Ask HN: What do you do after a successful Kickstarter?

8 points by pizzaparty2 6 years ago | 15 comments

I have a novel invention that I am pretty sure at least some people will like. I haven't done a whole lot of market research except searching for similar products, a patent search, and just kind of knowing that the device would be useful for certain people.

I'm making the device now. I'm actually several iterations in but it's shaping up. I think I will be able to launch the Kickstarter in about four months.

I'll probably set the lowest possible number for "success". That would include remaining legal expenses I haven't paid like getting it UL listed, etc.

So say I set the Kickstarter goal to $20,000. I could put $2000 in myself and I think get another $2000-$3000 from local supporters. That's 25% funded which I think has a chance at providing the initial momentum the project will need.

Say I get to this point. I've had a successful $20,000 Kickstarter. I order ~500 boards and cases and assemble and ship them myself.

But then what? I'll have a successful POC and made a net profit of maybe a couple thousand bucks. How do I grow it from there into a bigger product? For example, I think the invention could be useful to a larger percent of the population than I will capture with just Kickstarter marketing.

I think I can do a successful Kickstarter but I don't know how to capitalize on that.

Forgeties79 6 years ago |

Hey there, I know this isn’t exactly what you asked but I felt compelled to send this along when I saw your example numbers. I’ve actually had a (somewhat) successful crowdfunding campaign and lI’d like to give two pieces of advice about what to expect (1), how to consider what you want to raise (2), and just a general piece of friendly advice (3):

1) 70-80% of your funding, unless you’re a rare breakout viral sensation, will be raised in the opening and closing 48-72hrs. The middle will be a slog. Be ready for that and just keep communication/promoting going.

2) It’s relatively easy to clear $2500-$5000. Not EASY, but relatively easy. It takes a lot to justify people to push you to $10,000+. You HAVE to get beyond your friends/family/immediate network and that is very, very difficult. You need to do a lot of prep, host events, and get people blasting this thing everywhere. You need to shamelessly shake EVERY tree you available no matter how distant they are.

3) People invest in you as much as, if not more than, your product. The video needs to feature not just the product/idea (having a functioning version helps a lot btw) but YOU. People need to like and trust you. This is no different from investors. Good luck!

pizzaparty2 6 years ago | |

Hi, I have questions.

1. What was your thing? Did you keep it going after the Kickstarter? If so how's it going?

2. Why do you get most funding at the start and end? I can see at the start because that's where you have to bootstrap it but why the end? Did you apply marketing at an increasing rate or decreasing rate or a constant rate?

3. On selling yourself. I've heard this but idk how to do it. I'm not an expert in the field my product is in. My main motivation is just to make money. So I don't have a compelling story. I'm just a guy with an idea. I was planning on doing a video where I explain where the idea came from but aside from that idk how to interject myself. How did you do it or how do you think someone like myself should?

Thanks for replying.

Forgeties79 6 years ago | | |

1. A feature length documentary. We raised about $4500 (goal was $12k). We used indiegogo so we were able to keep the partial funding. We got a lot of great content but we never finished partially because we were simply too underfunded and the project was too ambitious. We will be releasing a short series soon instead.

2. It’s a weird phenomenon that’s mostly related to hype. People are excited at launch/those are the low hanging fruit. Immediate friends/family. You end up wringing out that source pretty quickly. At the end people who dragged their feet or just wanted to see how it would do finally commit - plus you’ll just naturally be pushing it much harder at the end and probably giving away fun bonus stuff to people.

3. The video just needs to show you a lot. Be prepared, be confident, and just be as affable as possible. Have a friend or colleague coach you off camera if you can. Just really fine tune that image you know? Attach your name, your experience, everything about you to this. Be honest and clear - “I want to make money” can be said in many ways without being deceptive or obnoxious. You can say, “this product is something I stand by and I want to dedicate my full time and attention to it. When funded, I can dedicate the time, energy, and resources this project requires to make it amazing.” Stuff like that.

And no problem! Hope this is helpful.

hmwhy 6 years ago |

Have only been a backer before so take my opinion with a gain of salt.

Thinking ahead is great, but it's often too easy to overestimate how good an idea is and get lost in thinking about all the things that were never going to happen.

