KickStarter!

[ksafin]

Hey all,

I didn't know if this was the right place to post it but I couldn't find a better place.

We just made a KickStarter for our team, and I wanted to share it with you:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...south-fl-regio

Also, in addition, I'd like to hear your thoughts on using "crowd-funding" websites for fundraising.

[MARS_James]

I have to say a great idea, you are already $125 richer than you were before. If I could make a suggestion, market your teams accomplishments on there.

You were the only rookie team to be selected for an alliance at the South Florida Regional (3932 was the captain so they weren't technically selected )

Or You ranked second among rookies Or You were a quarter finalist

It makes you seem like you are already doing things Imagine what you could do with their help

[Chinmay]

One of the tricky things about kick starter is that you don't get any if the funding unless you get the $3000 by the end of the period. I hope that you guys get that, but if you dont, I hope there's some way to still ask for and get those donations if you don't get funded.

[SenorZ]

Did a similar campaign using indiegogo.com last year. They just charge you a higher % fee if you don't make your goal.

...at least thats how it was last year.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by SenorZ

Did a similar campaign using indiegogo.com last year. They just charge you a higher % fee if you don't make your goal.

...at least thats how it was last year.

Not on Kickstarter.

To be honest, I'm not sure how well it'll work out. It seems like the big use of Kickstarter is to launch products (like Instacube, Hexy, and Pebble) or to fund interesting one-off projects.

One of my friends was the guy behind Hexy, and the thing that made it worth the 8% that Kickstarter/Amazon Payments take is the crazy amount of exposure he got to people that wanted to pay for a hexapod kit. Is a specific FRC team something that a random internet user is going to want to fund, especially if it takes $250 to get a t-shirt?

My first guess would be that there probably isn't a lot of interest outside of your community, and it's cheaper for you if the people in your community write you a check than donate through Kickstarter.

It looks like at least one has been done successfully in the past, interested to see how it turns out!

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

Not on Kickstarter.

To be honest, I'm not sure how well it'll work out. It seems like the big use of Kickstarter is to launch products (like Instacube, Hexy, and Pebble) or to fund interesting one-off projects.

One of my friends was the guy behind Hexy, and the thing that made it worth the 8% that Kickstarter/Amazon Payments take is the crazy amount of exposure he got to people that wanted to pay for a hexapod kit. Is a specific FRC team something that a random internet user is going to want to fund, especially if it takes $250 to get a t-shirt?

My first guess would be that there probably isn't a lot of interest outside of your community, and it's cheaper for you if the people in your community write you a check than donate through Kickstarter.

It looks like at least one has been done successfully in the past, interested to see how it turns out!

Kickstarter is an investment site with no real return on the investment. It's just your chance to help bring something to market/life. There's never even a guarantee you'll get anything from your investment, and at best you get a product, not some kind of ownership in the company or anything.

If someone isn't prepared to put money down with no expectation of getting anything back, Kickstarter is not a great place for them.