> My Crowdfunding Experience

rayw

rayw

Crowdfunding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread dedicated to discussing our individual KickStarter & IndieGoGo crowdfunding experiences (in as much excruciating depth as bearable) so that we may all better understand the resource's limitations.





(Click on images to goto sites)

Anyone care to share their stories?

- Overall expectations going into the "Yes/Pursue" decision
- Pre planning
- What you received advice and were warned about before or during the campaign
- Campaign architecture
- What you were trying to (and not to) convey in the campaign?
- Nuances in the donor premium/reward structure
- Financial and attitude observations of family, immediate friends, long distance extended e-friends, strangers
- Donation expectations and observations
- Take aways
- How did X-input correlate with Y-response?
- What did people seem to "miss"?
- Surprises, good and bad
- Next time what would you repeat and what would you do differently?
- Would you try crowdfunding again?
- Alternatives


Thank you.
 
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All in all, I don't regret trying out the kickstarter campaign. Though during the process we got more high fives, good jobs, and pats on the back than donations. I see that you truly need to have a fanbase and be some street cred before you can expect to get a huge following on kickstarter and have people jumping up and down to help you out.

I think it's a good idea to rethink my strategy, maybe finish a couple episodes or work on another project and then come back to do the kickstarter again or even just work more on other things and finish it with my own cash.

Thanks for the interest!
 
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NickClapper said:
Ok, so I drew up a little 'Crowdfunding report' and uploaded it as a PDF. Hopefully it might be interesting and/or useful to anyone considering running a crowdfunding campaign.

The Flight of the Flamingo Crowdfunding Report!
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Ah, wow, Nick.
That was... FANTASTIC!!!

Very thorough and insightful.
And wildly considerate of your fellow filmmakers.
:yes: Good karma comes your way. :yes:

With this caliber of attention given to 'The Flight of the Flamingo's production it's sure to be a festival contender.

Thank you and good luck.
 
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Just moving the list of current crowdfunding projects, arranged by maturity date, to the top of what I believe should be the fourth page:

(Please note the NEW links to thread contributors!! Karma, folks. Karma.)

Art of the Bag - A Speed Bag Story - sought $5,000 by May 31: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zazacast/art-of-the-bag-a-speed-bag-story
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=39908

Buck Shot - sought $2,200 by Jun 01: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/895354198/buck-shot
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40075
>Report>> http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=272818#post272818

save BBOY for LIFE (the movie) - sought $20,000 by Saturday Jun 2: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/84723185/save-bboy-for-life-the-movie
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40157

INSPIRED: The Movie - seeking $75,000 by Saturday Jun 16: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1564946265/inspired-the-movie
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40595

cockroaches - seeking $80,000 by Sunday Jun 17: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/roachtown/cockroaches
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40525

SUPEZ: BOOM OF YOUTH - seeking $5,500 by Tuesday Jun 19: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1657317425/supez-boom-of-youth
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40567
>Report>> http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=275374#post275374

Shake The Lake Movie - seeking $12,500 by Wednesday Jun 20: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1439379955/shake-the-lake-movie
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=39970

To Survive - Post Apocalyptic Thriller - seeking $7,500 by Wednesday Jun 20: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stephenfolker/to-survive-post-apocalyptic-thriller
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40409

'Hollywood: A People's History' - seeking $10,000 by Friday Jun 22: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1282298668/appear-in-a-movie-poster-in-hollywood-a-peoples-hi
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40542

Flamingo Close - seeking by Fri Jun 22: Funded http://www.indiegogo.com/flamingoclose
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40808

Lyncredible - seeking $3,500 by Friday JUN 29 - PROJECT MODIFIED to $500 by SUNDAY JUL 1: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lyndrick/lyncredible
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40659
>Report>> http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=274614#post274614

The Flight of the Flamingo - seeking $7,000 by Mon Jul 02: Funded http://www.indiegogo.com/flamingomovie
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40186
>Report>> http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=275381#post275381

The Crucible - seeking $15,000 by FRIDAY JUL 6: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/159844980/the-crucible-film?ref=email
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40849

The Suicide Theory - seeking $30,000 by Fri Jul 13: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/thesuicidetheory

Five Stages Of Michael - seeking $8,000 by Mon Jul 16: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/FSOM
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=272200#post272200 :D

Pterodactyl Surprise - seeking $2,500 by Wednesday Jul 18: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/pterodactylsurprise
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40643

Gild the Lily - seeking $1,500 by Fri Jul 20: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/GildtheLily
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40708

