muncha - Crispy Beef Jerky Chips

I pulled an all-nighter. It was like back in school.

In order to lead a successful Kickstarter campaign, all the podcasts, blogs out there say that you have to have do things like:

1. prep for pre-launch campaign for at least about 3 months,
2. build email list of xxx many people,
3. do giveaways, etc.

All is to get the most traction/conversion with 72 hours of launch, which eventually gets your project to be picked up by KS algorithm. Then, you get listed on the front page, which give you a greater chance to get picked up by "heavy backers" of Kickstarter.

We did none of them "right":

1. we decided the launch date only a month before
2. attempted to build. But I could barely manage. Had less than 100 people on the list
3. didn't even dare to try. I was stretched so thin.

But we had:

1. 300+ friends/family who tried our samples since the beginning 2) I had access to local communities of 1000 members. I volunteered for the committee since last year
2. among many friends who sampled became our biggest fans. Some of them even venmo'ed us already (i.e. somewhat validated)

They worked as a foundation. Another key point that prevented us from not launching at all was the PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT of our launch date. (btw, our product is Beef Jerky Chips https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/munchachips/muncha-beef-jerky-chips-0)

We were not ready.

It's not like "you'll never feel ready," but more like "I am stretched so thin that I'm not finishing anything right" kind of ready. At least until last week. Thank god, I finished making the video few days before and my partner wrote the text (whether it's perfect or not, just getting those texts filled up project description cells were super helpful!)

I ain't no graphic designer. But learned a little here and there. Until 2am today, we had none of the campaign images ready. I stayed up to make whatever I think would be necessary in case no one watches/reads anything we put up.

Then the launch.

I finished the first draft of visuals literally a minute before 10am (i.e. our target, and announced launch hour). I see where I could improve, but doesn't matter. My goal is not to make the pixel perfect designs. It's to make the most effective communication materials give my skill set and time.

We launched at 10:07am. There was a hiccup on KS site (possibly a little bug). Friends were already texting, clock ticking, still showing error messages... It was very nerve recking. But WE FINALLY WENT LIVE.

Meanwhile, our 1 year old woke up too early and been whiny for a while (Thanks to my hubby who was minding the baby all morning). I barely posted the launch news on facebook and picked him up.

Then our first $100 came through. 'This may be the only one of the day.' Later we learned that he and I both was thinking about that in order not to get disappointed. Then within an hour or so, we passed $3000 already. We were so tired, so decided to go out and grab lunch and mini celebratory drink instead of keep looking at the monitor.

While walking over to a brewery bar, we heard the news that we've reached the goal amount of $5K WITHIN 2 HOURS!

Super excited and super grateful.

THE LESSON:

1. Every journey is different. Learn from others, but may not need to get swayed too much.

According to "them," I didn't prep enough. But that's their way. Until last week, I was stressed because I felt as though I had to learn and implement their way. Finally got peace of mind once I realized that wis not the case.

It's like in high school. Everyone's best way of learning are different. (e.g. Some are better auditory learners, others visual learners.)

2. When starting new, people who already know you and trust you are your best supporters.

This was the case, especially our product is a snack item that everyone can relate to (except those who don't eat beef). But even for B2B product, keep having conversations about what you are building with people around you. You may get surprised by how random a lead might turn out from.

*CAUTION: when they are not your target audience, they may think your idea is stupid. But you don't have to not talk about it for that reason. Just prepare a screener in your heart beforehand and evaluate the feedback based on the target-audience-fit. Then those negative comments would hurt less.

3. Have a launch date in mind? Keep saying it out loud to yourself and others. Don't have a date? Choose one now and start telling people.

It's like having many accountability partner. Bonus, people are excited for you!

4. Ship something everyday. Whatever it is.

OVERALL,

Our key to success definitely had been (re)connecting to friends and family. Post often on social media. Facebook is the winning platform for us, which the launch messages/cheers became mini-viral in between friends and cousins. #feelingloved

Very proud of the website.

1. Creating Logo and design assets

I created the logo and visual assets for the site from scratch (learning Adobe illustrator and photoshop was frustrating, but fun). Used Shopify to implement the simplest version of what the website would look like my head while not being super frustrated about my zero-ability to code.

2. Building website

I AM A SHOPIFY BELIEVER NOW.

Wordpress, Wix, Squarespace... you name it, I've tried it. I just got no finished site out of any. Yet I resisted even trying Shopify due to the higher monthly fee ($29) and additional paid apps to follow. I knew I'll be using it at some point, but just not until I start getting paid.

Then I bit the bullet and tried Shopify. It was actually the easiest, and best-looking no-code website builder. With video tutorials, they hand-hold guide you every step of the way. Literally.

If e-commerce is what you'll be doing, highly recommend Shopify. I have so many other points I'd rave about, but I should stop here for now.

3. Choosing email service provider:

I chose [klaviyo]. I previously created a mailchimp account, but a friend of mine mentioned that mailchimp and shopify "broke up" and no longer integrated as smoothly they once did. Looked into [Klaviyo] and [Conversio - now called Campaign Monitor?] as alternatives. The same friend who tried both and recommended the former. Although might seem little pricier, at this point, would not really make a difference. Interestingly, when I compared the prices at 10K subscribers, I think K was even cheaper than C ($125 vs $250 or something like that).

4. Setting up "welcome mat" and auto-response:

We're on a pre-launch phase for Kickstarter campaign (targeting March 1st). The current goal of our website is to collect emails that will help build the initial buzz.

For subscription popup, many use Sumo's welcome mat. I love the capabilities (e.g. option to choose display type, A/B testing, etc.), but to link to Klaviyo, Sumo requires you to be on Pro plan ($39/mon when billed annually). So, I ended up using klaviyo's built-in popup feature. Not the best looking, but fairly easy to use and works.

So voila!

Here is the website.

I know. It looks pretty elementary if you're a designer or a programmer. But for a first-time DIYer like myself, it took blood and sweat. Now time to be proud and take the next step!

http://munchachips.com/

I've been giving out crispy beef jerky samples to friends. I was scheduling to meet up this one friend many times then always something came up on her side (she runs a startup and was busy raising an additional round at that time).

One day, she just placed an order for her office. They were driving up to SF for a conference and wanted a snack for the road for 4 people. I was like... OK! It was my first time facing questions like how much do I charge, what is a good selling unit, and such.

It was a great exercise. We fixed the selling unit at 10 bags, which matched perfectly with our small scale production. For each batch, we produced about 12 bags, so those extra could go for other friends to try. That was great to keep the ball rolling.

When other friends heard about that sale, they went, "Oh, Can you do that? I want to buy too. They were delicious!"

Same here. We didn't think of selling until that friend asked.

**Disclaimer **
All meat for public consumption in the U.S. must be inspected by USDA. Because of that, we only opened up for close friends (as if you hosted a party and your friends insisted to venmo you kind of way). That's how ideas get validated before you get confident enough to take it to the commercial level (c.f. The New Primal founder started selling to coworkers).

I am sharing this with IH community hoping that someone will benefit from my story.