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Growth hacking with Crowdfunding; Turning $5 to $150,000

by NRabosa
16 replies
I'd like to learn more about this Growth Hacking thing. I've heard about crowdfunding too and I wonder if they go hand in hand in making a startup company of some sort. More in the line of an Idea-centric and not commercial/profit-based enterprise.

Money for me comes in second, and the investment comes from those who would really want the product/service to come into fruition. That is why there are pledges/donations from those particular set of people. Is this considered also as a growth hacking technique/method?

I've got a lot of ideas both for online and offline consumption. I just need something to believe in. Even though I'm creative and motivated I have that extreme loathing to be taken for granted. That is why I haven't started anything yet my innovations and all.

So yeah, I've considered crowdfunding as my number 1 choice for growth hacking. "Bring me in the money guys and I'll show you the goods" kind of thing. Is this a wholly productive and conducive strategy?
#crowdfunding #growth #hacking
  • Profile picture of the author Przemekny
    Crowdfunding can be very effective strategy is used correctly. 49% of campaigns that ask for less than 10k are a success, at least on Kickstarter. All depends on the work you put in the campaign.
    This article should help you
    The Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding — Ecommerce Blog by Shopify
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    • Profile picture of the author AaronBurton
      Originally Posted by Przemekny View Post

      Crowdfunding can be very effective strategy is used correctly. 49% of campaigns that ask for less than 10k are a success, at least on Kickstarter. All depends on the work you put in the campaign.
      This article should help you
      The Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding — Ecommerce Blog by Shopify
      I did 2 kickstarters and failed. Definitely not quitting tho. Both of my campaigns where centered around game development.
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      • Profile picture of the author Skystar
        Aaron - you didn't fail - like Edison said - "I just found ways it didn't work."
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  • Profile picture of the author masterqif
    The interesting about this thread is that, many people views this (over 1K), but only 2 replies..
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  • Profile picture of the author dadamson
    ^^ that's because the title is very attractive and the post thread doesn't make much sense ��
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    • Profile picture of the author James-Andrew Hamilton IV
      If you could elaborate more on what you're trying to ask, maybe i could help you out. I'm having trouble trying to understand what you're asking. Crowdfunding can be a very great strategy to get start-up capital or any funds you may need if you present yourself and your opportunity accordingly. This includes but is not limited to outlying how every cent of the funds you receive will be used once you get it, as well as just being able to convince an investor that their investment in you will be of good cause. Noone wants to feel like their hard earned money is going to shady characters, and that their money wouldve been better off in their pockets.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jellypie Software
    I think you are probably underestimating the sheer volume of grind required to make a successful kick starter campaign. You need a rock solid idea to begin with. You have to live and breath this idea. You need to understand it from every possible angle. You then need to translate that into a killer sales pitch and video and get the whole thing to go viral by promoting it yourself. You then have to actually deliver the product if the campaign is successful. It's only once it's delivered that you see any money at all.

    It is *never* a case of "if I build it they will come". The world doesn't owe you a living for your brilliant ideas. Ideas are essentially worthless. It's the realization of an idea that has value. It's the realization of an idea that's hard do and even harder to do well.
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    • Profile picture of the author spock0149
      Originally Posted by Jellypie Software View Post

      I think you are probably underestimating the sheer volume of grind required to make a successful kick starter campaign. You need a rock solid idea to begin with. You have to live and breath this idea. You need to understand it from every possible angle.
      What he said. KS campaigns are a full time job and you need to promote the heck out of it. One in a million campaigns get picked up by some news network, and 'go viral'.

      The rest succeed due to a lot of blood sweat and tears from the creator. Things you'd wanna do:

      1. Create an email list of folks who are likely to support your campaign
      2. Promote the heck out of it on social media
      3. Get your friends and family to promote on social media
      4. Provide regular updates on your campaign page
      5. Promote to media sources, blogs, etc.

      Your life needs to be on hold for the 30 days or so that the campaign is live.

      We raised $15k on KS a couple of years ago, and we sweat blood for every dollar we made. It's NOT easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lee
    Popular campaigns on sites like Kickstarter get a lot of free press (depending on the product and presentation), if that's what you're talking about.
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  • Profile picture of the author aspire7
    To get more exposure on websites like kickstarter you have to really stand out either by:


    Genuinely good idea, not just to you or to your audience but an idea that everyone recognises as an idea they want. Example would be putting the first colony on mars (Mars One), it wont help me but Its a pretty cool thing to invest into.


    To fix a problem, even if I don't have the problem my self I still may want to help you out as I can see that it will fix a problem and help others. Example here would be Solar Roadways, it fixes quite a few problems.


    help people; Will the business help the general public or a group of people. Even if its not helping me directly I still may want to invest. An example here would be providing water for third world countries etc.


    These are the ones that get traction quickly.
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    • Profile picture of the author videoexpert
      I know a few people that have been very successful in crowd funding. The common thing I found is that all 3 spent a few months before launching the product to get lots of interested backers before launching.
      The key is to get all of those people to buy and share on day 1. Kickstater and indigogo will feature you on their homepage if their system notices a lot of traction. Once you get featured you will be very successful.
      You will want to create a page to build a list of interested people before launching. Start with family and friends first then encourage them to share. You can offer incentives for people to share. I've noticed crowd funding projects that have little to no funders from the beginning are never successful no matter how cool the project may be.
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  • Profile picture of the author nlanda
    If you have a well thought out business plan, plenty of family and friends ready and willing to help you at the launch of your crowdfunding venture, that seems to help a whole lot in the success of your crowdfunding venture.
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  • Profile picture of the author superstronghq
    There is nice courses on Udemy where you can find some good stuffs about it
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  • Profile picture of the author Ennllel
    Hi! James Renouf and Jeremy Kennedy launched an interesting WSO on this topic a couple months ago called "crowdfunding revelation".

    Briefly, they talk about finding a product on site like Alibaba, ask the suplier to modifications in order to create a "new" product, and to send you a prototype, and... boom! you've got the product to crowdfund. If you get the funds, you produce it, if not, nothing.

    Anyway, don't expect Kickstarter or Indiegogo giving you a lot of traffic for free. You still need to market, list building and PR a lot to make the first sales, so the platform notices the product is interesting (in fact it should be) and then you can be featured and get a lot of views and $$$.

    Crowdfunding is fascinating, but have his own "rules" you need to know to be succesfull on it. Fortunately there's a lot of info out there. Go for it and good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Joshnano
    I find that with crowd funding, it's either hit or miss entirely because you really have to have something that people really want to see happen or be made. Even then, if you don't come across right to your potential customer base than you could still have a failed campaign. I find that the majority of very successful campaigns have always had good investment incentives. I mean, just look at artists who crowd fund their albums, they always have juicy packages for people who donate top dollar.
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  • Profile picture of the author shazshaz
    a lot of people have great ideas,
    until you create a prototype, or a first mock-up version of what you want to build,
    you will have a hard time to start any project

    some great companies were born from successful crowdfunding,
    this is great because it validate the product before any big production is launched
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