Over the past decade, the internet has presented a lot of new ways for people with a good idea or a creative thing they want to do to make their dreams a reality. From self-publishing for authors through to YouTube channels for people who want to make films, sketches, or present their own TV shows, there are plenty of ways you can get something you’ve done yourself in front of a wide audience these days. However, if the thing you want to do costs money to get off the ground, you may still feel like you don’t have the opportunity to try and do it.
This is where crowdfunding has become popular. With crowdfunding, people who want to do something creative or make a product can find people who want to invest in it, with the idea being that through lots of small investments by people interested in the end result, the creator can raise enough money to do the project they have in mind.
The best-known site for crowdfunding projects is Kickstarter, but is this something you could use to support a project you would like to do?
What Sort of Projects Do Well on Kickstarter?
Kickstarter only allows crowdfunding for specific projects, rather than for starting up general businesses. This means you can use it to launch a video game you want to develop, for instance, but not to launch a general game development company that doesn’t have a game planned out yet. Video games are one of the things that Kickstarter has proven very successful for, with a lot of the indie games you can find on Steam the product of crowdfunding campaigns here or on other sites like IndieGoGo. If you are a gaming fanatic who spends a lot of their time on sites like Game Guide World dreaming of bringing your own game to market, then Kickstarter could well be an option, and card and board games can also see some good traction. Inventions also tend to fare well, as do some certain types of media, such as films.
Getting Your Project Accepted
If you do decide to try a crowdfunding campaign, you are going to need to do a lot of research. Kickstarter doesn’t accept just anything, so you will need a strong video pitch for their members to look at, and a good breakdown of what the money you are trying to raise will be used for, as well as compelling rewards for investors. Read up extensively on Kickstarter’s rules and on how to create a good campaign before you start putting yours together to submit.
Running A Campaign
Running a crowdfunding campaign is a lot harder than most people think. You won’t just be sitting back checking for new investors every day – you’ll need to be actively marketing your campaign as a pretty much full-time job. This may take time away from actually working on your project if it is something you were able to work on while you were raising funds, so do bear this in mind when thinking about whether you actually have time to manage the process.
Crowdfunding can be a great way to gain the money you need to do something, but it is not easy, and many campaigns fail. Learn everything you can before starting, and be sure that this is something you want to commit your time to rather than choosing a different way to gain capital.