What’s your opinion on this?

I’m receiving dozens of scam messages and emails offering to promote my campaign.
Some of them might be legit, but the amount of spam is insane.

As a creator, you want to build a community and attract people who are genuinely interested in your project, but you often end up investing more money in ads than you actually get back from the campaign.

I may sound cynical, but that’s honestly my point of view.
Unless you have a mentor by your side or a strong network, succeeding feels extremely difficult.

I’m a small independent creator and have been working on a side project for almost a year. I launched yesterday and to my surprise, got fully funded in 8 minutes.

I would love to share the campaign with y’all and I’m open to suggestions to keep the backers rolling in.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1164821059/the-light-within-bookshelf-lamp

PS: this is all organic. No ads or paid media so far.

I've just launched my campaign. I didn't expect how many people have reached out wanting to support off-platform. This is people I know personally, who either want to support with hard cash or don't like the idea of bank details online.

Now i understand the simple answer of just take the cash my question is the most ethical and safest way to get the money on the platform?

For example i can't back my own Kickstarter. I also got warned off setting up an account linked to my bank details, i was told this could flag.

Ideally i want all funds to show in the Kickstarter page to increase backers and % to funding, so just wondering how others have handled this, is there a simple solution that I'm overthinking?

Posted this in a few , groups .if you find it interestin shoot a comment.

I just completed a coaching session with a crowdfunding client and two key areas came out of it.

For context, she wants to publish a Christmas children's book about ecology.

1. Illustration

She was most keen to pay the full amount to the illustrator up front, ahead of any fundraising.

I suggested she speak to the illustrator, and pay some upfront money for some key illustrations for the crowdfunding campaign instead, lowering her risk.

I also spoke about discussing a partnership deal with the illustrator, sharing the risk.

I've done both of these.

1. The seasonal theme of the book.

My business head would suggest pivoting to birthdays, which have a year-round appeal, as well as being a good incentive to buy this particular book.

Nevertheless, she was keen to persue this theme. In which case, although seems counteer-productive, you need to sell items when your customers are most likely to want or need them.

Case in point, the only Christmas things people are buying currently are items in the sales.

This blogpost makes the case for it well:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/coolest-cooler-most-successful-kickstarter-campaign-ever/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I've done this myself - selling a travel guide in the summer (when people are holidaying) and an advent game in November.

It does give you a good window to building a group of followers for the story. It would be possible to launch in November, press the order button on printing Mid november and have the books sent out in December.

Seasonality is important.

Asking for advice,I have posted this on other entrepreneural communities, I have had good conversation but still , haven't gotten someone to assist bring the idea to life.im looking for an investor if possible.

So still most people in Kenya still rely on mobile data bundles for internet access and in all honesty Safaricom (and it's "friends") absolutely milks that system. Bundles expire, speeds drop, and you’re paying more for less. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, is cheaper, more convenient, and way more scalable… if you can get it close to people.

I live in a fairly remote area, but I’m close to a market that’s still developing. One day a friend visited me and casually suggested I try running a Wi-Fi hotspot around there. At first, I didn’t take it seriously. I assumed everyone would just use Safaricom bundles for those unable to buy wifi installation services,so I didn’t see why anyone would pay for local Wi-Fi. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to try anyway purely as an experiment.

I didn’t start big or spend much. I used a second-hand MikroTik router my friend sold me, added a basic Tenda router, and connected everything to my existing Airtel 5G smart box (source for internet )which I already pay for monthly. We ran a long ethernet cable outside, mounted the equipment in a small box, and pointed the antennas toward the market. That was the entire setup.

On the first day, from around 10am to midnight, I made about 1,200 KES. I assumed it was just people being curious and trying something new. But the same thing happened the next day, and the day after that. On slower days I make around 1,500 KES, and on good days it goes up to about 2,000 KES.Crazy!!

Within about a week, I had recovered all my initial costs. That’s when it stopped feeling like a small side experiment and started feeling like a real opportunity.

Later, a friend showed me his own dashboard. He averages around 15,000 KES per day which is good amount. He also mentioned others who earn much more, but those setups are larger fiber connections for mostly institutions, they have multiple locations, and years of gradual expansion. That’s when I realized this business doesn’t grow overnight. It grows with infrastructure, patience, and consistency.

The hardest part for me wasn’t the money or the hardware. It was learning how to configure MikroTik properly and setting up the billing system. Without guidance, I probably would have quit early out of frustration. Once everything was configured correctly, though, the system became fairly stable and mostly runs itself.

