Analysis of the best projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. INDIEGOGO Crowdfunding Platform What is Indiegogo

Crowd... what? For those who meet this term for the first time, we explain: crowdfunding is a way to attract financial resources for the implementation or support of independent projects (literally from English - “public funding”). As a phenomenon, “popular fundraising” has existed for a long time, but with the spread of the Internet, it has moved to a whole new level. Crowdfunding gives anyone the opportunity to raise funds to bring their project to life - be it the creation of unique accessories, a non-commercial movie, a new gadget or a social project. All these ideas have one thing in common: they would hardly have been implemented without the help of crowdfunding platforms.

To succeed in crowdfunding, first of all, you need to correctly present yourself and your project. If you want to grab the attention of potential investors but don't know where to start, be sure to read these tips.

1. Make a plan

The structure of the plan will depend entirely on the type of project you have. The plan should include not only a campaign to raise funds, but also the implementation of the project itself.

Experienced crowdfunders start raising funds only at the second or third stage of the work, as most sponsors prefer to invest in an existing project. Set realistic goals and deadlines and be sure to include them in your project description. As a rule, people part with money more easily when they know the time frame in which they will see the result.

2. Be Persuasive

It is important to remember that you are actually asking complete strangers to open their wallets and give you their money. You should stock up on a couple of powerful arguments that will help convince a potential sponsor of the benefits of your project. First of all, the description of your project should convey its significance, the uniqueness of the idea and the value of the product that will result.

Be sure to use visual materials if you have them (and if you don’t, be sure to take care of it!). Show examples of completed projects, demonstrate completed stages of current work, record a video message to potential investors - anything that convinces people to click on the “Help” button will come in handy.

4. Offer something in return

Many successful campaigns promise their investors something in return for their investment. For example, you can give everyone who donates a certain amount a copy of your movie, a T-shirt with your logo, tickets to your performance, or a handmade product. In order to motivate people to leave large donations, you can come up with a stepwise reward system: the larger the amount, the larger the gift.

5. Find promoters

Getting the word out about your campaign to as many people as possible is the most difficult task you will face in crowdfunding. Ideally, promoters should be people who themselves have invested in your project and are counting on its success. It is also advisable to involve friends and relatives: together you can talk about the project on social networks (you will find useful tips on promoting the project on social networks). If your project is really unique, get media attention on it - not an easy task, but worth it.

6. Learn from the best

There are many successful examples. It is interesting that in Russia the most successful projects are related to creativity and charity (films, games, books, social projects), while technology startups are no less popular abroad. We have selected a few crowdfunding campaigns that may inspire you to succeed.

Such a phenomenon as crowdfunding appeared relatively recently, but has already managed to firmly occupy its niche. Many of you have heard of Kickstarter, a platform where ordinary people donate their own money to projects that they like more than others. However, few people are familiar with the equally large-scale crowdfunding resource Indiegogo, where you can also collect money for your startup. Today, as part of our column “Exchanges”, I would like to tell you about this particular site.

What is indiegogo?

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform whose principles are transparency, openness, freedom of choice. The service is intended to raise money and finance various projects, having a wide range of advantages, and this is the only reason it differs from its famous competitor. On the site you will not find any restrictions regarding the type of project. They can be educational, technological (without a prototype), entertaining and even charitable. Moreover, the user can collect funds for any personal purpose. And, of course, there are no geographical restrictions. The main thing is to have a legal account in any bank.

Funding Models

When opening a campaign, the user indicates a certain amount that he needs to raise (we will talk about this later), but Indiegogo has one clear advantage - a flexible funding model called “Keep it all”. The principle of this model is that as a result, the user can receive money, even if the final goal has not been achieved.

Well, for the most drawn ones, there is a standard “All or Nothing” model, which immediately makes it clear to potential sponsors that the person who launched the campaign is ready to go to the end and will not back down.

As it has already become clear, the user chooses the model himself before launching the campaign. However, it is worth considering the fact that the percentage of the platform will depend on the chosen model. So, if your choice fell on the standard funding model, then Indiegogo will take 4% of the money raised. In the case of the flexible model, you will have to pay 9% of the accumulated amount. But even here there is a plus: if later the goal of the campaign is still achieved, the service will return 5% to you.

Site work scheme

Starting an Indiegogo campaign is easy. The main thing is to prepare in advance all the necessary information on your project. But let's look at this process step by step.

