The Alpha Release
Today marks the public release of the Alpha “MVP” version of the platform. Available for the first time to the public, we invite you to experiment with the platform, create a user account, and tell your friends! With this public preview, the full recruitment of future creators and backers is now underway. #MoonMonday
Today’s Alpha Release was made possible by the joint efforts of MetaLab, MouseBelt, the Pledgecamp team, and many others. To test the site, visit:
MetaLab, of course, is the world-famous UX/UI design firm behind multi-billion dollar products such as Coinbase, Slack, and others. They were responsible for the UX/UI design of the platform that you see today.
MouseBelt is the world’s only full-service blockchain accelerator. They dedicated a team of incredible engineers, designers, and business development experts to help take MetaLab’s design and make it a reality.
And of course, the Pledgecamp team of engineers and designers led and contributed every step of the way. Now, let’s take a look:
Home Page
The newly designed home-page features an educational banner at the top for users new to Pledgecamp and crowdfunding, and features several prominent campaigns. The visual format immediately distinguishes the site from competitors, while retaining the key elements familiar to existing crowdfunding users.
Scrolling down the page, you can see categories of projects and the option to dive deeper at any moment. The page also features adequate education points to continue to familiarize new visitors to Pledgecamp. Of course, the demo projects are placeholders right now but they are enough to convey the idea, and the home page will continue to evolve as we go from being a “new brand” to one that users are familiar with. At that point, there will be less educational prompts required.
Project Page
Clicking on any project will bring you the Project Page. Again, it is immediately distinguishable from Kickstarter or Indiegogo, yet familiar enough that it is easy to use and digest. A key functional difference is the “Add to Cart” system that should be familiar to anyone who has shopped online before.
On Kickstarter, you may only choose one reward per backer. This makes offering accessories, variations of size/color/type, and combinations of quantities very tricky. It is more complicated on the backend to offer this functionality, but Pledgecamp offers it in a format everyone will be familiar with. You can simply add items to your cart as much as you’d like, with different combinations of rewards, and use the drop-down menus to select what type of product variation you prefer, if offered.
This will eliminate a huge pain point for both backers and creators, and hopefully be yet another way we increase the bottom line for creators.
Another key element of the product page is the Overview and Timeline near the bottom. On Pledgecamp, the Project Timeline is prominently displayed next to the campaign text. We believe this timeline is just as, if not more important, than the marketing materials. On Kickstarter, submitting a clear timeline with milestones is only optional!
This Project Timeline is crucial and unique because this is the schedule the creator is promising to follow, before accepting any funds. After fund are accepted, this schedule cannot be changed; the creator can only post blog-style updates explaining their progress and if any changes are happening. But this original timeline is set in stone and encoded into the smart contract for Backer Insurance.
Backer Insurance will be released little by little according to the schedule set in the Project Timeline. Therefore, it will be easy for backers to keep track of the creator’s promises and vote to refund the Backer Insurance when they feel the creator is no longer trustworthy.
Project Builder
Although you will not be able to create a live project at this moment, you are able to test what the project builder looks like. First, you must create an account and certify that you pass the minimum requirements (these requirements are pending regulatory review and may be subject to change).
You will soon arrive at the screen above, the Dashboard. You can see that building a new campaign is separated into 5 easy categories:
- Basics: A step-by-step guide for setting up the basics of your project
- Overview: Setting up the campaign content with easy-to-follow guides
- Rewards: Setting up the items to be sold
- Timeline: Detailing the all-important milestones
- Account: Submitting payment details for accepting your funds
The bottom of the page also features articles from the Knowledge Center (currently placeholders) that are designed for first-time crowdfunders and newbies. We believe it’s incredibly important to help these new entrepreneurs know how to reduce their costs, raise more funds, and most importantly, build and deliver their products successfully. Oftentimes, these entrepreneurs turn to crowdfunding thinking it is easy to deliver and due to the lack of support from existing platforms, they often fail. Pledgecamp makes it a priority to help these creators be successful every step of the way, for everyone’s sake.
Coming Next
The Beta Release of the platform is scheduled for late October, 2019. We will use these next few months to recruit more and more future projects to launch on the platform and attract new users. The platform smart contracts will be audited and bugs around the frontend corrected. We will remove the placeholder content and allow full use of the platform and project creator, including the analytics and backer management system essential for creators.
We are excited to bring you this Alpha Release on-time, and we are confident we can continue to hit our milestones. As a reminder, this is just the very early beginning, but that just means you will be part of a significant and fulfilling journey with us. We’re happy to have you along, and stay tuned!
Be sure to follow us here on Medium, as well as:
Twitter: twitter.com/pledgecamp
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Telegram ANN: t.me/pledgecamp_announcements
We will post breaking news and announcements across these channels in addition to the regular posting schedule detailed above.
This site is a limited-feature prototype for demonstration only. It will not accurately reflect the final design and functionality of the future Pledgecamp platform.
For more details about the Pledgecamp platform, refer to our white paper accessible at https://pledgecamp.com/whitepaper.
This post may contain forward-looking statements about the future functionality of the platform. The platform is currently in development, and we reserve the right to make changes to the design, names, or functionality of features in the interests of making the platform successful. For full risk factors, see white paper.
