KickstarterForum.org

Hey guys,

I recently launched my Kickstarter campaign for "War Path", my feature film below:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/108 ... ature-film

It's been a ton of work sharing, emailing around, and hustling to get everyone donating and have hit a lucky break so far with the people who've donated. Some who I thought would donate didn't even watch and people I never expected to know put in huge amounts. It's a really interesting experience.

My question is at what ratio of days the campaigns have gone on : percentage funded would you consider it a sign you're on the right track? On one hand, I just hit 49% today and have a few other pledges coming in but am going to be entering the slow period. I imagine in about 2 1/2 weeks is when that final burst of enthusiasm comes in and more people contribute. But I've heard ratios like "If you don't get your KS halfway there within the 1st 10 days, you probably won't make it" and other types. Have you witnessed any type of consistent ratio or is it all over the map?

Casey,
I have only one, unfunded campaign under my belt and by no means a crowd funding expert (Sbrigg and Vaporstarter can give much better advice) but I feel this forum has saved me so many times from spending all night searching endlessly--that I hope, one day, every creator will be able to be part of this forum and share all they have learned.

I have read so many different things about where a project should be, I do not know if there is any true watermark one must hit. I hit my 25% goal mid way. According to the stats I am now one of the 10% who did not make their goal once hitting that number.

But my job (I wish it were not so, but I have a small family and my art has generated $0.0 in the past 6 months) is in furniture sales. We often say, "Numbers never lie, until they do."

Let me explain. We are held to a certain sales number we must hit to beat our "draw" That magic number is $12,000 gross sales written for the 4, ten hour days we are on the showroom floor. All 19 of us our obsessed with sales numbers, with licking our finger and putting it to the wind to try to gauge the behaviors of the buying public. We are very focused with traffic--how many "ups" do we each get in one day, in one week? We are OBSESSED and judged monthly on our conversion rate (our "close ratio") and must maintain the 30% close ration set as our company as the standard.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I have learned a lot in the past 2 years about how and why people buy. . . . . furniture. This is usually the 3rd largest purchase families make. Money means so many different things to so many different people. I hope one day to transfer what I have learned (and been very successful at, until the corporate politics shackled me) about retail sales and translate--and share--that knowledge to why and how people pledge on crowd funding platforms.

If you do not already own it, may I suggest this book > > http://amzn.to/1jJRG16 ***Not only will it help you "sale" your film, it will protect you against salespeople who only want to con you.*** I am not one of them. But every, single, client I meet thinks I am and treats me as such. If more and more fraudulent campaigns slip through and more and more backers get burned, I fear (and people like Vaporstarter are determined to protect the community form them) in the future, backers will be very cautious before they hit that Pledge button.

I think each campaign is different. There are outliers in every category. Some may reach Day 27 with 10% funded and maybe their local news station runs a story and BAM they are overfunded at 450%.

You have an amazing video. I love how you opened with humor. The video instantly lets backers know you are a great filmmaker.

I am broke at the moment. All I can do is tweet you out and share on FB. I do not have "suction" ( I love "The Wire" and have been dying to drop the phrase and now I did!! ) but every second of a live campaign is vital. Each day should be spent trying to reach NEW backers and not constantly remind those in your social network. The people that you know will support you when and if they can. No amount of pleading or cajoling will work on them--trust me, I learned the hard way!

I will tweet and FB share right now.I just promised my son we will go to the music store and park in half an hour so I do not want to forget.

Casey
I tweeted you out and shared on FB, now off to guitar center and the park!
Though I may peep in on the ol smartphone!!
All the digital web entangles me again!!

Thank you for the kind words and the RT! What's your twitter handle by the way?

And any kind of strict ratio is definitely not something I anticipate a hard answer to, so that POV makes sense. Anyone else see a pattern or is it usually its own thing?

Hi WarPath. I've definitely noticed that the smash-hit successes tend to meet their fundraising goal or raise 50-70% of their funds within the first week. However, there are plenty of campaigns that exhibit more of a steady climb or a jump in the beginning (up to 30%) and then they gather pledges throughout and rally at the end.

I wrote about this 7 day phenomena here: http://www.crowdcrux.com/these-seven-da ... quick-tip/

In your campaign, I see there was a huge jump from the 1st to the 2nd of december. I think that if you keep driving hard, you will be able to meet your goal, but you can't let up for a day. Keep marketing it and reaching out to the film crowd that is interested in your type of narrative film.

sbriggman wrote:Hi WarPath. I've definitely noticed that the smash-hit successes tend to meet their fundraising goal or raise 50-70% of their funds within the first week. However, there are plenty of campaigns that exhibit more of a steady climb or a jump in the beginning (up to 30%) and then they gather pledges throughout and rally at the end.

I wrote about this 7 day phenomena here: http://www.crowdcrux.com/these-seven-da ... quick-tip/

In your campaign, I see there was a huge jump from the 1st to the 2nd of december. I think that if you keep driving hard, you will be able to meet your goal, but you can't let up for a day. Keep marketing it and reaching out to the film crowd that is interested in your type of narrative film.

Thanks for the article link! It makes a lot of sense as well. With my campaign, there was an executive producer who wanted to come aboard and that's why the donations spiked on December 1st/2nd, which was him donating $3,000. While I know I have about another 1500 coming in soon, I'm worried that I'm running out of people within my own social network and reaching people within the audience I'm aiming for. My film got a mention on aintitcool.com, which got some people pledging, but the genre I'm going for (crime drama, fans of Breaking Bad/Goodfellas/Martin Scorsese films) don't have a lot of well known blog and fan sites catered to it. I've sent them to what I could find but am fearing that I'm running into that wall

I have the same thoughts as well. At this point my 40-day campaign has raised 8% so far and has 31 days left:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/the ... -wanderers

I thought of canceling it a few times but something just keeps telling me to push through. Who knows what will happen. I could get Staff Pick, Project of the Day, or maybe an influential person will promote my project, who knows?

The statistic are just numbers, it could be the case for most but you'll never know what will happen. We could fail, but what if we don't? If we don't try we'll never know right? I think at this point you should keep going for sure. You're halfway there but the way I see it, you're almost there. A lot of funding can really save you in the end. The possibilities are endless if we keep trying.

I'm also taking my own advice, haha.

Keep going, my friend.

Hey Warpath,
My twitter handle is @infiniteuly
I am a huge fan of your genre--if they could somehow make a goddfellas space opera high fantasy movie I would be in hog heaven!
I am broke due to work related politics that are pointless to get into but if you want to try a Pledge Payday Friday drive I can contribute a small amount. Just email me (ulys3796@gmail.com) to remind me! That way maybe a bunch of pledges in a 6 hour time frame may boost you on the Popular page.

@infinitesatori - Like you said, I would keep grinding it out. I encountered these guys (http://www.crowdcrux.com/learn-how-thes ... f-capital/) in the early days of their campaign and they just kept working hard and now they have raised $9.7k. The key is to plan and work and adjust your plan. Keep me updated on your progress.

@InfiniteHorizons - You are an inspiration! .

No, YOU ARE Sal!

This forum will soon be THE place new crowd funders come to learn and share tips. I was so scared to post when I lurked. You and vapor were so open and helpful. It was intimidating clicking on everyone's funded campaigns. For anyone lurking, Sal and Vaprostarter--though blessed with a seemingly endless supply of knowledge--are so helpful!I could never have launched when I did without the information I mined on here and www.crowdcrux.com!