A question that has come up more and more lately with similar Kickstarter projects:
Is crowd funding a good way to go about this project? And specifically, is crowd funding through Kickstarter a good way to go about this project?
Basically, the project creator has an idea for a product for which he thinks there is a market, but he lacks the capital to get the business off the ground.
By using Kickstarter, he's able to acquire the capital, and the backers -- the vast majority of whom, I'm assuming, are either friends who just want to help him out or strangers who just want a bed-desk -- know that they'll get their money back if the goal isn't reached.
But once the goal is reached ... that investment becomes a risky investment. The obligation to actually deliver a product to those investors to whom it was promised is, at best, a moral obligation, rather than a legal one. Kickstarter has been very insistent on this point lately: If you donate to a project, consider it a donation, not a purchase (http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store).
With more artistic projects -- say, a musician raising money to record an album -- I think it's a little bit easier to see those pledges as donations rather than purchases, even if a copy of the album is promised to donors. Why? For one, donors are likely to already be fans of the artist and feel a sort of kinship with them. But probably more importantly, the final cost of the album is likely to be in the $10-$20 range, which is a lot easier to write off, if the artist doesn't deliver, than an expensive piece of furniture.
In contrast, with a project like this, I'm assuming that if you're going to "donate" $650 or more, you're going to want a bed-desk at the end of it.
And at least on Kickstarter's current terms, the arrangement is not favorable to somebody who just wants a bed-desk at the end of it.
There may be other crowd-funding options out there that are more favorable to the would-be owners of a bed-desk (for instance, if the project creator were contractually obligated to deliver the product). Or perhaps the project creator could simply raise $65,000 with micro-loans, then sell the completed product to interested buyers, then use the proceeds to pay back the micro-loans. At least in that case, it's the aspiring businessman who's on the hook if something goes wrong, not the aspiring bed owners -- which is as it should be, because when an aspiring businessman is willing to take on financial risks, that demonstrates his commitment to the business. Or, if the project creator is not willing to take on all of that financial risk, perhaps he might be willing to offer equity in the business to potential crowd funders. That way, you're distributing the risk, but you're also distributing the potential upside, which is only fair, right?
As things stand, I just don't see a Kickstarter project for this type of product as being a good deal for anyone but the guy building the bed-desks ... unless you are willing to consider the $650 (or more) you donate to be just that: a donation.
Yes $650 is a large amount to be donating to a project like mine, and I agree that it is not the way to go for everyone or every project. I thought that I would try it out for this project to see what the response would be like, and it seemed like the best way to build both financial support and interest for the project so I went for it.
I know producing these will be a big job and I liked that Kickstarter allows me to set my funding goal at a level where I will be most likely to succeed. I could have certainly set up a pre-order page with a Stripe button and started building as the orders came in, but being woefully underfunded is not a great way to start an enterprise like this in my opinion. And I thought that Kickstarter would be the lowest risk option for everyone involved.
I sent your kickstarter to some furniture people I know seeing if they could give you further advice on how to make this a reality.
I think you should use the kickstarter monies to help you get better connected with furniture manufacturers who would license the design from you and help you make this a reality.
There is so much potential for such a design - and even though it is not 100% novel - it looks like it could be affordably developed easily and could be sold in dorms and rooms around the world.
if you have successful kickstarts in the past, you become more reliable for the future. one could make a couple smaller projects to prove oneself, slowly getting bigger and earning more support than would otherwise be possible.
that said, i'm not sure how more support helps one make more deskbeds. the more deskbeds to make the more deskbeds to make. unless one is manufacturing, constructing and distributing components automatically.
when i saw this i really was hoping that the project would have some ~$50 option where you could buy the plans to assemble the desk out of 2x4s and support general development of some fancier option. (hi din0bot!)
Indeed. With some sort of open source plan, you could get improvements very quickly.
Two obvious ones that spring to mind:
- make the top legs loose so that they swing down when the bed goes up
- cover the base of the bed with something (fabric, a wooden panel or a whiteboard), so that it looks more like furniture when it's up, and not the bottom of a mattress.
Apart from selling it to individual customers, that would be a good idea to employ on a bigger scale in cheap university halls. There are some big companies renting rooms for students (for example "unite" in UK) that are constructing new accommodation points all the time. A desk like that might add a lot of value to some of the smaller rooms.
An alternative to Kickstarter would be to approach these companies directly, with a demonstrable prototype, and secure a letter of intent to purchase. Armed with these letters, it might then be possible to get a business loan to fund the initial production run.
It isn't buying an item & it isn't donating to something either. Backing a kickstarter project a different sort of thing to both of these.
While there may be some issues with expectations & delivery, there are obviously people that want to back kickstarter projects as is.
My personal feeling is that it lets them have a relationship with the makers of the stuff. Something that is natural to us, based on favours, "moral obligations", expectations, social expectations - something like friendship. Separating "investing" & buying in the way that most of the economy works would miss that whole point. They could just work for & shop at Ikea. It would probably be a better deal. The don't want to because this is.. warmer.
Is crowd funding a good way to go about this project? And specifically, is crowd funding through Kickstarter a good way to go about this project?
Basically, the project creator has an idea for a product for which he thinks there is a market, but he lacks the capital to get the business off the ground.
By using Kickstarter, he's able to acquire the capital, and the backers -- the vast majority of whom, I'm assuming, are either friends who just want to help him out or strangers who just want a bed-desk -- know that they'll get their money back if the goal isn't reached.
But once the goal is reached ... that investment becomes a risky investment. The obligation to actually deliver a product to those investors to whom it was promised is, at best, a moral obligation, rather than a legal one. Kickstarter has been very insistent on this point lately: If you donate to a project, consider it a donation, not a purchase (http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store).
With more artistic projects -- say, a musician raising money to record an album -- I think it's a little bit easier to see those pledges as donations rather than purchases, even if a copy of the album is promised to donors. Why? For one, donors are likely to already be fans of the artist and feel a sort of kinship with them. But probably more importantly, the final cost of the album is likely to be in the $10-$20 range, which is a lot easier to write off, if the artist doesn't deliver, than an expensive piece of furniture.
In contrast, with a project like this, I'm assuming that if you're going to "donate" $650 or more, you're going to want a bed-desk at the end of it.
And at least on Kickstarter's current terms, the arrangement is not favorable to somebody who just wants a bed-desk at the end of it.
There may be other crowd-funding options out there that are more favorable to the would-be owners of a bed-desk (for instance, if the project creator were contractually obligated to deliver the product). Or perhaps the project creator could simply raise $65,000 with micro-loans, then sell the completed product to interested buyers, then use the proceeds to pay back the micro-loans. At least in that case, it's the aspiring businessman who's on the hook if something goes wrong, not the aspiring bed owners -- which is as it should be, because when an aspiring businessman is willing to take on financial risks, that demonstrates his commitment to the business. Or, if the project creator is not willing to take on all of that financial risk, perhaps he might be willing to offer equity in the business to potential crowd funders. That way, you're distributing the risk, but you're also distributing the potential upside, which is only fair, right?
As things stand, I just don't see a Kickstarter project for this type of product as being a good deal for anyone but the guy building the bed-desks ... unless you are willing to consider the $650 (or more) you donate to be just that: a donation.