It appears that you are not going to spend any more time on validating your idea, so why not just focus on having a nice prototype, see how it goes on Kickstarter, and use that as an opportunity for idea validation? How quickly and/or how well your idea will be funded will likely give you an indication of whether or not you should be thinking about the next step.

Even in the case that it's underfunded, you still get an opportunity to interact with those who pledged, find out what works and what doesn't, and then decide on whether you can make things better or even eventually turn it into a business.

It should be noted that in the case that your idea is overwhelming overfunded, you will likely be forced to scale up and effectively doing many of the things (accounting, manufacturing, shipping, customer service, etc.) required to turn it into an actual business.

As I gathered, manufacturing depends entirely on what your product is and you may have to deal with overseas suppliers for cost reasons (there are horror stories, don't always go for the cheapest). I assume that most people only think about that after they see how successful their campaigns are (it's very frustrating that things keep getting delayed for the backers though, so please try your best not to over-promise). Some people take care of the the rest by themselves (if they have a team), or using third-party services. In any case, I don't think you will miss the signs when that happens.

Good luck!

Edit: removed random fullstop in the middle of a sentence. Typos.

pizzaparty2 6 years ago | |

I already have some horror stories. I tried getting someone on FIVERR to draft the patent. Despite many 5 star reviews it was a bad idea. At best I lost $300.

Anyways for me part of the benefit in taking my time is building out the skillset to do this in general:

- knows how to file patent

- knows how to make case

- knows how to get a case design

- knows how to design the board

- knows how to get the cases and boards manufactured

- general idea of all the prices involved

- how do to Kickstarter marketing

- how to handle the legal side (like an LLC or ...?)

Because you're right I'm just kind of hoping people will like it. But if they don't I'll still then have the skillset to try something new. Plus the more people I ask the more likely someone will demotivate me, or steal my idea, or just leak the concept which would take some shock and awe out of marketing. I'll do more market research when I get closer to launching.

How did you hear about the campaigns that you backed?

SQL2219 6 years ago |

At least you're thinking ahead. A lot of kickstarters have trouble delivering. Perhaps you ramp up your ask to 50,000 buy the equipment that will allow you to be super productive.

pizzaparty2 6 years ago | |

Maybe, but I wish I could do it like an equation. I need x dollars to move this product to the next level. Maybe it would be 50,000. I'm just blind to what that next level looks like.

Jack000 6 years ago |

anecdotally, I've talked to two successful hardware kickstarter founders. They both regretted doing it - it took a huge amount of time to raise 30k and 70k respectively, and they were both blindsided by unforeseen issues and had to face angry backers.

For a super small hardware project it might be better to bootstrap and start by selling kits or one-offs.

zozbot234 6 years ago | |

The problem with hardware Kickstarters is that creators word them as presales, instead of funding for an inherently risky venture (which all hardware projects are). "Rewards" should never be the deciding factor behind contributing to a Kickstarter campaign. That way, even if a Kickstarter fails, it's no big deal; nobody is losing anything other than their actual stake in the project. And the creators are highly incented to succeed, because every sale they make thereafter is a "full" sale; with a captive market of backers, no less.

Forgeties79 6 years ago | | |

“Rewards should never be the deciding factor”

Nail on the head. Can’t emphasize this point enough. They are perks. They cannot be the product in most cases, because the product may fail and the entire dynamic is “I didn’t get what I bought.” The dynamic should be “I donated and it didn’t pan out unfortunately” in the case of a failed project.

jrowley 6 years ago |

I the first thing you should do is tell people you are delayed, or at least give yourself at least 2x your standard engineering time estimate. The unexpected always come up and it’s better to manage expectations early and have those first users in the know and happy.

rasz 6 years ago |

>goal to $20,000. I could put $2000 in myself

so, you are planning to start with a fraud and go from there? :/

Forgeties79 6 years ago | |

How is that fraud? Paying yourself is totally valid. I’m actually skeptical of projects where a person doesn’t pay themself. It makes me wonder if they truly understand what it’s going to take. As long as the donors know that, what’s the issue?

rasz 6 years ago | | |

>That's 25% funded

Means he will stuff his own KS to pretend demand. This is a fraud and against Tos.

"Pledging to your own project is not allowed by either Kickstarter or our payments partners"