WEBVTT - How Kickstarter Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:12.960 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.600 Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.119 there and we're ready to kick this episode off. For 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.640 just one dollar, you can contribute to Stuff you Should Know. Yeah, 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:30.440 can they know we're a pre podcast. That's why I 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.639 get less patient with complaints. Yeah right, it's a trade off. Yeah, 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.400 it's free. Get some ads here and there, love with it. No, 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.320 but I'm just kidding. We don't fundraise or crowdsource or crowdfund. No, 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.440 we just to put stuff out. We have corporate sponsorship. 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.479 Not everybody does, though not all creatives do have corporate sponsorship. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:57.880 And so luckily, since what two thousand nine, there's been 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.000 something to help people like that out, artists, creatives who 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.240 want to get a project underway but can't do it, 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.360 called Kickstarter that don't have the funds. I'm a big 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.360 fan of Kickstarter. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I remember when 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.119 it came out, I was like, this is gonna revolutionize 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.800 um independent artists because one of the problems if you're 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.440 an independent artist and you don't want to cow tow 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.600 to the man is to just do your own thing, 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.039 because it's the future is now as far as um 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.240 accessibility to equipment, and you can you can make a 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.920 movie right there in your in your own neighborhood and home. Right. Yeah, 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.800 there's been a d I Y spirit. Well, yes, if 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:44.840 you have the skills, it's important. Well there's always been 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:46.880 that d I Y spirit. But it's just the accessibility. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.040 This equipment is like never before. Right, It's it's they've 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.640 caught up to one another. Yeah, it's cheaper, it's you 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.320 don't have to get film developed. You can edit off 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.560 your laptop. Um, it's all there for the taking, except 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.960 that it's still cost some money. Yeah, actors didn't come free. Nope, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:08.200 that's one thing. Wardrobe like craft services. Sure, you gotta 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.000 have some peanuts and coffee, and that's just for you know, 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:16.600 a movie. There's also like theaters. Um, there's music. Yeah, 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.240 I want mine. I want to do mine. I want 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.680 to travel the world and photograph all the remaining rhinoceros 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.840 rh I I don't know. I think rhinoceros is. It's 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.360 a photo book. It's a photo project about the rhinoceros 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.840 in felt and I want to do that. You can 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:36.680 do that. That's an art project. You can get funded. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.240 You can if everybody thinks that that's a good idea, 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.440 Which is the cool thing about Kickstarter, that's right, So Chuck, 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.960 let's talk a little bit about this, right. Kickstarter is crowdfunding, 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.560 which is a a play on crowdsourcing, which is originally 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.679 basically just tapping into the hive mind. Yeah, thanks to 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.000 the Internet. Right, there's a lot of people out there. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.840 If you take their collective brains or allans or thoughts 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.160 or efforts together, put them together through the Internet, you 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:09.600 can do massive, awesome things like Wikipedia's Originally there is 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.359 an original, great example of crowd sourcing. That's right. Now, 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.920 if you take all those people and say, hey, just 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.160 hold on to your time, hold on to your volunteering, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.560 hold on to your effort, just give me money instead. Yeah, 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:26.360 that's crowdfunding, and Kickstarter is one of the better examples 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.760 of it. But it's not the first. No. No, it's 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.720 called micro patronage if you want to get specific, and 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:38.040 it's been around since the mid nineties. Uh Kiva dot org. Yeah, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.240 we've done a podcast on micro ending and we have 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.920 our own Kiva team. We've got a killer Kiva team 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.840 that just surpassed a hundred thousand loans and we're coming 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.760 up on three million dollars in loans made. That's right. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.040 So if you if you're interested in helping out, I 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:53.360 know we talked about it a lot, but it's been 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.880 a little while. If you're interested in helping out a 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.000 business owner, either in the United States or abroad, you 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.800 can do so. Ats off you sure, Keiva dot org, 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.760 slash teams slash stuff. You should know, that's right, and 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.400 you can do it as as a team. It's just fun. 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.880 So Kiva is one great example. Um donors two dot org. 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:15.040 I remember when that started when teachers started posting projects 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:20.400 where their school because schools are ridiculously underfunded and teachers 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.400 had to like ask the public to help pay for 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:25.800 a field trip or something. Yeah, you know, I've seen 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:30.720 Waiting for Superman Man. I saw seen that. It's been 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.200 on my list for years. Very rarely have I seen 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.400 documentary that just got my hackles up like that one. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.920 It's really well done. Well that's because can anyone make 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:44.120 an argument that education isn't worth funding and supporting? Uh No, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.320 But this, this, this does just a great job of 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.040 like getting all sides of the issue out you got it. