The Problem with Kickstarter
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The Problem with Kickstarter
1–10 of 39 posts
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#2> Kickstarter has taken a half-measure when it comes to hardware projects. It should take a full measure—and remove hardware as a category.
Agreed. Hardware projects are too high-risk for a model like Kickstarter's, and it's difficult for crowdfunders to be fully informed about that risk when even the makers are often inexperienced.
Worse, they're all or nothing. If one of the major videogame projects runs out of funds, they can still release a beta version or even open source it. If someone is unable to finish a book, they can still send you the latest draft. When hardware projects fail, they probably can't ship anything.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#3I believe there's an opening for a crowdfunding model focused purely on hardware startups. Perhaps some of you are already working on it.
App.net, Lockitron and most recently Lumawake helped kick this off, with selfstarter. We contributed some changes back to help push it along: https://github.com/lockitron/selfstarter
There are flaws with this approach (no third party payment verification, no established network of donors). Which leaves room for further improvement.
Kickstarter is clearly focused on creative (which they're doing incredibly well with). The 2012 Kickstarter summary didn't mention any of the massive hardware projects.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#4I believe there's an opening for a crowdfunding model focused purely on hardware startups. Perhaps some of you are already working on it. App.net, Lockitron and most recently Lumawake helped kick this off, with selfstarter. We contributed some changes back to help push it along: https://github.com/lockitron/selfstarter There are flaws with this approach (no third party payment verification, no established network of…
I'm curious, what made you go with Lockitron's model? We've been working very hard on our cf product - IgnitionDeck, and would love to get into your head about how/why you chose that over other solutions.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#5It's not correct to label this "The Problem with Kickstarter".
It's a rant about how complicated it is to finish hardware projects.
Kickstarter does movies (I didn't know that, I learned it here in the Kickstarter 2012 retrospective), lots of software, comics, publishing, etc.
So please rename to: "The problem with Kickstarter hardware projects" or something.
Kickstarter needs praise and applause because it is great and bringing joy to many backers and founders. Not criticism because one type of project have a 75% failure rate.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#6Being rejected by Kickstarter doesn't make Kickstarter the problem.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#7> Kickstarter has taken a half-measure when it comes to hardware projects. It should take a full measure—and remove hardware as a category. Agreed. Hardware projects are too high-risk for a model like Kickstarter's, and it's difficult for crowdfunders to be fully informed about that risk when even the makers are often inexperienced. Worse, they're all or nothing. If one of the major videogame projects runs out of fun…
This is we like the selfstarter model. Backers don't get charged until the product is ready. And project creators are incentivised to use efficient techniques that get their product to market quickly.
There are flaws with this too, which I touched upon in the post. I think this is an opportunity.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#8Being rejected by Kickstarter doesn't make Kickstarter the problem.
Exactly. There are good points about the problem with kickstarter's hardware section, but when they keep pushing their own bytelight or whatever it sounds more like complaining cause they didn't get accepted. Comes off as, 'we didn't get accepted and we have a plan, so there must be a problem, and thus kickstarter should remove hardware projects entirely', as opposed to, 'based on the failure rates, kickstarter should reconsider if it needs to include hardware projects at all'.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#9It's not correct to label this "The Problem with Kickstarter". It's a rant about how complicated it is to finish hardware projects. Kickstarter does movies (I didn't know that, I learned it here in the Kickstarter 2012 retrospective), lots of software, comics, publishing, etc. So please rename to: "The problem with Kickstarter hardware projects" or something. Kickstarter needs praise and applause because it is great…
Kickstarter has been responsible for funding Oscar nominations, museums, and countless creative projects. Their 2012 summary is full of stunning success stories.
The goal of this post is to kickoff a discussion about alternative crowdfunding models that work better for hardware startups. It's clear that Kickstarter is moving away from these and focusing on creative.
Re: The Problem with Kickstarter
#10Can we talk about bytelight? What the heck does that thing do?