Crowdfunding, 5 Years and 81 Projects Later
Published on Nov 4, 2015 (updated Aug 31, 2024), filed under misc (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)
I’m a Kickstarter and Indiegogo backer. I’ve backed my first campaign in February 2011 (Detroit Robocop!), and the so far last one in May (Models on Phones). In the five years on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, I’ve bid on 81 projects of which 73 funded successfully.
Here I, an originally rather compulsive supporter, want to share some brief stats and ideas on how the crowdfunding life has been like so far.
| Supported projects | 81 |
|---|---|
| ↳ of which canceled | 2 |
| ↳ of which unsuccessful | 6 |
| ↳ of which successfully funded | 73 |
| ↳ of which still open | 11 |
| ↳ of which overdue | 4 |
| Total pledge amount | $3,240.50 |
| Average pledge amount | $44.39 |
| Oldest open projects | Kickstarter: Magnetic Bike Lights, August 2012 |
| Indiegogo: Tapp Water Filter, December 2012 | |
| Possibly fraudulent projects | 1 (mPrinter (Kickstarter), August 2012) |
Although I invested in more garbage than anything, I can’t really complain about neither Kickstarter nor Indiegogo. But then… I do have some beef with Kickstarter, and campaigns like mPrinter, Magnetic Bike Lights, but also CST-01 (two of which cost three digits). They are among those Kickstarter projects to suffer from long delays, failed expectations, and possibly fraud.
Delayed, failed, fraudulent projects are frustrating and thus, for me, begin to tip the scale to move to low-investment, low-risk, or high-involvement projects. I deem it likely that other backers contemplate similar steps. I had briefly talked to Kickstarter staff proposing to insure higher-value campaigns to offer partial refunds, but it didn’t seem like this was being seriously considered. And yet failed higher-value campaigns can have rather disastrous effects for crowdfunding as a business.
This has been my crowdfunding life so far. How’s yours going?
(This is one of five “lost” articles that I only published in 2021.)
About Me
I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.
I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)