Why We’re Still Crowdfunding Projects After Raising $3.2M+
Since 2014, we’ve funded three Mini Museum projects using Kickstarter. In total, we’ve raised more than $3,200,0000, successfully delivered three projects, and sent more than ten thousand personal museums to wonderful people all around the world. Thanks to our generous backers, the latest campaign for the Fourth Edition of the Mini Museum, hit the funding goal in 17 minutes and is on track to exceed by a mind-boggling 300% (check out the campaign).
While many companies have raised more, there are few who’ve done it multiple times with such a complex product. So perhaps it’s not so surprising that people have asked a great question: Why are you still crowdfunding after three successful projects?
The first thing that comes to my mind when someone asks this question is this picture:
I love our backers and customers and I think it’s pretty clear that they love what we we do. To me, this is and will always be the first reason to turn to crowdfunding: doing something you love for people you love who love you right back.
But aside from the fun, there are actually plenty of practical reasons to use crowdfunding.
It’s Less Expensive Than Traditional Financing
Many companies producing a large production run, or even a print mailing for that matter, lean on traditional financing to bridge the cash flow gap till the sales roll in. At prime+, the interest rates for those funds are typically higher than any fees associated with crowdfunding. So right off the top, crowdfunding can give you a boost.
Your Backers Set the Limit
If you’re successful in producing something your backers love, your backers will reward you with more pledges (i.e. sales). Not only does this validate your product development process with real-world sales, it can also give you immediate access to far greater funds than the caps associated with most traditional financing packages.
This in turn allows your business to to be more efficient with purchasing and build in even more great features.
For example, instead of doing packaging piecemeal you can do the entire run at once and save a few more points. Or maybe you can pay for that upgrade you’ve been dreaming about because you’ll have the demand at hand when you place that order. In our case, it also helps fund the next edition of the Mini Museum, a process which requires months and months of preparation.
You and Your Customers Are In Control
Since you’re not leaning on traditional financing, your first obligation (to provide a great product to your customers) becomes your ONLY obligation.
Anyone who has financed a large project in advance of sales can appreciate what it feels like when you have the pressure to deliver a great product and pay back the bank with interest. With crowdfunding, you’re free to do what you do best because your customers have already rewarded you with their approval.
What Crowdfunding Means to Mini Museum
In our case, we’ve used the efficiencies to further our mission of sharing the universe.
This means sharing the Mini Museum with as many people as possible while making each Mini Museum the very best Mini Museum it can be. We’ve been able to keep our prices the same even though we’ve improved every aspect of the product time and time again. We’ve been able to invest in more time-consuming processes to produce even more complicated specimens. We’ve also been able to keep donating Mini Museums to schools and other educational institutions.
Would it be possible to do this without crowdfunding? I’m sure we’d find a way, but this brings me to the final point…
During our first crowdfunding campaign, Kickstarter hit the $1B mark just as we were passing $1M in pledges (which is still such an amazing surprise). I thought this was a pretty neat coincidence at the time, but since then Kickstarter has continued to grow. Thousands and thousands of projects have brought millions of people onto the platform. As it stands now, Kickstarter has received about $3.8B in pledges which, funny enough, looks a lot like where our four-project total will end up — minus a few zeroes.
Strange coincidences aside, this means that Mini Museum has access to even more awesome people than we did four years ago, and isn’t that something every business tries to find?
Kickstarter has made so much possible for us. Not only are we sharing Hans’ life long dream with the world, we’re also building a great team together and reaching people all around the world with a message that science and history matter. It’s quite possible that we’ll eventually move on from crowdfunding some day but it’s hard to argue with staying close to those we love when the platform keeps on delivering practical benefits that allow us to keep the journey going.
You can learn more about the Mini Museum at https://minimuseum.com or drop by and join thousands of people in supporting the Fourth Edition on Kickstarter. It’s going to be an incredible trip!
