Lessons from our successful Kickstarter Launch -by Bhushan Lele. Presented at BarCampTampa 2012.

1. KICKSTARTER
THE FASTEST,
CHEAPEST, MOST
EFFECTIVE WAY TO
LAUNCH YOUR IDEA
LESSONS
FROM
OUR
SUCCESFUL
KICKSTARTER
BY
BHUSHAN
LELE
LAUNCH
OF
THE
IDEABOARD

2. OUR EXPERIENCE
“If you have a good Kickstarter
Other
Marke7ng
Channels
idea, Kickstarter
gives you your first
few hundred Ge=ng
the
first
We
spent
$800
total
We
have
spent
$3,000
in
adver7sing,
customers, social few
hundred
crea7ng
our
video,
and
only
to
get
a
few
hundred
dollars
in
customers
buying
a
nice
camera
business
from
it.
Costs
more
money
and
credibility, and to
take
photos.
7me
figuring
out
what
marke7ng
and
money- more sales
channels
are
working.
efficiently than any
single sales/ Social
credibility
30%
of
our
backers
5%
of
our
backers
have
offered
reviews.
marketing channel have
offered
reviews.
out there”.
Money
Gives
you
money.
And
Costs
money.
And
you
are
limited
to
the
you’re
doing
business
money
you
have
in
your
bank.
with
other
people’s
money
(via
pre-­‐sales).

3. DOES KICKSTARTER SUCCESS
MEAN YOU HAVE A BUSINESS?
NO
• No
website
is
going
to
put
you
in
business.
• View
Kickstarter
as
a
new
marke7ng/sales
channel,
that
is
perfect
to
launch
your
idea/business.
• You
s7ll
need
to
make
good
business
decisions.

4. THAT SUCKS
I WANTED TO HEAR YES
WELL
THEN…
• You
can
get
business
help
from
mentors
once
you
have
the
momentum
of
a
successful
Kickstarter
campaign.
• Mentors
can
help
you
liYle
at
the
“I
want
to
do
something”
phase.
• They
can
help
you
a
lot
when
you
come
to
them
with
some
sales,
capital,
and
market
feedback.
• So
it’s
not
just
a
launch
pad
for
your
idea,
but
it’s
a
launch
pad
for
becoming
an
entrepreneur.

5. THAT SUCKS
I WANTED TO HEAR YES
WELL
THEN…
• You
can
get
business
help
from
mentors
once
you
have
the
momentum
of
a
successful
Kickstarter
campaign.
• Mentors
can
help
you
liYle
at
the
“I
want
to
do
something”
phase.
• They
can
help
you
a
lot
when
you
come
to
them
with
some
sales,
capital,
and
market
feedback.
• So
it’s
not
just
a
launch
pad
for
your
idea,
but
it’s
a
launch
pad
for
becoming
an
entrepreneur.
IS
THAT
BETTER?

6. PLANNING
THE LAUNCH

7. DECISIONS DECISIONS
• Prototyping
• Sourcing
• Manufacturing
• Crea7ng
Traffic
• Campaign
Setup
• Post
Kickstarter
• Campaign
Management
• Building
Your
Tribe

8. FIRST A QUICK PRIMER
• Each
project
creator
develops
a
story,
a
video,
and
rewards
to
offer
their
backers.
• You
then
submit
to
Kickstarter
for
approval,
and
can
launch
any7me
ader
your
project
is
approved.
• Kickstarter
follows
the
all
or
nothing
funding
principle
– The
project
creator
will
come
up
with
a
funding
goal
and
a
funding
deadline
– Once
your
project
is
launched
there
is
no
changing
your
goal
or
funding
deadline
• Of
course
you
can
raise
more
than
your
goal!
• If
you
do
not
reach
your
goal,
your
Kickstarter
backers
will
not
be
charged
for
their
“pledge”
amount.
Source:
hYp://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter%20basics?ref=nav

9. PROTOTYPING
• Where
to
get
the
prototype
made
from?
– Op4on
1:
You
• If
you
are
doing
it,
make
sure
it
looks
good.
Kickstarter
is
big
on
aesthe7cs.
• We
first
hacked
the
ini7al
concept
using
material
from
Michaels
Art
Store.
– Op4on
2:
At
a
local
factory
or
any
factory
in
the
world
• If
you
know
enough
about
what
you
want
the
product
to
look
like,
many
factories
can
provide
drawings
for
you
to
see.
This
has
the
added
benefit
of
knowing
exactly
what
your
produc7on
cost
will
be,
which
will
be
important
to
see
pledge
amounts
on
Kickstarter.
– Op4on
3:
Hire
freelancers
on
sites
such
as
Elance.com
to
help
you
through
prototyping
phase.
• You
can
get
design
drawings,
produc7on
drawings
(to
give
you
accurate
manufacturing
cost
for
your
product),
and
prototypes
made.
See
what
guidelines
your
category
has:
hYp://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines

