5+1 crazy startup rip offs that actually raised funds on Kickstarter
Whenever I start a conversation about startups I usually get quite a lot eyebrows raised. Especially when I mention fundraising.
#1 Potato salad: Goal: $10
When people try to be funny and it ends up with people jumping on the hype train. It all started out with a funny video, where the creative mind of Zack Danger Brown explained his idea to the world. During the short intro he almost lost it a couple of times, when he tried to take it serious. The real joke was however when the $10 dollar project raised 55 thousand dollars.
In case you thought the game is over, Mr. Brown surprises you with a book that you can buy for $11.40 on Amazon.
The Peace, Love & Potato Salad Cookbook — Zack Danger Brown
Worst part of it, is that people are actually got interest in it:
„Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
You can check out the details here.
#2 Pirate pancake griddle!: Goal: $13k
Joe Sandor and his spectacular revolutionary invention that solves world hunger. The Pirate Pancake Griddle. Mr. Sandor was brave and asked 13.000$ to kickstart his business. He even made a great introduction video, to show the world the unique features of his lovechild. The video seems to be a bit too long though. You can tell this by the fact that he starts putting random food into the mold since he ran out of features. Who knows, maybe people really need this in their lives, since it somehow raised $18.633 from 200 brackets.
The quote of the year:
„CAST IRON — — — → CAST FOOD”
You can check out the details here.
#3 Cybermatrix 100 by Schaun Bishop: Goal: $500
The dream of many 90’s kids. Building your own gaming console. Cybermatrix 100 represents the dream of Schaun. His rig is a real flagship amongst those that you can buy in stores. Well to be correct, he didn’t build the console itself, but provided detailed schematics and some beautiful concept art, so that evereyone can build it home. All he asked was $500 and guess what? CM 100 raised $504.
You can read more about it here.
#4 CST-01- The World’s Thinnest Watch: Goal $200k
WoW, this actually looks pretty damn cool. No wonder it has managed to raise 1 million dollars. It’s not something that you’d see on everyone’s hand. In fact it’s so unique that nobody has ever got one yet.
It seems that the development went so good, that they managed to reach such a thin result, that when people opened the box they thought it was empty. You may ask: Why is it in the list when it doesn’t look stupid despite the fact that it’s a scam?
Because if something is too good to be true, than it’s too good to be true.
You can read more about it here.
#5 SKARP: Goal $160k
Another beautiful lie, similar to CST-01, this started out to be a real innovation. The amount of attention it gained is impressive. It managed to raise 4 million dollars just from 20,632 brackets. The kickstarter page is built up in a way that it helps to estabilish trust in every way. They even involved Christopher Zachary Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of California into the project.
So where does it get fishy?
Right about here, when you see this video and you have that strange feeling that you’re on the wrong side of youtube again. The way this “device” and the handler is struggling with cutting down a few strands of hair it looks like a new trailer for SAW.
You can read more about it here.
#+1 Kobe Red by Magnus Fun Inc: Goal $2374
This product and it’s creators deserve a special place — in hell — since this might be the top scam on Kickstarter. It managed to surpass the goal of $2374 within less than 2 days and raised $120000 “only” by ripping off 3300 supporters. They managed to fool the press by creating a series of fake news and user reviews about the background. Luckly Kickstarter stepped in and unmasked the sorrow truth, by revealing the fake background. Otherwise who might know where would’ve it ended?
So next time you’re thinking about crowd funding
You can read more about it here.
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