Entrepreneurship diaries 8: to Kickstart or not?

July 26, 2012

I just took part in an interesting webinar set up by PRX to let us public media people know what it takes to mount a successful Kickstarter campaign. It featured a woman from PRX, a woman from Kickstarter and Roman Mars, host of the podcast 99% Invisible. He recently ended an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign where he asked for $42,000 and got almost three times that much. He hit his actual goal almost immediately. We were assured this is very unusual.

A few statistics:

• 44 percent of Kickstarter campaigns are successful
• If you get to the point where you're 30 percent funded, there's a 90 percent chance you'll make your goal
• Kickstarter takes a five percent fee from successful (i.e. fully backed) projects
• $25 is the most common pledge

Considerations: I hate, hate, hate asking people for things, so could I reasonably keep bombarding people I know with emails asking them to back my campaign? I know I have to get over this but 'bothering people' remains high on my list of cringe-inducing activities. I'd love to get some more 'likes' on The Broad Experience Facebook page, for instance, but I can't stand sending another of those 'please like my site' Facebook-generated messages. The people giving the webinar emphasised that a Kickstarter campaign is a story. I can tell a good story, including, I think, about the genesis of The Broad Experience. A point in my favor perhaps? Still, some of the examples they discussed of successful podcast campaigns are intimidating: 99% Invisible has been out there for a while and has an established fan base. Blank on Blank beat its Kickstarter goal too, and it's relatively new, but it's quirky and different in a way my show is not. That said, my show is different in other ways - take the fact no one else is producing smart radio content for and about women, content that's intellectually engaging without feeling worthy.

By the end of the call I determined that if I do a Kickstarter campaign it won't be for a while. Roman Mars encouraged us to put in some sweat equity first, build a fan base, and then go to the public for funding. I have more work to do.

Comments

[Phillip]

That's a good way to interpret it. It's dumb, but I keep rerimbemeng a line from an episode of The Mentalist this season. Patrick Jane (the titular mentalist) told someone that if he would stop evaluating things in terms of what he likes and doesn't like, and simply sees things for what they inherently are, he would be much happier. Very insightful, and something I struggle with every day. (We all do, I suppose.) The lesson is that value is really meaningless. Nothing has value except that which you give it. Instead of going around appraising things, just live your life and be thankful.