New 'Creative Fund' Promises To Back Every Project on Kickstarter (venturebeat.com)

All Kickstarter campaigns are getting a show of support, according to a new web site. "Every day, The Creative Fund backs all newly launched projects based on our current patronage." It's the newest offering from BackerKit, which also makes a data management platform for crowdfunding campaigns, and so far they've pledged $1 to 10,594 different Kickstarter projects.

An anonymous reader quotes VentureBeat: One dollar doesn't seem like a lot, but it's just a start. BackerKit cofounder Rosanna Yau says that this is more of a proof of concept, to see if their community is willing to rally around the idea. She and cofounder Maxwell Salzberg have set up a Patreon, a monthly subscription service that enables people to support creators directly. All the donations they receive from that platform will be distributed among Kickstarter projects, and the goal is to make sure all projects have at least one pledge....

Yau says that the company is open to contributing more than a $1 in the future. Its Patreon guidelines say that for each $2,000 milestone reached, the fund will pledge $1 more to all Kickstarter projects. If something doesn't get funded, the fund's pledges will get recycled and re-donated to new projects.
A Medium post says the new fund "supports the entrepreneurial spirit of all independent creators, one dollar at a time....

"Everyone deserves some inspiration and a virtual high-five."

Comments

Very optimistic

[vadim_t]

The problem with that is that kickstarter is full of half-baked ideas and people trying to sell some random thing they dug up on Alibaba as their own creation.

Personally, what I would want to see instead of a list of very well curated kickstarter projects. A list somebody went through and determined that:

1. The project is actually physically possible.
2. The project is actually doable with the skills and tools the maker has.
3. The project is actually novel, and not simply reselling an existing one.
4. The project as described makes sense to experts in the associated discipline and seems workable
5. The maker actually understands what they're getting themselves into and have the knowledge and resources to produce it.
6. (optionally) The product actually has some sort of practical use to it.

Such a list would go a long way highlighting the people with a good idea that can actually be realize, and bring more money to those who are truly deserving.

Re: Very optimistic

[Anonymous Coward]

Itâ(TM)s worse than that. kickstarter is full of fraudsters and people trying to sell snake oil. And that simply drowns out the few real people with great ideas.

Re:Very optimistic

[alvinrod]

Even in a very limited domain what you're asking is almost impossible since the curators not only need to understand what is being proposed and hot it would position itself in the market, but also have a very intimate knowledge of the people who are proposing it. You're essentially asking for an oracle and probably one that can't be deceived by hucksters using Kickstarter to enrich themselves.

However, even If what you're suggesting were actually possible, no one would give that away for free on the internet. Instead you'd be an angel investor and have 90% of your long shot investments pay off handsomely instead of only 5%.

Re:Very optimistic

[vadim_t]

I'm not asking for an oracle, but for a good filter.

You don't need a team full of PhDs to figure out that Air Umbrella was an unworkable and terribly impractical idea, or that Solar Roadways was a stupid idea because it compromised both the function of a solar panel and a road to make a whole that was far worse and more expensive than simply building both of those things next to each other.

Lots of people in fact pointed that out. A site staffed by a bunch of volunteers with a decent understanding of physics and electronics would go a long way. And if you have $10K to spend, you could hire a bunch of engineers to take a quick cursory look at a bunch of stuff and give a quick opinion on whether it's obviously stupid or not.

Re: Very optimistic

[sg_oneill]

It be sad thing is there's actually a lot more than a few good ideas on there. Most of them however are wallowing in obscure fail while the charlatans and their "crowd funding consultants" burn the city to the grownd

Re: Very optimistic

[sg_oneill]

"It be sad thing". Holy crap does iPhone autocorrect create some humdingers. Machine learning folks, it's the future!

Re:Very optimistic

[mnemotronic]

The problem with that is that kickstarter is full of half-baked ideas and people trying to sell some random thing they dug up on Alibaba as their own creation.

Personally, what I would want to see instead of a list of very well curated kickstarter projects. A list somebody went through and determined that:

1. The project is actually physically possible.

"It’s kind of fun to do the impossible." — Walt Disney

The project is actually doable with the skills and tools the maker has.

The project is actually novel, and not simply reselling an existing one.