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.240 It's one of the best documentaries ever made. Yeah, I 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:53.479 need you to see that. And that wasn't on my 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.680 top documentary list because I haven't seen it. I got 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.640 to see it. Oh, and also feedback on that. I 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:00.400 want to say thank you very much to all the 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.400 people who rode in with suggestions in answer to my 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.280 complaint that I've seen all the good horror movies. Oh yeah, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.360 apparently I was wrong. Boy, we got a lot of 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.800 good suggestions. Yeah. I can't wait to see some of them. Yeah, 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.719 most of them are foreign. It seems like, hey, they're 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.480 making the takes the whole world. Takes a global village 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.200 to scare jows. It does, uh, indie go go and 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.000 sell a band or a couple of other other early 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:28.200 crowdfunding sites um for music and movie making. I think 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.040 indie go Go does lots of projects now, though it's 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:36.360 not just movies anymore. Kickstarters emerged as like the go 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:43.680 to site for what what's supposed to be creative projects. Yeah, well, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.360 let's let's talk about this. Uh. In two thousand two, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.560 co founder Perry Chen said, I want to do this 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:51.960 concert here in New Orleans, but it costs a lot 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:55.880 of money to throw a big concert, and UM, let 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.240 me talk to my partners Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.360 and see if we could and figure out a way 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:02.920 how to do this. And they said, you know what, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:05.600 we know we can get people to donate a little 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.000 bit of money to this thing, a lot of people. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:10.880 But how can we do that? You know? I think 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:15.680 they met Perry Chan was waiting tables and was one 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.080 of the other guys waiter and they struck up a 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.320 conversation about it. I believe that's how kickstarter got started. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.520 That's pretty cool. Yeah, So they had the idea obviously 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.000 based on um like we said, Indigo Go and some 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.039 other h crowdfunding sites out there, to start kicks Starter 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.440 in two thousand nine. But they said, you know what 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:39.160 we're gonna do exclusively creative projects. You can't um raise 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.800 money to like pay your rent or pay off your 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.560 house or anything weird like that. And it wasn't you 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.800 can't just do like a vague plan or something like that. 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.520 It had to be here is what I'm going to accomplish, 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.800 here's my project, here is the end result, this is 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.039 what it's gonna be here's the timeline. I want to 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:04.200 get this done within and this is my Kickstarter project. Yeah, 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.680 this is what I'm gonna hopefully go get funded my campaign. Yeah, 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.320 but it's creative. Yes, that's right. And uh, they you know, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.080 they wanted to different differentiate themselves and be unique, and 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.080 being creative only was one of the ways that they 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.760 did that. Another way they did so was two And 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.400 I thought this was a stroke of genius. It's all 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.160 or nothing. Yeah, this this makes sense. Now unless you 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.760 get of your funding, um, you're not going to get 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.800 any funding. And Kickstarter is only going to collect of course, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:34.760 they make money by collecting a little piece of it 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.360 five percent commission only if you reach that funding goal though, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.080 which uh sets it apart from the crowd And I 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.200 think it's pretty genius. The whole reason is genius is this. 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.880 If you are a creator and you have a project, 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.240 and you get halfway to your goal, your monetary goal, 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.760 and you take that money, you are obligated still to 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.600 those people who gave you just half of the money 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.000 you need to create something. But what you're going to 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.280 create is inherently inferior to what you would have created 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:09.760 had you had all the money. You figured out you 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.320 needed for this project, Sue. If you if you can 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.560 take less than all, you're going to set yourself up 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.520 to make something that you're not proud of. Yeah, Or 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.160 if you don't get funded, you might think, all right, well, 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.240 maybe that wasn't the best idea, or you know, maybe 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.480 go another route, or say maybe that wasn't the best idea, 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.760 let me try something else, which is like a crowdsourcing 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.880 aspect of Kickstarter. You're also saying to the to the 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.240 hive mind, is this a good idea? Yeah? And the 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.439 other cool thing about the percent or nothing is as 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.680 a as a donor or an investor, you're not you 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.000 know that what you're going to end up with is 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.600 this finished movie or this finished record album or this 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.400 finished photo project. It's not just gonna be like, well, 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.160 I just lost that five dollars to something that was 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.559 thirty funded and I don't even know where what I'm 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.520 going to get out of it. Now, you know, you're 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.080 just basically like through a five dollar bill into a 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.000 buskers um guitar case or something, you know, which is 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.240 something you should do to. Yeah, there's nothing inherently wrong 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.719 with that, but the point of kickstarter is there's a 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.680 project that this person has approached you on and you 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.199 have said that is worth five dollars of my money, 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.240 even if I don't get anything back. Sure, I feel 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.960 good about this project. Not the fact that you're an 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.600 artist in general or you're a musician in general. This 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:33.880 is this project that I'm investing in. That's right. Another interesting, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.880 uh facet to kickstarter is that they do offer rewards. 