6 ms·

Kickstarter to hit $300m this year?

22 points by gbsi 14y ago

bproper 14y ago
where is the data on this coming from?
cienrak 14y ago
If they wanted to, Kickstarter could be one the biggest and best platform for startup crowd funding. They have the infrastructure to capture the promise of the JOBS act/ crowd funding act
- citadrianne 14y ago
  They don't want to. That would detract too much from their ability to serve creatives.
  - bproper 14y ago
    Entrepreneurs are creatives. it's no different than the pebble smartwatch or light table project, except you are offering stock in the company instead of physical rewards.
    - jonathanjaeger 14y ago
      That's all the difference in the world. One is a finite project where you act as a patron and get something in return no matter what (assuming the creator doesn't fall off the face of the earth). If you fund a startup, most of the time your money doesn't have any sort of return.
      - _delirium 14y ago
        In particular they're very clear on the finite-project angle. You can't just raise funding for your art studio, but for some specific piece of art or project your studio is doing. A startup can already use Kickstarter to fund a specific project that way, if they want (several game studios have). But they can't just raise funds for the company "in general", which I don't think is something Kickstarter will be looking to change.
    - R_Symtex_II 14y ago
      Creative? Not always. Have you heard of one Mr. Grinda out of France and his clone-based empire? http://tinyurl.com/7g5sk95 http://tinyurl.com/7g5sk95 That said, I'm currently involved in a Kickstarter project in Design and it occurred to me that since the tech-side seems to draw in the most attention/funding these days--not true when I opened my project/account--, isn't confining this platform to the US counter-productive? Thus stagnating the progress of current or potentially new viable innovations. If anyone is interested I'm seriously considering open to accepting applications for potential tech projects within Europe, S. America and Asia that want but are unable to use KS, provided they meet certain criteria, for a nominal fee in an opportunity to advance this avenue before Grinda and his ilk clone it throughout the World. Its my free Market solution to ensure that Kickstarter remains the crowd sourcing platform of choice. If you know anyone in need of such a service tell them to post their email/link here and we can get in touch to get the ball rolling. No promises made, of course, but I think its a short-term solution to the current geographical issue.
waterlesscloud 14y ago
I expect other players to come in for big name creatives. Maybe the Hollywood agencies, CAA for example. Or maybe the creatives themselves set up their own infrastructure. Say Joss Whedon wanted to raise $10 million for a show. With Kickstarter he'd have to give them $500,000 of that, and it's not at all apparent that he would actually need them. If you had an agency roll this into existing services, maybe with a nominal fee, the big names may be more comfortable with that anyway...
- sycr 14y ago
  I think that you might be discounting the value of Kickstarter's execution - or rather, a hypothetical Joss Whedon would be discounting the value of their execution. In the same way that Twitter is "just a database of SMS messages", Kickstarter is just a "payment checkout" - but of course they are both greater than the sum of their parts.
  - ScottBurson 14y ago
    Right. What you have to look at is, how much more money would he bring in by using Kickstarter? Hard to say for sure, of course, but Kickstarter is in a very good position now to argue that it's well over 5%. Seems to me that for someone who doesn't already have a large fan base, a Kickstarter campaign could easily increase their take by a factor of 4 (if not 10 or 100 or 1000). For someone well-known like Whedon the factor will be smaller, but if it's 1.5 or even 1.2, the 5% fee is more than covered.
  - waterlesscloud 14y ago
    They have value, of course. But I do think that on the upper end they might be forced to lower their percentage in time. If for no other reason than someone else will come along and compete at a lower rate. Their execution isn't that hard to compete with, it can be commoditized with enough resources, and for someone with actual fame I don't think they increase the amount raised by much. If not Whedon, think Lady Gaga or JK Rowling. What would Kickstarter offer them that some private white label processing service couldn't copy?
- 14y ago
ronnier 14y ago
Thank you for not posting as "$300mm"
- cryptoz 14y ago
  Yeah, eh? What's that extra m for anyway?
  - ianterrell 14y ago
    I think it has its roots in Roman numerals. i.e. MM = 1000*1000, or 1 million. And regardless of whether you like it or not, it is the standard abbreviation in the financial world.
ajays 14y ago
This is very cool. Kickstarter is the leading edge of a tectonic shift. Quite often with these new ideas that come out of left field, the pendulum swings the other way after a certain point. While I like Kickstarter and other such projects (a lot of cool gizmos would not see the light of day were it not for Kickstarter), I fully expect the next year or so to be peppered with reports about fraud, etc. in the popular media. It used to be that if you had a widget that you wanted built at scale, you had 2 options: mortgage the house (and bug the relatives for cash), or approach one of the big guys and beg them for help. With Kickstarter, you don't need the big guys anymore. And as with any other such change where the Old Guard gets sidetracked, expect them to fight back with scare stories and mockery.
- olalonde 14y ago
  I completely agree. I predict there will be a "but think about the children" argument made for regulating Kickstarter within one year.
jonursenbach 14y ago
Wonder how long until Kickstarter sheds its Amazon Payments dependency so they can keep a larger share of the pot.
- draggnar 14y ago
  Wouldn't they have done that already? Maybe there is some partnership at work.
bizodo 14y ago
Very cool. Shows a new trend in social funding. And inadvertently provides proof of concept. Would like to see something like this for music industry.

