[Closed] Anyone here used kickstarter? as I'm considering it for a new product

Can you deliver what you claim in the timescale you promise?

If so, Kickstarter isn't for you....

Easy to use and easy to get funded are not the same thing.

As Jambo suggests there is a healthy cynicism about the ability of people to deliver from Kickstarter - of course some projects are huge successes. Even projects which do deliver don't always achieve sustainable business models and so there can be no long term support / future production runs etc.

Now if you have produced and tested your solution - then the obvious question is what do you hope to achieve from Kickstarter?

I'm needing funding for materials at mo as I could build in small volume but if I can get funds I can drive the production cost right down in raw materials and pass the saving on with the same profit for me and cheaper for consumers. If that makes sense. Plus tooling and workshop is already in place and had it for years. As for turn around looking at a 7 day delivery turn around as each is made to order with custom colours and small amount of custom sizing.

I'm needing funding for materials at mo as I could build in small volume but if I can get funds I can drive the production cost right down in raw materials and pass the saving on with the same profit for me and cheaper for consumers. If that makes sense. Plus tooling and workshop is already in place and had it for years. As for turn around looking at a 7 day delivery turn around as each is made to order with custom colours and small amount of custom sizing.

I think you might have missed what I was getting at.

You've already made the parts for your own need, so you could "quit" now and have what you need. What you are presumably hoping to do it turn this into a little money making venture. That is great, and I certainly don't want to quell your entrepreneurialism - but you are asking people to help you get the kickstarter off the ground for "tea and biscuits" not "a share of the venture" or even "some free product"...

A 7-day turnaround sounds amazing (without knowing what it is!) - but what if you get orders for 1000 of them, what if the delivery or material takes longer than you expected or what if the day job or family? (as it sounds like this is a hobby?) is particularly demanding for a few weeks. Bear in mind that it takes a couple of weeks after hitting your target before you actually get the cash from Kickstarter. And KS is supposed to be for creative work - not a shopfront for something you already have in final form (it may well be that it is not "mass" production ready - in which case 7 days is nonsense).

I'm not trying to ruin your dream - but if you want your KS campaign to be a success:
(i) plan carefully
(ii) don't assume that KS will suddenly promote this to the world - you'll have to market the project
(iii) don't over promise to backers
(iv) don't assume you've "won" when you hit the target - you still need to produce product, and potentially invest any profit in future marketing / stock / scale up to make it sustainable
(v) don't assume anybody else actually wants (or values and is willing to pay for) what you have made.

as poly says, get a business plan sorted.

I can't afford to really get it fully off the ground soooo, has anyone used kickstarter is it easy to use and safe?

I'm needing funding for materials at mo as I could build in small volume but if I can get funds I can drive the production cost right down in raw materials and pass the saving on with the same profit for me and cheaper for consumers.

Plus tooling and workshop is already in place and had it for years. As for turn around looking at a 7 day delivery turn around as each is made to order with custom colours and small amount of custom sizing.

To be honest this doesn't make a lot of sense unless you have a great big storage area to keep this material and the in bulk cost is a massive saving on the ordering one at a time.
Is it possible to get above 1 product per 7 days? How much labour does each one take? In terms of costings say a regular working week of 35hrs @ 7.20/hr is 252 quid so how much labour goes into one of these products?

How much are you looking to raise (as it's normally invest and get a cheap product) your current production rate is an optimistic 52/year so each investor is going to need to stump up a significant amount or wait for the next ice age.

Is your idea protected, patented, registered, trademarked?

What's the next step after getting the backing? You have one batch of cheaper materials and a lot of orders, what comes next, how do you make it sustainable?

Cheers fuys there's more than I first thought to think about lol, I've always been the guy on the floor that makes things happen than the marketing sales guy think I need to get a partner that's business savvy. Production times are very quick per unit the time delay is steel and alloys from the foundry i use plus bulk ordering materials drives the cost down massively and have more than enough space on site for dry storage (cheap rent on an old ship yard). It's more a side line to add to what I do and bring in some cash while offshore works down and custom cycle and wheel orders are just trickling in.

You obviously, and perhaps understandably, don't want to tell the whole world what your revolutionary new cycle idea is.

However you've made and tested them so I am guessing you have shown it to someone else. Did they say they would buy it? Has anyone else ever suggested a need for it? Is there anything vaguely similar on the market?

If I wanted ONE in a week's time what would it cost?
If 100 people wanted one by Easter what would it cost?

What does the closest analogous product cost? (yours will "obviously" be better - but people are price conditioned).

Fair enough,

Some things to consider (from a manufacturing/business improvement background)
You DON"T need a business savvy partner, but some common sense and thinking is important.

For scaling up you need a solid idea of what you can do for what investment.

If your time is short, work out what you could turn out a week, so how many products could you do and batch out the the Foundry, what's their turnaround.

There is no point promising a scale up that you can't meet.

Work out the production flow for the product, then what happens in parallel. From the sound of it you are the bottle neck at one point the foundry the other.
If you got an order 9am Monday when could you deliver, how much time would it take you and how much are you dependant on other things happening?
What would be different if you had 100 orders at 9am Monday.

It still sounds like the only cost reduction you have available is bulk materials?
This makes it sound like you want to use Kickstarter as a marketing platform rather than an investment tool, you need x orders to make it for y$/unit

You don't need to be tech savvy to use Kickstarter etc. but you do need to be able to convince people to give you cash.
What do I get for my investment? Will the product be less than RRP, will it be personalised will it be unique?

The other route is to take some prototypes to a trade show/event and put them in front of some of the buyers who could put your product into bike shops etc. get an order from one company for x units @ y$ and go from there. (You only need to convince one person to buy not 1000)

However you've made and tested them so I am guessing you have shown it to someone else. Did they say they would buy it? Has anyone else ever suggested a need for it? Is there anything vaguely similar on the market?

Customer need is the absolute starting point you need to validate. I developed a prototype for aligning stem with bars. The LBS mechanics said it would be useful but when I took it off them they haven't asked for one back, so for me, the prototype remains in my personal toolkit. Customer validation has to be extremely compelling to drive any product or service to success.