Comments on: Kickstarter’s growing pains http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/01/kickstarters-growing-pains/ A slice of lime in the soda Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:01:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: thispaceforsale http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/01/kickstarters-growing-pains/comment-page-1/#comment-38592 thispaceforsale Wed, 02 May 2012 20:05:51 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=13622#comment-38592 I've backed 50+ projects in the past year. Sometimes I gave a few dollars if I liked the idea/product/project, sometimes more if I wanted to support it more or liked a specific reward tier. There certainly is a risk that some grifter might post a slick video and the marks will flock. But the products that really take off do so because a community develops. There is no equivalent forum for QVC purchasers. The Pebble project has 3500+ comments, message boards, a blog, faqs and embraces the base. With 50,000 backers, many of those people are just buying the product. But that is going to be true of all products, on any platform. 100% involvement from the consumer base would be madness. The more legitimate concern is a project becomes too much to bring to completion. If the developer is overwhelmed, over committed or fails to appropriately judge the costs. How kickstarter responds to and recovers from large-scale, very popular projects that fail is going to be a more legitimate concern than policing against projects from wealthy nigerians needing to raise money for a wire transfer device. I’ve backed 50+ projects in the past year. Sometimes I gave a few dollars if I liked the idea/product/project, sometimes more if I wanted to support it more or liked a specific reward tier. There certainly is a risk that some grifter might post a slick video and the marks will flock. But the products that really take off do so because a community develops. There is no equivalent forum for QVC purchasers. The Pebble project has 3500+ comments, message boards, a blog, faqs and embraces the base. With 50,000 backers, many of those people are just buying the product. But that is going to be true of all products, on any platform. 100% involvement from the consumer base would be madness.
The more legitimate concern is a project becomes too much to bring to completion. If the developer is overwhelmed, over committed or fails to appropriately judge the costs. How kickstarter responds to and recovers from large-scale, very popular projects that fail is going to be a more legitimate concern than policing against projects from wealthy nigerians needing to raise money for a wire transfer device.

]]> By: johncabell http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/01/kickstarters-growing-pains/comment-page-1/#comment-38588 johncabell Wed, 02 May 2012 18:43:14 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=13622#comment-38588 I'll let you know just how ridiculous the Pebble watch is when I get mine in September ... I’ll let you know just how ridiculous the Pebble watch is when I get mine in September …

]]> By: Nowa http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/01/kickstarters-growing-pains/comment-page-1/#comment-38582 Nowa Wed, 02 May 2012 16:34:45 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=13622#comment-38582 We’ve been looking at how quickly these Kickstarter projects deliver their products and what the overall quality level is. 3 to 9 months delivery is the norm with modest quality issues common. It’s best to remember that you are backing a project, not buying a product. Still a good deal, but remember you are backing a project, not buying a product. We’ve been looking at how quickly these Kickstarter projects deliver their products and what the overall quality level is. 3 to 9 months delivery is the norm with modest quality issues common. It’s best to remember that you are backing a project, not buying a product.

Still a good deal, but remember you are backing a project, not buying a product.

]]> By: TurtleBay http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/01/kickstarters-growing-pains/comment-page-1/#comment-38560 TurtleBay Wed, 02 May 2012 02:23:46 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=13622#comment-38560 Kickstarter has taken on a following in the video game crowd to fund development of games. At least one comment I have seen on a video game board was from someone funding 5 game projects who said it would be OK if one of the games failed and he only received four good games. I would put the odds at less than half of Kickstarter video games succeeding (given a reasonably high definition of success). I think that the general public has a much different view on success ratio of these projects than anyone in the investment management/banking/VC world would. Then again, most members of the general public haven't seen an investment go from idea to work in progress to chapter 7/11. Kickstarter has taken on a following in the video game crowd to fund development of games. At least one comment I have seen on a video game board was from someone funding 5 game projects who said it would be OK if one of the games failed and he only received four good games.

I would put the odds at less than half of Kickstarter video games succeeding (given a reasonably high definition of success). I think that the general public has a much different view on success ratio of these projects than anyone in the investment management/banking/VC world would. Then again, most members of the general public haven’t seen an investment go from idea to work in progress to chapter 7/11.

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