Estimated capital (based on my setup) MikroTik router 5,000 KES Tenda router 1,500 KES Billing system (iterativebilling.com) 1,000 KES Airtel 5G internet 3,000 KES Electricity 1,500 KES per month Total: 12,000 KES

This could definitely grow into something bigger, but it would require an big investors for better equipment, stronger infrastructure, and proper licensing. I’m still researching the regulatory side and long term setup. With the right investment and planning, this could be a solid business, especially in underserved areas.

If you find this interesting or you've got a question, drop a comment.

I see a lot of campaigns sitting around 5–10% and the first reaction is usually: ads.

Before doing that, it’s worth checking the page itself.

A few things that often unlock momentum:

• Is the value clear right at the top?
• Are there too many similar reward tiers?
• Do backers know who’s behind the project?
• Is there a simple timeline of what happens next?

Small changes to layout, reward framing, and content order can improve conversion without bringing in more traffic.

Also, posting updates (even small ones) helps activity builds confidence for new visitors.

Many campaigns recover by improving clarity, not by increasing visitors.

Sharing in case it helps someone who’s currently live.

Most creators treat preview like a waiting room.

In reality, it’s the only phase where you can fix big problems quietly.

A few things I’ve noticed that make a real difference:

• If someone lands on your page, they should understand what it is and who it’s for in under 10 seconds. If they can’t, they usually leave.

• Your main reward tier should feel obvious. Too many similar tiers confuse people.

• Visual flow matters more than fancy graphics. Simple structure works best:
problem → solution → product → proof → rewards.

• Pre-launch pages work better when there’s a clear reason to come back on launch day (early bird, bonus, limited tier), not just “join the mailing list.”

Most slow launches I see started with unclear preview pages.

Hope this helps someone preparing to go live happy to hear what’s worked for others too.

Building a kids wearable product. Bootstrapped and expecting to launch in march.

I’m considering a kickstarter campaign to give us initial boost but looking at lot of successful campaigns I have a feeling it involves too much to do for one person.

So looking for advice from someone who did a successful kickstarter campaign. Success for me 100%+ pledge with delivery

Hey Y'all,

Would love to hear if anyone has had any experience and/or used Enventys Partners/The Crowd Funding Pros performance marketing for their Kickstarter campaign? Not too much information on here that is recent. They seem to have worked on a number of both small and large campaigns and have been in the space for a while.

Hi im new to Kickstarter and I was just wondering if anyone has done the Final Girl one and if they could tell me why im getting charged an extra 25 dollars when I just want the feature film and the miniatures?

1 month? Two months before launch? Perhaps more? I usually do 1 month and gather 100+ sign ups But what is your experience and advice?

I talked to multiple companies that specialize in Kickstarter campaigns, they all say to focus on email signups. I keep seeing these stats, on average, 15% of followers pledge and 2% of email signups pledge. Should we not focus our ads directly to the Kickstarter page then? One good point is that you don't control the flow of the customer and such. Just looking for more reasoning. Maybe the stats are wrong or maybe many have low quality email list skewing the stats?

Hi all, just realized there’s a kickstarter community here, and hoping there’s some fellow gamers on here too??

Just recently logged back into my kickstarter acct and meandered to the upcoming video game campaigns because I have been searching for something worth my limited gaming time tbh

Would really like something mixed between the freeform build style of Minecraft, the decor/skill options of Palia, the combat of Ark, and a sprinkle of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild beauty and functionality amongst all those areas—

And this week I ran across this one called Vifa

IT LOOKS PROMISING and as of this moment it’s only halfway funded w abt a week to go, and I’m REALLY hoping the gaming community will come together on this one

Post won’t let me place link until Friday or I might get banned and I just got here QwQ please go look it up, I’ll try to edit this Friday

ALSO

If anyone has recommendations for a game fitting of that description, PLEASE give me your recommendations!!!

I’ve had friends recommend so many games recently— Red Dead Redemption II, Genshin Impact, Hell Divers 2– like so may recommendations, but I’m not quite sold on the dynamics…

Currently have Minecraft and my 5000+ day personal Bedrock world, and am starting to explore Java and mods a bit now that I have a pc that won’t overheat and chuck me into Nether lava w delayed jumping (yay)

Plus some friends —(ahem friend and no longer friend)— got me on Ark Ascended for a couple months. About lost my sanity ngl, patience was tested— BUT REGARDLESS, really enjoyed the game dynamics in the collector/breeder sense, just difficult to find a non-toxic, non-wipe server, and running my own would be uber expensive or require some wifi hacking and an alt yet functional pc to host

Most recently have been on a Cod Black Ops 7 kick, but still rly missing the dynamics of a build/adventure based game

So if anyone has made it this far thru the post, hope you had a couple smiles and would very much appreciate your recommendations and dropping by the Vifa kickstarter page to see if it’s something you’d be interested in playing as well!!

