61–70 of 116 posts
What I feel is lacking from this postmortem is looking inwards : did you make mistakes and how did it affect the outcome. Answer : we made a huge mistake to trust people with all our money. This mistake has led to all our problems. I know it sounds obvious, but still.
I don't know why but it kind of rubs me the wrong way PR agencies for Kickstarter/crowd-funding even exist. I'd rather back something that had someone passionate with a shitty cell phone video over the generic sterile PR videos that everything seems to have now. https://twitter.com/Woodshedagency The hashtags on their twitter description almost seem like satire.
There is now effectively a new business where “PR” firms fun the marketing cost in favor of 50% or sometimes more of the campgain and pretty much after that they cut the cord and go to fund their next scam.
I find it absolutely amazing that they would let someone else handle the money that represents the life of their business. Hard to feel sorry for them. No doubt the correct thing to do would have been to delay the campaign until the banking issues were resolved. This was an amateur mistake. Yea it would be nice if we lived in a world where we could be naive and let strangers handle our money without fear but we all k…
I don't think blaming the victim is a useful criticism. Trusting a vendor to perform the tasks for which they've been hired is hardly a fault. Woodshed represented this as a service they had offered clients in the past, and the client had a contractual addendum. In the world or raising money, it is extremely common, even required at times, for a fundraising partner to control some or all aspects of the financial arra…
There are a few things about this I don’t understand. How much money was it? Were they supposed to get a percentage of money raised, or did they get paid a fee and then get a percentage on top? Do I understand correctly that they’re having money problems so they kept your money to solve their money problems? The simple way to solve this is to take them to court. Is there anything more to the story than you trusted th…
This is well into "criminal complaint" territory.
There are a few things about this I don’t understand. How much money was it? Were they supposed to get a percentage of money raised, or did they get paid a fee and then get a percentage on top? Do I understand correctly that they’re having money problems so they kept your money to solve their money problems? The simple way to solve this is to take them to court. Is there anything more to the story than you trusted th…
How much money was it? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rdacalos/upstart-the-bo... Looks like $35k. No one would risk destroying their reputation over that small sum. I wonder what the other side of the story is? Abuse is pretty common in gamedev, but this would be flagrant.
You really underestimate how bad some people's finances are right now in places like Michigan.
There are a few things about this I don’t understand. How much money was it? Were they supposed to get a percentage of money raised, or did they get paid a fee and then get a percentage on top? Do I understand correctly that they’re having money problems so they kept your money to solve their money problems? The simple way to solve this is to take them to court. Is there anything more to the story than you trusted th…
How much money was it? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rdacalos/upstart-the-bo... Looks like $35k. No one would risk destroying their reputation over that small sum. I wonder what the other side of the story is? Abuse is pretty common in gamedev, but this would be flagrant.
People have killed for far less...If they were in a bad enough financial position, they could have thought that they would borrow their client's money to pay immediate bills, and pay the account back with future client earnings. It happens quite frequently in the legal world--it's the number one reason lawyers get disbarred in CA after drug use.
This is well into "criminal complaint" territory.
This is definitely something that needs to go to the courts; it has to be a form of financial fraud, and depending on the amount raised by the KS, it could end up being a fairly big deal.
As it is, if I were a backer, I would feel like I had been defrauded in some manner. Even if I got the "prize" (game) in the end, when I back a KS, I don't do it solely for the item or prize being offered for being a backer, but because I want to see someone succeed with their ideas and company.
"Upstart is a board game that simulates the ups and down [sic] of starting and sustaining a business."
A 3rd party contractor/service provider stealing your money is certainly one of the "downs" of running a business.