1. The author of the campaign prepares a full description of his project, takes photos, tables, records a video with an appeal to potential sponsors. Simply put, it is necessary to provide users with information that will help them make the right decision and finance this particular project. You will immediately be asked to choose a funding model, a monetary goal and a campaign duration. At this stage, you can also specify possible rewards for sponsors. It all depends on the campaign itself: the reward can be either a simple thank you speech or a pre-order of the product.

2. Immediately after the campaign is published, the author needs to notify his surroundings and potential sponsors about it through social networks, blogs and even the media. Again, the author should periodically update information on the project so that people who are interested in it do not lose motivation.

3. As soon as the campaign expires, its author will receive his funds, but there are some subtleties:

- Money transferred via PayPal is immediately credited to the author's account in the case of a flexible model or at the end of the campaign if the "All or Nothing" model is selected;

- money that was transferred by bank, under any funding model, will be sent to the author only after the expiration of the campaign.

Conclusion

The crowdfunding platform is very suitable for developers and programmers who want to launch their own project. By the way, sometimes the result exceeds all expectations and a vivid example of this is the Jolla tablet, which collected the required amount of $ 380 thousand in just a couple of hours, and two weeks before the end of the project this amount increased to $ 1.17 million. It remains only to come up with a project and apply to people for funding.

In this article (in two parts), we will take a detailed look at how to support projects on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, or create your own. But first, a little about the site itself and crowdfunding.

The Indiegogo crowdfunding platform allows everyone, regardless of their country of residence, to support projects or create their own. This is its main difference from the crowdfunding leader - Kickstarter, where only companies and US residents can create their projects and withdraw money (at the time of this writing, 05.2015).

So… Registration

To register, visit the Indiegogo home page. You will be prompted to sign in with a Facebook account, from which your First Name, Last Name, profile photo, and email address will be pulled. Most likely, this is the fastest and most convenient way to register. If you do not have such an account, or you want to use another e-mail for authorization, then click on the button Sing up:

Next, a registration window will appear with the minimum required information. First name, last name, e-mail, password. After filling in all the fields, click CREATE AN ACCOUNT and you will be returned to the main page under a new account:

To perform further actions, you need to confirm the registration e-mail in your mailbox by clicking on the link Verify your email address in an email from Indiegogo. Optionally, you can fill in additional profile fields. To do this, click on your account top right and select My settings. Here you can specify your country of residence, city, zip code, connect your Facebook profile, tell about yourself, upload an additional photo, add an avatar, add a link to a Facebook group, your YouTube channel, or a VKontakte group. After all the steps, do not forget to click SAVE bottom right.

On this, the registration can be considered completed. From now on, you can become a sponsor of projects, or create your own. In this article, we will consider the first scenario.

Project support

Usually, we learn about the projects that interest us from Internet publications, blogs, and social networks. In this case, through a direct link, we directly get to the project of interest to us. If we do not have a direct link, then the site provides a rubricator for project topics ( EXPLORE), just like searching by projects, if you know its name:

The whole variety of thematic projects can be sorted by countries and cities, by fullness of funds, or by type of monetization. There are two types of monetization - fixed amount (Fixed), or with a flexible budget (Flexible). Monetization options are very important. And here's why... Fixed-price projects ( fixed), these are projects that have clearly defined the minimum required amount to start the project, and if the required amount is not reached, they are considered failed. In this case, the money will be returned to the sponsors. Also, by supporting projects with a fixed fee amount, you can leave the project at any time before it ends. Projects with a flexible budget are projects that collect as much as they get. But it is not a fact that this amount will be enough for the developer to implement his project. Sponsors' money in this case will not be returned. Usually projects with a flexible budget involve charitable, creative activities, or some kind of entertainment action that does not require any clearly defined budget.