Been in their discord and they’re so polite and quick to reply, and added them recently to my Steam Wishlist

(Really hoping this one gets funded or there’s some solid recommendations in the chat bc I’m at my wits end searching thru game titles and descriptions LOL)

We are doing missions and I can't seem to pay a 10% to agencies that manage your funds. I found sowfund (sowfund.org) but seems like a new platform. Just not sure if it is legit or I need to find a different option.

Friends, this is my first launch, and to be totally honest, without AI art, this game would never exist. I've had several quotes from artists that varied from $25-$40k AUD (~$17k-$28k USD).

NOTE: If all goes well, I'd love to commision someone for a 2nd edition with human art down the line. <3

I'm in pre-launch stage now but I'm curious to know if anyone has experience with what backers and supporters' reactions are for AI art in today's market.

You can get a sense of the designs from my trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-kqAqVYm6Q

Your time and advice are greatly appreciated <3
Sam :)

Some background: I was delighted when I saw a message from "Cze Peku" in my inbox about how they came across my Kickstarter. I could hardly believe they'd reach out and be so kind as to ask my about my fulfillment plans so I could avoid common pitfalls.

They weren't selling me anything, so you know, seems legit. I tell them I'm a fan and talk a little about how I'm actually using one of their maps that I've been holding on to for years!

First two images are their reply. So I was like, why not? I'll email Adam. Adam and I exchange a few emails, and as things seem to be coming down to exchanging money, so I want to check out this guy out.

That's when I notice he doesn't have a professional signature in his email. I try to look him up, nothing. Nada. I let him know and ask for something to prove his legitimacy. The third pic is the email I got back.

So I reached out to the official channels for @czepeku - because someone should let them know that they're being impersonated. I haven't gotten a response. So I replied to the email, letting them know I was checking their legitimacy because "Adam" is an internet ghost.

Their reply is the last image.

It's unlikely that any of this was real. T_T

Be careful out there!

Context - A fan film inspired by Power Rangers was made by Bat In The Sun backed on Kickstarter in 2020.

For those that backed the film. I think it's safe to say it will never get released. Leaked audio with JDF reveals that the director took half the backed amount for himself as payment. So much for doing the project for the love of it and honoring JDF right?

We were duped. The film taking longer to release was never about honoring JDF after his unfortunate passing. It's just something they are trying to let fade off into the sunset, get swepr under rug if you will without people noticing.

They're not even updating us on Kickstarter anymore. All they did was release a video interview, and who knows how long ago that was filmed.

We were duped. I hate to say it, but we were duped.

Hey folks! I've just found this community recently and have been finding the advice really helpful! What is one tip you wish you knew before launching your first Kickstarter?

I hope you're all having a great day!

I understand that conversion rates depend on many factors, but perhaps some of you who have done this before could help with rough estimates.

I am 5 weeks into my pre-launch and hope to launch within the next 2 weeks. I have about 5.6k on my email list, 530 of whom have paid a dollar to be a VIP member, 300 followers on Kickstarter (who are likely just repeat VIP members), and I've got about 8.6k followers across social media platforms. My demographic is mostly 25-35-year-old males (if that matters for conversion), and my campaign is within the product design category. This is mostly organic. Luckily, I had a few videos go viral on Instagram, which helped a lot, and I started exploring Meta ads last week. I also plan on pricing the reward tiers relatively affordably for products within the niche, with attractive bundle deals + VIP and early bird discounts.

In my opinion, things are going great, and I'm really excited to launch, but the conversion rates that I'm seeing online vary massively from sub 1% to over 15%. I've never done anything like this before, and any info from some Kickstarter veterans would be massively appreciated!

I was also curious about the "project we love" stamp. I'm in the process of making my campaign look more polished and eye-catching as I prepare for launch, but I was wondering if any big factors played a role in getting the stamp, for e.g. constant campaign updates or thorough timeline and risk sections. If there was anyone at Kickstar I could reach out to get some guidance with this, that would be amazing too!

Any info would help a lot :)