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Head to Head with Kickstarter/IndieGoGo

Creating a crowdfunding campaign is hard. Personally, I don't know the difficulties of it, but I have friends that have real world experience. I feel like maybe this is a solvable problem that Kickstarter and IndieGoGo aren't doing much to help with. There are lots of articles, 3rd party tools, and even books about how to make a successful campaign. Not only would someone need to consume all that knowledge, but then also implement, modify and maintain whatever is put in place. This is in addition to the product they are trying to bring to market.

I feel like a service that thinks deeply about these problems could do well, but the big problem is the catch-22 that exists when starting a social network like this. Involvement requires involvement. So it becomes really hard to get started.

Anyone have thoughts or experience when it comes to creating a social network type of service?

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    @stevenventimiglia I agree that people should take their campaigns seriously, but taking something seriously doesn't mean it needs to be hard to do. Being diligent and trustworthy are the qualities from a creator that I would want to see. I think it might be possible to design a campaign that shows backers more about how the creator has those qualities than just simply a "risks and challenges" blurb, which often times is similar or identical to other projects, and thus doesn't have any value.

    The tree thing is a cool idea. I had some other ideas for progress, which would include milestone unlocks too.

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    After fiddling with them for the past month, for a campaign I intend to go live with in March, I feel that it's actually a good way to gently force folks into taking their campaign seriously.

    You're not asking for someone to simply buy you a cup of coffee. You are asking them to invest in your idea(s), and really need to earn the ability to ask that question properly through those services. I do feel that their UIs need to be more user-friendly and less confusing, which is often the fault of a particular framework being used or improper application of mobile-first with no true consideration of a desktop experience.

    I have a domain that I'd actually like to build into something similar. The idea is to plant a tree and watch it grow as more folks help fund it. Each backer is represented as a leaf, slowly forming a solid base with branches representing pledge options and reward levels.

    Maybe this would be a fun project to work on together.

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    Don't understand your idea at all. A social network to help people run campaigns?

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      If you think about it, if a creator posts a campaign to a new website/service, they won't get many backers because backers aren't aware it exists. And there's no point for backers to follow/sign up on a new website because there are no campaigns to back.

      So in a sense, it's a bit like a social network (like Facebook).

      Unless I'm thinking of this in the wrong way?

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        Like your thought process and it's definitely a problem / need.

        However there's already a lot of instagram account, facebook page and medium that dedicatedly recommend crowdfunding campaign. IndieGogo also has a team to scout backers and their retargeting strategy is insane.

        How would you translate your service into a viable model? @McWes

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          Well, the model is already there, not much to change. 5% of campaign funds would be my revenue stream. But there's other models that could be hybridized, including subscriptions (for both creator and backers).

          The reason to re-invent the wheel is that I think it's needed. Here are some thoughts and features that I've been thinking about:

          First, I want to focus on the Boardgame/tabletop space. There's already a high success rate with funding those, and I want to help creators get the funding they need and get back to spending time on developing & testing their game.

          • Replicate at how video games & movies are marketed, including landing pages
          • Matchmaking projects to interests based on backer profile, tags, etc
          • Bubble up designer names that have produced quality work. "From the creators of X"
          • More awareness of other backers, a sense of guild/group.
          • Bounty system for suggesting new games by backers, or for temporarily bringing your campaign to the home page (heavy limits on this to ensure fairness)
          • Backer @ Level X Only Feedback Channel (Like Patreon)
          • Creator Levels/Achievements/Trophies/Awards/Leaderboards
          • Backer Levels/Achievements/Trophies/Awards/Leaderboards
          • Status Symbols (Twitter, Twitch, "Kickstarter Favorite", etc)
          • Better dashboards for backers and creators (kicktraq.com)
          • Look at all this data: https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/insights/top-10-lists/ - why doesn't kickstarter have a place for the community to learn and grow?
          • Pre-Campaign Schedules and Announcements (PAX)
          • Cosmetic enhancements - Dark/Light theme, avatar updates, emojis, roles

          From the creator side, you have post-campaign tools like BackerKit, CrowdOx, etc, that if they were part of the standard package, would be a huge reason for creators to use this new service instead of Kickstarter (since they would save add'l $$)

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