Crowd Funding Question: Funding Goal

[BenMorrisRains]

Hi,

I have been wondering this and figured I would ask:

When you are crowdfunding a project like playing cards, do you choose a goal that will be just enough for kickstarter fees, shipping and production or do you make it higher? Basically I am wondering if people profit off of crowdfunding or if it is used as more of a foot in the door so you can eventually turn it into a business?

For some, like Kings Wild, It seems like a full time job. For others more of a hobby. If it were me, I would want to profit off of my work, all the time put into the design and if you are shipping yourself, that is a job entirely of its own.

How do you guys structure your funding goal?

Thank you!

[montecarlojoe]

Really all of the above - depending on why you are doing things.

Really though you should give yourself a buffer anyway - for overages, shipping variances, replacements and contingencies. If you get to keep some of that buffer then great right?

Some have set the target lower in the hope that that would encourage more support. Others do it on purpose intending to cover the shortfall themselves and make up the difference selling stock not pledged for in the crowd funding campaign afterwards.

KW is an interesting case - JR started out using KS to get his work seen and build the fan base. I don't think he aimed of a massive margin in the first couple of campaigns. But he had teh magic touch - both in design and how to run an engaging campaign. he built a huge fan base which he can now tap into and has now refined crowdfunding into a successful business model.

So it does depend on what you are trying to achieve - profit is there to make - but perhaps aim lower the first time out to establish yourself (if you can!). Don't aim too low though - covering a shortfall yourself is one thing, but you'll find that people avoid supporting projects they don't believe will be able to actually pay enough to produce the product.

You might also want to weigh up the benefit of shipping yourself, or hiring a fulfilment Co. to ship for you. it'll bite into your profits, but also frees up a lot of time.

[Mike Ratledge]

Joe pretty well covered the bases, and as he noted, it's almost always some combination of things being considered.

The worst thing that you can do is undersell your project and end up being unable to fulfill the decks pledged for by the backers. The first time you need to consider all these things, especially the use of fulfillment centers to do the packing and shipping. Don't forget that 10% of what you collect goes half and half to KS and Stripe respectively (Stripe collects the credit & debit cards now, not Amazon).

[ecNate]

This may help

http://albinodragon.com/blog/dragon-cra ... -analysis/
http://www.danshapiro.com/blog/2013/09/ ... m-at-250k/
http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter- ... ding-goal/
http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/25/810275 ... arter-rich

[BenMorrisRains]

AWESOME GUYS! Thank you so much. Obviously I have to have a viable design that people want first, but as with any business or financial venture there is a lot more behind the scenes (the not as fun part) than meets the eye. I appreciate the comments and the links which I will check out right now. This forum is the best!

Thank you!
-Ben