This is the second in a series of three posts about David Beck’s highly successful Kickstarter campaign
IDEA Hub Director Maia Donohue and about 15 attendees participated in a Zoom interview of David Beck, Game Designer for the board game Distilled. David’s Kickstarter funding goal minimum was to raise $18,000 to cover his initial costs, but he hoped to raise $50,000 to $100,000. His work paid off and his 8060 backers pledged $549,573 to help bring this project to life. He shared his successes and failures in the interview and talked about the importance of tiers and fulfillment.
Key to Kickstarter campaigns is to set a reachable base pledge goal. Failure to meet the base pledge goal will void the Kickstarter campaign and no money will be raised. The base pledge should be enough to get to the initial project milestone. Other crowdsourcing platforms, such as Indiegogo, have unique rules and guidelines that should be reviewed prior to setting up any campaign.
Having well-structured pledge tiers allowed even the most modest investor a chance to be part of the campaign. By having well planned out stretch goals, which are goals that are above the base goal, add bonus rewards when funding reached certain levels will add to the excitement. Pro Tip: Silhouette the stretch tiers until you are approaching the next tier, so that the reveal will create excitement about the expanded offering.
When working out tiers, be sure to include shipping costs, especially international shipping which can be very expensive, so that your full costs are covered. Using services such as BackerKit can help with managing fulfillment obligations. By not executing well on fulfillment will cause your backers to leave and can tarnish your future ventures.
If you have questions about Kickstarter or other crowdfunding tools, contact IDEA Hub Director Maia Donohue at donohuejer@uwplatt.edu and learn more about IDEA Hub at https://www.ideahubaccelerator.com/