Since December of 2014, I’ve been collecting responses from KickstarterForum members to reveal the average amount of time that a creator spends on a Kickstarter project.
The results are in!
Data duration: December 21st 14 – July 16th 2015
Number of replies: 172
This data collection is not perfect by any means. I couldn’t count all of the replies, as some of them were not specific enough and others were not relevant.
Also, keep in mind that in some cases there are multiple people working on one project, which can result in a skewed view that lots of people are spending 40+ hours per week on their project.
In addition, the amount of time that you are going to spend on your project each week will vary, depending on which part of the launch process you’re in. I think the comment below sums it up well.
“Aside from product development that had been going on for a year prior to our campaign, here are efforts directly towards the campaign for the two of us:
2 Months before launch: 2-4 hours a day (in addition to working elsewhere full time)
1 Month before launch: 6 hours a day (in addition to working elsewhere full time)
Month during campaign: 6-8 hours a day (first half working full time elsewhere), then 16 hours a day (no longer working elsewhere)
6 Month production and delivery period: 80-100 hours a week (each), one weekend off a month for each. Should be noted in addition to manufacturing our product, there was a ton of time spent doing business development. That may or may not be appropriate to some other campaigns.”
How much time should you spend on your project?
I think the sweet spot would be 25 hours per week. Considering that the majority of the readers of this blog are working at a full-time job and spending the night or weekend hours on their project, that’s a healthy number which ensures progress is being made and that you’re spending some time learning key topics like marketing, email-list building, and learning from successful campaigns.
How should you divide your time?
There are 4 ways to divide up your time while you’re in the pre-launch phase:
- Get together the assets. This includes your video, rewards, campaign text, website, calculating reward fulfillment costs, etc.
- Learn the ins and outs of Kickstarter. You’re going to need to become familiar with terminology like stretch goals, add-ons, a staff pick badge, and what successful campaigns in your category did right.
- Educate your family and friends. Most people don’t know what crowdfunding is or how Kickstarter works. You’re going to have to prep your social network before launching the campaign and re-establish old connections.
- Put together a marketing and PR plan. I can already hear the collective groans. Usually, this is the part of the process that causes the most headache. Don’t worry! I’ve put together a PR checklist here and have interviewed a slew of guests on the marketing strategy they used for their campaign.
How should you divide your team’s time?
Some of you might have a team of people working on your upcoming or ongoing Kickstarter project. In this case, four of you might be working 25 hours per week, but it will add up to 100 hours per week worth of productivity!
Ultimately, the tasks that you assign to your team members will be in accordance with their strengths and weaknesses. But, you must ensure that your team has regular and transparent communication. I recommend looking into some of the apps below, which help out with team management.
What should you spend your most time on?
Most of you probably think I’m going to say marketing or promoting. Not true.
I think that you should spend most of your time putting yourself in the shoes of your potential backers.
Ask yourself:
- Will they find these rewards exciting?
- Would they connect with the video?
- Does the campaign text really stand out?
- How will they find out about you?
The more time that you take to understand the mindset, emotions, and thoughts of your target backers, the easier it will be to make people excited about your upcoming Kickstarter launch through emails, tweets, messages, and eventually updates.
As an artist, creative type, or inventor, you might be in love with your project or product, but unless you position it in the correct way to others, they won’t be interested.
That intimate understanding of your audience or target audience will impact how you film the video, which rewards you choose, and how you go about rallying a community around your Kickstarter project.
Where to find and participate in more surveys
I’m running another survey on KickstarterForum that has 228 posts thus far. I’ve asked the community, what they’ve learned since running a Kickstarter project.
Feel free to add your bits of wisdom to this post or in a comment down below.
Remember that every single crowdfunding project is different. Each category is different and each end product is different.
By sharing what you’re learning in the preparation, launch, or management phase of your project, you’ll help out other creators!
