Could this create a market for 'verified' kickstarter projects? Kickstarter as an organization states they dont verify, but as they grow the need will also grow. I'm thinking this could be an optional feature that everyone would be aware of (IE: grayed out badge when not invoked). For a small fee a typically background check will be performed, either by kickstarter or an independent.
Ugh. No. Every damn news site on the planet misrepresented the Star Command money issue.
First, Star Command didn't fail to deliver. It simply hasn't delivered yet. The game was being shown at a trade show last month. It's on it's way. This is not a case of a cancelled project or someone running off with the money.
Second, the article's statement that only 4k went to the game is an outright lie. They clearly state that 6k went to music, 5k to marketing (poster + PAX), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps, but 6k went directly into the game in the form of music.
The real lesson to take away from Star Command is their under-estimation of time and money required to create, package, and ship backer rewards. That's the real danger that other projects should be wary of.
Yeah, the way their funds evaporated into nothing after delivering all those t-shirts and whatnot was large in my mind this past week as I worked out the rewards for the comic book I just started the campaign for. I'm basically not offering anything physical beyond the book - more money gets you sponsor credit in the back.
SHOUTING isn't a great approach to try on HN. Phrases like "Try READING the article next time" and "Sounds to me like you have no more business sense than[...]" will probably earn you a few down votes too.
Personally, I think it's up to the individual (or in this case, collective) investor to perform due diligence before handing over your cash. I've only chipped into 3 kickstarter projects, but in each instance I'd done the appropriate due diligence before signing up.
As the saying goes, a fool and their money are soon parted!
When you pay for a pizza you get a damn pizza or you get your money back. Kickstarter projects aren't anywhere near as certain. They are much closer to an investment, except your return is fixed at either 1 unit of project product OR nothing.
Agreed. And thats where I can see the value. However I'd want something a lil more. For example, perhaps 'things' would keep coming back for say 30, 60, 90 days. You complete the thought and turn it into a habit and now you're good, so you can archive it. The more you turn into habits the better visual feedback you get.
Another idea: Add video to this. Help ingrain the lesson learned by doing a full-blown reflection on what it means to you and why its important. Also, to see yourself to yourself to-do/NOT-to-do something every so often could be interesting.
BTW: I have a folder in Evernote for things like this, I just dont check it that often, but a system that could automate this and push things to me could be interesting. One step further: sharing. Famous people could share short videos of their 'lessons learned' and you could subscribe to their lessons until you complete them as habits (remember not everything will turn into a habit though).
The iPhone app has image uploading right now but now video yet. We've been toying around with the idea of some sort of followed hashtag system where you could see what other people are thinking about. We just don't want to accidentally end up as a twitter competitor.
Very good point! Feedback from other entrepreneurs is usually arbitrary, and you usually have to qualify the advice based on each person's unique history/background. It's nice to see if entrepreneurs agree with your idea, but it all comes down to the market agreeing.
Okay, I'll bite. I've researched and critiqued dozens of ideas; I've also had my ideas ripped apart by others. So here's my feedback; playing devil's advocate here because there's no mention of these ideas being a true passion for your team.
Customer Service a la Zappos
I like the area that you are targeting, I think there's opportunity, but I don't see/understand what you're providing that's new. Are you managing/offering awesome people to provide the customer service or is it software that will help guide an existing company's support staff to be awesome? Perhaps a training program with some sort of systematic reminds of how to be awesome (could be interesting).
While You Were Out Notes
I know people use different hardware/software for communications but I don't see how there's any value here. Making voicemail accessible outside the office? If someone visits, do they need to know YOUR system for leaving a note or is someone in the office going to add it to this unnecessary system? There's a thing called email, and it works if you don't suck at it. Not convinced there's a pain/need here.
One Click Social Media Reports - My pick
Another area that is appealing to me, but I'd like to know more. List the kinds of things you'll be collecting. I do think there's data missing from other related services/tools.
Recurly for Dummies
Not to say there isn't a market/possibility to make money here, but doesn't Paypal offer subscriptions. Not everyone is accustomed to using/managing their subscriptions with Paypal but how will you make it any easier with your service?
Online Ticket Sales
Again, with limited information it's hard to see how you're going to approach this differently than Eventbrite. I think the opportunity here is the promotion aspect, but how you accomplish this is a mystery. I just feel a lot of people aren't aware of events in their area until it's too late. However, getting them to subscribe to your service to receive updates about events is going to be hard. You have to solve the relevancy/quality issue in addition to marketing to these people who don't search out for things on their own. Maybe some sort of partnering/incentive program can make this more possible. Make it fun and rewarding.
These are great observations. I visited your website, and you have a pretty cool, trajectory. I'm gonna shoot you an email, I'd like to pick your brain a little more.
If you already got your design ready, I'd go with PSPrint. They are fast and a good price. Just make sure you review their checklist/psd template. IE: CMYK or you might regret it
Could this create a market for 'verified' kickstarter projects? Kickstarter as an organization states they dont verify, but as they grow the need will also grow. I'm thinking this could be an optional feature that everyone would be aware of (IE: grayed out badge when not invoked). For a small fee a typically background check will be performed, either by kickstarter or an independent.