Feb 09

Kickstarter - an addictive website

Lately I have had more and more tweets in my timeline with links to a new way to fund creative projects. Kickstarter is a website that aims to help projects to receive funding. This post is to describe the idea behind Kickstarter and to name a few projects that really look interesting.

Why should one use the site?

The first time I took a look at the page I was thinking, wow, interesting projects, but hey – why would I spend money there? What would I get if I supported a project? That actually depends on the project itself. One can define steps in different price ranges. Let’s say you want people to be able to support you starting with $ 5 and going up to $ 500. Some projects will mention you as a funder on the website if you give them the lowest amount. The higher the amount you give, the more you will receive in return. For the highest amount you would for example get the product with laser engraving of your name and special mentions on the product page and all that. Now to an important part – as a project starter you have to set a minimum funding amount and a time frame in which you want to reach the desired funding. Let’s say you want to reach $ 5,000 in 30 days. If you don’t get the amount of money in those 30 days – you will not get the funding at all! As a funder you would not have to spend your money at all.

What are projects like?

As the website states that it is a way to fund creative projects. That includes art, music, technology and basically everything one might come up with a nice idea. These are two projects I found pretty interesting and wanted to share:

Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3

The Rustic Case is a line of sleeve cases that are handmade in New England. and looks pretty nice in my opinion, too. As one can see in the screenshot the project owner was aiming for $ 5000 and will receive that funding on February 26th. Backers who spend more than $ 50 will receive an iPad case (for international shipping one would actually have to spend $ 65 to get one due to shipping).

C-Loop – Camera Strap Mount Solution

The C-Loop is designed in response to how the traditional top mounted camera strap always gets in the way.. I am not a professional photographer but see this project might be useful and practical for others. So if you are a photographer make sure to check this project out.

Why do you call it an addiction?

This might become an addiction for me as it is like shopping for stuff that is not even produced yet. You will support a project and – if you spend enough – will receive the product as soon as the project is funded. So you actually pre-order soon-to-be-made products that not everyone will get at first. You will be an early adopter!

What do you think?

What are your thoughts about Kickstarter? Have you supported any project before? Which is your favorite project on the site? Check out some of the projects. Let me know – maybe we can back a project together!?