MOTM

What exactly is Kickstarter?

Some months ago 60 Minutes did a story on some internet site where people could donate money to other people who wanted to start projects, but I can't remember the name. Perhaps it was Kickstarter, however, that company had to personally approve of any project submitted or else it didn't get on there, AND, they said it was not for products, only for people who wanted to pursue personal goals.

How does Kickstarter work? Do people donate money with no expectation of return, or are they basically pre-paying for a future product that you must deliver to them after completion? What if a project is funded, the money is spent on that project, but it turns out to be a failure and nothing comes of it?

-Elhardt

>>>You won’t be getting new MOTM 5U from Bridechamber until at least the first 3 Kickstarters are successful. Does this mean they ARE on Kickstart? Because I searched and found nothing.No, I am just saying what my plans are going forward. I have to ship the existing backlog first, then I will think about ways to introduce newer modules in 5U/MU. So far, this seems the best method. If there is something better, let’s discuss.Paul S.  

www.kickstarter.com

a) it's for projects
b) there is a large and detailed FAQ there, check it out.
c) money is not donated. It is pledged towards a $$$ goal amount.

No, I would not take the $$$ and buy a yacht and sail into the sunset.

Paul S.


-----Original Message-----
From: motm@yahoogroups.com [mailto:motm@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Kenneth Elhardt
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 9:45 PM
To: 'MOTM'
Subject: Re: [motm] Kickstarter?

What exactly is Kickstarter?

Some months ago 60 Minutes did a story on some internet site where people could donate money to other people who wanted to start projects, but I can't remember the name. Perhaps it was Kickstarter, however, that company had to personally approve of any project submitted or else it didn't get on there, AND, they said it was not for products, only for people who wanted to pursue personal goals.

How does Kickstarter work? Do people donate money with no expectation of return, or are they basically pre-paying for a future product that you must deliver to them after completion? What if a project is funded, the money is spent on that project, but it turns out to be a failure and nothing comes of it?

-Elhardt

>>>You won’t be getting new MOTM 5U from Bridechamber until at least the first 3 Kickstarters are successful. Does this mean they ARE on Kickstart? Because I searched and found nothing.No, I am just saying what my plans are going forward. I have to ship the existing backlog first, then I will think about ways to introduce newer modules in 5U/MU. So far, this seems the best method. If there is something better, let’s discuss.Paul S.

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

You have to be careful when dealing with kickstarter projects. Too
many people treat it like pre-ordering neato gadgets from say thinkgeek
or amazon. It is a funding portal/pledging system to back an idea in the
hope they achieve their goal and reward you with early bird swag. The
thing is: there is no guarantee, and there is no recourse for claiming
money back off a failed project.

The problem is, the skilled project management types with a
kickstarter are in the definite minority. Some get funded and find out
they're in waaaay over their head. Other get funded and skip town with
as outright fraud. I wrote about it a while back:

http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=125
http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=137

Crow
/**/

On 8/18/2012 9:45 PM, Kenneth Elhardt wrote:
> What exactly is Kickstarter?
>
> Some months ago 60 Minutes did a story on some internet site where people could donate money to other people who wanted to start projects, but I can't remember the name. Perhaps it was Kickstarter, however, that company had to personally approve of any project submitted or else it didn't get on there, AND, they said it was not for products, only for people who wanted to pursue personal goals.
>
> How does Kickstarter work? Do people donate money with no expectation of return, or are they basically pre-paying for a future product that you must deliver to them after completion? What if a project is funded, the money is spent on that project, but it turns out to be a failure and nothing comes of it?
>
> -Elhardt
>
>

I think the MOTM 'faithful' are used to spotty project management. Hopefully that won't be an issue with forthcoming MOTM preorders.

--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, The Old Crow <oldcrow@...> wrote:
>
> You have to be careful when dealing with kickstarter projects. Too
> many people treat it like pre-ordering neato gadgets from say thinkgeek
> or amazon. It is a funding portal/pledging system to back an idea in the
> hope they achieve their goal and reward you with early bird swag. The
> thing is: there is no guarantee, and there is no recourse for claiming
> money back off a failed project.
>
> The problem is, the skilled project management types with a
> kickstarter are in the definite minority. Some get funded and find out
> they're in waaaay over their head. Other get funded and skip town with
> as outright fraud. I wrote about it a while back:
>
> http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=125
> http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=137
>
> Crow
> /**/
>
>
> On 8/18/2012 9:45 PM, Kenneth Elhardt wrote:
> > What exactly is Kickstarter?
> >
> > Some months ago 60 Minutes did a story on some internet site where people could donate money to other people who wanted to start projects, but I can't remember the name. Perhaps it was Kickstarter, however, that company had to personally approve of any project submitted or else it didn't get on there, AND, they said it was not for products, only for people who wanted to pursue personal goals.
> >
> > How does Kickstarter work? Do people donate money with no expectation of return, or are they basically pre-paying for a future product that you must deliver to them after completion? What if a project is funded, the money is spent on that project, but it turns out to be a failure and nothing comes of it?
> >
> > -Elhardt
> >
> >
>

Thanks for the reply and your blog links.

I had mostly only received people pointing me to their website which I had been to before posting my questions because in their little overview they didn't really say much about how it worked, and seeing how people could pledge (what ever exactly that means) all kinds of different amounts, it didn't seem like they were pre-paying on an actual product if it became a reality. I guess I'll have to do more reading to figure it out.

One thing I did notice though was that it sounded like for a hardware project a working prototype was needed (though that giant robot Paul posted didn't seem to fit with that). The thing is, one might need Kickstarter to fund the prototype, development board/software, etc. in the first place. That's kind of where I might be at in creating the world's only quality, artifact free, real-time, low latency, polyphonic pitch shifter hardware unit. I've got software running on a computer now and want to go to hardware after nailing down the last few technical difficulties.

NOTE: one recent outcome of my pitch shifter programming is that I now have the world's fastest x86 based FFT's at 1024 points and below, beating out both Intel and FFTW. Super tight vectored/interleaved assembly code and my proprietary FFT loop fusion accomplished that. Suck on that Intel.

-Elhardt

--- On Sun, 8/19/12, The Old Crow <oldcrow@...> wrote:

> From: The Old Crow <oldcrow@...>
> Subject: Re: [motm] Kickstarter?
> To: motm@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, August 19, 2012, 2:38 AM
>    You have to be
> careful when dealing with kickstarter projects.  Too
> many people treat it like pre-ordering neato gadgets from
> say thinkgeek
> or amazon.  It is a funding portal/pledging system to
> back an idea in the
> hope they achieve their goal and reward you with early bird
> swag. The
> thing is: there is no guarantee, and there is no recourse
> for claiming
> money back off a failed project.
>
>    The problem is, the skilled project
> management types with a
> kickstarter are in the definite minority.  Some get
> funded and find out
> they're in waaaay over their head.  Other get funded
> and skip town with
> as outright fraud. I wrote about it a while back:
>
> http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=125
> http://www.oldcrows.net/blog/?p=137
>
> Crow
> /**/