At first, it would be great to re-examine the essence of the project, since changes could occur during its development and publication on the crowdfunding site. If you are not sure about your English, it is better to use the translation of the page into Russian. In Google Chrome, for example, this is done through the right mouse button. The translation looks funny, but in the vast majority of cases it conveys the main essence of what is happening:

If you have any questions about the project, you can ask them in the section Comments, or contact the developer directly via contact. Such appeals will not go unanswered, because the success of the company directly depends on it.
When all issues are resolved, it's time to familiarize yourself with the terms of participation in the project. Lots are provided for this ( PERK). In each lot, its value is indicated and what you will eventually receive for your money. Also, an important fact is the planned date for the start of shipments of goods. This is what the current status of the project looks like:

More details about lots:

Usually, the shipping cost is indicated in the lot. As in the example above: “Free shipping in Russia. Add $22 for international shipping." To do this, click on the lot, and at the bottom, by clicking on the button Custom, enter additional shipping amount:

Shipping costs may be charged as a separate lot. This can come in handy if you forgot to add it in the main lot. Additionally, you need to pay the cost of delivery from under the same account from which you paid for the main lot. This will help the system combine these 2 payments:

Payment Page

At the moment, on the Indiegogo platform, payment can be made through PayPal, or using a bank card. Let's consider both options.

After selecting a lot and adding the shipping cost (if necessary), you need to enter your shipping address and click CONTINUE TO PAYMENT. The address can be entered both in Russian and in English:

Next, you will be taken to the PayPal payment page. If you already have an active PayPal account, then you just need to confirm your e-mail with a password and pay as usual. If you do not have it, you can pay by credit card by clicking on Pay with a credit or debit card:

In this case, payment will be made through PayPal’s Guest Checkout system (guest payment):

In the second part of the article, we will take a closer look at how, and under what conditions, to create your own crowdfunding company on the Indiegogo platform. If you have any questions, or we missed something, please write about it in the comments. Changes will be made instantly.

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform based on the principles of openness, transparency, freedom of choice and action. It is designed to finance absolutely any projects and therefore has a number of advantages over its main competitor - Kickstarter. There are no restrictions on the type of projects on Indiegogo. They can be both technological (including without a prototype), entertaining, educational, and charitable. Moreover, a person can raise funds for their own personal purposes (here the area of interest intersects with another competitor - GoFundMe). Also a notable difference is the ability to launch campaigns based on a flexible funding model, as well as be open to users from anywhere in the world.

Indeed, both creating campaigns and financing them (unlike the Kickstarter platform mentioned above) can be done by a person from anywhere. There are no geographic restrictions. The only thing is that he needs to have a legal bank account.

The flexible funding model, also known as "Keep it all" is the ability to receive money even if the campaign's financial goal is not achieved. At the same time, the standard model "All or nothing" also exists. The author of the campaign can initially choose it, making it clear to his sponsors that he is ready to take risks and hopes for their help in this uncompromising struggle.

Of course, this flexibility imposes its own limitations on the financial relationship with the platform. In the case of a flexible funding model, the platform Indiegogo takes 9% of the funds raised. However, if the goal is still achieved, then 5% is returned back. It is clear that with the "All or Nothing" model, only the 4% option is possible.

For charitable projects, the platform offers a 25% discount on all interest rates. True, non-profit projects usually receive their funds through a special structure - FirstGiving, which takes an additional 4% for its services.

In general, the scheme of working with the Indiegogo platform is standard and goes through the following steps:

1) The author prepares a description of his project. Writes texts, uploads video messages, illustrations, tables. Everything that will help the user to navigate and make a decision in favor of this particular project. At the same stage, a funding scheme is chosen ("Keep it all" or "All or nothing"), the duration of the campaign and the financial goal. The author also indicates the rewards that he is ready to provide to his sponsors. Depending on the type of campaign, this could be anything from thank you speeches to pre-orders of the product itself.

2) After publication, the author's task is to notify his closest circle about the new project as soon as possible. It is also advisable to turn to the media for support. Post updates about your project every few days to keep sponsors and stakeholders motivated.

3) After the expiration of the campaign, the author receives his funds. However, there are subtleties here. Let's dwell on them in more detail:

The part of the funds that was transferred using PayPal immediately gets into the user's account. Minus 9% (Indiegogo fee). Upon reaching the financial goal, 5% is returned. It is clear that in the case of working according to the "All or Nothing" model, the money gets to the PayPal account only after the successful outcome of the campaign.

Funds transferred through a bank account are sent to the user only after the expiration of the campaign. And it can take up to 16 business days.

Finally, funds received by non-profit organizations are transferred to her every week or month, depending on the type of campaign and arrangement.

The creators of the Indiegogo platform tirelessly remind that the final result depends solely on their own activity, which is expressed in promoting the campaign primarily through social channels. They call it gogofactor. The higher this indicator, the more likely that the project gets on the main page in the list of selected ones. Of course, with this, his chances will increase even more. So everything is in the hands of the authors.