22 points by gbsi 14y ago

where is the data on this coming from?

If they wanted to, Kickstarter could be one the biggest and best platform for startup crowd funding. They have the infrastructure to capture the promise of the JOBS act/ crowd funding act

citadrianne 14y ago
They don't want to. That would detract too much from their ability to serve creatives.
- bproper 14y ago
  Entrepreneurs are creatives. it's no different than the pebble smartwatch or light table project, except you are offering stock in the company instead of physical rewards.
  - jonathanjaeger 14y ago
    That's all the difference in the world. One is a finite project where you act as a patron and get something in return no matter what (assuming the creator doesn't fall off the face of the earth). If you fund a startup, most of the time your money doesn't have any sort of return.
    - _delirium 14y ago
      In particular they're very clear on the finite-project angle. You can't just raise funding for your art studio, but for some specific piece of art or project your studio is doing. A startup can already use Kickstarter to fund a specific project that way, if they want (several game studios have). But they can't just raise funds for the company "in general", which I don't think is something Kickstarter will be looking to change.
  - R_Symtex_II 14y ago
    Creative? Not always. Have you heard of one Mr. Grinda out of France and his clone-based empire? http://tinyurl.com/7g5sk95 http://tinyurl.com/7g5sk95 That said, I'm currently involved in a Kickstarter project in Design and it occurred to me that since the tech-side seems to draw in the most attention/funding these days--not true when I opened my project/account--, isn't confining this platform to the US counter-productive? Thus stagnating the progress of current or potentially new viable innovations. If anyone is interested I'm seriously considering open to accepting applications for potential tech projects within Europe, S. America and Asia that want but are unable to use KS, provided they meet certain criteria, for a nominal fee in an opportunity to advance this avenue before Grinda and his ilk clone it throughout the World. Its my free Market solution to ensure that Kickstarter remains the crowd sourcing platform of choice. If you know anyone in need of such a service tell them to post their email/link here and we can get in touch to get the ball rolling. No promises made, of course, but I think its a short-term solution to the current geographical issue.

waterlesscloud 14y ago

I expect other players to come in for big name creatives. Maybe the Hollywood agencies, CAA for example. Or maybe the creatives themselves set up their own infrastructure. Say Joss Whedon wanted to raise $10 million for a show. With Kickstarter he'd have to give them $500,000 of that, and it's not at all apparent that he would actually need them. If you had an agency roll this into existing services, maybe with a nominal fee, the big names may be more comfortable with that anyway...

sycr 14y ago
I think that you might be discounting the value of Kickstarter's execution - or rather, a hypothetical Joss Whedon would be discounting the value of their execution. In the same way that Twitter is "just a database of SMS messages", Kickstarter is just a "payment checkout" - but of course they are both greater than the sum of their parts.
- ScottBurson 14y ago
  Right. What you have to look at is, how much more money would he bring in by using Kickstarter? Hard to say for sure, of course, but Kickstarter is in a very good position now to argue that it's well over 5%. Seems to me that for someone who doesn't already have a large fan base, a Kickstarter campaign could easily increase their take by a factor of 4 (if not 10 or 100 or 1000). For someone well-known like Whedon the factor will be smaller, but if it's 1.5 or even 1.2, the 5% fee is more than covered.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  They have value, of course. But I do think that on the upper end they might be forced to lower their percentage in time. If for no other reason than someone else will come along and compete at a lower rate. Their execution isn't that hard to compete with, it can be commoditized with enough resources, and for someone with actual fame I don't think they increase the amount raised by much. If not Whedon, think Lady Gaga or JK Rowling. What would Kickstarter offer them that some private white label processing service couldn't copy?
14y ago

ronnier 14y ago

Thank you for not posting as "$300mm"

cryptoz 14y ago
Yeah, eh? What's that extra m for anyway?
- ianterrell 14y ago
  I think it has its roots in Roman numerals. i.e. MM = 1000*1000, or 1 million. And regardless of whether you like it or not, it is the standard abbreviation in the financial world.

ajays 14y ago

This is very cool. Kickstarter is the leading edge of a tectonic shift. Quite often with these new ideas that come out of left field, the pendulum swings the other way after a certain point. While I like Kickstarter and other such projects (a lot of cool gizmos would not see the light of day were it not for Kickstarter), I fully expect the next year or so to be peppered with reports about fraud, etc. in the popular media. It used to be that if you had a widget that you wanted built at scale, you had 2 options: mortgage the house (and bug the relatives for cash), or approach one of the big guys and beg them for help. With Kickstarter, you don't need the big guys anymore. And as with any other such change where the Old Guard gets sidetracked, expect them to fight back with scare stories and mockery.

olalonde 14y ago
I completely agree. I predict there will be a "but think about the children" argument made for regulating Kickstarter within one year.

jonursenbach 14y ago

Wonder how long until Kickstarter sheds its Amazon Payments dependency so they can keep a larger share of the pot.

draggnar 14y ago
Wouldn't they have done that already? Maybe there is some partnership at work.

bizodo 14y ago

Very cool. Shows a new trend in social funding. And inadvertently provides proof of concept. Would like to see something like this for music industry.