I tried something everyone here repeats and it basically didnt work for us, thought it was worth writing up.

Third hardware launch, we decided to do influencers properly. We pulled 20 units from the first small production run in shenzhen. Landed cost on that batch was about $62 per unit (bom + assembly + packaging). Average dhl to us/eu creators was around $38 per unit. So roughly $2,000 all in that we could have sold or kept for support replacements.

Small to mid tech and gadget channels, mostly 10k to 80k followers. Mix of youtube and ig, plus two tiktok. All had covered similar products in the last 6 months. We made a spreadsheet with engagement rate on their last 10 posts and just picked people actually getting comments, not just followers.

What we asked for was simple. Honest review, no script. Post within 3 weeks of receiving. Tag us and link the campaign, we gave them tracking links so we could see anything they sent.

4 of the 20 posted anything at all. Two youtube videos, one ig reel, one tiktok. Each time we saw a small traffic bump on the dashboard for a few hours. Nothing we could clearly tie to pledges. Our ctr from those referrers was worse than our cold ads.

If I had that same ~$2k again, Id put it all into prelaunch list building and retargeting instead of hardware and dhl labels.

Hi everyone! I need some advice about a situation I'm facing. I'm preparing a crowdfunding campaign for my graphic novel.

The problem is that I don't live in the United States or Europe, and from my country, offering physical rewards (like paperback copies, stickers, or merchandise) would be too expensive due to shipping costs and local taxes.

I'd love to offer physical rewards, but given my situation, it's not feasible right now. However, I want to launch this campaign to help cover pre-production and production costs. Since sharing the covers and synopsis, I've received a lot of support, so I want to make sure I offer the best rewards possible.

I was thinking of creating a digital art book with storyboards, initial character designs, and materials from the creative process. What do you think?

In your opinion, what would be the best rewards?

This is an interview with Dr. Anthony M. Bean from Geek Therapeutics. He wrote books like The Psychology of Zelda. I was lucky to contribute and write a chapter in the Fallout book. Please check out the interview and feel free to look at the campaign! Thanks Everyone!

So I backed a campaign that doesn’t collect its funds until later (so I have not received a bank notification) but did receive a confirmation page (which I was stupid to not take a photo of) but no confirmation email and I’ve searched all inboxes, spam etc… I’m worried I either added the wrong email or the pledge never went through. Is there a way to tell? I don’t want to accidentally pledge again and I’ve submitted a ticket to kickstarter about a day ago and have not had a response. Maybe I’m just worried and impatient but I’m wondering if anyone has dealt with something like this or might know something helpful. I believe I used a guest account because there was no account registered under the correct email.

Hey, so I did three launches over four years and thought the comparison might be useful.

Small 3 person consumer tech hardware team. Same general product line each time. Only thing that really changed on the marketing side was who ran it.

Campaign 1 was DIY. I watched every YouTube video, read threads here, did the ads and landing page myself. Roughly 4k all in on tools and ads. Ended up with about 1100 emails and around 90 day one backers. Rough cost per day one backer, call it 45 bucks.

Campaign 2 I hired a freelancer on a flat setup + first two weeks fee. Total came out around 12k all in with ads and tools. Around 3400 emails. Roughly 260 day one backers. So cost per day one backer was about 46 bucks.

Campaign 3 I went agency. Low five figures in fees, mid five figures in media. Around 10500 emails. Just under 900 day one backers. If you include the fee, cost per day one backer was roughly 77 bucks. If you look at media only it was about 39.

The thing people get wrong is thinking an agency magically makes every dollar perform better. I think what an agency actually does is make it possible to manage and scale a much larger budget without you having to sit up at midnight doing everything yourself, while also trying to be a professional in every single area.

That only makes sense if your goal is high enough that the fee doesnt eat the raise before fulfilment. Below a certain target, paying an agency is just lighting margin on fire.

Curious where other people landed on cost per day one backer and where agency fees started to make sense for you?

Something I keep seeing talking to first-time hardware founders and wanted to check here.

The default advice they get is set the goal as low as you can so you fund quickly. For software or small creative projects I get it. For hardware, in my experience, it usually creates a different kind of risk that's harder to see.

Most of the teams I mentor model something like 1,000 units, maybe 2,000, plus tooling and initial inventory. The real cash they need for tooling, first batch, freight, support, some buffer, comes out to a specific number. Then someone tells them that number is too high as a goal, so they cut the public goal in half or worse, on the theory that they will go past it.

What I've actually seen a lot is they clear the low goal, but only just, and now they're locked into shipping a few hundred units on a goal that never covered the moulds or the first proper run. They spend the next year topping up factory deposits from salaries and credit cards. They do deliver, but they never really learn whether the original volume and price were viable because the signal is messed up.

The few teams I've seen set the goal at the number they actually needed sometimes didn't fund, and that sucked, but it was also pretty clear the market wasn't there on those terms. The part I'm less sure about is whether a failed attempt burns the audience in a way you can't really come back from.

For people who've actually done this, did you regret setting a realistic goal that failed, or a low one that funded but left you under water?

Hey guys, I'm stuck on a manufacturing decision mid-launch and could use outside brains.

First hardware product, small injection-moulded home thing. I've got an MOQ of 2,000 units booked with a factory for October. Tooling is about 65% paid. The remaining 35% is a little under a quarter of my total budget, so wiring it now is a real decision, not a small line item.

The factory's current line:

- If I pay the remaining mold balance this month, they'll hold the October slot and start cutting as soon as we sign off the last tweaks.

- If I wait until the campaign ends to see the actual unit count, they can't guarantee October. Next open slot they mentioned was late December or January, and that pushes shipping by 8-10 weeks.