Grim: A Tale of Death - seeking $16,000 by Mon Jul 23: Funded http://www.indiegogo.com/ataleofdeath
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40861

Kindred Spirits - seeking $2,200 by Sun Jul 29: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/kindredspirits
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41589

The Elder Scrolls Short Film Series - seeking $3,800 by Tue Jul 31: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/ElderScrollsSeries
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40901

This Is Why We Fight - seeking $30,000 by Tue Jul 31: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/thisiswhywefight
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41389

Premier Bundle - seeking $2,500 by Wed Aug 01 Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/premierbundle
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40943

Basement Bugs - seeking $31,000 by Thursday Aug 2: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barnabybarrilla/basement-bugs?ref=search
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41843

* * * * * * * * E X P I R E D * * * * * * * * * *


King seeking $20,000 by Monday Aug 13
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42032

My Dad is a Time Traveller - seeking $3,000 by Mon Aug 20
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41582

* * * * * * * * C U N C H - T I M E ! ! ** * * * * * * * * *



Untitled Christmas Project - seeking $7,500 by Monday Aug 27 (Self Cancelled) http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1475211802/untitled-christmas-project
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=278897#post278897

Crawford and Oates - seeking $8,000 by Fri Aug 31
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41187

The Amber Project -
jaw-drop-smiley-emoticon.gif
$110,000 by Monday Sep 3
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42062

Clyde - The Webseries = seeking $8,000 by Thu Sep 06
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41859

Bimbo Zombie Killers - seeking $6,000 by Tue Oct 02
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40686

Wasp - seeking
eyes_poppin-1340.gif
$150,000 by Fri Jul 05, 2013
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41474



A few of those have concluded or are about to.
Anyone care to share their experiences?

For those of you still running I hope this post brings another round of attention to your projects! GL! :yes:
 
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Haha I'm very close friends with one of the composers for Romantically Apocalyptic (David Hurst). I love that webcomic and the music I've heard is fantastic.

I'll be helping a game I'm writing music for with their crowd funding soon (I'm the most known member of the team with connections all over the place) so I'll let you know when that starts and I'll give you a collective report from the team when it's over of how it went. It will be starting in a month or two, as soon as we have a demo. :)
 
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MetalRenard said:
... so I'll let you know when that starts and I'll give you a collective report from the team when it's over of how it went. It will be starting in a month or two, as soon as we have a demo. :)
Click to expand...
EXCELLENT!!!
Congratulations on your project, BTW, and we look forward to what you have to share about the process!


Ray
 
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Looks like the summer time rush for crowdsourcing is dying down.
It will be interesting to follow the seasonality of these.

Just a guess, but I'm betting the spirit of giving is strongest from November to January.





WalterB said:
Somehow I think you'll pop up with a list of months vs succesrates within a few days ;)
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Aye. A fair guess. Might have to wait a few more months though for a meaningful sample to be plotted, though. But you pegged the idea just the same. ;)
 
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rayw said:
Looks like the summer time rush for crowdsourcing is dying down.
It will be interesting to follow the seasonality of these.

Just a guess, but I'm betting the spirit of giving is strongest from November to January.
Click to expand...

Could be a good guess: with the holidays, maybe bonuses: people may have more to spend and may feel like giving.
Somehow I think you'll pop up with a list of months vs succesrates within a few days ;)
 
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themattcastro said:
For people who have done Crowdfunding, what would you say the percentage was with people that you knew and people that you didn't?

Were there more donations from the latter or former?
Click to expand...

In terms of number of donations- 65:35 in favour of people I know.
In terms of amount contributed (excluding our mysterious angel donator)- 80:20 in favour of people I know.
In terms of amount contributed (including our MAD)- 60:40 in favour of people I know.
 
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Andrew McCarrick said:
Just launched our kickstarter today:
Click to expand...

Hi Andrew, you tried this 2 months ago. Originally you budgeted at
$150,000, by the time you did your indiegogo campaign you were
asking for $15,000. Now you have a semi-name and a $7,500 budget.
What has changed in your budget? What will you differently with this
current campaign than you did with the last one?

And I mean no offense to you or Joe with “semi-name”. I know and
have worked with Joe and his son Ramon. Joe is a great guy.
 
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directorik said:
And canceled on Aug 5. I'd love to know what happened.
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Well, now. That is interesting.
I'm also interested, and not from some depraved slow-down-at-the car-wreck-looking-for-dead-and-maimed morbid curiosity perspective, but from a legitimate what-can-go-wrong (or right!) understanding.

I hope you and your family is okay, Andrew.
cold.gif
or
hide.gif


GL!
 
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