After an astounding success on Kickstarter, Tom Beckett, one of the founders of the Makesmith CNC Kickstarter project decided to sit down and share his story with us to help budding creators navigate the confusing crowdfunding terrain.
His project, which was cofounded with his business partner, Bar Smith, an undergraduate student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, managed to raise $82,207 on Kickstarter from 423 backers in 33 days.
The campaign’s initial goal was set at $10,000, which was meant to help finance the costs to mass produce their new affordable desktop CNC router and make it easier for tinkerers, hobbyists, and fellow engineers to gain access to a rapid prototyping tool. However, it quickly surpassed this number within the first day and went on to grow to over 800% of their original fundraising goal.
In our podcast interview with Tom, of the Makesmith team, we dive into some of the behind-the-scenes tips and tricks that went into making this project a massive success. You can listen to it below or on iTunes (great when commuting to work).
Our Podcast Interview
Resources Mentioned
– Dave Ramsey’s Momentum Equation: Fi/T(L) = M Focused intensity, over time, multiplied by Luck, equals unstoppable momentum.
– Would recommend checking out EntreLeadership
The Beginning of the Project
– The team has been working on the project for two years before the Kickstarter launch. The second year is when the actual prototype came into being.
– Bar heard about Kickstarter from NPR initially. Tom later did research and the team decided crowdfunding was the lowest-risk way to raise money for the product. They also realized they would have to do their homework throughly to prove to the community they were credible and capable of executing on their promises.
– The team had a friend who helped with the video and made it look professional. Tom (like me) thinks that Kickstarter videos are becoming a little too commercial, which can give backers unreasonable expectations. You can watch the video below.
How the Project Gained Traction
– The project hit their goal on day 1. Based on the research the team did, they thought that most of the pledges were going to come from the people they talked to prior to the campaign. However, that’s not what happened. Within the first 2 minutes, the campaign had pledges, and the first hour of being live, they raised $700 from strangers.
– Tom thinks there is a large group of people on Kickstarter in the high tech product niche that have disposable income and are interested in new and interesting projects. The team tapped into an existing community of tinkerers and makers who want to support this kind of movement.
– Most of the pledges came from Kickstarter in the first week. Tom was familiar with the “Kickstarter Slump,” which we’ve talked about in previous posts. Therefore, they planned to go and demo the product at a Maker Faire in the middle of the campaign to get more people interested in the project.
For more information on how to maintain momentum throughout your crowdfunding project, check out our tips here.
Lessons Learned from the Kickstarter
– Makesmith shipped out rewards to 45 different countries around the world. The team spent two weeks figuring out the shipping costs and using excel spreadsheets to manage the orders. The project’s backers were surprised at how quickly they received their rewards and the team’s commitment to the project.
– Looking back, the team wishes they focused more on the initial goal of delivering the rewards rather than trying to create a business as soon as they had finished their campaign. It only complicated matters and added more stress.
– In addition, if they were to do the project again, they would think more about patents and trademarks. This is especially important for innovative technology products.
See: Navigating crowdfunding legal issues. What you need to know to stay out of trouble!
– Overall, the team things the Maker Faire demo was very important because when people commented or mentioned that they had seen it at the faire, other backers took the project more seriously. This underscores that comments matter more than most creators think when running a project.
– One aspect of crowdfunding that most people overlook is access to a product feedback loop. Now that the Makesmith CNC has been shipped out, the company is getting lots of great feedback that they can use to improve the desktop CNC router.
Connect with Makesmith CNC!
If you’d like to connect with the Makesmith CNC team, you can leave a comment below or check out their website. Give them a shoutout on twitter and let them know you enjoyed their podcast!
