Crowdfunding: Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Ecommerce with CrowdCrux | Crowdfunding Demystified

The jamstik+ team raised $813,803 on Kickstarter from 2,991 backers for their new smart guitar, which connects via Bluetooth LE to your iPad, iPhone, Mac so you can play guitar with any of the 100's of compatible MIDI apps available.

The project has received rave reviews from backers, and media publications like TechCrunch and Digital Media Academy.

In this episode of the CrowdCrux Crowdfunding Podcast, we'll talk about the team's approach to crowdfunding, how they've run two successful campaigns, and the best practices that they've discovered by running their campaigns.

In this podcast episode, you will learn

  • Why the Jamstik team decided to go with Indiegogo for their first campaign and Kickstarter for their second.
  • The importance of education marketing and handling questions about crowdfunding when running a campaign.
  • How the team maintained momentum throughout the Kickstarter campaign and kept backers interested in the project.
  • Conducting community outreach and building a community around your product.
  • Whether or not ads were effective for the project and ways to improve organic sharing.
  • Where the pledges came from throughout the campaign.
  • The importance of lead generation leading up to the launch of the Kickstarter.
  • How to rank well in the "Kickstarter discovery" section and get organic pledges.
Direct download: EP_31_Jamstik_Breaks_Down_How_They_Raised_813803_on_Kickstarter.mp3
Category:kickstarter -- posted at: 2:19pm EDT

The 3D Racers Indiegogo campaign is a great example of a crowdfunding campaign that, through thorough preparation and pre-launch marketing, raised a fair amount of capital and surpassed their $25,000 goal.

Get the show notes: crowdcrux.com/podcast

In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Why 3DRacers went with Indiegogo over Kickstarter.
  • The reason 3DRacers launched a crowdfunding campaign.
  • How the team decided to set their Indiegogo goal.
  • Where backers came from throughout the project.
  • How Marco and his team were able to get on so many online publications.
  • The research and planning that went into the launch of the Indiegogo.
  • How the Indiegogo InDemand program works.
  • The evolution of new products from idea to prototype.
  • How launching a crowdfunding campaign is different in Italy.

Get the show notes: crowdcrux.com/podcast

Direct download: EP_30_The_Blueprint_3DRacers_Used_to_Raise_29k_on_Indiegogo.mp3
Category:indiegogo -- posted at: 10:00pm EDT

When I first met Alice at a networking event in New York City, I was blown away by the prototype of what is now a breakout Kickstarter success, SolarPuff, which has raised $363,508 thus far from more than 5,000 backers.

SolarPuff is "a little lantern with a HUGE impact." It functions as a foldable solar-powered lantern that can be used to by backpackers, hikers, boating enthusiasts, and even to illuminate homes and gardens.

The great thing about this lantern is that it can expend as much light as it takes in. That means if you charge it for 8 hours in the sun, it will light a 10 x 10 room for 8-12 hours.

Not only does the lantern function as a great item to decorate your home, it's also a great product for developing areas that may not have access to the traditional electrical grid.

"Globally there are at least 1.6 billion people without reliable access to electricity. This lack of access to efficient energy becomes even more apparent in rural areas of developing countries where most lighting is fueled by kerosene, which is not only toxic but extremely expensive, creating a vicious cycle of poverty."

In this podcast interview, we talk about the extensive preparation that went into the launch of this campaign and how Alice and her partner Stacy Kelly had a dream, bootstrapped their business, and brought an amazing product into the world.

Get the podcast notes here: crowdcrux.com/podcast

Direct download: EP_29_SolarPuff_Goes_From_Prototype_to_360000_on_Kickstarter.mp3
Category:kickstarter -- posted at: 2:51pm EDT

Josef Holm is a serial entrepreneur in the crowdfunding space. He is the co-founder of Tubestart.com, the co-owner of Crowdfunding.biz and is the Founder & CEO of the new site Krowdster.co.

He entered the crowdfunding industry about two and half years ago when he found out about Kickstarter and Indiegogo. He then began to research and start working on Tubestart.com, a crowdfunding platform for film and video creators. As an entrepreneur he likes to build products that help people achieve their goals.

