Kickstarter for Tech Entrepreneurs (week 23)

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Science board game "Compendium" 2018
Looking at a financial model for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The creation of the Kickstarter Website in 2009 has to be one of the most innovative solutions to enabling entrepreneurship to flourish.

It allows a variety of creative and technical projects to set a target, offer rewards and then for backers to pledge money in order for the project to be realised.

Often there are smaller rewards plus a big final product too... this allows people to support creators and artists whose project they believe in, and want to exist in the world rather than just pre-purchasing an item. If sufficient funding is not raised then all pledges are cancelled and the project cancelled.

It can of course learn from that, maybe look at why it did not reach it's goal and work harder to solve those issues. Marketing and social media play a huge part in the success of Kickstarter funding pledges, As does a professional and engaging pitch.

Board and card games have done particularly well on Kickstarter as have technical gadgets and innovations. VR developer Oculus Rift was one of the first huge successful tech developers to make use of the platform, 3D printers have also enjoyed huge success.

There are of course the obvious risks involved on all sides with pledging money before a project physically exists, production may slow or stall, the project may prove to be more expensive than initially thought to complete. These are issues that are slowly being addressed by Kickstarter and it's community.

The advantages of funding this way rather than selling an idea on to a development company or trying to raise development grant funding or "angel" investors is that you will always maintain creative control over your company and product. No shares, patents or copyright need be sold. This is wonderful if you want to run a company and are prepared to put in the work and management of a products release, but many enthusiastic solo entrepreneurs deeply underestimate the breadth of skills and time needed to successfully bring a product to market.

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