Is Kickstarter Doomed? (spoiler: it is not)
Welcome to crowdfunding Saturday. It's time to talk about the elephant in the crowdfunding room. Crowdfunding isn't sexy anymore. ICOs are the new hotness, and the volume of money being raised on Kickstarter is down. So, is it doomed?
Let's start with this: Right now, ICOs are in the kind of bubble state crowdfunding never reached, even in the most frenzied days. The sheer volume of money being raised there is astounding, and it seems like everyone thinks they're getting a Lambo.
For the people raising those millions, the Lambos appear inevitable right now. But I definitely see a massive fall in the ICO space in 2018. I'm not saying ICOs are doomed, yeah? People remember pets.com as the harbinger of the dotcom crash, but selling pet food online is big business now.
Crowdfunding has weathered its own boom quite well. It's just that most of the money, right now, isn't on kickstarter. Because financial anxiety is very real, most of the money in crowdfunding right now is on GoFundMe, which people in the US seem to be using as an ancillary healthcare system because theirs is so deeply fucked up (and has been since forever).
Kickstarter is finding new ways to go. One of the big ones is recurring and ongoing projects. When they founded, it was all about the new. But after several companies that were founded on KS came back for new iterations of their products, KS decided to change that mindset. They now have a department for returning projects, realizing they need to be handled differently. Israeli counterpart Headstart would be well served to adopt that mindset. When I launched my own second iteration project, it was frustrating seeing how geared they are to the new and inexperienced.
Kickstarted also bought Drip, and now have their own version of Patreon for ongoing projects. I'll write about Patreon and Drip (and also about how Steemit is in direct competition with them) in a future post.
But for now, my main point is this: crowdfunding is still very much a viable thing. And Kickstarter is a smart, forward thinking company. I am absolutely certain they are considering ways to implement cryptocurrencies and the blockchain into their system.
Past Posts about Crowdfunding:
Crowdfunding rules
Crowdfunding campaigns: Keeping momentum
Crowdfunding Campaigns: The Emotional Toll
Crowdfunding: How Neil Gaiman Saved My Campaign
Crowdfunding: What do you want to know?
Crowdfunding: Steemit As A Crowdfunding Platform
Kickstarter is doomed. Much like blockbuster. The technology made it un-needed. It may survive like real estate agents, but its moral value is completely gone.
Which technology? Crowdfunding and blockchain started at pretty much the same time. And using a blockchain solution is much easier than changing from brick and mortar to online. I've had conversations with people from KS. They are definitely not blockbuster.
https://steemit.com/crowdfunding/@amirl/disrupting-crowd-funding-sites-with-steemit
This is a post where I explain why I think the current crowd funding sites are obsolete.
KIckstarter is not now, and never was, about micropayments or micro contributions. Not just because of fees and commissions but because, at the core of kickstarter, it's about products. The huge majority of people who support kickstarter projects pick as their reward the product being developed. This kinda makes your entire argument moot.
Now, I'm not saying Steemit isn't a viable option for crowdfunding. In fact, my last crowdfunding post was literally about how it IS a viable platform for it, despite issues that need to be sorted out.
Ok that is an important observation. So in Kickstarter people are investing by ordering the future product.
So the platform offering is a way to charge the customer only when the product is delivered. Is that enough value? Where is the funding for the platform coming from? Ah from the users and the producers. Now they can bypass and use a free platform, and even zero the transaction cost. Will they pay for some 3rd party to be reliable for the transaction? Why is the 3rd party trust worthy? Now you have a universal community with monetary based reputation. I think kickstarter model is obsolete. Again they might still profit, but they are sucking value and not contributing anymore.
The Kickstarter bug got me pretty hard.
I primarily back games but recently went outside of my comfort bubble with a Comic Book project. I was part of a failed project but have my plans for my own, for which I am taking my time on. Knowing that the more time I invest ahead of time, the greater likelihood of a successful campaign is driving my productivity.
I'm looking forward to see how they improve the platform.
I have spent way too much money on KS, but I'm generally quite happy with what I've gotten and the projects I've supported.
So is Crowdfunding a money pot for business startups? Excuse my lack of knowledge :) I ask because I hope to start up my own business in the next couple of years and I am looking for the best way to access financial help to raise money for the premises etc :)
In a way, yeah. People need to be excited about whatever your project is. When I get home, I'll do what I should have done and add the links to previous crowdfunding posts. They contain the non personalized version of the advice I give when people hire me to consult on crowdfunding projects. I will say that, two years out, I fully believe that if Steem makes it, we'll have our crowdfunding platforms right here. I wrote a post about that too.
Ah great! I will check out the links thank you! :)
There you go. All links added now!
thank you! :) I know where to come now when I want to start looking at funding lol