Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#11

Post by ChrisNorstrom » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:08 AM UTC

Thank you. I have some ideas for you guys. KickStarter doesn't want to go the route of "being a store" and selling pre-sales. This is EXACTLY what a lot of us want and the direction I think you should go in.

In fact set it up in a way that makes Pre-Sales the main attraction. It would make things so much easier.

When I was running my ToDoCal kickstarter the biggest pain in the ass was trying to set up prizes and calculating the cost to fulfill them. Because kickstarter isn't set up like a store that accepts pre-sales I would have to double the cost of all my "prizes" so as to buffer the cost of fullfilling expensive orders. Shipping to Chicago would be $6, shipping to San Francisco was $10, international shipping was $16. But I can't charge different people different prices, so I had to forcing everyone to pay a higher price to keep it safe.

By designing Crowdhoster as a pre-sales store you can eliminate that completely. USPS shipping api's can calculate the exact cost each backer should pay down to the penny. You could offer your backers discounts based on bulk orders and have an idea of where your products are going so you can design packaging to be more efficient.

Basically make a pre-sales store with minimum order requirements where anyone can place orders and their card is charged only when the minimum order is reached after X amount of time.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#12

Post by arkonaut » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:09 AM UTC

siong1987 wrote: post #10

lesinski wrote: post #9

I don't know a ton about crowdfunding... but what could be the downside of using Kickstarter? Seems to me that it comes with free audience and offers some security for the backers.

It has no problem to run a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter until Kickstarter disallows you to do that on their platform. SelfStarter was created by the Lockitron team to run their own crowdfunding campaign because Kickstarter didn't allow them to run their campaign on Kickstarter. Eventually, I still see Kickstarter as the main/most important crowdfunding platform. Like many closed platform versus opened platfor…

Wordpress?

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#13

Post by Vekz » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:10 AM UTC

lesinski wrote: post #9

I don't know a ton about crowdfunding... but what could be the downside of using Kickstarter? Seems to me that it comes with free audience and offers some security for the backers.

Some projects like Lockitron aren't allowed anymore, so that's a big reason for them not using Kickstarter (and app.net I don't think was allowed either). But another reason is that Kickstarter is US/UK-only, and with the Crowdtilt API on the backend of this version it's international.

In addition to that, with this wordpress-style version, you get to use your own URL/and customize the branding if you want, the users become your users, it's your credit card processing (so you get that data too for future up-sells or feature purchases), and it saves you from paying the Kickstarter fees (this one is free, and Kickstarter charges up to 10%).

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#14

Post by seeingfurther » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:29 AM UTC

danielhunt wrote: post #8

seeingfurther wrote: post #6

We built the exact same service last month http://www.jumpcrowd.com/ The hosted SelfStarter movement will open up crowdfunding in the same way services like Blogger and WordPress opened up blogging platforms. KickStarter probably won't survive in its current form.

"Just stay within the law" And what law would that be? Clearly I would guess that you mean "US law", but isn't this an important piece of information to anyone hoping to fund a potentially large sum of money through your platform?

KickStarter is a platform. We have no intention of being a platform or a brand funders recognize. We're meant to be an invisible layer and only serve as a mechanism to get your project online.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#15

Post by neltnerb » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:36 AM UTC

This is fantastic!

16 hours ago, I asked this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5138705 and now you just conveniently come along with the perfect answer!

Awesome.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#16

Post by eth » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 1:59 AM UTC

hariis wrote: post #3

I read somewhere that the challenge with posting your projects with Kickstarter is getting the attention of people and hence most of them do not reach their funding goal.

Kickstarter or self-hosted crowdfunding site, getting the attention of people is going to be the difference. With Kickstarter there is at least some sort of community and set of discovery tools that can draw a bit of extra attention to really great or already high profile projects. It seems self-hosted crowdfunding sites would place the burden of funding entirely on the project poster's personal network and PR prowess.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#17

Post by twodayslate » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 2:07 AM UTC

As a user I would feel more comfortable buying from a trusted source such as kickstarter because I feel like there is more of a guarantee of getting my money back if the project never gets off the ground

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#18

Post by twodayslate » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 2:09 AM UTC

seeingfurther wrote: post #6

We built the exact same service last month http://www.jumpcrowd.com/ The hosted SelfStarter movement will open up crowdfunding in the same way services like Blogger and WordPress opened up blogging platforms. KickStarter probably won't survive in its current form.

You would seem a lot more professional and trust worthy if you didn't have the word SHIT in your tagline.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#19

Post by seeingfurther » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 2:29 AM UTC

twodayslate wrote: post #18

seeingfurther wrote: post #6

We built the exact same service last month http://www.jumpcrowd.com/ The hosted SelfStarter movement will open up crowdfunding in the same way services like Blogger and WordPress opened up blogging platforms. KickStarter probably won't survive in its current form.

You would seem a lot more professional and trust worthy if you didn't have the word SHIT in your tagline.

You're probably right but this was a side project we hacked together just to see if we could do it. My partner put it up there and I thought it was funny. We're not taking ourselves too seriously.

Re: Show HN: Launch your own hosted SelfStarter without writing a line of code

#20

Post by msaint » Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 2:44 AM UTC

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #11

Thank you. I have some ideas for you guys. KickStarter doesn't want to go the route of "being a store" and selling pre-sales. This is EXACTLY what a lot of us want and the direction I think you should go in. In fact set it up in a way that makes Pre-Sales the main attraction. It would make things so much easier. When I was running my ToDoCal kickstarter the biggest pain in the ass was trying to set up prizes and calc…

Chris - love your ideas here. I head up our API at Crowdtilt and spearheaded the CrowdHoster project. We're psyched to get cracking on features like this.

Product pre-sales drove Lockitron to create SelfStarter in the first place...clearly a huge use case. With our API we'll be able to get more creative with the payment flow, allowing dynamic cost calculation like you describe with different shipping scenarios.