ecommerce platform that mated with Facebook. If you don’t like social media or ecommerce, Kickstarter may not be for you. If you’re an engineer with a great idea, but no interest in conversing with the outside world, Kickstarter may not be for you.
Prep for Failure
I’ve had a couple friends launch campaigns and fail to meet their funding goal. It’s always a rough emotional spot. But. That’s part of the beauty of Kickstarter. I would prefer to fail after laborious R&D and BEFORE production. Let’s look at it this way: let’s say I spend $20K on R&D making a viable product that is ready to launch on Kickstarter. I spend another $5K creating the campaign hoping to raise $50K to pay for the first run of widgets and put the product into production. The campaign flops, and I don’t hit my funding goal. I don’t make any money on it— and I lose money! Hopes and dreams shattered, right? Right. Buuuut. Look at it differently: the market just told you it’s not interested in what you’re selling. Would you rather have spent $25K finding that out, or $75K and be sitting on $50K of inventory that no one wants? Kickstarter is a proving ground, and not all campaigns fly. That’s part of the beauty of it.
Now, that’s not to say your Supplement-Dosing Dispenser Machine 5000 isn’t viable in a different market. Maybe it’s great in Japan? Or billions buy it in India. Maybe it’s great for geriatrics who aren’t on Kickstarter. Going back to my tea example: it’s not to say that no one wants tea. However, Kickstarter is not the most common place for someone to find and support new teas: your tea-drinkers aren’t inherently on the platform. You may see more success running your Fresh New Tea 5000 through specialty shops.
This is my MVP version of this blog post. I’ll flesh it out more later and add pictures, probably. Or it might stay like this forever. Hard to tell; hard to forecast.