Is Kickstarter not the best place to crowdfund software apps?
October 12, 2013 1:51 PM Subscribe
I'm working on an iPad app (in the mental health/wellness space) and am self funding much of the design, but want to look into a Kickstarter or similar for the development phase. I did all the UI myself.
I've mostly seen Kickstarters to fund physical design projects like pens, picture frames, etc, or albums, webseries, stuff like that. The technology section seems very hardware focused too.
I feel like I'm missing something though, because most Kickstarter technology projects don't seem app or software focused. Indiegogo doesn't seem much better.
Is there somewhere else I should be looking? I'm also looking into health care specific crowdfunding places but they don't seem as well supported and have little in the mindfulness/wellness space.
I feel like I'm missing something though, because most Kickstarter technology projects don't seem app or software focused. Indiegogo doesn't seem much better.
Is there somewhere else I should be looking? I'm also looking into health care specific crowdfunding places but they don't seem as well supported and have little in the mindfulness/wellness space.
Kickstarter has been pretty huge for the indie gaming scene this year.
And I wouldn't feel software projects would be out of place, off the top of my head I remember the schema migrations for django campaign being pretty successful.
posted by xqwzts at 2:21 PM on October 12, 2013
And I wouldn't feel software projects would be out of place, off the top of my head I remember the schema migrations for django campaign being pretty successful.
posted by xqwzts at 2:21 PM on October 12, 2013
Response by poster: Just to be clear: it's not a game. It's a quantified self type tracking app.
posted by sweetkid at 2:23 PM on October 12, 2013
posted by sweetkid at 2:23 PM on October 12, 2013
Most Kickstarter technology projects don't seem app or software focused. Indiegogo doesn't seem much better. Is there somewhere else I should be looking?
Looking for what? An audience? Because it doesn't matter which venue you place in, the venue itself is going to deliver a very limited number of funders, if any at all. The marketing of your campaign is down entirely to you.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:08 PM on October 12, 2013
Looking for what? An audience? Because it doesn't matter which venue you place in, the venue itself is going to deliver a very limited number of funders, if any at all. The marketing of your campaign is down entirely to you.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:08 PM on October 12, 2013
Response by poster: the venue itself is going to deliver a very limited number of funders, if any at all
Is there a specific reason you're making this prediction?
posted by sweetkid at 5:21 PM on October 12, 2013
Is there a specific reason you're making this prediction?
posted by sweetkid at 5:21 PM on October 12, 2013
Best answer: I think DarlingBri means that very few people just browse through the Kickstarter pages at random and find projects to fund.
KS and IndieGoGo are just tools to collect money and push rewards. Any project needs to convince people via other means to go to the page and actually give the money.
I can think of several reasons why apps don't seem to show up as much as other things on those sites:
-They're generally cheap to make (if you don't consider time).
-They're generally cheap to buy. Because they're cheap to buy, you can't just offer copies of the app as reward tiers.
-While the app market isn't saturated, there are a lot of apps and it's likely not easy to get people to fund potential apps.
If whatever your working on falls outside the lines of those statements, it likely has a shot if advertised properly to the right people.
posted by ChrisManley at 6:21 PM on October 12, 2013
KS and IndieGoGo are just tools to collect money and push rewards. Any project needs to convince people via other means to go to the page and actually give the money.
I can think of several reasons why apps don't seem to show up as much as other things on those sites:
-They're generally cheap to make (if you don't consider time).
-They're generally cheap to buy. Because they're cheap to buy, you can't just offer copies of the app as reward tiers.
-While the app market isn't saturated, there are a lot of apps and it's likely not easy to get people to fund potential apps.
If whatever your working on falls outside the lines of those statements, it likely has a shot if advertised properly to the right people.
posted by ChrisManley at 6:21 PM on October 12, 2013
Response by poster: Ah, that makes sense. I'm not expecting any crowdsourcing platform to do my marketing for me, I'm OK with that and have ideas for reward tiers. I'm just asking if there's a platform where apps are more common, not "is there a place that will do everything for me." I've been exploring options and didn't see a great fit. And I don't think it will be especially cheap, considering I'll have to pay some people for their time, though agreed it's cheaper than physical objects.
posted by sweetkid at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2013
posted by sweetkid at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2013
Best answer: I backed this productivity app on kickstarter recently, I think its a reasonable choice of venue.
posted by jacalata at 7:08 PM on October 12, 2013
posted by jacalata at 7:08 PM on October 12, 2013
Best answer: the venue itself is going to deliver a very limited number of funders, if any at all
This is quite true, and ChrisManley has it, exactly.
In my recent successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, only a tiny minority of backers came from Kickstarter itself. I think we really only got those in the first couple days -- there are clearly people who get off on being the first to donate, and we also got a few from the LA page, maybe a couple from the Metafilter page, etc.