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.120 As a backer, They require people to offer rewards. So 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.200 it's not just hey, you're gonna feel good about yourself 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.160 for supporting the arts in my finished movie. Um, you're 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.160 gonna get a copy of the D D D or 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.040 the c D may be signed by the artist. Maybe 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.360 it's a poster. Maybe it's a pin or a button 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.040 for a two dollar donation, right, or maybe it's lunch 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.840 with me if you kicking a hundred thousand dollars, or 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.720 maybe there the executive producer if you kick in all 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:07.560 the money. Right. Yeah, we're not all the money. But 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.880 you know they have different tiers set up and different 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.120 rewards that align with those tears. Yeah. The thing is 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.560 that there's rules with this, like you can't offer a 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.679 financial stake in the project or equity you can't say 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.480 you kick in twenty five dollars. Now you'll get fifty 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.080 bucks back when I sell this thing to you know, 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:33.080 Carol co Film. You know where'd you come up with that? 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.520 That's the go to of mine, Carol Go. Yeah, haven't 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.800 they been out of business for like twenty years? They 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.760 had a good logo glowed, I believe. And then the 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.360 other So when this, when this stuff is all done 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.120 and up on Kickstarter, the the basically the creative has 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.400 said I'm responsible for two things. One, I will complete 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.400 this project if I get funded. Fully, that means this 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.120 project has to be done. I can't just take the 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.880 money and rotten. No. Legally I think they can, yes, 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.959 but I think the public shaming that would insue it 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:10.679 would just not be worth it. That would be your 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.600 only Kickstarter project exactly. And then secondly you have to 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.880 fulfill whatever your rewards were. Right, and we'll get into 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.400 the nuts and bolts about actually creating a Kickstarter project 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:33.000 right after this. Okay, so we said it has to 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.800 be a creative project. What does that mean, Josh? I 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.000 think if I uh far at the Star Spangled banner 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.800 on YouTube, that's a very creative project. I can't believe 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.199 you just use the F word. Uh, you know what, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.600 you probably could get that funded pretty easily, could um. 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.720 And the key is that Cooper would pay her that 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:57.240 by himself. By himself, he would liquidate everything he has. 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:58.839 Just as long as you did that, you were right. 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.840 The thing is to get onto Kickstarter site, you have 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.400 to get past the Kickstarter staff. And it's actually not 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.440 just any Joe Schmo can come along and be like, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.839 I define creativity And as a matter of fact, there 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.680 are definitions for what makes a creative project. And then 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.120 on the other end of that is the staff that 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.640 has to look over a proposal and say, yeah, this 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.760 meets our standards. Yeah. They define it on their website 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:33.319 as art, comics, dance, design, fashion, film, food, games, music, photography, publishing, technology, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:38.080 and theater and um. They they admit that it is 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.320 an ever evolving definition because creative people are kind of 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.880 wacky and they'll submit things that they that walk the 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.560 line that they'll have to decide. Hey, this Chuck Bryant guy, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.520 he's gonna be a big podcaster. He wants to fart 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.960 the star spangled banner um on the front lawn of 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.439 the White House. Oh man, that sounds pretty good to me. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.040 You could very easily get onto the front lawn of 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.320 the White House these days too. Yeah, you just jumped 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:07.160 the fence. And so the thing is, I think in 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.920 that sense, on that end of the spectrum, they're a 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.960 lot more liberal. Like I don't think the Kickstarter staff 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.839 is interested in saying that's art or I don't agree 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.520 with that art, so that's not really art. What they're 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.400 more concerned with is having basically becoming an as seen 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.400 on TV website. So the author of this article is 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.080 Dave Ruse. He puts it like, um, it's not it's 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.800 it's a proposal for a project, not for a finnished product. 