The project as described makes sense to experts in the associated discipline and seems workable

"The world doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?" — Pablo Picasso

The maker actually understands what they're getting themselves into and have the knowledge and resources to produce it.

"We had no idea what we were getting into. We thought we were just doing this little vampire movie in Portland. There was just a lot of silliness, a lot of hijinks and bad behavior." — Elizabeth Reaser (actress in the "Twilight" series of movies)

(optionally) The product actually has some sort of practical use to it.

"Things don’t have to change the world to be important." — Steve Jobs

Such a list would go a long way highlighting the people with a good idea that can actually be realize, and bring more money to those who are truly deserving.

Re:Very optimistic

[alvinrod]

Okay, so what does this good filter get out of it? It sounds like you have some knowledge and a bit of common sense about you, so why not start this curation website up yourself? I suspect that in answering why you haven't done so already and don't have any intention to do so presently, you'll have answered exactly why this website doesn't exist. But setting aside needing a wide variety of expertise across all manner of different fields, it still doesn't solve the part of the problem that deals with whether or not the people running the project can execute effectively and that's hard to do for anyone that doesn't have a track record of success or a good résumé.

And as soon as someone does start something like this up, the incentive to pervert it becomes too great and the likelihood of it being rendered useless increases. Once someone has a service designed to funnel money to select projects, it would be really great to try to hoodwink a group of people into investing in your kickstarter. What this means is that you can't have just one of these types of sites, much like you can't have a single news paper, rating agency, etc. without a lot of care and consideration to prevent impropriety.

Maybe you can get that kind of thing in safety critical situations where the government has decided to fund it through tax dollars, but you're basically asking for what would require a large group of volunteers to spend a lot of their time for relatively little compensation. They would have to value good Kickstarters getting funded a lot more than their time (as well as having the moral fiber to remain objective) in order to do this. Maybe there are enough people in the world like you to make this happening, but if you want to see it, you're better off starting it yourself than waiting around for someone else to make it happen.

Re: Very optimistic

[Anonymous Coward]

Mine constantly corrects coworkers to cow orkers...as if that is something to say.

Re: Very optimistic

[Anonymous Coward]

Cow porkers? Gross, you suck fuck!

Re:Very optimistic

[nmb3000]

In all of your examples, those people were spending their own money to try and achieve their goals -- and more power to them. However, Kickstarter is all about getting other people to spend their money.

This is the key difference and the reason that projects should be vetted before getting supported.

Re:Very optimistic

[tlhIngan]

The problem with that is that kickstarter is full of half-baked ideas and people trying to sell some random thing they dug up on Alibaba as their own creation.

That's less likely on Kickstarter, there's some very strong guidelines on Kickstarter that generally assure people that the idea isn't as farfetched as one would believe. Though some real doozies do make it through (google BattBump).

In fact, it's IndieGoGo where I don't contribute for many reasons, including very poor project review - it's not uncommon for completed kickstarters to show up on IndieGoGo that are basically scams - the scammer copies the Kickstarter page and puts it up on IndieGoGo and does a really convincing job that it's the real thing. Sometimes IndieGoGo gets around to cancelling it, often not. This is especially true with "flexible funding" that ensures scammers get the money.

Personally, what I would want to see instead of a list of very well curated kickstarter projects. A list somebody went through and determined that:

The project is actually physically possible.

Kickstarter requires demonstration of a prototype if it's hardware, a software demo otherwise. A few years ago it was the wild west, now you can review the video and make your own decision. And yes, some (like BattBump) fake it, but such is life.

The project is actually doable with the skills and tools the maker has.

Well, that says nothing, if they have a working prototype. Making 1 unit is a lot different from making 1000 or 1,000,000. Even with industry connections things can and do fall apart all the time.

The project is actually novel, and not simply reselling an existing one

This would exclude a lot of Kickstarters for "second editions" and "reprints" and "enhanced models". Novel products are rare, unless you're going to include the novelty of cost - if you can make something that usually costs $10,000 cost $800, it's not novel, but maybe the designer compromised in ways to make it "good enough".

It also excludes products that are based on technology we have today, but are so niche, few people can actually play with them. Like parametric speakers - they're wonderful things, can be built cheaply (few hundred dollars worth of stuff), and the theory is old. But a Kickstarter that makes one easily available to those who don't want to take the time and effort to independently research it seems useful.

