I have backed around 40+ projects on Kickstarter, Indiegogo and various other platforms.
It can kind of addictive to find awesome-looking gadgets etc. and then back those.
I have scaled it down a bit in the past few months, as I was putting a little too much money into this "hobby"
I back projects that make something I'd think I can make use of, and that I do not feel I can find elsewhere.
I pay attention to how active the campaigners are in updates and comments during the campaign, before I give them money. That means it is rare that I get the Early bird specials, but I'd rather wait a bit and see before commiting.
I also check their social media profiles and webpages, that are linked to. Too often they open profiles everywhere but then don't update these. That annoys me and doesn't show the proper professionalism that one would hope for. I wish they would only open as many profiles as they can keep updated.
But it is fun, and I have received some awesome things, a few things that were a bit of a let-down, and one that will never deliver anything.