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:40.000 So it's not hey, by my DVD, it's hey, invest 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:45.040 in this project and you'll get a DVD when it's finished. Yeah, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.200 that's a huge distinction because if not, it would just 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.720 be an online marketplace. And Kickstarter suffers a lot of 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:55.200 criticism because it's evolved in that way. But apparently they're 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.520 cool with that to a certain degree. Yeah, there was 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.160 one case, Um, I think it's a couple of years ago, uh, 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.000 for a watch band that held the iPod nano. I 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.600 remember when that came out they wanted to raise fifteen 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.120 thousand dollars and they raised a million dollars. That's the 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.160 other cool thing about Kickstarter. I don't think we mentioned 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:17.480 if you go over then great, good for you. Um. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.160 But basically what happened was your twenty five dollar donation 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.840 got you that watch band that you can now get 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:28.040 online or Apple stores for forty bucks. Uh. And they 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.800 did take you know, they took some flak for that, 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:35.080 saying isn't this just a way to buy something before 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.080 it comes out? Pre order? Yeah? Pre order? Is that 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.880 what it's called? Preorder this thing? Yeah? I know. Right now. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.800 I think the biggest um success they've had is that cooler, 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.720 the coolest cooler. Have you seen that thing? Thirteen point 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.680 to eight five million dollars and I think their original 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.520 goal was like fifty Yeah. I mean I remember when 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.800 I first saw the uh, the little ad for this 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.120 thing on Facebook. It was awesome. I was like, man, 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:05.600 that is one cool cooler. Yeah, it has like bluetooth waterproof, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:10.360 bluetooth speaker, has a ice crushing blender built in. It 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.520 is a cooler to um. And again, like we said, 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.160 like this is the crowdsourcing aspect of it, Like these 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:21.120 people came up with the coolest cooler and the world said, yes, 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.680 that product needs to come into existence, and they voted 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.560 by saying, here is way more money than you need. 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.480 And now yes, it's basically a pre order. Not only 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.720 that this company now can sell out to whoever they 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.040 want to and sell coolest coolers for the rest of 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.840 eternity or somebody right, because it's not a gamble at all. 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:48.080 It's already proven itself on the in the retail market, 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.160 so there's no gamble whatsoever. So they can they can 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.520 just keep making them themselves, or they can expand and 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:58.240 attract outside capital. And it's all because Perry Chin and 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.200 his fellow co conspirators created this website that has all 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.120 these dimensions to it. Even though it's so simple, when 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:11.560 placed into the context of the Internet, it has complications 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:16.840 but also expansions. It's pretty cool. Even though there are 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:22.960 products like that. Um over six products that are successfully 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.680 funded are music, film, and video. So I that's a 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.880 little I mean, that's that's true, but it's flip flops 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.480 them apparently. So this article, I think it was two 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.920 thousand eleven from what I saw, the most popular by 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:41.200 far as as far as funded projects go as film 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:47.200 and video, then music, then publishing, then art, and then games. 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.960 Got you like, what was games mean? Well, there's a 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.720 lot of role playing games that get created on Kickstart. 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.520 It's another thing too, it's a it's a great um 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.960 it's a great marketplace for non traditional stuff. Like yeah, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.120 you probably think of going on to Amazon to look 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.680 for that, and you might find something too, But you're 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.120 not going to find a game that doesn't exist yet 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.600 on Amazon. I don't know. You just blew my mind. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.240 I got a few more stats for you. These are 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:24.639 current as of today. UM one point three eight is 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.679 that a billion billion dollars pledged to projects, almost seventy 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.840 three thousand successfully funded projects. By the time this comes out, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:40.000 it will probably pass that UM eighteen point five million 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:44.960 total pledges. I'm having trouble with my commas today, but 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.200 that's basically the public saying we believe in donating small 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.359 amounts of money to projects that we believe in. And 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.320 I think that's great. I do too. I think it's 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:00.240 a pretty neat concept. And so we were talking about, um, 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:06.600 how odd Kickstarter can get. Sometimes there's like no dearth 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.280 whatsoever of very weird kickstarters that have resulted in some 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.320 pretty cool stuff like Zach Danger Brown's potato salad. Oh 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.800 that guy. He was looking for some money to just 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:22.720 make potato salad one day and got wildly funded, well 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.119 past his goal and ended up holding potato stock in 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.000 his town of Columbus, Ohio. And he made something like 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.160 three fifty or four d and fifty pounds of potato salad. 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.480 So like, if you donated, you could come and eat 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.040 this potato salad. That was a hit. That was the kickstarter. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.920 If that's not conceptual art, I don't know what is. 