10. WHERE TO SOURCE FROM
Even
though
you
don’t
need
to
manufacture
your
product
yet,
you
should
be
aware
of
some
basic
differences
between
your
choices.
Lead
7me
Capital
needs
Product
cost
U.S.
factory
My
own
workshop
China
factory

11. …CONTD
These
are
Generali7es.
But
this
held
through
for
us.
Lead
7me
Capital
needs
Product
cost
U.S.
factory
middle
My
own
fastest
workshop
China
factory
slowest

12. …CONTD
Lead
7me
Capital
needs
Product
cost
U.S.
factory
middle
middle
My
own
fastest
least
workshop
China
factory
slowest
most
China
generally
requires
large
orders.
Shipping
from
China
takes
about
45
days,
tying
up
your
capital.

13. …CONTD
Lead
7me
Capital
needs
Product
cost
U.S.
factory
middle
middle
-­‐-­‐
My
own
fastest
least
-­‐-­‐
workshop
China
factory
slowest
most
lowest
Even
though
lowest
cost
country,
you
may
need
the
most
capital.

14. SOURCING/MANUFACTURING
INTERNATIONALLY
• Alibaba.com
is
a
great
site
to
find
interna7onal
manufacturers
– Just
like
business
in
U.S.,
simply
correspond
through
emails,
Skype
etc.
• Choosing
the
right
manufacturer
– Generally
choose
a
region
of
the
country
that
is
used
to
expor7ng
goods
• For
China,
the
Guandong
province
is
a
great
region.
It’s
easy
to
get
to
(near
Hong
Kong),
they
follow
Western
business
prac7ces
more,
and
their
English
is
decent.
Alibaba.com
allows
you
to
filter
according
to
region.
– You
can
judge
their
quality
based
on
the
sample
they
give
you.

15. …CONTD
• Working
with
the
manufacturer
– You
can
hire
a
broker
in
China
that
can
do
a
site
inspec7on,
quality
inspec7on,
and
help
you
with
coordina7on.
Brokerage
fees
are
about
2-­‐3%
of
the
order
you
place.
We
did
this
and
it
worked
well.
– Down
payment
is
required
for
them
to
start
order
produc7on.
Our
down
payment
was
30%.
• China
requires
a
decent
sized
minimum
order,
India
and
other
countries
may
produce
smaller
order
quan77es.
• Delivery
es7mates
will
be
given
by
manufacturer.
Remember
to
add
45
days
to
ship
from
Asia.

16. CREATING TRAFFIC - BASICS
• Kickstarter
relies
on
you
for
bringing
your
own
traffic.
• Process
looks
like
this:
– The
more
traffic
you
bring
from
external
sources,
the
more
page
views
and
backers
you
get.
– Kickstarter
recognizes
this
as
a
“good”
project
and
displays
your
project
higher
on
their
site.
This
in
turn
brings
you
more
traffic.
– Kickstarter
gives
you
extra
visibility
within
the
first
24-­‐48
hours
of
your
campaign
going
live,
and
also
during
the
last
48
hours
of
your
campaign.
Bringing
in
external
traffic
during
the
start
and
end
of
your
campaign
will
prolong
the
extra
visibility
Kickstarter
gives
you.
– Rule
of
thumb:
Bring
in
traffic
that
equals
about
30%
of
your
funding
goal,
within
two
days
of
your
project
going
live.
*
Kickstarter
gets
about
1
million
unique
visits
per
month

17. …CONTD
• Start
promo7ng
your
idea
45
days
before
your
campaign
starts
– Create
an
online
home
that
you
will
use
to
explain
your
project
and
get
verbal
commitments.
You
can
use
your
Kickstarter
project
page
in
preview
mode,
Facebook
page,
on
your
own
independent
site.
– Kickstarter
restricts
certain
promo7on
ac7vi7es
such
as
contests
and
giveaways
while
your
project
is
live.
But
you
can
do
this
since
you
are
star7ng
45
days
earlier.