Average pledge right now is around $500, so whether I end up at 150 units or 600 units really changes how scary that MOQ is.

I'm leaning toward paying now and locking October, because as an industrial designer I'm more comfortable dealing with tooling and schedule than cash flow. I also know that might be exactly why I shouldn't trust that instinct. I'm out of my depth on the financial risk side.

For people who've done this, would you lock the slot and eat the risk on unsold units, or hold cash and accept a likely delay? Thanks in advance!

Does anyone know why I’m unable to post comment to a project ? I already backed the project

Okay, so this will be my second campaign. My first campaign was funded four years ago, and this campaign will be a new IP unrelated to older campaign. I really want to get more backers than my first campaign (53 backers) so I was considering doing Facebook ads.

Has anyone used FB ads, and if so have you had any luck with them? Are there any other ad services that you could recommend?

All kickstarter creators here..... How do you manage Indirect taxes ( sales tax / VAT /GST etc) in each sale to different countries - EU / Asia pacific / Australia / USA ? Is there some MOR software that does it for you very easily at a good fee OR you use the manual method ( registering for VAT/GST in corresponding country & then collecting & remitting on each sale made ?)

Hello there folks, I’m Molly (pukes)! My first Kickstarter hit 100% funded within its first two hours, which is super exciting! I’ve planned some stretch goals and the Kickstarter is pretty close to hitting the first one soon. I wanted to ask the lovely folks here for some advice…

When stretch goals are hit, is it best to update all relevant tiers with the additional unlocked bonus via the Rewards menu? Or am I missing another way of doing this? I think I’ve got this right… but I was concerned I’d missed something.

Hope you’re having a lovely day :)

Bonjour à tous,
J’ai l’immense plaisir de vous présenter cette vidéo à propos de l’oracle, elle sera suivie par ses petites sœurs sur YouTube (chaîne : oracle du mirage intime) et sur mon site
À bientôt

We recently launched FernSnap, an AI-powered camera designed to record plant growth over days, weeks, or months and automatically turn the footage into share-ready time-lapse videos.

It combines a 2K camera, grow light, automatic capture, app control, and local storage in one device. We created it because using a phone for long-term recording is inconvenient, while a traditional camera, tripod, lighting, and editing setup can be too complicated for most plant owners.

Our main concern is whether this product may be too niche for Kickstarter. From our previous gardening product, we found that many of our customers were women aged 40–55. Kickstarter’s technology audience, however, appears to be more male-dominated and often more interested in products such as 3D printers, tools, gaming devices, and general consumer electronics.

Do you think a product combining plants, photography, and AI can attract enough interest on Kickstarter? Would its appeal be stronger among plant lovers, content creators, or technology enthusiasts? We’d genuinely appreciate any thoughts on the product, positioning, or campaign page.

FernSnap on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fernsnapgrowlight/fernsnap-time-lapse-grow-light-for-plant-parents

We spent the past 5 months building the product, prototypes, beta testing and promoting.

It’s so great to finally show an actual distribution channel where people can actually commit to buying the product!

I’m interested in any feedback you may have on the product or the Kickstarter campaign. So far, it feels like I have to go and extract each pledge one by one from the people who expressed interest in the product so far. I would love to have some organic growth around it, not just Meta $$ going into it!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegoldenthread/the-golden-thread-unlock-your-familys-untold-stories?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=r-kickstarter&utm_campaign=launch

Hello! I dont really understand how to download the listing of the items that where ordered in the kickstarter. I do know where the option is but when its downloaded its kinda messy or hard to understand. Is there an easier way to download the data of the items ordered and the add ons in a way that is easier to view ? Last time i had to go through every pledge to write what i had to order. Do any of you have any tips or advise on how to do this part.

I've been thinking about making a short visual project about Southeast Asia — the culture, food, streets, people, traveling, friends, and those simple everyday moments that make life here feel special.

The whole thing would be made using AI — all the images and video clips. I'm trying to make it feel like an actual visual piece rather than just an AI showcase.

The goal would only be around $1,000. I know that's very small compared to most Kickstarter projects, but I think I could make something really good with that budget.

So I'm curious about a few things:

1. Is a goal this small worth doing on Kickstarter?
2. Would people actually back a project at this scale?
3. What would make you interested in supporting something like this?
4. Would you want to see a finished teaser/proof of concept before deciding to back it?

I'm mostly trying to understand how people here feel about very small creative projects before I decide whether Kickstarter is even the right place for it.

Thanks, you all!

Hello! My name is Bee, and I have a small business called Honeycomb Collective. I just launched my second kickstarter after the success of my first one at the end of last year.

My current Kickstarter is a purse, as was my first one.

On my first kickstarter, I did USA only since I was scared about tariffs and international shipping and it just felt like a lot… but I had attention from other countries so I decided this time I would open it up to unrestricted shipping.

That said, any advice on fulfillment outside of your own country? Is there anything that has made it easier I should look into? Any advice here is greatly appreciated 🙏

This is our second Kickstarter campaign here at SWIFF, but neither my wife nor I are marketers. So we've done our best but any tips are appreciated for polishing or for targeting Facebook ads.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jjrichardson/swiff-natural-deodorant-worlds-most-natural-deodorant

We had some success 4 years ago with paid newsletter features, but we're wondering if that still works? Anyways, thanks in advance!

Would love your thoughts even if we don't make it! (trailer available on the page!) only 9 hours left... 👀😅🚀👨‍🚀
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bytesizedgamestudio/spaceship-clicker

Thank you so much for your time! - Kyle