The vast VAST majority of donors came from elsewhere, and the real momentum came from people from personal networks, as well as a PR campaign.
If it helps, I don't think we got a single contribution from people clearly going to the category page for our type of project. I really don't think people go to Kickstarter thinking "I'd like to fund a board game today!" or whatever.
That said, in my experience, Kickstarter is a great platform just because it's the go-to crowdfunding platform. People have heard of it, know what to expect, etc. The all or nothing aspect is especially helpful, especially in the case of sort of nebulous projects where Aunt So And So might not understand exactly where her $20 is going. I also felt confident saying "We are doing a kickstarter campaign", "Go to Kickstarter to back our project", etc. whereas with a different site I feel like there would have been an added layer of explaining what that's about.
Also, to an extent, a Kickstarter in itself is a newsworthy thing, and we were able to parlay the Kickstarter campaign directly into media coverage in a way that I don't think would work for appfunder.net or something more nichey.
posted by Sara C. at 8:51 PM on October 12, 2013
This is quite true, and ChrisManley has it, exactly.
In my recent successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, only a tiny minority of backers came from Kickstarter itself. I think we really only got those in the first couple days -- there are clearly people who get off on being the first to donate, and we also got a few from the LA page, maybe a couple from the Metafilter page, etc.
The vast VAST majority of donors came from elsewhere, and the real momentum came from people from personal networks, as well as a PR campaign.
If it helps, I don't think we got a single contribution from people clearly going to the category page for our type of project. I really don't think people go to Kickstarter thinking "I'd like to fund a board game today!" or whatever.
That said, in my experience, Kickstarter is a great platform just because it's the go-to crowdfunding platform. People have heard of it, know what to expect, etc. The all or nothing aspect is especially helpful, especially in the case of sort of nebulous projects where Aunt So And So might not understand exactly where her $20 is going. I also felt confident saying "We are doing a kickstarter campaign", "Go to Kickstarter to back our project", etc. whereas with a different site I feel like there would have been an added layer of explaining what that's about.
Also, to an extent, a Kickstarter in itself is a newsworthy thing, and we were able to parlay the Kickstarter campaign directly into media coverage in a way that I don't think would work for appfunder.net or something more nichey.
posted by Sara C. at 8:51 PM on October 12, 2013
Best answer: I've co-created three funded projects on Kickstarter, including Zombies, Run! Kickstarter is a reasonable platform in general since a lot of people know how it works and trust the site. The only other alternative, IMO, is Indiegogo.
You're probably aware of this, but it's a pain to distribute iOS rewards to backers. You can only generate a limited number of promo codes per release, which means that you'd either have to buy and gift apps to your users (thus losing up to 30% on each one) or you'd have to make the app free for a certain period to allow your backers to download it for free - along with everyone else who might be watching.
In general, productivity apps do not raise as much money as games do. That's fine, because they usually cost less to develop. It's good that you're in the mental/wellness space because I personally think that people value their health a lot and will pay accordingly.
In my experience the most important route to success on Kickstarter is:
a) Having a realistic goal. If you've made lots of games/tech/films that people love, sure, you can try shooting for the stars. If no-one knows who you are and you have no track record, then you should have a much lower goal. Not only will this be easier to achieve but it'll also limit the scope of your project, which is a good thing.
b) Good presentation and clear messaging. I imagine you will not have a problem with this but it boggles my mind how frequently I see misspelled, confusing, and poorly laid-out project descriptions. If you do this, then it'll make potential backers doubt your seriousness and skills.
Good luck!
posted by adrianhon at 3:44 AM on October 13, 2013
You're probably aware of this, but it's a pain to distribute iOS rewards to backers. You can only generate a limited number of promo codes per release, which means that you'd either have to buy and gift apps to your users (thus losing up to 30% on each one) or you'd have to make the app free for a certain period to allow your backers to download it for free - along with everyone else who might be watching.
In general, productivity apps do not raise as much money as games do. That's fine, because they usually cost less to develop. It's good that you're in the mental/wellness space because I personally think that people value their health a lot and will pay accordingly.
In my experience the most important route to success on Kickstarter is:
a) Having a realistic goal. If you've made lots of games/tech/films that people love, sure, you can try shooting for the stars. If no-one knows who you are and you have no track record, then you should have a much lower goal. Not only will this be easier to achieve but it'll also limit the scope of your project, which is a good thing.
b) Good presentation and clear messaging. I imagine you will not have a problem with this but it boggles my mind how frequently I see misspelled, confusing, and poorly laid-out project descriptions. If you do this, then it'll make potential backers doubt your seriousness and skills.
Good luck!
posted by adrianhon at 3:44 AM on October 13, 2013
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posted by ignignokt at 2:14 PM on October 12, 2013