Despite the global nature of the platform and the absence of visible restrictions on participation in it, it is possible to raise funds only in several currencies: US dollars, Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros.

It should be noted that in addition to fundraising, companies often use crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo to promote their projects and probe the market. This is especially noticed by technology companies that release a new product and use crowdfunding technology to collect pre-orders, wanting to make sure that the new product is to their liking. This method also helps the company in many ways to subsequently attract a large venture investor, as there is a direct evidence base for a positive customer attitude towards products!

At the time of this review, the biggest project on Indiegogo remains the Ubuntu Edge smartphone campaign, which raised almost $13 million out of a $32 million target.

In 2014, the platform experienced a record number of updates:

January: Launch of Outpost, which gives companies the ability to bring campaigns from Indiegogo directly to their site while retaining the platform's benefits such as marketing channels, analytics, and user network;
April: change of logo and website design;
July: Canadian iOS mobile app launched;
August: increase in the list of services integrated with Facebook;
August: launch of international mobile application for iOS;
September: Israel office opened;
September: launch of the Forever Funding model for companies that have already raised the necessary funding and would like to receive additional funds on an ongoing basis;
October: Indiegogo becomes first Apple Pay Crowdfunding Partner;
December: launch of the voluntary insurance service for backers;
December: launch
Website address:
Launch date:
Location:
USA
Story:
The concept platform appeared in 2007 under the name "Project Keiyaku". The site was officially launched in January 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival. This choice was not made by chance. The emphasis was on financing film projects. In 2009, the platform expanded its field of activity and began to accept any projects.
In February 2008, the platform received an Angel Investment.
In September 2011 - seed investment in the amount of $1.5 million.
In June 2012 - $15 million in Round A.
In January 2014 - $40 million in Round B.
Founders:
Slava Rubin, Eric Schell and Danae Ringelmann

Most entrepreneurs who consider crowdfunding as a means of getting funding for their product choose between Kickstarter and Indigo, the two most popular marketplaces at the moment. Each has its pros and cons.

Of course, you can learn a lot by studying the specifics and differences of both platforms, but this article compares 100 projects on each of the platforms to determine which platform is best for your product.

An analysis was made of the highest grossing projects on Kickstarter and Indigo. And here are the patterns that were observed.

Kickstarter was marked by 115 projects that raised over a million dollars. And all 100 projects from the sample, respectively, also overcame the one million bar.
On Indiegogo, 41 projects have raised over $1 million (including the Ubuntu Edge project, a huge fundraiser but an unreached goal). The remaining projects from the Top 100 on Indigo raised from $336,000 to $993,311.
The most successful projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo raised $20,339,000 and $12,814,000 respectively.

However, you will be surprised to find an interesting trend that suggests that Indigo is growing faster than Kickstarter. On the chart below, you can see this trend in the number of projects from the Top 100 depending on the year.

Indiegogo is showing an excellent growth in the number of projects that raise more than one million dollars:

3 in 2012
6 in 2013
20 in 2014
12 in 2015 (7 months)

The area where Kickstarter has proven its leadership is in the number of backers per project. For the top hundred projects of the site, this is an average 24,928 backers per project versus 11,468 for Indigo. It is also worth noting that among the top 100 Kickstarter projects, 16 were launched by authors who already had successful projects behind them.

Speaking about the most popular categories of projects, it can be noted that at Indigo 64 projects out of the top 100 will go to Technology, 7 to Cinema, and five each to Design and the Internet. Kickstarter is dominated by Games (43 projects), Technology (31 projects) and Design (15 projects).

But what is most surprising is the geography of the authors of the most successful projects. Since Kickstarter has restrictions on the countries it works with, it is very difficult to know the exact “homeland” of a startup, as many use the services of intermediaries and business partners.

However, on Kickstarter, the geographic distribution of super-successful authors is as follows:

USA (83 projects)
UK (7 projects)
Japan (3 projects).

USA (79 projects)
Canada (5 projects)
Great Britain (4 projects).

Conclusion

The numbers describing the most successful projects on both platforms are really exciting. Looking at them, many potential authors come to us with thoughts in the spirit: "we want to collect half a million dollars to start."

But we must remember that successful projects, which create the main hype around crowdfunding, make up less than 1% of the total number of launched projects. To get into the 100 club, you need to spend several months on intensive preparation of the project, even before its launch, in order to prepare a strong team and an effective action plan.