Help fund my project!

[GradnerLives]

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The problem is that the dog treats don't cost $10. If you need to raise funds, you should get a loan.

Get a loan - be able to produce dog treats - sell dog treats - pay back loan

Banks wouldn't fund apple because they thought it was a dumb idea for a company. Venture capitalists wouldn't fund the mini-printer I backed because they thought it was a dumb idea. Sometimes its hard to convey an idea as being potentially successful without prior success in an industry no matter how good the idea itself is. Investors looking to invest are going to scrutinize a company's perceived value and chance of success where a consumer will simply see a product they want to buy.

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Get a kickstarter - be able to produce dog treats - send them to your backers (for way less than they paid to your kickstarter ) - end of step.

Backers that only really wanted different dog treats than they can buy currently. Value is in the eye of the beholder and most kickstarters actually offer more than the market price of their rewards to those that back. Maybe not in this case, but who knows what dog treats sell for, you might actually be getting a discount here. I hate dogs, so I can't comment.

I'll agree $10 for a haiku is pretty steep, but $50 for a jar full of treats + jar sounds about right for market value of a special interest pet product. I also think it's dumb that people pay millions of dollars to get a new ship in star citizen every week when the game isn't out yet. In either case, you've paid and got something in return.

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yes, consumers are getting taken for a ride. Acknowledge that kickstarter is at it's heart, a CHARITY. If you are doing a kickstarter on a for-profit venture, you're taking advantage of people. period.

It's not a charity if you're paying money to get something back.

You can criticize specific campaigns for being disingenuous or greedy, and you'd be right as there's a ton of examples of people making exploitative/dumb campaigns. They also aren't usually the ones that get funded. The model itself works quite well and has brought a huge number of innovative products to market, specifically in the realm of niche tech products like Naez brought up earlier.

As a consumer, I like it being around. As an investor, I have no opinion of it because it's not used to invest.