Congratulations, Kickstarter.
In my opinion, Kickstarter is one of the most important tech startups of the last few years for democratising the process of project funding so significantly. It's started to change the way people do business and create things in such a fundamental way.
One of my favourite examples to give is the way in which games can now be funded. The truth of the matter is that games can cost a lot more than they used to, but for the last 15 years Publishers have had such a strong influence over which games do or do not make it to market and they know that a mass market game is going to be less risky than something like Double Fine's Broken Age. So they probably won't fund it, and I can kind of see why.
Now thanks to Kickstarter et al., a developer just has to be able to say to potential fans, "is this a game you want?!" and if they say yes, they essentially pay in advance for their game. It's so direct, it's so wonderful.
Yes, there's still an element of having to sell the idea, but at least the idea is being sold to a bunch of regular folks, who have a little bit of money as opposed to somebody in charge of a large business. The decisions are much easier to make, and the risk is much lower for the investors.
I hope crowdfunding in this way isn't just a flash in the pan. I hope we continue to see projects funded in this way for a long, long time to come. Here's to another billion, Kickstarter!
In my opinion, Kickstarter is one of the most important tech startups of the last few years for democratising the process of project funding so significantly. It's started to change the way people do business and create things in such a fundamental way.
One of my favourite examples to give is the way in which games can now be funded. The truth of the matter is that games can cost a lot more than they used to, but for the last 15 years Publishers have had such a strong influence over which games do or do not make it to market and they know that a mass market game is going to be less risky than something like Double Fine's Broken Age. So they probably won't fund it, and I can kind of see why.
Now thanks to Kickstarter et al., a developer just has to be able to say to potential fans, "is this a game you want?!" and if they say yes, they essentially pay in advance for their game. It's so direct, it's so wonderful.
Yes, there's still an element of having to sell the idea, but at least the idea is being sold to a bunch of regular folks, who have a little bit of money as opposed to somebody in charge of a large business. The decisions are much easier to make, and the risk is much lower for the investors.
I hope crowdfunding in this way isn't just a flash in the pan. I hope we continue to see projects funded in this way for a long, long time to come. Here's to another billion, Kickstarter!