Help fund my project!

[Thulack]

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

Shanna, you're cool in my book because you saved my pal Naez from imminent self destruction. But, how can you expect people to donate money to a hobby as you talk about making 6 figs on your twitter? If you and Naez are making that kind of money, you would have to be horribly mismanaging your income to not have several hundred bucks to fund a hobby if that's what you really wanted to do.

I wouldn't pay for a hobby if i could get others to pay for it either.

[Orruar]

You would have succeeded if only you had named your company "The Washington Redskins".

[radditsu]

Not one.

[Pokesan]

I am deriving pleasure for your misfortune

yissssss

[georgie]

shoulda done good in school u wouldn't have student loans

[August]

Originally Posted by r00t [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Most of the trolls here are miserable simpletons who are jealous they don't have the motivation to go out and do anything more than buy cheetos and mountain dew to fuel their everquest addiction from mom's basement. They have to hate on people with passions in life to feel better about themselves. This seems to be accurate given the petty nature of most of your complaints.

It's not like she's asking money for nothing. The top reward is a 32oz. jar which can easily fit like 500+ treats. She could save the money for a side business on her own no problem, but it makes better business sense to do it this way, essentially taking pre-orders to cover startup costs. And there's nothing to worry about with perishables, peanut butter and purees come with preservatives (natural ones like vitamin E) already in them. And dogs can handle rice flour just fine, especially for a treat, it's an enormous stretch to call out on that.

She is asking money for nothing, though. It's the very definition of kickstarter. I want YOUR money and I won't give you MY equity. I WILL give you product that I create that hopefully drums up more business with you, though!

Simply put, the amount you give won't be coming back to you. It is not a loan, it is a donation. It is PBS-style 'donate 25 dollars and you get this tote bag!' type of deal.

It's not nearly as heinous as big movie studios funding millions on kickstarter and giving out free DVDs (I'm looking at you, Veronica Mars). It's 800 bucks. I'm just against the principle of kickstarter-for-profit in general.

[August]

Originally Posted by r00t [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Isn't it great that when you don't like a project, you can just exit the page? A number industries like small electronics manufacturing wouldn't have a fraction of the innovations we're seeing come out daily if it weren't for kickstarter types of funding, there's nothing wrong with it other than humanity should have figured it out sooner.

And no, money for nothing is not the definition of kickstarter, and isn't what's going on with hers. Your equity in the company, for $10, is a bag of treats. You can't expect to become a major stockholder in any company for that kind of money.

I'm really quite aware of how Kickstarter works. Compare the model of KIVA to this.

Kiva - you give small amounts, 'micro-loans', with a defined interest rate depending on loan amount and risk associated. The recipient of the money then uses this capital to develop their product/service and then pays back the loan. This allows small companies/individual proprietors to raise funds where they otherwise couldn't, and the investor not only helps out small business, but gets their money back + interest. There is a risk of default, but that is what the interest rate is for.

Kickstarter - you give small amounts, 'micro-donations', where the only required payment is the 'levels' defined by kickstarter. The recipient of the money then uses this capital to develop their product/service and then sends out their level-payments. This allows small companies/individual proprietors to raise funds where they otherwise couldn't, and the investor helps out small business as a donation - they may get a small reward (or not). There is a risk of default, but you donated your money so there's no obligation. They don't even have to pay out the levels if their project falls through.

They are very similar, except one is accountable and the other isn't. Your claim of small electronics would be just as well funded by micro-lending. Kickstarter has, and always will be, a scam. It acts as if it's a public funding enterprise (like PBS) and accepts donations, no 'equity'.

And yes, $10 isn't enough for anything. However, I've seen kickstarter campaigns that have levels for $100k - i think that's some equity money right there (but you could be an EXTRA IN A MOVIE!).

[GradnerLives]

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

I'm really quite aware of how Kickstarter works. Compare the model of KIVA to this.

Kiva - you give small amounts, 'micro-loans', with a defined interest rate depending on loan amount and risk associated. The recipient of the money then uses this capital to develop their product/service and then pays back the loan. This allows small companies/individual proprietors to raise funds where they otherwise couldn't, and the investor not only helps out small business, but gets their money back + interest. There is a risk of default, but that is what the interest rate is for.

Kickstarter - you give small amounts, 'micro-donations', where the only required payment is the 'levels' defined by kickstarter. The recipient of the money then uses this capital to develop their product/service and then sends out their level-payments. This allows small companies/individual proprietors to raise funds where they otherwise couldn't, and the investor helps out small business as a donation - they may get a small reward (or not). There is a risk of default, but you donated your money so there's no obligation. They don't even have to pay out the levels if their project falls through.

They are very similar, except one is accountable and the other isn't. Your claim of small electronics would be just as well funded by micro-lending. Kickstarter has, and always will be, a scam. It acts as if it's a public funding enterprise (like PBS) and accepts donations, no 'equity'.

And yes, $10 isn't enough for anything. However, I've seen kickstarter campaigns that have levels for $100k - i think that's some equity money right there (but you could be an EXTRA IN A MOVIE!).

If I want these dog treats, and I pay $10 and get them, then great - my goal has been achieved. From the outset, I just wanted the dog treats that I can't currently get, not a continued share in the company's success or potential failure. If the goal doesn't get reached and my dog treats never get made, then I end up getting refunded anyways.

If I want equity in a company, then I know already that kickstarter is not the place to get that. I didn't care about whether or not I get the dog treats and owning 1.25% of a small home-based business probably wasn't worth the trouble to me or the business if we're talking $10 to begin with.

Both models have their place and it's absolutely infuriating when people try to wax smug on the kickstarter model as if these plebeian 'donators' have no idea how much they're getting 'suckered' by these small businesses. Kickstarter is allowing consumers to facilitate the role of investors without changing their role as a consumer or changing the business' role to that of a partner, and sometimes that's just what the consumers and businesses want. Most people don't have the 10's of thousands of dollars to throw around that would be necessary to interest a business in taking them on as a partner, and most small businesses don't want 50% of their ownership fragmented across 2500 different people.

As a consumer, not a venture capitalist, I appreciate what the platform offers and have received a number of neat products through it that probably wouldn't have become available on the open market otherwise.

If a friend of mine pre-orders a video game in order to get the deluxe edition when it comes out, I don't call him a moron because he didn't ask for a 0.00043% share of the company. Would you?

[Pokeman]

i need 3 globs of dough to feed my dog so bad plz someone take my $10 and send

[Kimmie]

Donut like the woofers, and cat's too fat for gluten-free pumpkin cookies atm
Good luck with project tho [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]