This is a guest post by Marina of Kicktops.com, “A Hand-picked Selection Of The Best Kickstarter Products.”
It’s been a week since the first post in the “Kickstarter projects that have been funded in 5 days or less” series, and I’m here again to bring you more quickly-funded products. You’ll be amazed by how many of them there are! I didn’t realize this until I started actively looking for them–and you probably weren’t aware either.
I’ve read through your comments from last week also and I realized that the projects listed may have not given a full representation of what’s trending on Kickstarter across different categories. I didn’t want anybody to get the impression that only entertainment-based projects succeed on Kickstarter, or ridiculously ambitious technology advances with huge teams behind them. There are projects across the board doing well, and as a creator, you can succeed in many different categories.
This time I’ve tried to create a more heterogeneous list comprised of different categories, with different visions, and varied goals. Some of them are daring and innovative, some of them just bring forward a really simple concept. Don’t forget to look at what they have in common, what works for them, and what could also work for you.
Whether it was low or high, these projects have achieved their fundraising goal in the first few days, sometimes within the first few hours. I’m quite sure not all of them expected such a warm welcome!
10. Reflip: [Product Design]
Creator: “Steph Lim & Iris Yan”
A very, very cool product that was funded in its second day. Because in a world saturated of screens, we still like to touch things, to buy print books, vinyls, and newspapers. Reflip does exactly that: they create flipbooks from 10-second videos. The idea is to send them a short video of you or/and your loved ones, include a message, and they will print it and send it to whoever you want. An unexpected and lovely surprise–I wouldn’t mind getting one in the mail!
9. Anova Precision Cooker: [Food]
Creator: “Anova Culinary”
The most versatile precision cooker device, which can be controlled via an app on your phone. It is used to cook sous vide, which does not refer to vacuum sealing food, but simply to “precision temperature cooking”. Anova Precision Cooker measures and controles temperature and time, and ensures more consistently cooked meals that are better tasting and better looking. They asked for $100,000, and not only did they get it on their first day, but they’ve surpassed the million dollar mark.
8. Alexandria Still Burns: [Photography > People]
Creator: “kyle cassidy”
Some months ago, photographer Kyle Cassidy published a photo essay on “what librarians look like”. It was so successful (it went viral), that he’s decided to expand the idea and turn it into a touring gallery show. He will collect hundreds of photographs, and will unite them with the tagline “Librarians & the Fight for Knowledge”. It was funded in the second day. Now, it will be interesting to see if it reaches the first stretch goal and if they can create a documentary video.
7. Legion Meter: [Technology]
Creator: “PLX Devices”
With so many battery chargers to choose from–in Kickstarter and in real life–Legion Meter proves itself to be the better, or at least smarter, solution. First, it is not a charger, but an intermediary between your charger and your device that makes the process 92% faster. Any charger can become the fastest charger. Second, it is also a multimeter, which means that it provides real data on what is going on: Watts, Amps, voltage, etc. However useful it is, I’m quite sure they weren’t expecting to be funded in a matter of hours.
6. Heretic Playing Cards: [Games > Playing Cards]
Creator: “Requiem Team”
We gave you an sneak peek of this deck on Kicktops, so I was awaiting its launch. When I went to sleep the 24th of May the project had not been launched yet–when I woke up the next day, it had reached 80% of their total funding. Apart from being beautifully designed, with great art, and a solid concept, I’m pretty sure that what made this deck of cards such a success was the expectation created by sneak peeks and early-reviews. I’m don’t know if it was a complete surprise to the team to be funded during the second day, but it was to me.
5. The Quarter Century Belt: [Fashion > Accessories]
Creator: “EH Leather Goods”
This is another project that got funded on their second day. (Should I change the name of the series?) This campaign promotes the durability of their product, assuring that their belt will last at least up to 25 years. And, like with any fashion accessory created to last that much, this is achieved by high quality materials and a timeless design. The only thing missing now is a collection for women, and maybe adding some stretch goals?
4. Strong Female Protagonist: Book One: [Comics]
Creator: “Molly Ostertag”
This project is my type, if you believe in such a thing. And of many other backers too, seeing as it reached their $8,000 goal on the first day. Book One collects all the Strong Female Protagonist webcomics produced and uploaded since 2012. The comic tells the story of an ex-superhero, that is, she has decided to stop working and going back to college, but she still has her superpowers (obviously!) Don’t tell me it doesn’t sound fun.
3. Neo Web: [Product Design]
Creator: “Brent Garcia”
Who doesn’t love MAGNETS? Well, that is what Neo Web is: a nylon webbing (the one you see in the picture) with really strong magnets inside. It is a really simple idea, and what it makes it so great is that you can use it anyway you want. It can hold really heavy objects, or keep together all your nuts and bolts. They sell it as “a wallet for your stuff”, which I think is quite funny. It reached it’s $1,000 goal (the lowest of the list) in 12 hours.
2. Evolution: [Games > Tabletop Games]
Creator: “North Star Games”
I included this board game, because I am a geek inside and couldn’t help it. It is a competitive board game inspired by the real rules of evolution, and it has received glowing reviews. Simple rules with complex gameplay seems to be the key for a successful game. In this one, players will choose a species, and will have to play their cards right to evolve and not extinguish. They reached their goal on their first day, and they’re working on some very cool stretch goals now.
1. iFind: [Technology]
UPDATED NOTE: The iFind Kickstarter campaign has been suspended for violating the following Kickstarter rules: “1. A related party posing as an independent, supportive party in project comments or elsewhere 2. Misrepresenting support by pledging to your own project 3. Misrepresenting or failing to disclose relevant facts about the project or its creator Providing inaccurate or incomplete user information to Kickstarter or one of our partners.” – Source
WeTag asserted that they are not a scam/fraud on their facebook page. – Source
Creator: “WeTag”
You know when you can’t find your phone, so you call yourself to hear where it is? How many times have you wished to do the same with your wallet, your keys, or your sunglasses? There is certainly a market here, isn’t there? Well, that is what the people behind iFind thought. iFind is a tag that you attach to your items, and you can make it emit a noise through an app in your phone. What’s more, it’s battery-free, which makes it more efficient and more sustainable. This project achieved it’s goal in their third day. Have you pledged to the project yet?
Conclusion
It’s incredible and inspiring to see so many Kickstarter projects getting funded within the first week! Do you think we left a project out? Leave a comment below! Also, don’t forget to study and learn from the projects above. What did they do well? Can you emulate their success?
This article was written by Marina of Kicktops.com, “A Hand-picked Selection Of The Best Kickstarter Products.”
