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So I just tried this for TeaRounder (my solo project I've been working on in spare time for a while). I did an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign for it a few mo
by PhillyG 6y ago
So I just tried this for TeaRounder (my solo project I've been working on in spare time for a while). I did an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign for it a few months ago, so I can compare them from a project founder view.
Positives:
-It was 20-30 times quicker to upload to ptwi, significantly less daunting and was hassle free. I literally did this in five to ten minutes, immediately after seeing this thread. Ks felt like an ordeal, and took the best part of a week to get set up, including multiple drafts, setting up screenshots just to fit their layout, filling out a spreadsheet that wasn't really aimed at the kind of project I had - not to mention their system for verifying payment details and getting checked for fit with their rules (they tell you to allow a certain amount of business days for someone to check it, and don't really make it clear that that's only done if they're automatic system flags something up)
- your website name makes my intentions more clear. With Kickstarter there's often this impression people have, that the campaign is the main or only source of funding for a project, which can be downright harmful to projects. I remember a game console Kickstarter getting lots of flack for asking for an amount that people thought wouldn't be enough to make it work. When you only need a little bit or nothing at all, it's not helpful to have to inflate the amount you're asking for, on an all or nothing form of funding. (To me now, crowdfunding is basically a "vague acquaintances and people in the same online communities as me" round)
Negatives:
1)I couldn't change the amount I'm asking for in total. It might be because I'm on mobile, but even with zooming in, it didn't seem like that was even an input box. $1000 is way more than I need to prove that it's worth continuing on that route. I'd be happier doing $200 but on just a few days of the ad being live, since the next stage is only really a $5 per year thing. (Edit: 5$ per year is roughly what I'd want to charge each user for a basic level subscription)
2) the message about paying $10 to show I'm not a spammer. That is shown once the page is live and it's rather confusing. I don't know your brand and in my experience in the UK most companies that check if you're real by taking money and then refunding do £1, so being asked for $10 on that basis makes me nervous. Makes me question why there wasn't a captcha, or email verification, or restriction to one upload. It took me writing this up to realise posting projects to ptwi is anonymous. That also explains using cryptocurrency and having to save a specific link to administer the page. Feels really odd but kind of cool.
3) I've never used any cryptocurrency before, and I also wouldn't want to have to explain how to use it to people I share the link with. Ideally I should be able to just send the link to people with a short warm intro and leave them to it
Here's the shareable page that I got:
https://provetheywantit.com/project?public_token=pub_EDJsmGxnGKfdcgylwwOdhwDYDtVIvfYjgZWT https://provetheywantit.com/project?public_token=pub_EDJsmGx...
- PhillyG 6y agoAdditionally: In theory I could use this to a/b test completely different paths for a project to take, or a selection of different project ideas. It's so simple to upload, and I can do this without having a video demo. You might even be able to just take $10 as a flat upfront fee per listing once you've proven that good ideas get funding there.
- repartix 6y agoThank you so, sooo much for writing this illuminating feedback. 1) I just made the amount configurable. I had this feature implemented but disabled, because I didn't want people to stop to decide how much to ask for. One less thing to think about. That's how uploading to ptwi is 20-30 times quicker than Ks. 2) What would you suggest to improve this? Similar to (1) I didn't want people stopping to think about spam when creating the project. I had a version where the qrcode was in /prove and I didn't like the user flow. I also disliked it visually. I made three changes now that might help. Reduced the amount to $5 (I hope it's not too low), explained posting projects is anonymous and how it fights spam, and explained in /prove that making a project public will need to pay to prove the project isn't spam. 3) Maybe /project should include a link to a page that explains what cryptocurrency is and what money is. I'll add this.
- PhillyG 6y agoGlad to help! 1) ooh cool! I think simply having that default prepopulated at $1000 goes a long way to making decision quick- that value immediately gets me deciding if I need to go higher, lower or the same. 2) those changes sound like they'll really help. How about also having a badge on the public pages to show a project has done that step, and saying that on the admin page as a reason to do it as soon as possible. 3) maybe also a link to set up a wallet. I realise this is extra development and payment fees, but enabling regular card transactions would be great - maybe only have it for some projects where anonymity isn't useful. PayPal (or something similar) would be a good compromise.
- repartix 6y ago2) Added the badge, thanks! 3) Added a link to setup a wallet and explained that users can buy LTC with a credit card. I don't know about regular card transactions. It doesn't compromise the creator's anonymity but affects the backer's anonymity. I'm not excited about hooking into Stripe.