10 Days on Kickstarter
What did I learn so far?
I am in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign that keeps my mind continuously going and leaves me with a list of endless things to do at night, but it’s amazing. What started out as a personal project is now moving toward being a business. I was fed up with my wallet. It was big, bulky, and left a bulge in my pocket. After researching other wallets, materials, and prototyping, I developed a sleek super slim wallet made of cork. Working with a local tailor in Pilsen, the lower west side of Chicago, I brought the first wallet to life. After a few weeks of using it I thought, “maybe others would want a slim sustainable wallet made in the US?” and posted the concept on Kickstarter.
After researching and pricing out the cost of initial supplies I came up with an estimate for the project and began to prepare a Kickstarter page for KORK. Why did I use Kickstarter versus Indiegogo? Comparing the two I learned Indiegogo charged 4% if your project funding if it met the project goal and 9% if it did not, compared to Kickstarter’s charge of 5% of the funded total, if you reach your goal. I chose Kickstarter for a few reasons. I felt the Kickstarter brand was more well known and I did not want to more forward with my project if there was not demonstrated desire for it.
Everything since then has been a blur of activity and I have learned a great deal in a short period. Below are some of my takeaways thus far.
Don’t debut on Kickstarter
If you are posting a project for the first time and you don’t have a personal following on Facebook or Twitter, you may not what this to be your products first debut. It is a good idea to make a page of the product concept on Facebook first to share the idea and the work you have done thus far. This will help build a following of supporters before you launch on Kickstarter. This is not a necessity, but it helps to build demand for your project from the start. Also starting out with strong demand places you in the top projects recognized by Kickstarter, which gets your project more visibility and hopefully more backers outside your network.
Friends back first
When I launched the project I will admit, I did not have a Twitter following or Facebook page on my product, the KORK wallet, prior to launch. I was so fixated on preparing my page and I did not think about my marketing strategy, which was not a great idea. I shared my Kickstarter page on Facebook and Twitter right away. My friends and personal network were the primary supporters during my first few days, which is great, but once you run out of enthusiastic friends that are willing to purchase your product, it is tough to get out to the masses. Getting picked up by bloggers and media channels are where you want to focus as they are your connection to a curated group of potential backers.
Pull the trigger
After reviewing my Kickstarter page a hundred times and updating my video I pulled the trigger at 11pm on a Thursday night. I kept delaying to make the page incrementally better, but every moment it’s not out there, no one can back you! Yes, there are better strategies to get out there. Other Kickstarter success stories (such as the Gotham Bicycle Defense) had a ‘launch party’ where they counted down with their community of supporters and friends to back from the first moments. There are also other projects such as the ‘Potato Salad’ project that raised over $55k, which seems to have been started on a whim. Either way there is no one winning formula. I would consider your ambition level, do some pre-planning, and just get out there!
Learn as you go
In the beginning I did not know how to mass produce the cork wallet with consistent quality. In reality, I made one, loved it, and thought other people would love it too. Once there was demonstrated demand I did my homework to make sure that I could make high quality cork wallets in small batches. At the beginning before you launch your Kickstarter, don’t wait until you have everything ‘figured out’. It would have taken me weeks to learn the laser cutting and sewing techniques that I learned while the project was happening. It is important to think about what you are going to use the funds for and what you are going to need in the end, but you do not need to have all the answers before you launch.
Adapt to feedback
As I was ‘selling’ the product to my friends they asked me a number of questions about the quality and durability of the product including how it was made. Talking to people about the product revealed concerns and allowed me to recact to them. I reacted to questions about quality by creating tests to show the durability of the product. Also there was an overwhelming request for color that shaped the next milestones in the project and helped raise more money to fund new colors and provide backers with more choices. I also changed the picture on the front of the Kickstarter and added a new video incorporating their feedback. Overall it is an exercise in ‘adapting’ to cater to your supporters and gain more backers.
It has been an amazing ride and it is not over yet, but I am so grateful for my supporters and the experience of sharing an incremental innovation in my life with the world so others can enjoy it too. Thanks for reading, if you found this article useful please share it with others so we can all make our dreams a reality.
