Has anyone had a successful crowdfunding campaign? If so, what are some pointers and a checklist of must-do's?

PO2 Teall Haycock — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 22:08:15 -0400

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 3 at 2017 10:10 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 22:10:41 -0400

Reach out to me and I can give you some pointers.

Response by SGT Kevin Brown made Sep 4 at 2017 10:31 AM

SGT Kevin Brown — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 10:31:13 -0400

I did not. I searched the internet for days, read mulitple articles and played my hand and failed. My product was shortly copied by some competitors and said design lost. Only a small portion of people are successful with crowd funding. It is a good idea, but you show your hand early. If you think you have something truly special, patent it, put it up and give it a shot. Some of the good advice I did get was, take your time, do some research and put together a professional and tight proposal (something it seems like you've already started doung, by asking). Good luck.

Response by PO2 Teall Haycock made Sep 5 at 2017 10:36 PM

PO2 Teall Haycock — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 22:36:22 -0400

Thanks for the input! This is what I am trying to avoid. We are mainly doing the crowdfunding for marketing, so a successful campaign doesn't mean we got funded but rather raised enough awareness and a following to market to. The planning and research continues!

Response by Scott Patton made Sep 6 at 2017 11:26 AM

Scott Patton — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 11:26:26 -0400

Reach out to friends and family by phone or in person and let them know you are about to launch the campaign and ask them to help by sharing a link to it via email and/or on their social media accounts to their contacts once a week. By recruiting others to help spread the word, you extend your reach much further. Also, spending the time to make decent video updates is also quite helpful. I know with Kickstarter, if you don't reach your goal you don't get any of the pledged funds. With other platforms, you can keep the pledges if you don't reach the goal. Still, many prefer kickstarter because the stakes are higher. You can always reach out to your supporters and ask them to fulfill their pledges anyway, even if you don't reach the goal. GOOD LUCK.