What is Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an independent crowdfunding platform and its operation is somewhat atypical as it is its main features that differentiate it. First of all, it must be said that Kickstarter is not a classic investment and financing platform in which users invest their money with an economic return. On Kickstarter it is not possible to offer cash rewards to investors, but only products and services that have a value equivalent to the amount invested by the lenders.
Speaking of Kickstarter from the point of view of companies looking for financiers, however, it must be emphasized that this is an excellent platform in which to present one's good or service with the request for economic resources. Obviously, this is not all to be taken for granted: it is not certain that all the companies registered on Kickstarter receive a loan: to gain the trust (and obviously also the money) of the investors, it is necessary to present an innovative project capable of standing out from the crowd.
Furthermore, it is also to be taken into consideration that the projects for funding applications that are approved on Kickstarter have strict specific rules including the clause "All of nothing". This means that, in order to reduce the risks for investors, companies only receive investments if the campaign is completed on time.
The main goal that Kickstarter sets itself is to highlight the ideas and projects of individuals or companies that need financial support to start their business or put their products into production. This platform offers for free registration to anyone who needs to request an investment, but as explained in the official FAQ, at the heart of everything is the desire to minimize the risks for investors. It will not be easy to obtain funding since it is not easy to gain people's trust: usually the project will only be properly funded if it has been able to motivate the Kickstarter community.
Kickstarter projects are not only financed by companies: anyone can choose to invest in them: in exchange you will receive a reward equal to the amount invested or, in the case of a product, the good itself, once it goes into production.
In the event that a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter will keep only 5% of the total proceeds for itself and 3 to 5% for each single payment received. If, on the other hand, the project is not fully funded within the established time, no commission will be applied and the money spent will be fully returned to users.
How Kickstarter Works
The Kickstarter platform requires registration for an account free, both to finance a project and to create a fundraising campaign. The registration procedure can be done very easily via the official website. Then connect to its Home Page and immediately press the button Sign up that you find at the top right.
To register for Kickstarter you will need to fill in all the text fields on the screen indicating your name, email and password. Then choose if you want to receive the weekly newsletters from Kickstarter by placing the check mark on the item Receive our weekly newsletter and other occasional updates and then press the button Create account.
You can also register for free on Kickstarter through your Facebook profile; just press the button Log in with Facebook. Registration through your Facebook account is not mandatory but, in case you want to register on Kickstarter to start a fundraising campaign, it is recommended to connect your Facebook profile, in order to give social proof to the people who will visit the Kickstarter card dedicated to your project.
If, on the other hand, you simply want to explore the projects on the Kickstarter website and you have no intention of financing any of them, you can also not register and visit the site completely freely. If you later want to finance a project, you can register at any time.
The Kickstarter Home Page already shows a list of projects looking for investors. The section Projects We Love presents a preview of a random project, usually it is an expiring project that has already reached the required quota or is about to reach it. Kickstarter projects are divided by category: Art, Comics, Crafts, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film & Video, Food, Games, Journalism, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, Theater.
Just click on the menu item on the Home Page to see a preview of the projects related to that category. To see all the projects related to a category, click on the item See all [category name] projects.
Also through the Home Page of the website you can find the menu items Nearly funded to see the nearly completed projects and the section What’s popular showing a list of popular projects.
To see more information about a project, click on its tab. You will be shown a series of essential information to be able to evaluate the interest in the project in question. Among the most important items, to which I want to tell you to pay attention, there are the items that refer to the number of investors and the number of days remaining for the closing of the campaign.
All the detailed information about the project is available for reading just below. To the item Campaign you can read in detail everything about the project and its operation. For reasons of transparency, the company requesting the loan is also required to explain any risks that can be encountered by financing its project. More information is also available in FAQ.
Through the section Rewards it is possible to invest in the project by financing it. It is also possible to make a minimum bid as desired via the text field Make a pledge without a reward or choose a fixed amount and receive a reward in exchange. Keep in mind that, in the case of products and / or services, only by financing the project with the amount of money established by the company will you be able to receive the product or service you financed. Before financing a project, therefore, read the reward in the section that I have indicated.
How to create a Kickstarter campaign
If you want to use Kickstarter to ask for financial support from the users of the platform, know that, although Kickstarter is a crowdfounding portal that caters to an international audience, you can also do it from the city.
To do this you must have already registered through the procedure I indicated and, once logged in, press on the item Start a Project from the home page of the site. Then choose the category related to the fundraising campaign you want to create and press the button again Start a Project.
First you will then have to fill in some initial information for the fundraising campaign to be created. Then indicate the category (Choose a category:), give the project a title (Give your project a title) and indicate your nationality (Your permanent residence).
Continue by pressing the button Save and continue. You will now have access to the complete form for creating your fundraising campaign. You will then need to fill in all mandatory text fields in the sections Basics, Rewards, Story, About you e Account. Once you have finished creating the campaign, click on the menu item Submit for review. The created campaign will be analyzed and eventually approved within 3 working days.
How Kickstarter Works (Android / iOS)
The crowdfounding Kickstarter web portal is also accessible on Android and iOS mobile devices. After downloading the application from the iOS App Store or the Android PlayStore, you can in fact use it through its application to visit the website and see other fundraising projects.
Through the application for Android and iOS you can in fact consult the sections Home, Popular, Newstest, Ending e Most Funded to find interesting projects to finance. On iOS devices, payments are also supported via Apple Pay. What you can't do through the mobile app is create a fundraising campaign. As I explained to you in the previous lines, it is in fact a complex procedure that requires various information and can only be performed from the destkop browser.
How Kickstarter Works