18. CREATING TRAFFIC - HOW TO
• Email
Bloggers
– Find
Blogger
categories
that
are
relevant
to
you
product.
• For
us
it
was
produc7vity,
innova7on,
design.
– Small
Bloggers
with
less
than
15,000
unique
monthly
visitors
are
recep7ve,
Medium
Bloggers
with
20,000
to
60,000
visitors
usually
want
money
to
write,
Large
Bloggers
usually
don’t
have
the
7me
and
cover
broader
editorial
topics.
You
can
find
out
website
traffic
numbers
by
signing
up
to
a
free
account
with
compete.com
– You
can
ask
for
them
to
write
a
product
review
(but
you
have
to
send
them
product
if
product
is
simple),
or
write
a
guest
post
for
them,
or
do
a
giveaway
of
your
product.
– You
also
get
the
side
benefit
of
ge=ng
usage
insight
if
you
can
send
a
sample
product
to
the
Bloggers.
See
what
one
blogger
did
with
her
Ideaboard:
hYp://bit.ly/M1Qzc7

19. …CONTD
• Email
Media
Publica4ons
– Process
is
similar
to
above.
You
email
them
or
most
of
them
have
contact
forms.
– This
is
more
hit
or
miss.
Best
thing
is
to
have
a
network
of
writers
whose
work
you
follow
and
keep
in
touch
with
before
hand.
• Enter
contests
– Enter
contests
beforehand-­‐
which
are
good
at
crea7ng
exposure
and
traffic.
Then
take
the
entrants
and
park
them
in
your
pre-­‐Kickstarter
home.
Example:
The
Nesl
Project
,
and
the
contest
they
entered.

20. …CONTD
• Get
local
exposure
– Organize
an
event
and
add
value
in
some
way.
It
doesn’t
have
to
be
direct.
They
may
not
all
be
interested
in
your
product,
but
maybe
they
are
also
interested
in
doing
a
Kickstarter.
You
have
to
figure
out
the
best
way,
but
fact
is
you
will
get
some
backers
simply
because
they
are
local
(remember
backers
are
not
as
much
consumers
of
your
product
as
supporters
of
them).
They
might
not
shell
out
$20
plus,
but
if
20-­‐30
people
commit
to
pledging
even
one
dollar,
that
gives
momentum.
• Social
Media
– U7lize
social
media
to
find
people
who
would
be
poten7al
backers
– Get
them
to
spread
the
word

21. CAMPAIGN SETUP
• Funding
level
should
be
determined
with
this
in
mind:
– What
will
allow
you
to
take
your
next
lifestyle
step?
• You
probably
have
a
job.
So
how
much
money
will
allow
you
to
commit
to
working
nights,
or
weekends?
– How
much
quan7ty
do
you
need
to
produce
to
buy
the
product
at
a
reasonable
price,
so
that
people
are
willing
to
pledge
for
it
on
Kickstarter.
– And
remember,
you
should
be
able
to
bring
in
30%
of
the
funds
through
your
own
network.
• Campaign
length
– Kickstarter
allows
1
to
60
days
(and
recommends
around
30
days).
– Depends
on
how
long
you
need
to
promote.

22. …CONTD
• Create
rewards
that
move
people
to
act
– You’re
crea7ve
right?
Your
backers
expect
crea7ve
7tles
and
descrip7ons
to
the
rewards.
Backers
want
to
be
moved;
remember
they
are
not
just
consumers
of
your
idea,
but
supporters
of
it
as
well.
– Our
project
is
a
bad/good
example
of
emo7ve
rewards.
Our
first
campaign
lacked
this,
while
the
reward
7tles
for
our
second
campaign
was
volunteered
to
us
by
one
of
our
backers!
See
how
crea7ve
they
are-­‐
hYp://kck.st/Pn7UMj
• Create
a
story
that
resonates
(video,
about
your
project)
– Don’t
be
blinded
by
your
inven7on.
I
was.
Portable
Whiteboard
vs.
freedom
it
gives
you.
• Set
your
product
delivery
date
(es4mated
reward
delivery
date)

23. POST-
KICKSTARTER

24. WHY IS CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
POST-KICKSTARTER?
AND
IT
NEEDS
A
QUOTE
“During campaign
management, you
TO
MAKE
IT
OFFICIAL…
can do so many
things to help turn
your product into
a viable business,
that you really
need to think
ahead when
managing your
campaign”

25. CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
Goal
#1:
Turn
your
idea
into
a
viable
product
– Iterate
your
product
features
as
you
see
paYerns
• We
found
that
the
Mini
Ideaboard
appealed
to
more
people
than
our
original
board
size,
so
we
sped
up
the
development
of
the
Mini
Ideaboard.
The
Mini
accounted
for
70%
of
funds
raised.
• We
learned
that
template
sheets
would
add
more
value
to
our
product,
and
make
the
inven7on
more
understandable
and
approachable-­‐
very
important
for
online
sales.

