It was over 10 years ago now that I did my first and only Kickstarter campaign. The point of it was to shoot a series of screencasts on rebuilding/redesigning CSS-Tricks itself, a WordPress site, and giving the backers access to those videos. Meta, as even building those access controls was part of the series.
I never really wrote a retrospective on all that. It’s so long gone now that most details of it have faded to memory. Except for a few things that have really stuck with me.
- The grand total was $89,697. That was incredible, considering the $3,500 goal and my truly meager expectations. You never know how many real fans you have until you put it to the test. Asking them to open their wallets is a real test.
- I felt like everyone watching was thinking, “Welp, Chris is rich now.” I don’t know if that’s what people really thought or if it was just in my head. That total was a year’s salary for any job I had up to then.
- How it actually played out is that the money disappeared very quickly. Between fees, taxes, fulfilling rewards, and paying people to help make the project better, it was net negative.
- Kickstarter did what it was supposed to do, it kickstarted an idea for a business. It wasn’t the business itself. It’s easy to forget that when backing a campaign.
- The biggest mistake I made was that some time (years?) after this was all said and done, I told the original backers that their access to “The Lodge” (the exclusive access area where the screencasts were) was going to expire. I think there was some technical limitation I was up against (or thought I was), and it felt fair to me at the time. I asked people to help me start a business, and they did, and had plenty of time to watch or download everything I promised. But plenty of people were upset with me when I revoked that original Kickstarter-granted access. I never promised access was forever, but expectations were still broken, which didn’t feel good.
The most memorable feeling of all:
- I really didn’t like the feeling that people had already given me money, and now I owed them something that I hadn’t fully created yet. I’m far more wired to work hard, take risks, and make something, and then if I do a good job, the money comes. I want my motivation to come from the possibility of success, not from debt.
I remember being a bit bummed I lost access at the time, but I think it made sense given what it was. In any case I still have my hoodie from the kickstarter
This line was a hook for the post. Don’t bury the gold!~
I think the debt motivation, even though inferior, is the one that’s most available to people. Having a comfort of taking the risk and experiencing possible reword afterwards is a goal I’ve set to myself for in near future. How do you think you could have approached the screen casting project through “risk motivation” instead of “debt motivation” at that time?
Cheers to insightful retrospective!
Interesting reflection. I remember that time well. I was in a slump, I’d lost interest in the web and was working in Vietnam teaching English. Watching the series re-ignited my love for the web and gave me motivation to make it my career.
Not long after I finished your series, I moved back to Australia and found a full time job working as a WordPress developer and haven’t looked back.
I’ve always wanted to thank you for that, but never got the chance. So, thank you!