How I raised $10,000 in 52 hours

So a little about me: I am a 20-year-old college entrepreneur at the University of Florida. I just launched my first Kickstarter Thursday night and raised $10,000 in 52 hours.

So the obvious question is: how did you do it?

It is impossible to explain everything in one short article, but I will try my best.

First, mobilize potential backers. Early traction is key.

I did not have a strong following for my company prior to my launch so I knew my early backers would be my own supporters. The people who believe in me: my parents, my brothers, my sister, my grandparents, my friends at UF and my mentors.

I have been working on my company for two and a half years so I do have an incredible network (networking is essential!)

Some of my pledges I had secured before the campaign. I asked my grandparents and my father what they were willing to put in and had some rough figures to work with. From there I organized several launch parties so the campaign could gain traction ASAP.

Others were completely unexpected. Two mentors who are both incredibly notable entrepreneurs each gave $1,000. I did not expect those at all.

First four days of Cul-De-Sac Conquest’s Kickstarter

As this graph shows we reached our target super fast. The great thing was since we had such great early traction we appeared on Kickstarter’s homepage the first night and the next morning, leading to a ton of unsolicited, unadvertised pledges. Kickstarter can be a great advertising medium if it picks up immediate traction. People back what they think is popular — people back what others back.

Here is a graph to show what Kickstarter did for us because of our early backing via launch parties (which gave social pressure to pledge immediately).

This shows how well we got backers who found us from Kickstarter

We did a lot of things right, as one would have to in order to raise so much money so quickly. However, we did a lot wrong too. If we’re able to fund at $17,500 I will post about some of our miss-steps and oversights even with all of our research.

If you’re interested in checking out the campaign here is the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/holeshotheroes/cul-de-sac-conquest-card-game