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.720 Is that how he categorized it. That's how I categorize it, 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:48.680 because food is a category too. Maybe it was both 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.000 a straddle of the line, the food art project. Uh 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.440 they do. Um, there are some tips we can give you, though, 0:18:54.600 --> 0:19:02.960 um kickstarter successful kickstarter, kickstarters, kickstarters, what do they call themselves? Kickstarters, kickstarters, 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:07.439 kickstart people, kickstart people. They say that, Um, obviously you 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.720 have to start with a very catchy, unique, fun, and 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.800 or inspiring IDEA potato salad is pretty inspiring. Um, well, 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.120 that can be fun or catchy at least. Uh. They 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.040 say you should have a good story, because what you're 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.280 gonna do is you'r you don't have to, but you're 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.400 encouraged to make a video pitching your idea. And if 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.040 you've watched some of these, they're all usually just kind 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.679 of off the cuff and tongue in cheek and fun 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:33.760 and low budge. You know, you don't want to, like 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:36.600 look like you have a lot of money, probably by 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.679 making some big production um. And you want to appeal 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.040 to someone if you've got a great story about why 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.240 you're doing your project, and that's certainly gonna help you 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.320 get funded. Yeah, And that's one of the things about 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.399 Kickstarter two is that you hear about the potato salad 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.760 thing that became basically an internet meme. It became so popular, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.800 the coolest cooler you could find out about on Good 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.080 Morning America. You can really count the number of of 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.640 Kickstarters on both hands. Maybe if you had a third hand, 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.520 that would be helpful that you've heard about if you're 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.360 not like a Kickstarter donor don't really go to Kickstarter, 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.160 but that leaves seventy thousand and change that you've never 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:17.000 heard of. And that's the thing with Kickstarter. You create 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.520 your Kickstarter Projects page and the first thing you do 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.800 is send it to family and friends say hey, want 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:25.800 to invest in this, And then you take it out 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.040 to your social media context. And then if if it 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.040 is a really good idea, theoretically it should take off 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.280 on its own. It should just spread by word about. 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.639 Somebody should say this is really cool and I'm going 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.040 to share it, And Kickstarter makes it easier for you 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.159 to share. Well, I just sounded like I was pitching Kickstarter. 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:45.920 I was just thinking, man, they should like it in 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.840 touch with us. But that video aspect, that in and 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:50.639 of itself is very sharable. So if you can come 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.400 up with a cool video to put on your Kickstarter page, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.280 then that could easily be shared. And that's a really 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.440 good way to to make the rounds on social media too. Yeah, 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.840 they say that, Um, every successful campaign begins with an 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.840 anchor audience, is what they call it. Uh. It doesn't 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.679 necessarily mean you have to have a popular podcast, although 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.000 we could probably get something funded if we wanted to, 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.200 especially your idea. Yeah, exactly, the f word. Your anchor 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:21.320 audience could be, uh, just your social circle, your friends 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.359 in your family, uncle, Yeah, your rich uncle. I just 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:26.639 got him first before I even went to Kickstarter. I 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.160 see what happens. Um, but you should have a good 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:31.440 anchor audience. If you're not on social media, if you 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:36.199 don't have a solid support group in life, then unless 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.320 you really catch on somehow, you're probably not gonna get funded. Yeah. Well, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:42.440 it's well, you should be relying on your idea and 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.960 the catchiness of your pitch anyway. Yeah, but the fact 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.639 that you have access to social media is probably a 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.159 pretty big leg up over somebody who doesn't know how 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:54.920 to use Twitter or Facebook at least. Um, You're not 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:57.520 gonna be left alone in your experience though, because once 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.440 you do get approved, you will be working with Kickstarter. Um, 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.720 they're gonna have a representative get in touch with you, 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.280 and they're gonna work with you and say, you know what, 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.360 you might want to think about these rewards, or your 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.080 rewards aren't great, or maybe you should have these price points, 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:15.760 uh to tie into these rewards there there. They want 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.479 you to succeed because they make their five percent if 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:20.679 you succeed exactly. And then you know, I'm sure they 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:22.760 want to encourage the arts too. That's how it started, 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:27.000 you know. Uh. But we're gonna talk a little bit 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.280 more about those reward levels and a little bit of 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:37.680 math and some more controversies right with this break math 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:41.560 maths and say say in England, and we used to 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:45.040 say it here too until I think the nineteenth century, 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.760 and then we started saying, why are we saying it 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:50.439 like that when you say math that Hodgeman Hodgman always 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:52.560 his math. Yeah, he's he's got a little bit of 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:57.040 the British in him. He likes to think so um. Alright, 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.800 So the math of rewards levels, they've done a little 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:02.080 bit of tinkering just to kind of find out what 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:07.520 succeeds and what doesn't. The pledges the most popular, about 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:11.000