Give Your Start a Kick! Its easier than you think with Kickstarter.

Crowdsourcing.org lists over 2000 crowd fueled websites where one can get help with just about anything from labor to money to creatively. This week I took a closer look at the phenomenon known as crowdfunding a name which means exactly what one would expect. Monetary funding, (cash) from a crowd to begin “projects”, large and small. The term project could be associated with anything from art endeavors such as theater, films, books and photography to monetary support for a new invention.

Kickstarter is one such crowdfunding platform which according to their website, has earned more funding than all other crowdfunding sites combined. Kickstarter advertises themselves as a vibrant ecosystem where backers join creators to bring new things to life. To date over 1 billion dollars has been pledged to projects on Kickstarter. On their home page Kickstarter boasts, 5.7 million people have funded a Kickstarter project, while 1.7 million have funded more than 1 project. Very impressive statistics, for any entrepreneur that needs dough to get their project off the ground.

So what is in it for Kickstarter?

Kickstarter collects a 5% fee from a projects total funding if the project is successful. I.e. acquiring all the funds posted on their project outline. If the project does not reach 100% funding no fees are collected by the site. Anyone can post a project to Kickstarter, simply by filling out information about their project including what the project is, how much money is being asked for and how the money will be used. Kickstarter suggests all projects post a video that explains what their project / product / invention /idea is all about. They claim projects with videos have a 50% higher success rate versus a 30% success rate for projects that do not.

So searching around the hundreds and hundreds of projects only a few caught my attention. One project was an E-paper watch compatible with the Iphone and Android dubbed “pebbles”. It’s a watch that runs apps such as music and exercise apps that is displayed on the watch face. With a pebbles, you can also control electronic devices from the watch face. The inventor claims it’s easy to build new apps that can be loaded onto the watch. Pebbles will be available in three colors currently and donors can vote on the fourth color. It seemed interesting and possibly could be a hit in the marketplace.

After reviewing the pebbles project which is 100% funded, I clicked on a film project based in New York City. The film maker, Pat Hartley is requesting funding to complete a short film that will shine a light on the dark side of love entitled “Domestic Victories.” To keep costs to a minimum, Hartley plans to shoot the films entirely on an iPhone on location in New York City and edit her work on Final Cut at Apple 5th Avenue. The following statistics on her project page caught my attention:

Nobody gets dressed up to be abused –Yet most women are killed by someone they love.

Nobody goes to college to get attacked –Yet one in five female students is violated on campus. 

Nobody wakes up hoping to be harmed –Yet, in the United States, a woman is assaulted or beaten every nine seconds.

So far Hartley, has donations in the amount of $250 but she needs $2,500 by April 29, 2014. One can pledge as little as $10 dollars and as much as $100 dollars. This project seems like a worthy cause and well worth funding. I hope Ms. Hartley achieves her funding goal.

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