26. …CONTD
Goal
#2:
Find
the
narrow
market
segments
rich
with
early-­‐
adopters,
that
makes
your
marke7ng
viable
(scalable).
– Find
your
segments
• We
learned
that
our
product
was
widely
applicable,
from
psychologists
to
soldiers,
but
our
product/market
fit
was
preYy
narrow
to
reach
the
early
adopters
efficiently.
• If
I
generally
target
coders,
about
5
out
of
1,000
coders
would
be
early
adopters
and
want
to
buy,
and
I’ll
run
out
of
money
finding
these
5
people.
• If
I
have
a
beYer
understanding
of
the
different
segments
within
the
coding
world,
for
example
that
about
100
out
of
1,000
Agile
developers
would
want
our
product,
then
I
will
actually
have
a
posi7ve
ROI
on
my
marke7ng,
and
can
scale
this.

27. …CONTD
– Messaging
to
Segments
• Remember,
your
backers
on
Kickstarter
are
just
as
much
your
supporters
as
they
are
consumers
of
your
product.
• Be
very
responsive
to
them.
Thank
them
in
7me.
Ask
them
open
ended
ques7ons
on
what
they
like
about
the
product,
and
how
they
plan
to
use
it.
• Our
response
rate
on
backers
engaging
with
us
is
over
65%
on
Kickstarter,
and
is
under
10%
of
Amazon.
The
quality
and
details
of
our
Kickstarter
conversa7ons
are
also
much
beYer.
• So
understand
the
language
of
each
customer
segment.
And
use
it
to
market
to
each
segment
post-­‐Kickstarter.

28. BUILDING YOUR TRIBE
• Goal
#3:
Find
and
keep
in
touch
with
your
tribe
members
– Make
deals
and
offer
them
exclusive
specials
– Get
them
to
spread
the
word
You
will
have
3
types
of
backers:
• Some
of
your
backers
will
simply
act
as
a
consumer,
as
if
they
bought
your
product
at
a
retail
store
such
as
Target.
• Some
of
your
backers
might
secretly
really
like
your
product,
but
they
won’t
interact
with
you.
• And
then
some
backers
are
actually
going
to
make
it
easier
for
you
to
build
your
business-­‐
also
know
as
your
“ Tribe”.

29. BUILDING YOUR TRIBE
Iden7fy
who
is
in
your
tribe,
and
get
them
to
help
you:
– Tribe
members
will
welcome
your
interac7ons,
will
give
you
insight
into
the
product’s
usage,
send
you
more
customers,
and
write
reviews
for
you-­‐
they
will
help
build
your
business.
– Keep
in
touch
with
them,
give
them
special
deals,
make
them
very
happy.
– We
iden7fied
our
tribe,
by
first
asking
them
how
they
would
use
the
product.
And
then
asking
them
to
provide
us
with
text/video
reviews.
The
backers
who
par7cipated
in
this
were
seen
as
our
tribe,
and
in
return,
we
are
providing
them
with
early
delivery
of
the
product
(we
are
actually
air
shipping
their
product
from
China,
subsequently
losing
money
on
each
of
these
sales).
From
our
tribe
members,
we
will
be
ge=ng
about
15
video
reviews,
and
about
30
text
reviews.
Think
about
the
mileage
we
can
get
from
this
for
SEO
and
Amazon
sales.
See
our
Amazon
reviews
here:
hYp://amzn.to/VrB9pk

30. POST KICKSTARTER
FROM
A
PRODUCT
TO
A
COMPANY:
EVALUATE
What’s
your
sales
goal?
– If
each
of
our
customers
repeat
purchase,
they
will
spend
about
$100
in
one
year.
– So,
to
be
a
$100,000
in
sales
company,
we
need
about
3
new
customers
per
day.
To
be
a
$500,000
in
sales
company,
we
need
about
13
new
customers
per
day.
– At
this
stage,
get
a
few
successful
entrepreneurs
to
be
your
mentors.
They
have
gone
through
this
already.
They
will
give
you
great
advice.
Will
the
market
size
of
your
single
product
get
you
there?
– It’s
tough
to
know
this
answer
especially
because
your
product
is
innova7ve.
– Find
your
market
segments
that
are
rich
with
early
adopters.
Remember,
40%
of
people
in
the
group
you
target
should
be
disappointed
if
your
product
didn’t
exist.
As
you
find
these
market
segments,
you
will
have
a
beYer
handle
on
the
market
size,
and
whether
or
not
you
can
get
X
new
customers
per
day.
– We
decided
it
might
be
possible
to
get
13
new
customers
a
day
for
the
Mini
and
Original
Ideaboard,
but…