.
The project as described makes sense to experts in the associated discipline and seems workable

That usually is done by the working prototype requirement. But sometimes, even the experts do have it wrong - perhaps along the lines of "using a cheap $10 sensor instead of the industry standard $1000 sensor will never work - you'll have too much error". But for a lot of things, the error may be acceptable and "good enough", especially when you're looking at something that would cost $200 and you can play around with it, versus $20,000 and stuck in a lab.

The maker actually understands what they're getting themselves into and have the knowledge and resources to produce it.

This one is hard. Even well known manufacturers and big names get caught up in it (Star Citizen, anyone?). There's always scope creep, and even if you've done it before, crap happens. Granted, those who've been through it before generally succeed, but that's not a guarantee, and who knows. A game studio developing a game could realize they have a big pile of crap at the end.

And just because they've done it, doesn't mean things don't. People may suddenly depart - your key liason between your company and the factory in China might be run over by a bus. Or perhaps you thought you could manufacture it, but then the supplier EOL's the part requir

Re:Very optimistic

[Raenex]

Such a list would go a long way highlighting the people with a good idea that can actually be realize, and bring more money to those who are truly deserving.

That's what professional investors are for. I never understood the Kickstarter craze. You want me to plunk down some money, assume all the risk, and my only reward is the product if it's actually made and some token gift? How about giving me a share of the profits instead?

*Every*? Gotta go, make 9001 accounts!

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see how far "every" goes.

The already not perfect anymore name of Kickstarter will be as ruined as Goatse's asshole.

Or maybe... that is the plan! *Dun-dun ... duuuuun*!

They should back them selves

[goombah99]

Definitely a half baked idea worthy of kickstarter.

Speaking of which, "half baked" would actually be a good name for kickstarter.

creimer is fat and a gay! Everybody say 'Yay!'

[Anonymous Coward]

creimer needs backing for his cross-country, all-you-can-eat buffet tour. He doesn't have enough neckfat rolls already and he can still partially see his button cock from below his fupa.

Math?

[DontBeAMoran]

...so far they've pledged $1 to 10,594 different Kickstarter projects.

Its Patreon guidelines say that for each $2,000 milestone reached, the fund will pledge $1 more to all Kickstarter projects.

Even with all the projects that will fail to meet their minimum and have the money return to the fund, it probably still does not compute.

Re:Math?

[Anonymous Coward]

Says the guy who asked me to dump nut butter in his anus while we were en flagrante.

I think I just solved the previous story

[50000BTU_barbecue]

Every wind turbine gets a Kickstarter!

I want a pony too.

[Anonymous Coward]

I want a pony too.

Time to start a new Kickstarter then

[guruevi]

I plan on starting ~10,000 Kickstarter projects with a goal of $1.

Re:Time to start a new Kickstarter then

[Calydor]

You took my idea.

Well, I'll just make TWENTY thousand Kickstarter projects!

Re:Time to start a new Kickstarter then

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I'll just automate the process. And to avoid being immediately blamed for it, package it nicely and sell access to the Kickstarter project spam platform as a service. And probably add a vague reference to "blockchain tech" to the promotional material to get the automated investors on-board.

Re:Time to start a new Kickstarter then

[DontBeAMoran]

Guys, that will never work! Both your ideas are over 9000 projects!

Participation trophy?

[EnsilZah]

So everyone gets a $1 participation trophy for fulfilling the requirements to be listed?

Well, except for those who don't actually reach the funding goal, they get nothing, this is utterly meaningless for them.

And for those who do reach it, great, they can maybe buy a stick of gum.

Re:Participation trophy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Except they don't give any money to AIDS-infected butt humpers like you.

Info suck , not fully altruistic

[Anonymous Coward]

What that $1 backing gets them is automatic updates from kickstarter on the project status. The $1 cost is the price to pay to join the information feed. Sure they could go and mine the kickstarter page but that would be a polling solution and require automated and semi-intelligent page fetches. With the $1 donation backerkit gets emailed on every update and can directly track things.

Call me a glass half empty kind of person but I see this as not fully altruistic.

Silly virtue-signalling PR campaign.

[ScentCone]

Silly virtue-signalling PR campaign.

Creative people are better than other people! See? We support all of them! With: a dollar! Now, pour a bunch of money into OUR account so we can signal some more, and, of course, draw a paycheck for the noble cause of administering this absurd bit of nonsense.

