Help fund my project!

[August]

Originally Posted by GradnerLives [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If I want these dog treats, and I pay $10 and get them, then great - my goal has been achieved. From the outset, I just wanted the dog treats that I can't currently get, not a continued share in the company's success or potential failure. If the goal doesn't get reached and my dog treats never get made, then I end up getting refunded anyways.

If I want equity in a company, then I know already that kickstarter is not the place to get that. I didn't care about whether or not I get the dog treats and owning 1.25% of a small home-based business probably wasn't worth the trouble to me or the business if we're talking $10 to begin with.

Both models have their place and it's absolutely infuriating when people try to wax smug on the kickstarter model as if these plebeian 'donators' have no idea how much they're getting 'suckered' by these small businesses. Kickstarter is allowing consumers to facilitate the role of investors without changing their role as a consumer or changing the business' role to that of a partner, and sometimes that's just what the consumers and businesses want. Most people don't have the 10's of thousands of dollars to throw around that would be necessary to interest a business in taking them on as a partner, and most small businesses don't want 50% of their ownership fragmented across 2500 different people.

As a consumer, not a venture capitalist, I appreciate what the platform offers and have received a number of neat products through it that probably wouldn't have become available on the open market otherwise.

If a friend of mine pre-orders a video game in order to get the deluxe edition when it comes out, I don't call him a moron because he didn't ask for a 0.00043% share of the company. Would you?

The problem is that the dog treats don't cost $10. If you need to raise funds, you should get a loan.

Get a loan - be able to produce dog treats - sell dog treats - pay back loan

Get a kickstarter - be able to produce dog treats - send them to your backers (for way less than they paid to your kickstarter ) - end of step.

Yes, consumers are getting taken for a ride. Acknowledge that kickstarter is at it's heart, a CHARITY. If you are doing a kickstarter on a for-profit venture, you're taking advantage of people. period.