In doing my research for the Describe Kickstarter, I found almost no instances of projects started by people in the mental health field; at least not projects targeted to mental health professionals. I knew this would provide an added challenge as there wasn’t already an audience of mental health professionals familiar with crowdfunding on this platform. One thing I knew from research and my experience following various board games on Kickstarter is that to be successful, a campaign needs to connect with people who have backed other projects in the past.
But that’s not the most important thing I’m talking about.
The most important thing is that the community supporting a project on Kickstarter understands that it’s All or Nothing. If a project doesn’t meet it’s funding goal, no money is collected, and the project doesn’t happen. From my research, I expected a lot of supporters to be first-timers, Kickstarter neophytes, and so I published a series of articles explaining crowdfunding. I was correct in projecting that Describe was the very first project backed by many of it’s current supporters. I’m quite honored that so many have chosen Describe as the first project to pledge to!
One thing that comes along with this territory, however, is that there are still a number of people who don’t understand the All or Nothing part. I’ve had a number of people tell me something like, “Describe looks amazing! I’d love to have a copy. I will definitely order one when it comes out!” This is wonderful to hear, but also lets me know that there are still plenty of people who aren’t familiar with the Kickstarter model; that if they don’t order now, there may not be a time when it comes out. Further, even if the project is funded, only backers will initially receive it. There is no immediate plan to mass produce Describe and make it widely available. While that’s certainly my hope, top priority will be to get Describe in the hands of those who backed the project. Only then, will I be able to visit the prospect of larger scale production.
So, the takeaways are:
- A Kickstarter is successful only if it’s funding goal is reached
- No funds are collected from backers unless the goal is reached
- Backers are the first, and potentially only, people to receive the rewards from the project (in this case, copies of Describe)
In other news, Describe hit 50% of the funding goal right before the weekend! We’re halfway there. Thank you for all of your support!