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I have a comment that I thought about since I read this in the morning but could be perhaps interpreted as negative, but I'm really curious as to what people ar

by Jun8 14y ago

I have a comment that I thought about since I read this in the morning but could be perhaps interpreted as negative, but I'm really curious as to what people are thinking about this: I think this news is great, the quicker innovative editing tools like LT appear the better. But I have an uneasy feeling about an incubator (even though YC is the best one, IMO) or a VC scooping up projects from Kickstarter. I always thought KS was a way for the intelligent nobodies to bypass the whole incubator-VC-whatever system and to appeal directly to the masses. How to put it, there's a sense of Olympic amateurishness (in the original sense of the word) in KS projects. When they are picked up like this it sorts of negates that sense. What do you think?

brandall10 14y ago
Hmm... that's an interesting perspective, I'm of the opposite opinion. I do get the sentiment though. There's a big difference between imagining something might be a great idea because of intuition, A/B testing/market research, even launching and getting engagement but no monetization... vs. getting people to actually put their hard-earned dollars into it in advance of any available product. To me, there's no stronger 'go' signal one can have. To an investor it takes away all the mystery... do you even need a pitch? The only thing left is whether or not the team can execute on the vision. And hence the value of a great incubator to reduce friction on that end.
gavanwoolery 14y ago
I think it depends on the project. With any sufficient amount of talent behind something this ambitious, the $200k they raised on Kickstarter will go quite fast...on one hand, they should take the VC money while they are "hot" - but on the other, if they could ride out their funds they would probably have more leverage with a stable-ish product in place.
smalter 14y ago
This is happening. I personally know of 3 Kickstarter -> VC-backed startups, and I'm sure it's more widespread than that. Kickstarter serves projects that are on a continuum from "pure" art (uncommercializable) to pre-sales (already commercial), so a transition to a full-fledged commercial endeavor makes a lot of sense for many many projects. There will still be a lot of amazing Olympic amateur projects, I hope/expect!
philip1209 14y ago
Honestly, YCombinator provides near-zero money. It's a strategic investment because they gain networking, a position in the valley, and access to the best programmers. It will make deployment easier. Now, if they need a lawyer, an accountant, a new staff member, or anything else - the YCombinator backing will make everything smoother so that they can focus on the core product.
azernik 14y ago
I've actually seen quite a few Kickstarter projects where VCs have used the Kickstarter as a gauge of consumer interest. In this, it still serves the same function I would like it to serve - it lets creators bypass the VC/publisher barrier of "we haven't seen something like this work, so we're not funding it", by showing in advance that there is market demand.

by Jun8 14y ago

brandall10 14y ago

Hmm... that's an interesting perspective, I'm of the opposite opinion. I do get the sentiment though. There's a big difference between imagining something might be a great idea because of intuition, A/B testing/market research, even launching and getting engagement but no monetization... vs. getting people to actually put their hard-earned dollars into it in advance of any available product. To me, there's no stronger 'go' signal one can have. To an investor it takes away all the mystery... do you even need a pitch? The only thing left is whether or not the team can execute on the vision. And hence the value of a great incubator to reduce friction on that end.

gavanwoolery 14y ago

I think it depends on the project. With any sufficient amount of talent behind something this ambitious, the $200k they raised on Kickstarter will go quite fast...on one hand, they should take the VC money while they are "hot" - but on the other, if they could ride out their funds they would probably have more leverage with a stable-ish product in place.

smalter 14y ago

This is happening. I personally know of 3 Kickstarter -> VC-backed startups, and I'm sure it's more widespread than that. Kickstarter serves projects that are on a continuum from "pure" art (uncommercializable) to pre-sales (already commercial), so a transition to a full-fledged commercial endeavor makes a lot of sense for many many projects. There will still be a lot of amazing Olympic amateur projects, I hope/expect!

philip1209 14y ago

Honestly, YCombinator provides near-zero money. It's a strategic investment because they gain networking, a position in the valley, and access to the best programmers. It will make deployment easier. Now, if they need a lawyer, an accountant, a new staff member, or anything else - the YCombinator backing will make everything smoother so that they can focus on the core product.

azernik 14y ago

I've actually seen quite a few Kickstarter projects where VCs have used the Kickstarter as a gauge of consumer interest. In this, it still serves the same function I would like it to serve - it lets creators bypass the VC/publisher barrier of "we haven't seen something like this work, so we're not funding it", by showing in advance that there is market demand.