31. POST KICKSTARTER
FROM
A
PRODUCT
TO
A
COMPANY:
EVALUATE
Could
you
consider
adding
more
products/product
variants?
• Adding
the
Mini
Ideaboard
expanded
our
market
by
2.5
7mes.
– More
people
were
willing
to
carry
it
in
their
work
bag,
than
hand
carry
a
larger
porxolio.
– We
had
very
few
female
buyers
for
the
larger
ideaboard,
while
there
are
many
female
buyers
for
the
Mini
Ideaboard.
• You
get
mul7ple
shots
at
goal.
– Taking
mul7ple
shots
at
goal
is
especially
helpful
for
businesses
with
durable
products,
since
repeat
purchases
are
less.
– As
our
example
showed,
a
slight
varia7on
can
produce
great
results.
There
is
no
way
of
knowing
what
will
s7ck,
so
try
a
couple
varia7ons.
– Appeals
to
more
segments
so
your
market
size
increases.
– At
a
tac7cal
level,
it
costs
7me
and
money
to
bring
in
traffic.
You
might
as
well
have
mul7ple
products
so
you
have
more
opportuni7es
for
a
sale.

32. POST KICKSTARTER
FROM
A
PRODUCT
TO
A
COMPANY:
MARKETING
Your
marke7ng
goal
is
two-­‐fold:
– Cul7vate
your
tribe.
Keep
in
touch
with
them.
Get
them
to
spread
the
word.
– Find
you
product/market
fit-­‐
those
market
segments
rich
with
early
adopters.
If
you
don’t,
you
will
have
to
work
five
7mes
as
hard,
and
spend
five
7mes
the
money.
• Internet
makes
it
efficient
to
target
narrow
segments
via
landing
pages
and
CPC
ads
etc.

33. POST KICKSTARTER
FROM
A
PRODUCT
TO
A
COMPANY:
MARKETING
Selling
through
retailers
vs.
selling
online
• Selling
to
retailers
– Pros:
Make
more
money
quicker.
You
don’t
have
to
convince
10,000
people
to
buy
your
product,
just
top
10
retail
buyers.
– Cons:
Margins
are
less.
You
will
need
more
capital
to
execute
larger
order.
You
are
dependent
on
the
retailer
to
saying
yes
to
you
each
year.
You
may
have
to
guarantee
sales
(buybacks,
charge
backs).
• Selling
through
online
channels
– Pros:
You
create
your
own
distribu7on
channel,
so
you
don’t
dependent
on
anyone
for
sales.
You
can
sell
other
products
through
the
pipeline.
Margins
are
higher
because
there
is
no
middleman.
It
is
efficient
to
target
narrow
segments.
You
have
more
control
over
your
brand.
– Cons:
Slower
to
get
sales.
It
costs
money
and
7me
to
learn
what
channels
work
and
what
don’t
work.

34. POINTERS AND RESOURCES
• Internet
Marke7ng
Pointers
– The
details
are
important
in
internet
marke7ng
– If
you
haven’t
done
it
before,
expect
to
spend
7me
learning,
and
expect
to
spend
7me
and
money
making
mistakes.
– Internet
marke7ng
is
filled
with
coaches/consultants
with
great
sales
pitches.
Be
wary.
• Different
ways
I
am
learning
Internet
Marke7ng
– Read
“Get
Rich
Click”,
to
get
a
great
prac7cal
overview
on
the
different
internet
marke7ng/sales
channels.
WriYen
by
Author
Marc
Ostrofsky,
who
started
and
owns
several
websites…he
walks
the
talk.
– I
place
ads
on
Elance,
with
open
ended
7tles
such
as
“I
need
to
get
more
sales
on
Amazon”.
I
hire
them
to
do
the
job,
and
learn
at
the
same
7me.
– Mentor
who
has
done
online
business
is
invaluable
here.
Will
help
you
cut
down
on
the
mistakes
you
make-­‐
saving
you
7me
and
money.

35. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Kickstarter
school:
hYp://www.kickstarter.com/help/school/defining_your_project
Feel
free
to
email
me
at
bhushanlele1@gmail.com
with
any
ques7ons
you
may
have.
Bhushan
Lele
linkedin.com/in/bhushanlele
twiYer.com/bhushan_lele

36. END
THANK YOU