In this podcast interview, we discuss how these products help creators run successful campaigns and his insights in the future dynamics of the crowdfunding industry.

Get the full notes at: crowdcrux.com/podcast

Podcast Show Notes

  • Tubestart.com and Krowdster.co are focused on solving some of the problems of mainstream platforms like rewards fulfillment and coming up with interesting rewards.
  • Brand integration (on TubeStart) is when the platform will connect project creators with brands to offer rewards that are sponsored by the brands.
  • Josef is finding new ways to integrate rewards that help crowdfunders and make the whole process much easier so they don't have to run to post office everyday to ship out merchandise or spend a lot of money on fulfilling rewards. This way they have more time to actually promote  their campaign.
  • The TubeStart platform has funded 16 campaigns with a total volume of about 130,000 in just a year and half.
  • Krowdster.co is the first big database on crowdfunding and is a promotion and analytics tool that allows crowdfunders to connect with targeted audiences on Twitter and Facebook and other social networks to promote their campaign.
  • Film and video is the second most active vertical in crowdfunding.
  • Everyone who wants to crowdfund successfully must become an online marketing expert.
  • The networking effects aren’t very strong on the mainstream platforms as there is a lot of competition on these platforms.
  • Funding is one of the major issues that bests filmmakers and crowdfunding is filling the void.
  • He is working with a couple of companies in LA to build a network that offers a 360 solution to creators.
  • Come to Tubestart.com and get your film or video project funded. It will also connect you with the right producers and distribution channels. 90% of all movies don’t make it up to festival screenings.
  • There are a lot of very smart and interesting people in this space. Check out Crowdfunding.biz to connect with some of them.
  • Crowdfunding is not gonna go away. It's here to stay.

Get the show notes: crowdcrux.com/podcast

Luna is a cool new mattress cover that makes any bed smart. Using the product, you can "intelligently manage the temperature of your bed, track your sleep, and integrate with your smart home."

After being featured in numerous online publications like TheNextWeb, Forbes, TechCrunch, TheHuffingtonPost, and more, Luna went on to raise $1,114,482 on Indiegogo, with the original campaign having been funded to 1,104% of its goal on March 26, 2015.

Matteo Franceschetti, the cofounder and CEO of Luna was nice enough to sit down with CrowdCrux and have a chat about his experience using Indiegogo and what he's learned from the crowdfunding campaign. You can listen to our podcast interview below or on iTunes.

Show Notes

  • Matteo had problems with sleeping and was looking for a product to help him. He couldn’t find a product he liked, so he and his team developed their own.
  • Your social life and business life is correlated to the quality of your sleep.
  • Luna is a team of 10 people with 6 engineers and employees who assist with marketing and manufacturing.
  • Crowdfunding is the best way to see if people like your project and to learn through the iterative process, especially if you are in the middle of a hardware startups’ journey.
  • The team is using InDemand, which "lets you continue raising funds after your campaign ends."
  • The Luna campaign hit the 100k goal in 5 hours and kept going strongly for 3 days and then hit a little bit of a plateau.
  • You can’t rely only on organic traffic. You must always be actively marketing your campaign and sharing information about yourself.
  • Indiegogo was helpful throughout the campaign. The Kickstarter community is larger than the Indiegogo community, but you can also run the Indiegogo campaign on your own website and you can learn more information about potential backers on your own website.
  • Indiegogo accounted for about 25% of total sales.
  • The project’s news got picked up in 75 countries all over the world and a lot of journalists and bloggers wrote about the campaign on their own. They had more than 250 articles about the product. They worked for the first 20-30 articles, but the rest came on their own.
  • Matteo was surprised about the engagement and size of the community.
  • The team used the Indiegogo referral program and they found that the first program (refer 5 friends to get a Luna for free) was less successful and less viral than the second, where if you refer a friend, you get $25 off and for each additional friend you refer, you get $10 off.
  • The Luna team might launch other crowdfunding projects after fulfilling the rewards for this project. 

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