Here's an idea: actually VET the projects, and only support the ones that aren't utterly pointless. Otherwise they might as well say they're supporting all the artists at Burning Man by burning a pile of $1 bills in the parking lot outside their office. Or in the driveway outside mom's basement, wherever this is actually run.

Re:Silly virtue-signalling PR campaign.

[Anonymous Coward]

Creative people aren't better? They literally create everything you ever use in your life. Ordinary people are neither deep, original, nor articulate.

Re:Silly virtue-signalling PR campaign.

[ScentCone]

Creative people aren't better?

No, the vast majority of the people who label themselves "creative" are especially bad at it. Which, as someone who sounds like he owns a nerve that has just been struck, you know. Or should.

The reason that so many people turn to web-based begging sites to fund their lame creative endeavors and completely fail to produce anything of merit, is because they simply aren't cut out for it in the first place. The people who "create everything you ever use in your life" are - generally - gainfully employed, making an actual paycheck or running a profitable business producing those things.

Ordinary people are neither deep, original, nor articulate.

Right. And most of the people who run off to Kickstarter or GoFundMe to beg for money to launch their cupcake business, their dog collar design boutique, their wedding photography business, or their couture fashion line made of felt, are ordinary or (frequently) deluded and sub-ordinary. Which is why universally rewarding all of them wiht ONE DOLLAR is just the epitome of virtue signally hilarity. Which you know, but are pretending you don't so you can maintain your phony umbrage. You need to get more creative about your fake hurt feelings. That wan't very persuasive. Maybe you should go online and beg for some money so you can take a class?

Re:Silly virtue-signalling PR campaign.

[Anonymous Coward]

this sort of creative people literally don't create anything I use. they create advertising and pr.

No, they don't

[sylvandb]

No, not every project or "creator" deserves "inspiration and a virtual high-five." There are too many fraudulent projects or ones that are simply outright idiotic (like the old one to make a heat exchanger in your fridge or freezer to cool your house).

The real world isn't about participation trophies or a medal for effort and propagating that attitude is a strong indicator of immaturity.

I will donate ONE MILLION DOLLARS to children

[Anonymous Coward]

As soon as you donate ONE MILLION and a little bit more than that to me, let's say 1.1 million or so, I am not greedy and need only very little

It's like...

[EnsilZah]

It's like someone looked at communism and thought 'Woah woah, nice idea, but we don't want to get carried away with all the practical stuff'.

It's like filling up a bucket of water and pouring it into the ocean through a sieve.

Re: It's like...

[Anonymous Coward]

More like burning a dollar bill for every hole in the sieve, and then dumping the collective ashes into the ocean.

This should have been done by using an exponential gradient, donating a large percentage of available capital to projects that are closest to reaching their goal, prioritizing larger amounts and less time.

This would have the effect of relying on community wisdom (ha.), not tying up funds in absurd unrealistic projects(ha!), and actually having a real substantive effect on the ecosystem of projects.

They have backed several of mine.

[Anonymous Coward]

I do enamel pins I design on KS. They have backed a number of my projects. I'm currently doing a 2.5 inch Book Dragon pin. It's a dragon reading a book sitting on a pile of books with some tea, lol.

So Now I Create 2,000 $1 kickstarter projects

[logicnazi]

With the project being to make me $1 richer in exchange for a thank you email.

Is it about DATA ACCESS?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be a backer to have access to all updates and similar project information, information that BackerKit can use to pitch their services to campaigns, something that should benefit's BackerKit's bottom line. So it's a good business move for them.

Dressing it up as a charitable PR stunt may backfire.

No, no they don't

[drinkypoo]

"Everyone deserves some inspiration and a virtual high-five."

There's plenty of people who don't. Here's one from this morning.

Okay, that's a ridiculous example. But there's plenty of shit on Kickstarter that is there specifically to seize the cash and run away. Projects like this only increase the viability of the beg-and-dash business model.

It's worse than that..

[Anonymous Coward]

as another poster pointed out, this gets them backer updates.

their business is providing backer updates and doing analytics on them and SELLING THAT STUFF TO THE "CREATORS". when they speak "creator" they mean "customer we want to spam".

Participation trophy

[trevc]

Sounds like a participation trophy.